Hitherto we may say, "the Lord hath helped us." May those who labour, and those who give, go forward in a spirit of greater prayerfulness and greater dependence. upon Him, and He will honour the gifts and the labours with His favour and blessing.

THE POSEN SCHOOLS.

In this number we give a small map of the Duchy of Posen, in which we have so many excellent schools for Jewish children. There are some of the places mentioned from which the schools have been removed. The village of Schönlanke is also given, because it was there that Bishop Alexander was born.

The Report for this year shows, that, the year being divided into three parts, in the first the number of children in attendance was 476, in the second 514, and in the third division 382. This falling off in the latter part of the year arises from many of them having gone to America, and the school at Kempen having suffered much from the opposition of the Jews. The school at Gnesen has been in a very encouraging state. It was only opened about eighteen months ago. and fears about its

There were many doubts success. The teacher

commenced with only two children, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the number increase by degrees to forty. He expects to get many more pupils, and he would already have had others, had it not been for the ignorance of their mothers. One of them had often heard her child repeating portions of scripture, and asked the teacher why he taught the children from the books of Moses and the Prophets, and not from those of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? In their ignorance they think that Moses and the Prophets are the books of Christians.

We shall hope in another number to give some account of a very interesting young Jewess who was led to Christ through what she heard at one of these schools.

THE PEACE.

SINCE the last number of the Advocate appeared, a great event has taken place. War is now at an end. Peace has been proclaimed. The sword has been sheathed, and we may now thank God that the strife is past.

Ought we not at a time like this to have a word to say to our readers? Ought we not to ask them to join with us in praise and thanksgiving to God for the return of these mercies to

us, and to the rest of the world? We hope that every one will rejoice in these tidings, and pray that the peace may open many doors for the entrance of the Gospel into those lands which have been so long in darkness and in the shadow of death.

But we wish to say a word about the means by which peace has been obtaind. Most of our readers will know that there was a great tower, called the Malakoff, which the soldiers wished to take. In getting possession of this, they were sure that the town of Sebastopol would be taken likewise.

The time was fixed for storming this great tower, and the other defences of the town. There were many brave soldiers fighting on each side. There were an immense number of great cannon which poured forth their deadly fire likewise. But what could all these avail if the God of battles did not fight on our side? What would be the value of all the weapons of war if God's blessing did not rest upon these efforts?

There were some on that field of battle who did more to secure success than any of the others who fought on that day. They knew the time at which the attack was to be made. On the previous night they met together, to lift up their hearts in prayer unto the Lord. They knew

hat it was an awful battle in which they were

about to engage; but they trusted that the God of hosts could give them the victory, and they knew that greater was He that was with them, than all they that were against them.

The Lord heard those prayers. Great and sore was the battle on that eventful day. But God fought for His people. The enemy was overcome, and the armies of England and France triumphed over their foes.

We

We desire that those who love and labour for our cause should think of these things. There may be many soldiers of Christ fighting on our side. There may be many who are endeavouring to bring light to those of the people of Israel who are living without the knowledge of Jesus. But the praying soldiers are the best soldiers; and the praying labourers are the best labourers. are fighting against sin and Satan. We are trying to undermine the great tower of Judaism. While, therefore, we fight, let us not forget to pray; and the Lord will fight for us and with us. He will enable us to prevail. The war with sin will one day end in the universal reign of righteousness and peace.

THE FIG TREE.

We have already given engravings of the Cedar

The fig is very well known in England, but it is generally trained against a wall. In the East, on the other hand, it becomes a great tree, and its fruit is an article of food. The fruit varies in size according to the kind. In many parts of the world a very large tree is found, under this name, with fine spreading branches. This is the kind represented in the illustration. The fruit however is very small, and is not generally eaten.