CHAPTER XII.

MEMOIR OF ELINSER SAMUEL ISAAC.

HIS EARLY LIFE-HIS TRAVELS-ENQUIRIES AFTER CHRISTIANITY-IS INTRODUCED TO THE MORAVIANS-PLACES HIMSELF UNDER THE INSTRUCTION OF MR. JENICKE-HIS BAPTISM AND ADMISSION INTO THE SOCIETY-LONG AND CONSISTENT PROFESSION.

ELINSER Samuel Isaac was born at Durschin, near Brody, in Little Poland, Dec. 24, 1761. His father was engaged in trade in that town. His childhood was passed in the manner usually adopted towards Jewish children, whose parents destine them to receive a learned education. When he had reached his tenth year, his father was seized with a dangerous illness. Accompanied by his wife he went to Lukasch, for the sake of medical advice; he had not been there many days, when his family received intimation that he was worse, and that little hope was entertained of his recovery. The young Elinser was permitted to accompany his grandfather, who immediately hastened to his

dying son. He expired a few days after their arrival. The grandfather, refraining in a strange place from the usual lamentations for the dead, set out in silence with the corpse, intending to inter it at home. Their mournful journey was however interrupted by a party on horseback, sent by the elders of the Jews in the place to compel their return. In vain did the grandfather offer to pay double all the dues which could be claimed from him; they said it would be an insult to their dead, if those who died in the town were not buried amongst them; and with this strange funereal courtesy, they were obliged, however unwillingly, to comply.

When they returned to their own home, their friends there, who were ignorant even of their loss, raised a bitter lamentation at not receiving their relative either alive or dead; the mother wept over her fatherless children, and the grand-parents in addition to their bereavement, bewailed in their only son, him to whose intercessory prayers, they looked for the redemption of their souls from purgatory. To supply this loss, they now adopted Elinser, being the eldest of their son's family, with the understanding, that he during the year of mourning after their decease, should daily perform for their souls the accustomed devotions. The Jews are said to believe that all of their nation will finally inherit the kingdom of heaven, after having expiated their sins in purgatory. In those frightful traditions which paint the tortures of lost souls, when the angel comes to torment Absalom, he is represented as stopped by a voice, saying, 'beat him not, neither

burn him; because he is one of the sons of my beloved, who said at Mount Sinai, “All that the Lord hath said we will do."" The Talmud however, says, ́All the works of man, good or bad, are noted down, and after their death, the good works are weighed against the bad; but as a large balance of bad ones still remains, these must be expiated in the fire of purgatory.'

About two years after his adoption by his grandfather, his grandmother died. His happy days were now ended, for his grandfather married again, and the new wife proved a harsh step-mother to him. Perceiving this, his grandfather endeavoured to find a wife for him, with whose parents he might be more comfortably situated. As his object was to provide him with a home, it was some years before he received any proposal which satisfied him; at last he met with that which he required in the following manner. Durschin

belonged to a Bishop who resided at Warsaw, and when the Jews had any particular business to transact with him a deputy was chosen for that purpose. A case of this kind occurring at this time, his grandfather happened to be the person selected. On his road to Warsaw he stopped at Lubolme with a relative, who, understanding that he wished a marriage for his grandson, proposed one for him which had his full concurrence. It was therefore settled that another relative who had a farm a few miles distant, should fetch him to his house, there to remain until his grandfather's return from Warsaw. At the end of five or six weeks the latter arrived, accompanied by his future father-in-law, and

his two sons-in-law, both students, who appear to have come for the purpose of examining the progress he had made in his studies. The examination lasted four hours, and the result being satisfactory, the marriagedeeds were immediately prepared. All points were soon settled, with the exception of the years of board. The father-in-law having already six married children, would not consent to receive the young people under his roof for more than three years, and expected the grandfather to take them for the other three: he however, whose object was to remove his grandson from the discomforts of his own household, would by no means consent to this arrangement: at length the two sons, who felt a partiality towards Elinser, prevailed upon their father-in-law, to agree to receive the young couple for five years. The deeds were now concluded and witnessed; the marriage was to be deferred for a year, during which interval both parties were to pay down the sum stipulated as the fortune of the young people, which was to be put out to interest until they should begin to keep house for themselves.

All things being thus arranged, the whole party repaired to the house of the father-in-law at Lubolme, where Elinser was introduced to the numerous family he had thus entered. After staying a few days he returned home with his grandfather, until the expiration of the year, when the marriage took place. He was received then into the house of his father-in-law, where he met with the greatest kindness, especially from his wife's mother, who appeared to love him as her own child. He does not mention his father-in-law's busi

ness or station in life, but they were probably of a humble description; perhaps he might have kept a small shop. No refinement which wealth or station gives, is thrown over his history. It is but a few succeeding scenes from the life of one of

that lowly class

Whom a benign necessity compels

To follow nature's least ambitious plan.

If the education given and the value placed upon it, should seem to contradict this, it must be remembered that such is constantly the case, even among the poorer class of Jews, so great is their love and veneration for learning.

The duty now assigned to the young bridegroom was to apply to his studies; the expenses of which were defrayed by his father-in-law. In this life of retirement and reflection, during hours probably entirely devoted to religious studies, or what were esteemed as such, there awoke in his soul anxious reasonings concerning his immortal existence. Was it to be happy or miserable? The disciple of a creed, whose altars are thrown down, whose sacrifices have ceased, from which has disappeared that blessed doctrine of Atonement for Sin, so clearly shewn forth in every rite of its glorious worship, whilst it remained as the covenant between God and man—the disciple of such a creed, being thus aroused to consider his immortal state, when he weighed his deeds in the balance, and found them wanting, and found himself pressed down by a consciousness of innumerable transgressions, commenced a vain struggle to burst the chain that bound him.