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There is a further feature revealed in this majestic Psalm, even one of grace:

like unto Moses, shall arise, and all hearken unto him. announcements? But, no! they are the true sayings A Redeemer shall stand upon the earth, in the latter of God. The future day shall accomplish them in reday; and in resurrection shall Job behold him. Who ality and fulness. is the wondrous One, in whom all these prophecies shall be concentrated? Surely, the psalm we have now glanced at seems to afford an answer:-In Jehovah's anointed one, even in Jehovah's Son. Yet how much of mystery still remained.

The Book of Psalms is pervaded by prophetic utterances such as the foregoing. The second Psalm may serve as the key to very much that follows in the

book.

In this wondrous book indeed, there are poured forth the deep exercises of the heart both of David, and of the saints of his dispensation. Their loud hallelujahs also, ascend unto their own Jehovah. Whilst, in strict accordance with the principle of righteousness-enforced righteousness; "eye for eye, and tooth for tooth," which characterised their economy and age, they are heard calling ever and anon, for holy vengeance on those who

were their foes.

There are also passages in many of these psalms, shadowing forth mysteriously some deep and dreadful tragedy strangely connected with the person of the predicted future Sovereign. But who, with the light only which those psalms afford, could apprehend their import, as to all this? Scarcely could those holy men of old, by whom the Spirit spake these mysterious intimations, do otherwise than "search diligently, what or what manner of time, the Spirit which was in them did signify." But "not unto themselves" did they "minister those things." In the present age fuller apprehension is vouchsafed. Yet how much that was mysterious remained to them.

There were some grand features, however, which even then were revealed with much definiteness and clearness. Let us go on, then, to trace yet further the dawning light of prophecy.

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In the well known eighth Psalm, there is one spoken of-a son of man, who is by Jehovah "crowned with glory and honour," and "made to have dominion over the works of his hands." This is one, who is " dained to still the enemy and the avenger;" and who causes Jehovah's name to be "excellent in all the earth." "All things" are "put under his feet." This headship must be a future one. The first man cannot be the one intended here. We see not yet all things so put under any one. The succeeding psalm (the 9th) speaks similarly.

"Thou hast rebuked the heathen,-thou hast destroyed the

wicked,

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"They that know thy name will put their trust in thee." There is not much said, but a bright ray beams forth. Jehovah's name shall, in that future day, be so made known, as that it shall be the object of confidence, and the place of refuge to the needy. Blessed prospect! as yet distant, and but dimly seen; but sure and neverfailing, for the mouth of Israel's God hath spoken it. Psalm x., also, yields its tribute of testimony: "The Lord is king for ever and ever:-the heathen are perished out of his land.

Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: Thou will prepare their heart,-thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

To judge the fatherless and the oppressed,

That the man of the earth may no more oppress."

There shall come this glorious day, then, when "the man of the earth shall no more oppress.' shall the day be, of the future King!

How blessed

What shall be said of the mysterious course of exercise of Psalm xxii.? There is One who has been "cast upon the Lord from his youth," and "made to hope in righteous throughout his course. him, even from his mother's belly." He has been Yet this One is heard exclaiming,

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Sorrows and woes encompass him: they have "pierced his hands and his feet:" he is "brought into the dust of death." They "part his garments among them, and cast lots upon his vesture." Yet he is "heard" length, and "helped," "saved," and "delivered," and, triumphantly, he then becomes the leader of Jehovah's congregation.

"I will declare thy name unto my brethren : In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee." The result is

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They shall praise the Lord that seek him :-your heart shall live for ever.

All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord:

And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee."

How much of mystery was there left resting on all this; and yet how much for faith to rest upon, and for hope to cling to! But "not unto themselves did they How blessed are minister those things, but unto us."

our ears!

But the mystery is deepened by the revelation itself, of Psalm xlv. The writer's heart is fired, and his tongue as the pen of a ready writer. He pours forth

a strain of chastened, adoring eulogy. He "speaks of the things which he has made touching THE KING." "Thou art fairer than the children of men:-grace is poured into thy lips:

Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most Mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.

And in thy majesty ride prosperously-because of truth and meekness and righteousness;

And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.

Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies;
Whereby the people fall under thee.

That must be the subject of some future revelation. Let us learn carefully what that is, which the

here.

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:-the sceptre of thy Spirit really unfolds, in each successive passage.

kingdom is a right sceptre.

Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness:
Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee-with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows.

What wondrous speech is this! The future king, of
whom so many wondrous things have been predicted
already, is here addressed as being GOD. And that in
no such style, as elsewhere it was said to some:

"I have said, ye are Gods; and all of you are children of the Most High; but, ye shall die like men." The strain here is unqualified, and absolute: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." This is spoken to the King. Yet, it is immediately added, "God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness." Who can explain this mystery? Faith must wait. "Not unto themselves did they minister those things." But ponder well the glory with which this Psalm is filled. Yet further, there is a bride presented to this potentate, in this Psalm:

Psalm lxvii. points forward to a day, when God's "ways shall be known on earth, and his saving health among all nations." It is added:

"Then shall the earth yield her increase;-and God, even our own God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us;-and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

Israel's own God shall bless them; but all the ends of the earth, also, shall know his saving health.

Psalm lxxii. enters, as is well known, at great length into the same wondrous theme. There shall arise a king, whose dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth; they that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. He shall be feared as long as the sun and the moon endure; throughout all generations. His gentle sway shall be like rain upon the mown grass; and as showers that water the "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; earth. Again and again, and yet repeatedly again, it is Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; declared that, in that day, the poor, the needy, the disSo shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: tressed, and him that had no helper previously, shall be For he is thy Lord; and worship thou him." cared for, rescued, relieved, and blessed. Yea, all men This must be the daughter of Zion. She is not com- shall be blessed in Him, all nations shall call him posed of both Jew and Gentile, as the church is. She blessed. The whole earth shall be filled with his glory. has one people and one parentage naturally. The Gen-The Jehovah Elohim, the Elohim of Israel, shall effect tile is "there with a gift" (verse 12); but is not part of this wondrous revolution. David's heart was full; his the bride. It is an earthly, though so glorious a scene. utmost wishes satisfied. Yea, it was beyond all that he The Psalmist thus concludes: could have asked or thought. His repeated (6 Amen" closes the strain; and we are merely informed, in the concluding verse that,

"I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: Therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever."

The Psalm which follows is exceedingly majestic:

"The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended." "God is our refuge and strength,-a very present help in David's full heart was relieved; his ready utterance

in trouble.

recorded; his uttermost desire expressed. David, him

There is a river, the staeams whereof shall make glad the self, had nothing beyond this to say.

city of God,

The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her;-she shall not be moved:

God shall help her, and that right early.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved:-he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us;-the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Come, behold the works of the Lord,-what desolations he hath made in the earth.

He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;

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The same splendour of prophetic intimation of a glorious future, prevails here also. But there is an additional feature in this Psalm. "The city of God ”– the "place of the tabernacles of the Most High," filled with his glory, is his special abode. This is manifestly David's own city, Jerusalem. Yet this scene of blessedness is to be realized only, when, at some future period, Jehovah shall have "made wars to cease to the end of the earth," and thus be "exalted among the heathen," or Gentiles; as well as in His own chosen city. There is no intimation of any heavenly Jerusalem,

Psalm xcvi. concludes its lofty course of worship and prediction in the following strain:

"Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;-let the
sea roar, and the fulness thereof.

Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein :
Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord:
For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth:

He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people
with his truth."

Psalm xcviii. concludes almost precisely in the same words. Jehovah will come to rule the earth: "he cometh," "he cometh." There is intimation of a new mode of manifestation of his presence. He shall be present as he was not previously. Thus much is plainly predicted. Still faith must wait, and expectation be held in suspense.

Psalm cii., however, seems to shed some further light, even upon this coming of Jehovah.

"Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion:
For the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come
For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,-and favour the
dust thereof.

So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord,—and all the
kings of the earth thy glory."

Such is the theme of the Psalm. But it is added,

"When the Lord shall build up Zion,—he shall appear in his glory."

It is surely Zion the earthly-Israel's actual, literal, metropolis, that is here spoken of. No heavenly Zion was revealed to the saints of that day. The heavenly church was an unrevealed mystery then, Eph. iii. 1—10. Let this be pondered well. The heavenly Zion shall have been built up to completion before the Lord appears in glory. But here is a Zion which shall be raised up from its state of ruined stones and dust, when the Lord shall appear in his glory. This shall be the time, too, when the heathen nations, also, shall learn to fear Jehovah's name. There shall be an "appearing in glory" when Jerusalem shall be rebuilt unto the Lord, and the Gentiles converted to him. Further revelation, however, must declare what this "appearing in glory may signify.

One other Psalm only will we cite.

"The Lord said unto my Lord,

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Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy
footstool.

The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion:
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

:

The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent,

Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.

He shall judge among the heathen," &c. (Ps. cx. 1—6.) The future king must first be exalted to Jehovah's own right hand. Will it be from thence that he will come when he appears in glory? Without any further revelation, the thought is already rendered probable. But what increasing wonders crowd upon us! What, or what manner of time, may this mysterious spirit of prediction signify? How earnestly to be desired is further light! What unimagined events await the future day!

book of Psalms. The spirit of thanksgiving prevails, more and more, as the volume draws to its close. The concluding Psalms are but one vast, majestic Hallelujah chorus. Yet the character of righteousness is still maintained; and the future day of equity set forth.

"Let the saints be joyful in glory;-let them sing aloud upon their beds.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,—and a twoedged sword in their hand;

To execute vengeance upon the heathen,- and punishments upon the people;

To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

To execute upon them the judgment written: -this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD." (Ps. cxlix. 5—9.)

Only hallelujahs follow.

Such is the prophetic testimony of the Book of Psalms. The fuller and yet more specific revelations given by Isaiah, may properly engage our attention in

our next.

THE LANGUAGES OF THE BIBLE. We propose to devote a portion of our pages, to the consideration of such subjects as may help our readers in the study of the sacred volume. Very often it is found that there are expressions in the Scriptures hard to be understood, simply because we may be in ignorance of some customs and peculiarities alluded to. And the books in which these difficulties are explained, are too long and too expensive for the great mass of readers of the Bible. Or, it may be, that a man's other vocations leave him but little time to learn the languages in which the scriptures were written. And, while we may be satisfied that no part of God's will is really hard for those who are only seeking the burden of the message which declares the will; yet we have no right wilfully to neglect any part of that message. We may save well-meaning Christians from those sad displays of zealous ignorance, which occasionally bring scandal upon Christianity itself, if we give them an intelligible account of many things connected with the Bible-such as the different languages in which the Bible has been written; the distinction between the canonical and the apocryphal books; the most famous translations that have been made; the manners and customs, the history and the geography referred to; and the way in which our English Bible has reached us. These and similar topics we shall treat in a succession of papers. We begin with "The Languages of the Bible."

Yet one further intimation also is, for the first time, vouchsafed in this Psalm. The future king shall be a Priest; "Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek." A further theme of wonder now presents itself. Light dawns upon yet another topic for earnest contemplation. Blessed ray of peaceful hope! Here is priesthood too, eternal priesthood. A priest is one who is ordained to offer sacrifices for the guilty. The institutions of Israel's economy had put this beyond question already. And what a priest! The great future potentate shall exercise the mediatorial office! Blessed door of hope! But for whom shall he act? What victim shall he immolate? With what success? What, or what manner of time, does this spirit of prediction signify? How earnestly is further light to be desired. How does the burthened, affrighted conscience of a law-condemned one yearn after certainty! "Those bulls and goats-can they take hence my heavy load?" They shadowed forth something remedial. What can that something be? Still mystery enshrouds; still faith must wait. "Not unto them- Of this latter family, the Arabic has been the most selves," did those prophets "minister those things." cultivated; and, being the language in which the But there had been revealed abundant matter for Koran is written, is known to Mussulmen all over the triumphant worship. Hallelujah! hallelujah!" world. Such is the grand burthen of the closing portion of the

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It may be necessary to premise that learned men divide the whole number of languages that are, or ever have been, spoken, into several chief families. Of these by far the most important are-First, the IndoGermanic family, including Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, and German, with nearly all European tongues. And secondly, the Shemitic, including Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic or Syriac.

The Hebrew, called the sacred tongue, because in it

nearly all the Old Testament is written, seems to have

The language that took its place was much more been spoken in a comparatively small district; perhaps widely spread it is called Syrian in the English only in Palestine, Phoenicia, and the immediate neigh- translation of the Bible, as at 2 Kings xviii. 26. Dan. bourhood. It is called Hebrew, because it was the ii. 4. But it is usual now to call it Aramaic, since language of the people of that name; and they appear Aram is the real biblical word for Syria, and seems to to have been so designated, from Heber; who being the last patriarch, before the dispersion from Babel, must have possessed an authority (as speaking to an undivided people) which no succeeding patriarch could

have had.

The term Hebrew language does not, however, occur in the Old Testament. There it is called the language of the Jews, as at 2 Kings xviii. 26, or the lip of Canaan, as at Isaiah xix. 8.

Most probably this was the language of Canaan, before Abraham came into it. For we observe that his relatives on the other side of the Euphrates spoke another tongue (Gen. xxxi. 47,) and in the narrative of the intercourse between the Hebrews and the people of the land, there is no allusion to any difference of speech. Then again, the names of places in Canaan, from the very earliest times, have all a meaning in Hebrew but not in any other language; and in the few existing records of the dialect of the idolatrous part of the land, as in the Phoenician, on coins discovered at Tyre, and Malta; and in the daughter of the Phoenician, namely the Punic or Carthaginian, preserved in a Latin comedy of Plautus (Ponulus v. 1, 2), we find a form of speech identical with the Hebrew. And lastly, and very convincingly, as showing that the Hebrew was indigenous to a country placed like Palestine, the same word is used to denote both Sea and West

In this language, the whole of the Old Testament is written, with the exception of parts of the Books of Ezra and Daniel. And it is remarked how little change the language underwent during the thousand years over which the composition of the book extended. This is due to the natural inflexibility of the language itself; the isolation of the people from the rest of the world; the influence of the Pentateuch in fixing it; and the general belief in its sacredness. For these reasons, the language of Moses is substantially the same as that of Malachi, in spite of some antique phrases in the former, and the gradually increasing admixture of Syrian with all the writers that succeeded Isaiah.

The Hebrew died out, as a spoken language, at, or soon after the Babylonish captivity, and was replaced by the Syrian or Aramaic, which was the language of their conquerors, the Assyrians and Babylonians. This was the language in which Eliakim begged Rab-shakeh to speak to the people in Jerusalem, because they did not understand it, as the chiefs themselves did. It seems clear therefore that the language of Syria began to penetrate Israel after this time; and, when the Jews remained for two generations in Babylon, they must have lost, nearly, if not entirely, all recollection of their former speech. For Ezra seems to have interpreted the words of the Law to them, on their return. (Neh. viii. 8.) While yet from the fact of Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi, continuing to write in Hebrew, we may conclude it had not quite disappeared; as we know it had a little later at the time of Alexander's conquests.

have designated the country North and East of the Euphrates, from which Abraham had originally emigrated, and where afterwards arose that fierce and conquering race which founded Nineveh and Babylon. It used to be called Chaldee, but erroneously; as the only place, where the tongue of the Chaldeans is mentioned, is at Dan. i. 4: and there it manifestly means a language peculiar to a priestly caste at Babylon, not to the whole people.

At the time of our Lord, this was the native language of Palestine; and occurs in our Testaments, in the words Ephphatha, Talitha Cumi, Eli Eli lama Sabacthani, &c. This was also the language of the inscription on the cross, and of St. Paul's speech as recorded at Acts xxii. Although in both these instances the Hebrew is mentioned, there is no doubt that it is the modern, not the ancient, language that is meant.

In it are also written those parts of the Old Testament, which are not in Hebrew: viz. Daniel ii. 4, to vii. 28; and Ezra iv. 8, to vi. 18; and vii. 12—26. Also the ancient Chaldee paraphrases on the Bible, and the Talmud. And to the present day it is the sacred language of the Nestorians and Syrian Christians; even of those on the Malabar coast of India.

The only other language that remains to be noticed, is the Greek, in which, the whole of the New Testament is written: a peculiar dialect of which prevailed in Western Asia and Egypt, in consequence of the conquests of Alexander the Great. Its chief locality was Alexandria, where the first Ptolemies had transplanted most of the arts and sciences which used to flourish before in Athens. This dialect is therefore called Alexandrian Greek, and is distinguished from the language of the classics, by having engrafted on it, many Hebrew and other Oriental modes of expression; no doubt partly in consequence of the great numbers of Jews, who, from an early period, dwelt in Alexandria.

Even in Palestine, although Hebrew retained its place as the sacred language, and Syrian or Aramaic was spoken in the country parts, there is every probability that Greek was the ordinary speech of intercourse; and that it stood in the same relation to the native Aramaic, that English does to Welsh in Wales at the present day.

In this Alexandrian Greek is written the whole of the New Testament; the ancient Septuagint translation of the Old; and the works of Josephus and Philo. As it was the common language of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, it became necessarily the common language of all early Christians, who for some years. were confined to that part of the world. when Christianity had reached Rome and the West, there is evidence that Greek (aud not Latin, as might have been supposed) was, for a long time, the ecclesiastical tongue.

And even

It is a matter of discussion whether our Lord and

his Apostles spoke Greek or Aramaic; and it does not seem possible to pronounce a decided verdict on the question. It is likely enough that all the people of Palestine, except the most retired or the most ignorant, understood and used, both forms of speech. Hence the threefold inscription on the cross. In Aramaic and

Greek for the people: just as public documents in Wales might be in Welsh and English:-and in Latin, because that was the official language of Pontius Pilate, and the government servants.

From the fact of some few Aramaic words of our Lord being preserved, we might conclude that he did not always speak in that tongue; and it must have been observed that when St. Paul addresses the people from the castle stairs in Hebrew (i.e. in Aramaic), they were pleased by this mark of respect to their native tongue; and had expected that he would rather speak Greek, which they understood equally well. On the other hand the question of the chief captain, "Canst thou speak Greek?" would seem to have originated the second question, "Art thou not that Egyptian?" as Greek was certainly the language of Egypt at that time; and therefore the chief captain supposed he was not an inhabitant of Palestine.

At any rate, there was certainly a distinction between Greek-speaking Jews, and others. For we notice in the Acts of the Apostles (chap. vi. &c.,) that some are called Hebrews and some Grecians. There is a difference of opinion as to whether the distinction consisted in the speech they used; or in the version of the Bible that they read. For while the Jews of Palestine, and eastward of that country, constantly used the original Hebrew Scriptures, only rendered into Aramaic at the very moment they were read; the Jews of Alexandria, and generally in the countries west of the Holy Land, seem not to have known the Hebrew, even in the synagogues, and to have used only the Greek Septuagint translation.

As Greek was the tongue of their Syrian oppressors in the time of the Maccabees, the Rabbis looked upon it with aversion, as being especially a profane tongue, fit only for entirely worldly business, but never to be intruded into the synagogue. This feeling was aggravated by the fact that the Jews of Alexandria-where chiefly Greek-speaking Jews abounded,-had not only a translation of the Scriptures, which, they advanced almost to the same rank as the original: but even a temple of their own, which in some respects was permitted to rival the holy building in Jerusalem.

But, anyhow, Greek was the current language of the world at the time of the appearance of Christianity :the language with which a man might travel from end to end of the Roman Empire. And there appears a special providence in the circumstance that the Gospel was sent forth at the very time when there was thus a universal language, in which to convey it. It was necessary to the free circulation of the message, that it should be written in the speech of the Empire, not in some local dialect, And the Grecians or Hellenists, though despised by the Palestine Jews, appear certainly, by means both of their more common tongue, and also of their greater enlightenment, to have been the part

of Israel that most generally embraced the Gospel, and carried it into distant lands, away from its original cradle in Judea and Galilee. W. H. J.

Correspondence.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BIBLE TREASURY.

Sir, I shall consider your column of Jewish Intelligence as one which adds greatly to the interest and to the value of your new periodical.

Only let the information be thoroughly Jewish—let it shew what the nation, what those who are still Jews in religion, are thinking, and purposing, and doing, as well as what is done by christians on their behalf. Do not confine the sphere of information to the latter.

May I ask for a correct and definite account of the purpose, and the results of the late mission to Palestine of Sir Moses Montefiore and the chief Rabbi, S. Adler? I have seen particular reports of this in the papers, but only partial and very general and vague ones. Is it too late to lay such an account before your readers?

Can you furnish from time to time the Spirit of the Jewish Press? I think that is the sort of title frequently adopted in such cases in the journals of the day. I am, Sir, yours obediently,

AN OBSERVER OF THE FIG TREE.

People and Land of Israel.

THE CONDITION OF THE JEWS IN PALESTINE. Ir affords us much satisfaction to comply with the wish of one of the friends of Israel, by presenting some information

as to the condition of the Jews in Palestine.

and definite account of the purpose and the results of the The correspondent to whom we refer, desires a correct late mission to Palestine of Sir Moses Montefiore, and as many of our readers may not have noticed the very general and vague accounts respecting that benevolent mission, which appeared at the time in some of the newspapers, we November to L' Univers Isralite, by a Jewish resident in avail ourselves of a faithful record communicated last Jerusalem, who had the opportunity of witnessing the operations of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, and the gentlemen by whom they were accompanied, Dr. Loewe, Director of the Israelite College in England; M. Haim Guedella, who had founded in Jerusalem a Talmudical School and a Library; and M. Gerson Kurshedt, of New Orleans, testamentary executor of the late Judah Touro.

to Palestine was made, like the preceding, in consequence of the great distress endured by the Jewish population in Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine, and, like them, with assist those industrial occupations by which the people might a view not merely to afford temporary relief, but also to be saved in future from the misery to which they were exposed in times of scarcity. It was also designed to establish various educational, benevolent, and religious institutions.

This third visit of Sir Moses Montefiore and his friends

The writer of the communications to which we have re

ferred, observes, that "there are at present in Palestine many hundred Israelites occupied in agriculture, to whom various local authorities. There is established at Jerusaperfect protection is given by the government and the lem a school for young females, the organization of which would not suffer by comparison with any similar institution in Paris. The foundation stone has been laid of an hospital

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