It seemed to give them peculiar pleasure to hear me converse in their own language. They were insatiable in their questions as to who I was, and what I believed. "Do you read Hebrew ?" "Do you affirm the law ?" "Have you performed the covenant" (of circumcision)? "Do you touch fire on the Sabbath?" "Do you eat Gentile food?" "Why do you not keep the Mosaic ritual in these things, if you acknowledge the Old Testament?" All this, of course, led to much discussion, and gave me an opportunity for presenting the truth; to which many listened with interest, as to something new and strange. I was a puzzle to them. I Idid not worship idols, like the Greeks; nor eat things strangled, or blood. I kept the Sabbath strictly, and acknowledged the Old Testament as of equal authority with the New; neither of which the Greeks do. I had talked much of God's holiness, the strictness of the law, the judgment and wrath to come. Strange words, thought they, from a Christian and a Frank, whose creed is, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." And after all their questions, and all my explanations, they went away saying, "Half and half, mixed," Mosaic purity and Christian abominations; while others said, "He is a Jew; but has some odd notions." 'Many of these Jews were interesting men, plain and frank, acknowledging the excellence of my doctrine, and listening to my views of the Messiah and the atonement with interest and simplicity. One of these came afterward, expressing his great interest in me, and his deep concern that I should be so deceived as to the Mosaic ritual and the Messiahship of Jesus, when my other views were so correct. There were also many men of perverse minds, whose mouths were full of arguments, "wise in their own eyes." "Oh!" said one of these, "you may deceive these people of the land," as the rabbis contemptuously call the unlearned; "but we rabbis," drawing himself up, "know all your arguments, and how these lies were invented, and cannot be deceived." Two or three lads of fourteen were as familiar with all the objections to the New Testament, the rabinnic answers to Christian arguments, and their perversion of Messianic prophecies, as most rabbis. "Why do you neglect the Mosaic ritual, when Jesus came, not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it, and always kept it?" "Why have you changed the Sabbath, when the disciples kept Saturday, and there is no command in the New Testament to change the day?" "How was Jesus God and man?" These and many similar questions were pressed upon us, with that strange eagerness for dispute which characterizes such Jews.' "Mr. Dodd remained at Larissa till the following Monday, when he set out on his return by a different route. RETURN TO SALONICA. 'After five hours' ride across the plain, in the face of a north wind, we entered the great gorge between Olympus and Ossa, through which flows the Peneus. We were two hours passing through it. The precipices rose so steep and abrupt from the water's edge, much of the way, that the path, a remnant of the old Roman road, was dug in the rock, or climbed partly up the precipice; and seldom was there more than room for the river and the road. Occasionally the rocks opened, leaving a verdant nook by the river's side, more beautiful from its contrast with the splintered walls which rose three hundred feet above it. Some of these nooks were devoted to tobacco, as if to furnish ambrosia for the Olympian gods hard by! At several points along the road large streams of clear green water gushed out suddenly from under the precipice, crossed the road, and emptied themselves into the muddy Peneus. 'Towards night we emerged from the gorge, and stopped at a khan by the river's side, to sleep in the Vale of Tempe! Many travellers have disputed the title of this valley to that classic name, assigning it the Vale of Larissa, the other side of the gorge; but that is altogether too large to agree with the description. This valley in which we slept, is really a continuation of the gorge. Olympus and Ossa recede from each other; and the Peneus, before hemmed in between their lofty precipices, now flows on smoothly and gently to the sea. The valley is filled with trees, among which the elm and apple tree are conspicuous; and innumerable birds, of new and varied plumage, make it echo with their sweet notes. Nowhere in European Turkey have I heard so many birds, or seen so many new and beautiful species. I lay awake much of the night, listening to the sweet notes of the nightingale, whose music filled the grove. I hidden from us, as we were under some of its lower shelves. About three hours from our khan we reached the sea-shore; and about the same time we came in sight of the snowy peaks of the mountain. Though we were almost under them, they did not seem as imposing as I had expected, partly because I had expected too much, and partly because I had been travelling through the mountains and had become accustomed to their grandeur. Their summits were enveloped in clouds much of the day, which prevented a full view of them. As we rode along the sea-shore we found it full of life and bustle, from the exportation of lumber and firewood to Salonica.' 'At half-past five the next morning we were again on our way; and, after crossing the Peneus by a boat, we travelled eastward for half an hour. Then doubling the cape of Olympus, we proceeded northward. had expected to enjoy an impressive view of Olympus here at its foot; but its summit was "The following night was spent at the ancient Dium, which lies north-east of Olympus. Next day Mr. Dodd reached the Vardar, having travelled at first from Dium northward, through a beautiful undulating country, covered with rich pasturage, and having returned about noon to the road by which he had gone from Salonica to Berea. Early in the succeeding day he arrived at Salonica." DEATH OF MR. WILLIAM PASSMORE. WE regret to have to announce the removal, by death, of another of our esteemed Missionary Agents in South Africa. Mr. William Passmore, of Port Elizabeth,—where, during a period of thirteen years, he had laboured with exemplary zeal and fidelity in the cause of the gospel,-departed to his rest and reward on the 29th of May, ult. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The thanks of the Directors are respectfully presented to the following:For Mrs. Legge, Hong-Kong. To the young peo ple of Rev. J. Spence's congregation, Preston -For a Box of Useful and Fancy Articles. For Rev. James Sewell, Bangalore. To the Ladies of Rev. H. Addiscott's congregation, Taunton -For a Box of Useful Articles. For Mrs. Johnston, Vizagapatam. To Miss Murphy For Mrs. Abbs, Parechaley-To the Surrey Chapel For Mrs. Colin Campbell, Bangalore. To the Pais- For Rev. J. H. Parker, Calcutta. To the Rev. J. To the Widow Orton, for a Parcel of Pincushions; to the Misses Cousins, Chelmsford, for a Parcel of Useful Articles; to Rev. M. Armstrong, Bury St. Edmunds, for a Parcel of Evangelical Magazines and other Publications; to Mrs. Barnes, New Mills, Derbyshire, for a Box of Evangelical Magazines; to a Friend, and to Mr. S. Savage, Kent-road, for Parcels of Evangelical and other Magazines. The Rev. William Harbutt desires to return his most grateful acknowledgements to the undermentioned Friends for their kind presents for hia station: To the Ladies of St. Andrew's Chapel, North Shields, for a Box of Useful Articles; to a few Friends in the Church and Congregation of St. Andrew's Chapel, North Shields, for a Communion Service; to Mrs. Watson and the Ladies of the Independent Chapel, Hartlepool, for a Bale of Useful Articles; to Miss L. Redford, and Provi dence Chapel Sabbath-school Working Party, Ux- Bale of Linen; to Miss Tucker, and Friends connected with Soresby-street Independent Chapel, Chesterfield, for a Box of Useful Articles, value £15; to Mrs. Curwen and Friends, at Reading, for a Box of Useful Articles, value £20; to Miss Lambert, Leeds, for a Box of Useful Articles; to Mrs. Harrison, Coleman-street, for a Parcel of Clothing; and to Miss Nicoll, for a Parcel of Fancy Articles. THE REV. W. Harbutt, who embarked for Sydney,-en route for the South Sea Islands, on the 20th ult., addressed the following note to the Foreign Secretary, on the eve of his departure: "London, Sept. 16th. "MY DEAR FRIEND,-There are many kind friends, in different parts of the country, to whom I ought to have written previous to our departure; and I am afraid some of them may think me unmindful of their kindness in not having done so. Will you allow me a line or two in the Magazine, to assure them such is not the case? I can never forget the kindness which has been shown me during the whole period I have had to travel among the British Churches to plead the cause of our Society. But the anxiety and bustle consequent on our approaching embarkation have completely occupied my time, to the entire exclusion of almost every other subject. "Another line-to express my sense of the pleasant intercourse I have at all times had with yourself, and every one connected with the management of our Society. Contributions in aid of the Society will be thankfully received by Sir Culling Eardley Eardley, Bart., Treasurer, and Rev. Ebenezer Prout, at the Mission House, Blomfield-street, Finsbury, London; by Mr. W. F. Watson, 52, Princes-street, Edinburgh; J. Risk, Esq., 108, Fife-place, Glasgow; and by Rev. John Hands, Society House, 32, Lower Abbey-street, Dublin. Post-Office Orders should be in favour of Rev. Ebenezer Prout, and payable at the General Post Office. LONDON: REBD AND PARDON, PRINTERS, PATERNOSTER ROW. |