words were engraved upon the plate, "Holiness to the Lord." Verse 38 explains its purpose: "It shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord." It therefore was a kind of perpetual intercession for God's forgiveness of all the sins and imperfections which cleave to the worship of sinners, as well as a perpetual remembrance to them that "holiness becometh God's house for ever." It likewise foreshowed that "such a High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled;" and pointed to the Lord Jesus, who did not require that this should be written on his forehead, because it shone forth in full perfection in the whole of his divine character. The seventh and eighth chapters to the Hebrews present the comparison between Christ and the High Priest in all the important points, from which instruction may be drawn.

EXTRACT FROM A SERMON OF LATIMER.

BISHOP LATIMER was one of the chief instruments in God's hand, at the time of the Reformation, for teaching the people of England that pure religion of Christ which they had before been almost entirely ignorant of. Like every good and faithful preacher, he taught his hearers both to believe the true doctrines and to do the holy will of their Saviour in all the affairs of life. He often told both the king and people how to manage their worldly talents and means in such a way as to glorify God to the very utmost of their power. The following little extract is an example he once gave of the good which might be done with very small means, if they are faithfully and wisely employed, and how the improvidence of a careless person brings all his talents and opportunities to nothing. It will also give a kind of specimen of the manners and customs of that age, which may be interesting to many of our readers.

"My father was a yeoman, and had no lands of his own, only he had a farm of three or four pounds by year

at the uttermost, and hereupon he tilled so much as kept half a dozen men. He had walk for an hundred sheep, and my mother milked thirty kine. He was able, and did find the king a harness with himself and his horse, while he came to the place, that he should receive the king's wages. I can remember that I buckled his harness when he went unto Blackheath field. He kept me to school, or else I had not been able to have preached before the king's Majesty now. He married my sisters with five pounds, or twenty nobles a-piece; so that he brought them up in godliness and fear of God. He kept hospitality for his poor neighbours, and some alms he gave to the poor; and all this did he of the said farm. Where he that now hath it, is not able to do any thing for his prince, for himself, nor for his children, or give a cup of drink to the poor."

OUR cottage readers may not be aware that a bishop has lately been consecrated for the spiritual care of those of our fellow-countrymen who are living in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Dr. Alexander is the person chosen for this important and interesting office, to undertake which he sailed from England a few weeks ago. He appears to be peculiarly marked out for this position, from having been by birth a Jew, and converted to the faith of Christ during his residence in England. He has now returned to the land of his fathers, from which they were driven, in the just judgments of God, for persecuting "the Lord of Glory," and "killing the Holy One and the Just," but which still belongs to the children of Abraham, whenever they shall fulfil the prophecies, and "look to Him whom they have pierced, and mourn." They were driven away, indeed, with a curse; but we are sure that whenever they shall so return it will be with a blessing. The following, given by the bishop himself, is a brief account of the circumstances which led him to embrace the Christian religion, and cannot fail to be interesting to our readers:

"I was born in a town in Prussia in the year 1799, educated, since the seventh year of my age, principally in

the Talmud, and in the strictest principles of Judaism. From my sixteenth to my twentieth year I held the office of a teacher of the Talmud and the German language among my brethren in Germany, at which period a situation of a similar nature offered itself to me in England.

"Not to enter into useless details, I need only mention, that until that time I had not the slightest knowledge of Christianity, nor did I even know of the existence of the New Testament.'

"Strong impressions of prejudice against the very name of Christ was all the knowledge I possessed of Him, and in blindness and ignorance I never felt curious to inquire the reason of that prejudice. I looked upon all other sects besides Jews as the Gentile idolaters mentioned by Moses and the prophets, from whom I found sufficient reasons and commands to abhor their practices. But blessed be the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who has dealt thus mercifully with me, a worm, who am not worthy of the least of his mercies, in raising me from a death-like sleep in which so many still remain, who are satisfied with a false peace, without a wish or an effort to be awakened from its dangers.

"In the year 1820 I came to London, and having found myself disappointed of the situation above alluded to, I was recommended, by the kindness of the high priest in London, to a private family in the country, as tutor to their children.

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My employer was a man of strict integrity, and strongly attached to the principles and ceremonies of Judaism. He was the first who acquainted me with the exertions which are making in England for the conversion of the Jews, but treated them with derision, and said that every Jew ought to read the New Testament, in order to be more confirmed in his own religion. This roused my curiosity, and not being able then to read and understand English, I procured a German Bible. I was greatly struck with the first of St. Matthew, and had no idea that Christians knew anything of our patriarchs. I

1 Here it must be stated, that at all the Jewish colleges on the continent the New Testament is never introduced or mentioned.

was still more struck with the character of Christ, and the excellent morals which He taught; but having gone no further than merely to admire them, it produced no particular effect upon my mind, though it considerably lessened my prejudices. By the providence of God I was led from thence to another place (Norwich), as rabbi, where I had opportunity and leisure to give lessons in Hebrew and German, as I had then obtained some knowledge of the English language. This afforded me the means of access to many pious Christians, and of becoming more acquainted with their religion. I was in an especial manner led to read the New Testament, and found many of the references there given to the Old Testament prophecies incontrovertibly fulfilled.

"This produced great uneasiness of mind; but instead of turning my face to the Lord God in prayer and supplication to direct and lead me in the right way, I endeavoured to shrink and turn away from the Divine light which had thus begun to dawn upon me.

"About this period the situation at Plymouth most providentially offered itself, and I was led to accept it, partly from its having been represented to me as more advantageous, but chiefly from the desire I felt to become reconciled to my former views, and regain my peace of mind, with a full determination to have no intercourse with Christians; and during my first three months at Plymouth I strictly adhered to this resolution; Satan so far aided the wishes of my wicked heart as to lull me again into a delusive peace.

"The Lord, in his love towards me, would not suffer me thus to proceed in the path of destruction; he raised me up a spiritual preceptor, in a friend (the Rev. Mr. Golding) who was desirous of taking lessons in Hebrew; and when we began to read for our lessons parts of the Old Testament, subjects of discussion often presented themselves, and feelings to which I had for some time past been a stranger again rose in my mind, and I began more seriously (and I trust not without earnest prayer to God for his guidance) to inquire into the truth, by more carefully comparing the Old and New Testament; and after much mental conflict, came almost to the conviction

that Jesus was the Messiah, whom I had been taught to expect in a different form from that in which he is really represented in the Old Testament.

"Still I could not see everything so clearly as to be enabled to give up all for Him; I had not strength enough to avow my feelings publicly, though I did not hide them from several of my brethren, especially from one with whom I had more frequent intercourse; to him my sentiments were well known, and it pleased the Lord to raise him up, after having been acquainted with it for several months, to inform the elders of the congregation; they could do no otherwise than take the matter into serious consideration, and, I am sure, not without very painful feelings to themselves, made known the circumstances to the Rev. S. Herschel, Chief Rabbi, who has the power of deciding these matters. He requested my suspension until he heard again from the congregation, in order finally to decide. This was one of the most painful periods of my life; Satan stirred up every possible means to present fears and doubts to me.

"Those who are acquainted with human nature, and with the influence of early education, will easily be able to judge in what a painful situation I was then placed. By following the dictates of my conscience I had nothing else to expect than to lose all that was valuable to me in this world, a comfortable and sufficient livelihood, together with the affections and friendship of all who were dear to me. But by yielding to the entreaties of my friends I should have inflicted a wound upon my conscience in short, many painful ideas presented themselves to me, the giving up all (to which I was evidently called) the prejudices of early impressions, and the prospect of having to take up a new and heavy cross in my future life.

"All these considerations so tended to increase my distress of mind, that if there could have been found at that time any means whatever to reconcile me to my former views, I should have gladly used them. However, this was not the Lord's will. A week after, I was finally suspended, and had evidently pointed out to me the way in which I was to go: I began to submit myself to the