hardened like Pharaoh. This applies only to their moral state; as to their superstitious belief, they observe the traditions of the Talmud bigotedly. They spare neither money nor trouble in performing duties enjoined by the Talmud. They count the performing of pilgrimages one of the chief works of merit; and accordingly many families every year accompany the caravans that go to Damascus and Aleppo, in order to visit the graves of their favourite rabbies, such as the author of the Zohar, at Marona. The poorer classes, who have not the means of making pilgrimages to the Holy Land, go on pilgrimage to the innumerable graves of the writers of the Talmud, in the vicinity of ancient Babylon. Some go to the graves of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who are supposed to be buried on the frontiers of Persia, making vows and prayers to them.

They are occupied in bartering and traffic, the commerce of Bagdad and its vicinity being entirely in their hands. They have occasionally stopped trade by withdrawing their capital from the market, when the Pasha attempted to make alterations in the currency injurious to their interests. Few have any manual trade, except writing out the Pentateuch on parchment scrolls, for which they are famous in all the East.

They are bitterly opposed to Christianity and to missionaries. The reasons of this are--If any Jew were to embrace Christianity, the head of the captivity has power to punish him; and he has done this occasionally in so severe a way that the criminal has died under the lash. Another reason is, that Christians-Armenians especially-avenge themselves on the poor Jews for wrongs done them by the Mahometans. The peculiar hatred which the Jews bear to the Armenians may arise from a charge often brought against them, namely, that Haman was an Armenian, and that the Armenians are the Amalekites of the Bible. When Mr Calman visited Bagdad with Mr Groves in 1832, to try to open a school among the Jews, the attempt completely failed, chiefly through the fear they have of the Prince of the captivity.

The Cabbala is more a matter of study than the Talmud, both here and in the East generally. Poland, instead of Babylon, may be said to have become the seat of the Talmud. The reason assigned for the comparative neglect of the Talmud, and preference of the Cabbala, in a country where the writers of Talmudism once flourished, is, that more than half of the Koran was taken from the Talmud, so that to them it is associated with Mahometanism.

About two days from Bagdad is a place called Heet, or Hith,

on the banks of the Euphrates, in the desert between Bagdad and Damascus. Here about twenty families of Karaite Jews reside. Mr Calman visited them: they prosecute the business of silversmiths, making trinkets and ornaments for the people of the town, and for the Arabs of the desert. Finding it difficult, after all, to subsist by their industry in that small town, they tried to settle in Bagdad or its vicinity; but met with such determined opposition from the rabbinical Jews, that they were compelled to remain in this spot, where they have been for centuries. But the days are coming when" the sound of the great trumpet" shall reach the ears of those that are "ready to perish in the land of Assyria."1 When Mr Calman visited their Hacham, he was dressed in a long, coarse shirt, with a rope about his loins. A small square chamber served him both as a study and a synagogue. He had a few manuscripts, which he would not part with for any price in the world. He was delighted when Mr C. told him that he was as much opposed to the Talmud as himself; and then listened to him when he shewed in the Old Testament the declarations of the prophets regarding a suffering Saviour. The Hacham's main objection to Christianity was Isaiah LXV. 4, 972 a people that eat swine's flesh.' Mr Calman shewed him that this was not a reference to Christians, for the people spoken of "sacrifice in gardens," &c. The Karaites seem to be preserved as living witnesses against the Talmud, in the very seat of its former dominion and its birth-place.

No. VII.

STRIKING SIMILARITY IN THE MAIN FEATURES OF JUDAISM AND POPERY, PROVING THAT THEY HAVE ONE AUTHOR.

The object of both the systems of Judaism and Popery, is to lead men to go about to establish their own righteousness, and thus prevail upon them to live and die without submitting to the righteousness of God. In the system of Judaism, the working of Satan is seen in excluding Christ, and offering the sinner a substitute for him: in Popery his working is seen in including Christ, yet still presenting a substitute for him. On the fore

head of both is written-MYSTERY OF INIQUITY !

Such is a specimen of the coincidence between the doctrines of Judaism and those of Popery, and the instances could easily be

multiplied, proving to a demonstration that both the systems proceed from the Father of lies, the great adversary of Christ, and of the souls of men. Of the great mass of the deluded people under both systems, it may truly be said, “God has sent them strong delusion that they should believe a lie," while their priests and rulers subject themselves to that sentence from the lips of Christ-"Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men ; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."