THE GATHERING OF THE JEWS, OR THE Approach of the Millennium.

Letters from various parts of Germany state, that great sensations have been excited among various classes of the inhabitants of Germany by several preachers having held forth to their congregations that the approach of the time of the Millennium had arrived, and this doctrine has been illustrated from the departure of a great number of Jewish families from different parts of Germany on their way to the Holy Land. The following letter from Mr. Niety, a merchant in Riga, has been published, on this subject:—

“My son was last summer in the Crimea, and returning towards the end of autumn by way of Odessa, he heard a report that many Jewish families emigrated through that town. During his journey through Poland, he met himself many travelling Jews. When he afterwards lodged in a town inhabited by Jews, and met there with a German Jew, he entered into conversation with him, and asked him, to what country the emigrating Jewish families went. He replied, to Palestine, to settle in the country of their Fathers, having a presentiment that the Messiah would now soon come. The rich of the nation, scattered in different parts of the world made collections for the journey expences of the poor.—This account of my son excited my attention. I wrote to one of our friends at Wilna, as Poland is the chief seat of this people, and asked him concerning these movements, and the probable causes of them, to which I received, within these few days, the following answer:

“‘I have also received interesting accounts concerning the Jews. There is among them a general desire to return to the land of their Fathers. Many of them are probably impelled by need, as there is a stagnation of all trade here: but many are moved by the expectation of the coming of the Messiah in about eight years. The same persons, from whom I accidentally heard this, told me, on another occasion, that fifteen years hence probably no Jew would be left in this country. In the present times of confusion this memorable people, scattered in all the world, is little noticed; but if the above information is confirmed in process of time, and more generally, that impulse among them is certainly one of the remarkable signs of the times.’—Thus far from this letter.

“This intelligence excited my attention; and as I undertook another journey to the German colonies in Poland, in the months of May and June of 1811, I resolved to ascertain the foundation of these facts. In two towns which are inhabited by many Jews, I received from their leaders the following account: That it was certainly true, that for two years, some hundreds of Jewish families had emigrated from Poland into Palestine. Enquiring into the purpose of their emigration, I was answered, that they hoped the promises of the Prophets would now soon be accomplished, that the Lord would gather the people of Israel, from all parts of the earth, where they were scattered, into the lands of their Fathers, and that they would there wait for the appearance of the Messiah; for after their Rabbies had often been mistaken in fixing the time of his coming, they now were persuaded that he would come at length. When I replied that they might again be mistaken, they said—No matter; if those who now go to Palestine should not live to see the coming of the Messiah, they, however, are gathered in the Holy Land with their Fathers, and whenever the Messiah comes, they will be raised from their graves. The places from whence these emigrations are most frequent, they said to be Brody in Volhinia, and Wilna in Lithuania. Though I was led to many observations by this statement, yet the proper aim of my journey did not permit me to pursue the subject.”

FINIS.

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