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diff --git a/37734-8.txt b/37734-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a647113 --- /dev/null +++ b/37734-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13839 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ, by +Rev. A. Bernstein, B.D. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ + +Author: Rev. A. Bernstein, B.D. + +Release Date: October 12, 2011 [EBook #37734] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME JEWISH WITNESSES FOR CHRIST *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Davies, Jerry, Julia Neufeld and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + SOME + + JEWISH WITNESSES + + FOR + + CHRIST. + + BY + + Rev. A. BERNSTEIN, B.D. + + _Price One Shilling and Sixpence._ + + PRINTED AT THE + + OPERATIVE JEWISH CONVERTS' INSTITUTION, + PALESTINE HOUSE, BODNEY ROAD, LONDON, N.E. + + 1909. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This book has grown very considerably in the making, and what was +expected to form a comparatively small pamphlet has become quite a +substantial volume. It is probable that if still more time could have +been spent upon it, its size would have been greatly increased, for the +fact of the matter is that there have been and are many more Jewish +witnesses for Christ than can readily be enumerated. But the author has +all along been very desirous that his work should appear in the +Centenary Year of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst +the Jews, the same year which has seen the production of the History of +that Society written by its gifted and deeply lamented Secretary, the +late Rev. W. T. Gidney. The two books are companion works of reference, +and in relation to Jewish missions they are both of inestimable value. +In some degree the one supplements the other, because the biographies +indicate many of the results of the various missionary enterprises +recorded in the History. + +That Hebrew Christians should publish the arguments which have convinced +them that Jesus is the Messiah, not merely for their own vindication, +but rather to lead others to the same conviction, is not at all +surprising. It is, however, peculiarly noteworthy that their literary +efforts have not been limited to those of an apologetic nature, but +that, on the contrary, they have made valuable contributions to almost +all the departments of human knowledge. The learned author has rendered +this one of the most pleasing features of his work, and it has evidently +afforded him no little gratification to exhibit clearly the vast +erudition of his numerous brethren. + +The Rev. F. L. Denman, the other Secretary of the Society, has read the +proofs, and has done all in his power to secure accuracy, yet as many +authorities have been consulted, and all are not of equal reliability, +it is probable that some errors have been overlooked, and those to which +readers kindly draw attention will be corrected in any future edition. + + H. O. ALLBROOK, + _Principal of the Operative Jewish + Converts' Institution._ + + + + +JEWISH WITNESSES FOR CHRIST. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +THE history of the Mission to the Jews is coeval with the history of the +Christian Church. The names of Christ's disciples mentioned in the +Gospels are nearly all those of Jews, and in the Epistles a great many +of them are of Jewish converts. But the general reader of the New +Testament does not realize the fact, because it was the fashion among +the Jews at that time to assume Greek names. For instance, several of +St. Paul's relatives bearing Greek names became Christians, but we +should not know that they were Jews if the Apostle had not written, +"Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen." Again, "Lucius, and Jason, and +Sosipater, my kinsmen" (Rom. xvi. 7 and 21). Whilst where we have not +this information with regard to other such names, we take it for granted +that they were Gentiles. For instance, Zenas, mentioned in Titus iii. +13, is naturally taken by the general reader for a Greek, yet scholars +maintain that he had formerly been a Jewish scribe or lawyer. + +The aim of this work is to shew that God had at all times in the history +of the Christian Church a considerable number of believing Israelites +who, after their conversion to Christianity, rendered good service to +their fellowmen and to the Church of Christ at large. Out of this +company of "the remnant according to the election of grace," only a very +few comparatively have their names recorded in history. The names of the +great majority are written in the Book of Life alone. But as in the +prophet Ezekiel--Noah, Job and Daniel--and as in the Epistle to the +Hebrews--the short list of the Old Testament saints--are the +representatives of a large number, so may the converts mentioned in this +book be considered as representatives of a vast number of their brethren +who had the courage and the grace given them to take up the cross and +follow Jesus. + +Yet, of course, to give a mere nomenclature, or catalogue, of persons +would not signify much unless it were followed by a description of the +life and work of the persons concerned. The material thereto is +abundant--there is a vast literature upon the subject--as will be +presently seen, with the exception of that which refers to Jewish +converts of the Eastern Church. The sublime maxim, "One soweth and +another reapeth," is peculiarly applicable to a biographical writer. He +cannot and must not be original, but has to state the facts in the life +of the person whom he attempts to delineate, just as he finds them +recorded in books, or letters, or as he knows them from personal +observation. But it is obvious that the latter can only be the case when +the subject of a biographer's writing is a contemporary and known to +himself. + +The following are the sources from which the writer has immediately +drawn his information:-- + +(1.) "The Jewish Encyclopædia." Every contributor to this remarkable +work of 12 volumes is well-known in the literary and religious world as +a reliable authority upon the subject of his article. + +(2.) "Juden Mission, a history of Protestant Missions among the Jews +since the Reformation," by Pastor de le Roi, well-known and esteemed in +the churches on the Continent and beyond its borders. + +(3.) "Christen und Juden," by the late Rev. A. Fürst, D.D., formerly a +Missionary and Pastor at Amsterdam, and well acquainted with Spanish +literature. + +(4.) "Jewish Witnesses that Jesus is the Christ," by the Rev. Ridley +Herschell (father of Lord Chancellor Herschell), who gives his +autobiography and the lives of several personal friends. + +(5.) "The People, the Land and the Book," by B. A. M. Schahiro, of the +Bible House, New York. + +(6.) "The Hebrew Christian Witness," by the Rev. Dr. Moses Margoliouth, +1874-5. + +(7.) "Sites and Scenes," by the Rev. W. T. Gidney, M.A. + +(8.) "The Talmud," whose testimony is very reliable when it speaks of +Jewish Christians. + +Ultimate sources of information, and ulterior literature, to which +nearly all these writers refer, are as follows: "Wolf, Bibliotheca +Hebraica." "Gräetz, Geschichte der Juden." "Hetzel, Gesch. der +Hebraischen Sprache." "Fürst, Bibl. Jud." "Steinschneiders +Bibliographisches Handbuch." "Catalogue Bodl." "Dict. Nat Biog." +"Meyer's Conversations Lexikon." "Da Costa's History of the Jews in +Spain." "Kalkar, Die Mission unter den Juden." "The Jewish Missionary +Intelligence." "The Jewish Missionary Herald." "Saat auf Hoffnung," by +Professor F. Delitzsch, of Leipzig. "Nathanael," by Professor Strack, of +Berlin. Other biographical dictionaries and histories. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +APOSTOLIC PERIOD. + + +The Apostolic Period began on the day of Pentecost when the disciples +who were gathered together were a hundred and twenty in number (Acts i. +15), but were only a section of the 500 brethren who had seen the Lord +after His resurrection (I. Cor. xv. 6). On the same day, as the result +of St. Peter's first missionary sermon, "there were added unto them +about three thousand souls" (Acts ii. 41). A short time afterwards "the +number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great +company of the priests were obedient to the faith" (Acts vi. 7). This +progress continued to such a degree that St. James, after hearing the +interesting missionary report of St. Paul, "about the things which God +had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry," said to him, "Thou +seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe" +(Acts xxi. 20). How glad we should have been if we had some account of, +at least, the more prominent converts of that period, and knew something +of the sufferings that they had to endure for the sake of Christ. +Nevertheless, the Acts of the Apostles, though containing much in +relation to the progress of the Gospel among Jews and Gentiles, gives +but little information with regard to Jewish individual conversions, and +mentions only two Jewish Christian martyrs--namely, St. Stephen and +James the Elder--and is even silent about the exclusion of Jewish +converts from the Temple, which we gather only from the Epistle to the +Hebrews. This fact is to us an evidence that St. Luke, the first +ecclesiastical historian, had no design to shew to the world the +inherent power of the Gospel exemplified by the conversion of many of +the very people who had rejected Christ, and it proves the genuineness +and authenticity of the Acts of the Apostles and the date commonly +assigned, for had it been written later, as some critics maintain, the +author would surely have taken the trouble to give his readers some +detailed information concerning at least one per cent. of that vast +multitude of Jewish converts mentioned by St. James. Such is the method +of the ecclesiastical historian in modern as well as in ancient times, +as the following two examples will shew: Pastor de le Roi, Jewish +missionary historian, has for years not only collected statistics of +Jewish converts in various churches, and summed up the whole number as +being 224,000 in the nineteenth century, but he has also furnished us +with a great deal of information concerning the history of many of these +converts. For, as the Rev. W. T. Gidney rightly says, "Jewish converts +must be weighed as well as counted." The second example is Hegesippus, +who, according to Eusebius, was a Palestinian Hebrew Christian, and +lived in Rome about 150 A.D. He is the father of Church history, and +wrote a book under the title "Hyponeymata Pente," with the special +design to answer the question of the Pharisees, "Have any of the rulers +believed in Him?" and to shew that the Gospel made rapid progress among +the Jews in the first century in spite of great opposition. Of this +opposition the Jewish Liturgy to this day bears witness in the so-called +"Blessing against the heretics," which Samuel the Little composed in the +Synagogue of Yabne, in the presence of Gamaliel the Elder. Justin Martyr +in his Dialogue, Origen in Homily 18, Jerome on Isaiah, complained of +it, and it has, alas, been a source of trouble to the Jews at various +times throughout the Christian ages. Hegesippus supplies information +about a number of Jewish sects, who regarded each other as heretics. It +is a pity that the greater part of his book has been lost, and we have +only a few fragments in "Euseb. History iv.," and an extract in "Photius +Bibliotheca" (page 232). That probably contained detailed information +about the more prominent converts in the Apostolic age. Still, the most +valuable relic for us is his list of Hebrew Christian bishops in regular +succession in the mother Church at Jerusalem. These are as follows: +James, the Lord's brother (Gal. i. 19), of whom Hegesippus states that +he was martyred while praying in the Temple. Symeon about 62 A.D., +Justus I. 64, Zacchæus 112, Tobias 114, Benjamin 116, Justin 118, +Matthias 120, Philip 122, Seneca 125, Justus II. 126, Levi 128, Ephres +130, Joseph 132, Jude 133. The shortness of their episcopates probably +indicates that it was a time of great tribulation. To this list may +perhaps be added Ananias, who baptized Saul of Tarsus at Damascus, and, +according to tradition, was subsequently bishop there and suffered +martyrdom (See "Schaff. Bible Dictionary"); Crispus, Chief of the Jewish +Synagogue (Acts xviii. 8), who, according to tradition ("Constituit +Apost." vii. 46), was afterwards Bishop of Ægina; Clement, of Rome, who, +according to Bishop Lightfoot, was an Hellenistic Jewish convert or son +of a convert. The bishop came to this conclusion, after weighing much +the internal evidence of his Epistle to the Corinthians.[1] + + +[1] Rev. Dr. Giles writes: "In the 'Homiles and Recognitiones,' falsely +ascribed to Clement, his father is said to have been one Faustinus, +descended from the family of the Roman Cæsars, and this absurd fable is +copied in the 'Liber Pontificates,' or book of the Roman Pontiffs, and +in the work of Eusebius, Bishop of Lyons." ("Hebrew Records," vol. ii. +294). + + +Two of the converts of the first century are mentioned in the Talmud and +receive there an excellent testimonial. The first is Nicodemus, +identical, according to the writer in the "Jewish Encyclopædia," with +Nicodemus ben Gorian. He is said to have been a great saint. The other +is Jacob of Kefar Sakanya (Simai). He once met R. Eliezer in the upper +market-place of Sepphoris and asked his opinion on a curious ritualistic +question bearing upon Deut. xxiii. 8. As R. Eliezer declined to give an +opinion, Jacob acquainted him with the interpretation of Jesus derived +from Micah i. 7. R. Eliezer was pleased with the interpretation, and was +consequently suspected of Christian leanings by the governor (Abodah +Zarah, 17. a). On another occasion, Jacob went to heal R. Eleasar ben +Dama of a poisonous bite by a serpent in the name of Jesus, but his +uncle, R. Ishmael, would not allow it. Jacob said to him, Rabbi Ishmael, +my brother, let me heal him, and I will prove to you from the Torah, +that it is allowed, but R. I. was obstinate. In the meantime the patient +died, and his uncle apostrophized the corpse in these words: "Happy art +thou Ben Dama that thy body is pure and thy soul departed in purity, as +thou hast not transgressed the words of thy fellow rabbis" (Abodah +Zarah, 27. b). + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SUB-APOSTOLIC OR PATRISTIC PERIOD. + + +Besides Hegesippus, one reckoned among the church fathers was +Epiphanius, a native Jew of Palestine, who embraced Christianity at +sixteen years of age, and eventually became Bishop of Constantia, and +died at sea (according to Bartolocci) in 403 A.D. He wrote a book +entitled, "Panarion," in which he gives information about eighty +heretical sects, including Jewish; also a treatise on Biblical weights +and measures and on the lives of the Prophets, in which he makes Hebrew +quotations. + +Another noted Jewish convert belonging to this period was Joseph, a +physician of Tiberias (called by the Jews "The Apostate"). He had been a +member of the Sanhedrin in his native town, was sent by them as a +delegate to the Jews in Cilicia, where he became acquainted with the +Christian bishop, who gave him a New Testament. According to Milman +(vol. iii., p. 179) he was detected reading it, was hurried to the +synagogue and scourged. The bishop interfered. But he was afterwards +seized again and thrown into the river Cydnus, from which he hardly +escaped with his life, and was baptized. On his return he told his +friends in Palestine that the Gospel made progress among the enlightened +Jews. The Emperor Constantine elevated him to the rank of Comes or Count +of the Empire, and he devoted his life to the building of churches at +Tiberias, Capernaum, Nazareth, and Sepphoris (Dio Cæsarea). It is worth +mentioning in this connection the report of Epiphanius that Hillel, who +succeeded his father Judah II. in the patriarchate of Tiberias, embraced +Christianity and was secretly baptized on his death-bed by a bishop. +Joseph, his physician (says Milman) had witnessed the scene which +wrought strongly upon his mind. The house of Hillel after his death was +kept closely shut up by his suspicious countrymen. Joseph obtained +entrance, and found there the Gospels of St. John and of St. Matthew, +and the Acts in a Hebrew translation.[2] + + +[2] This is denied by Gräetz. See article in the "Jewish Encyclopædia," +where it is asserted that this Hillel was honoured by Julian the +Apostate. But we have also the solution of the difficulty there. It is +avowed that there is no clear distinction between Juda II. and Juda III. +Milman says distinctly that this Hillel was the son of Juda II., whereas +Jewish writers make him to be the son of Juda III. + + + +Tabius, of high priestly descent, son of one Anan, probably the one who +was sent on embassy to the Emperor Claudius, is also mentioned by +ecclesiastical writers as having embraced Christianity. + +Asher ben Levi, called Abed al Masih, lived in the fourth century in +Sinjar Mesopotamia. His school companions, both Zoroastrian and +Christian, shunned him, but the latter on one occasion baptized him. +Asher's mother hid him from his father, who was a warden of the +synagogue, fearing his anger, but he was eventually killed by him. A +church was built afterwards in his memory. There is a Syriac MS. which +contains this story. + +Jacob, of Kefar Neuburaya, another Hebrew Christian of the fourth +century, is mentioned in the Talmud as one whose opinions met with +approval by the rabbis in two instances. One of those may be quoted. In +the School of Cæsarea he interpreted Hab. ii. 19 as being a rebuke of +simony. On the same occasion he indicated Ben Eleazer as being a worthy +candidate for the rabbinate (Yer. Bik. iii. 3. Midr. Shemuél vii.). Isi, +of Cæsarea counts him among the Judæo-Christians, applying to him the +Biblical word sinner (Eccl. R. vii. 47). The appellation Jacob Minah I. += Jacob the heretic, met with in the Medrashim, may refer to the same +subject of the article in the "Jewish Encyclopædia." As its author is +Dr. Max Seligsohn, the official editor, we may assume that it is now +granted that by the word Minim in the Jewish Liturgy is meant Jewish +Christians. No wonder then that these have always protested, and +sometimes rather too vehemently, against the collect, and wished it to +be expunged. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE PERIOD OF THE PUBLICATION OF THE TALMUD. + + +When the Jewish Christians fled to Pella, at the time of the destruction +of Jerusalem, their brethren the rabbinists were very angry with them, +and probably accused them of want of patriotism, as we know they did +afterwards, because they did not enlist in the army of the false +Messiah, Bar-Cochba. However, during the first Christian centuries the +separation between them was not quite so wide and marked as after the +publication of the Talmud. The Talmud itself testifies that asperities +were occasionally smoothed over by continual intercourse and exchange of +thought on religious and other topics. Yes, even friendship was +possible. It is related that a heretic sent once on one of his own +feasts an imperial coin as a present to R. Juda Nasia. (Abodah Zarah +5._b_). The feeling of resentment against Jewish Christians gradually +diminished. This may be seen from the following amusing story. A certain +heretic once annoyed R. Joshua ben Levi whilst he was reading the +Scriptures, probably with questions as to the meaning of a Messianic +prophecy. R. Joshua, believing that there is a certain moment in the day +when God is angry, because it is written, "For His anger endureth but a +moment" (Ps. xxx. 5), and believing too that this moment is indicated +by a curious natural phenomenon, when the comb of a cock gets red, he +tied a cock to the foot of the bed and patiently watched for the sign, +so that he might have a good opportunity of cursing the heretic during +the moment of God's anger. But before that moment came he fell asleep, +and when he awoke he noticed that the cock's comb remained white as +before, so he concluded that it was not right to curse any one, for it +is written "The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all +His works" (Ps. cxlv. 9). Again "Also to punish the just is not good." +(Prov. xvii. 26) (Abodah Zarah 4_h_.) + +The two classes used generally to meet in a public library called +[Hebrew: bi avidan] or in another place of assembly called [Hebrew: bi +netzrafi] and we may rightly infer that some, at all events, of the +beautiful sayings in the Talmud which resemble N. T. passages are due to +the influence of the Hebrew Christians upon the rabbis in their +discussions with them during the time when the Talmud as such, or at +least the Gemara, was only in the course of formation. One passage will +suffice to show that the rabbis during this period were well acquainted +with the N. T. There was once a discussion between R. Gamaliel and a +Christian (called a philosopher) with regard to the law of inheritance. +The Christian maintained that inasmuch as a woman is placed on an equality +with a man in the N. T., she has an equal right with her brother to inherit +the parental property. To that Gamaliel replied by quoting Matt. v. 17, +with a very slight alteration to suit his purpose. [Hebrew: ana lo +lemifhat min oryata demoshe etiti velo leosfi al oryata demoshe etiti.] + +"I have not come to destroy the law of Moses, nor have I come to add to +the law of Moses" (Shabbath 116 b). Moreover, the fact that some Rabbis +at that time thought that the Evangelium should be burned--and also +Hebrew Christian books generally--proves that they were acquainted with +the contents, but does not shew that they were very bitterly hostile to +their brethren, and they may have even referred to gnostic writings. +Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho, probably R. Tarphon mentioned in +the Talmud, is well known. + +It was otherwise after the Babylonian Talmud was finished in the fifth +century. This huge building--which Scribes, Tanas, Amoras, and later +gaons, tosafits, and quite a number of commentators in successive +generations have reared up--was like the Tower of Babel, and brought +confusion within the ranks of the Jews. The following is the language of +one who took a leading part in laying one stone upon another: What is +Babel? R. Johanon said: It is confused in the Scripture, confused in the +Mishnah, and confused in the six orders of the Talmud. "He hath set me +in darkness as they that be dead of old" (Lam. iii. 6). Rav Yirmiah +said: This refers to the Babylonian Talmud. It formed an iron partition +between Judæo-Christians and their brethren. While formerly tradition +was only handed down by word of mouth, and many were liable to forget or +disregard it, when once it was written, codified and taught in the +synagogues and schools to all except women, the poor, unenlightened +people in their joy at being at last able to read the oral law, which +was pretended to have been given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai at the +same time as the written law, clave to it with all the enthusiastic +ardour of their souls, and refused to have anything to do with the +Gospel or the Christian religion. + +Milman relates a legend of this time which was current in the sixth +century; though it is in an exaggerated form, yet on the whole it is +quite credible. "While Menas was Bishop of Constantinople, the child of +a Jewish glassblower went to church with the rest and partook of the +sacred elements. The father inquiring the cause of his delay, discovered +what he had done. In his fury he seized him and shut him up in the +blazing furnace. The mother went wandering about the city, wailing and +seeking her lost offspring. The third day she sat down by the door of +the workshop, still weeping, and calling on the name of the child. The +child answered from the furnace. The doors were forced open, and the +child was discovered sitting unhurt amid the red-hot ashes. Subsequently +the mother and child were baptized." (Milman's "History of the Jews," +vol. iii. p. 230.) + +For several centuries we do not hear of many distinguished Jews +embracing Christianity, and though it is asserted that whole +congregations in Candia did so in the seventh century, it is not our +object to investigate this. Undoubtedly, after the rise of +Mohammedanism, the Church had enough to do to stand on her defence +against the new and even more fanatical antagonist, and the Jews were on +the whole neglected. Besides, there were scarcely any Christian teachers +who understood Hebrew, and the N. T. was not yet translated into the +sacred tongue. Yet we find one very distinguished Jewish convert in the +seventh century. This was Julian of Toledo, Primate of Spain, called by +one of his successors, "A rose among thorns." He was baptized in the +cathedral of his native place, became archdeacon in 656, Bishop in 680, +and died in 690. He was President of the Twelfth Council of Toledo when +he urged King Erwig to pass some severe laws against his former +co-religionists, prohibiting them to blaspheme the Trinity and to +possess Christian slaves. Nevertheless, the writer in the "Jewish +Encyclopædia" speaks of him "as a man of great sagacity and discretion, +prudent in judgment, very charitable, and tempering severity with +mildness," and further informs us that he used to associate with the +Jews. Consequently, he could not have been so very hostile against them. +But on this point it is necessary once for all to remark that the severe +opinion that used to be held by the Jews in general about Hebrew +Christians was, to a great extent, owing to the unfair judgment passed +upon them indiscriminately by Jewish historians. It is now acknowledged +that even the modern Gräetz was unfair in this respect. We by no means +want to exonerate the few bigots and fanatics like Nunes Henrique who +acted as spy of the Maranos, or others who agitated for the burning of +the Talmud, and strongly condemn men like Dr. Briman, so-called Justus, +the associate and abettor of the Roman Catholic Theologian Rohling at +Prague, in recent times, but it must be remembered that there is a great +difference between anti-Talmudists and anti-Semites, and that by far the +vast majority of Jewish converts, even in the ages of predominant +bigotry among Christians and Jews, have defended their brethren against +false accusations, as will be seen later on. To return from this +digression to Julian. He wrote, "Historia rebelleonis Pauli," also a +book under the title, "De comprobatione ætatis sextæ contra Judæos." The +work deals with Messianic prophecies of the Bible, in which he adopts +the chronology of the Septuagint, and addresses the Jews with these +words, "Viam perdidisti viam ergo se quere, ut per viam venias ad +salutem." + +But even in that age, the eve of the so-called Middle Ages, the age of +the gaons, when there was a Prince of the Captivity in Babylon who +exercised supreme religious authority over the Jews in the East, and so +far as Spain and France, we hear occasionally a voice from the midst of +the Synagogue bearing an unwitting testimony for Christ. Cottan Mather, +in his "Faith of the Fathers," quotes the words of Rabbi Samuel Marachus +(Abbas Samuel Abbu Nasr Ibn) when speaking of the Messiah, as follows: +"The Prophet Amos mentions a fourth crime (ii. 6) of selling the Just +One for silver, for which we have been in our captivity. It manifestly +appears to me that for selling that Just One we are justly punished. It +is now 1000 years and more, and in all this we have made no good hand of +it among the Gentiles, nor is there any likelihood of our ever any more +turning to good. Oh, my God! I am afraid, lest the Jesus, whom the +Christians worship, be the Just One we sold for silver." (See "Lectures +on the Jews," p. 430, Glasgow, 1839.) + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +JEWISH CONVERTS IN THE EASTERN CHURCH. + + +Aleksyeyev, Aleksander (called Wolf Nachlass), born in 1820, at +Nazarevietz, government of Podolsk, of poor Jewish parents. At the age +of ten he was impressed into military service by the press-gang +(poimshchiki) of Nicolas I., and sent away to the distant city of +Volsks, government of Saratov. It was the political and missionary +policy of Nicolas I. to take young boys from their parents and to train +them in military schools, so that after they had completed their service +of twenty-five years, they might return home and act as missionaries to +their parents. Aleksyeyev for a long time resisted Christian teaching, +and the officials considered him a most stubborn subject. However, about +1845, he changed his views entirely, and not only became a member of the +Orthodox Russian Church, but managed to convert about five hundred +Jewish Cantonists, for which he was promoted in 1848 to the rank of a +non-commissioned officer, and was honoured by the Emperor's thanks. +About 1855, Aleksander was so unfortunate as to lose the use of his +legs. He then settled in Novogorod, and during his long illness wrote +the following works on ethnographic and missionary topics:--English +titles: 1. "The Triumph of Christian Teaching over the Talmudic +Teaching, or a Soul-saving Conversation of a Christian and a Jew on the +Coming of the Messiah" (St. Petersburg, 1859); 2. "Religious Service, +Holy Day and Religious Rites of the Jews To-day" (Novogorod, 1861); 3. +"The Public Life of the Jews, their Habits, Customs and Prejudices" +(_ib._ 1868); 4. "Colloquies of an Orthodox Christian with a +Newly-Converted Jew" (St. Petersburg, 1872); 5. "A Former Jew for +Monastries and Monasticism" (Novogorod, 1875); 6. "The Conversion to +Christianity of an Observer of the Jewish Law" (_ib._ 1882); 7. "Do the +Jews use Christian Blood?" (_ib._ 1886), and several others. His works +are interesting, as he was the first Jew in Russia to give a description +of the life and customs of his Jewish brethren. He refuted the absurd +and criminal blood accusation. + +Gregory Bar-Hebræus (son of a Hebrew) Abu Ab-Foraj Ibu Harun, Jacobite +Syrian historian, physician, philosopher and theologian; born at +Malatia, Asiatic Turkey, 1226; died at Moragha, Persia, 1286. Gregory +first studied medicine under his father Aaron, who embraced +Christianity, and was probably baptized in his youth. This accounts for +his not being conversant with Hebrew, though he was well acquainted with +Jewish doctrines. He was successively Bishop of Guba (1246), of Lakaba +(1247), and of Aleppo (1253). In 1264 he was named "Mafriana," or +Primate of the Eastern Jacobites, with his seat at Tekrit on the Tigris. +Gregory was a prolific writer on theology, philosophy, ethics, history, +grammar, medicine, mathematics and astronomy. Some of his works were +written in Arabic, but most of them in Syriac. He was the last great +Syriac writer, though he is important rather as a collector than as an +independent writer. He is best known for his Syriac grammar, "Ketaba de +Semhe," his "Chronicle" in two parts, ecclesiastical and political; his +"Menarat Kudshe," a compendium of theology, philosophy, medicine, +physics and metaphysics, and his scholia on the Old and the New +Testament (Auzar Raze). In the last-named he occasionally cites readings +from the Samaritan text; it is interesting to note that in a scholium to +2 Kings xvii. 28, he says: "The Law (_i.e._ text of the Pentateuch) of +the Samaritans does not agree with that of the Jews, but with the +Septuagint." He occasionally cites opinions of the Jews, _e.g._, on Ps. +viii. 2, on the Shem Hamephorash (the name Jehovah). In the introduction +to his commentary on Job he mentions as a writer the priest Asaph +(brother of Ezra the Scribe), who identifies Job with Jobab. In speaking +of the Apocryphal account of the death of Isaiah, he cites "one of the +Hebrew books" as authority. (Nestle Marginalien ii. 48). + +Rubinstein Anton Gregryevich (not to be confounded with Josef, also a +Russian great musician), was born 1829, in the village of Wetchwotgretz, +Bessarabia, died at Peterhof, near St. Petersburg, in 1894. His parents +embraced Christianity, and the children were probably baptized when +still young. Anton was first taught music by his mother (Katherina +Khristoferovna, _née_ Lowenstein), and then studied at Moscow. The great +services rendered by him in the advance of music in Russia were +recognized by the Czar, who decorated him with the Vladimir order. + +Rubinstein Nikolai, born in Moscow 1835, died in Paris 1881, was the +brother of the above, and was well-known in England. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +JEWISH CONVERTS IN THE WESTERN CHURCH. + + +In giving an account of well-known Jewish converts in the Christian +Church, one is limited to the information which is supplied from sources +generally connected with the Western or Roman Catholic Church. The +subject naturally divides itself into two parts--(_a_) The +pre-reformation period, (_b_) The post-reformation period. In the former +the Roman Church displayed great zeal, though not according to +knowledge, in her energetic missionary enterprise among the Jews. There +was a missionary seminary in Spain in which men studied Hebrew +literature and qualified themselves for carrying on the controversy with +the Jews. Hence we read of frequent disputations which were held by the +Jewish and Gentile missionaries with the most learned rabbis, often in +the presence of bishops, noblemen, and princes. But, alas! the methods +employed were also often those of force and intrigue, and consequently +un-Christian in the extreme, and the converts thus gained were only such +in appearance, and this led as we know to the terrible Inquisition and +to the final expulsion of the Jews from Spain. In the latter period, +after the Reformation and onwards, the Roman Church has apparently +slackened her zeal for the conversion of the Jews. She has no distinct +missionary organization, and we only hear now and then of clandestine +abductions, generally through the instrumentality of domestic servants, +like the famous Mortara case and the Coen case in the time of Pius IX., +and that of the Jewish girl of Prague, enticed into a nunnery, which +the _Jewish Chronicle_ reported a few years ago. + +Nevertheless, among those who have voluntarily joined the Roman Church +in various centuries, we verily believe--on the ground of their social +standing, their public works, published writings and personal +character--that they embraced Christianity out of pure conviction, and +conscientiously discharged their duties according to the light that was +in them at the time. + +The following is a list of Jewish Roman Catholic converts, who have +become historical, very often by making a good impression upon their +contemporaries, and having sought the welfare of the people from whom +they sprung. The names are given in alphabetical order, as this method +seems to be the more convenient for the compiler, and the time and +country in which they lived are added. As they all were members of one +Church, it is not very material to follow the centuries in regular +succession, or to treat of the countries they belonged to separately. An +exception is however made with regard to England, in which the "Domus +Conversorum," the house of converts in London, requires a separate +notice. + +Abiathar ha Kohen Esther, of Saragossa, Spain, after her baptism, in the +fifteenth century, married Don Alfonso, son of the King of Aragon. Her +sister Leah also embraced Christianity, and married the Marano Martin +Sanchez. From them some of the Spanish nobility are descended. + +Abilis, Simon, a convert in Prague. According to the report of the +Jesuit Eder, he was killed by his father, Lazarus, March 21, 1694, +because he refused to renounce Christianity. The father was put in +prison, where he committed suicide by hanging himself with his +phylacteries. + +Abner, of Burgos (called also Alfonso of Valladolid), born in 1270, died +in 1348, became a Christian at the age of sixty. He was a physician by +profession, and learned in Talmud, philosophy and astronomy. He wrote +the following works: 1. "Moreh Zedek" (Teacher of Righteousness). 2. "A +Dialogue between a Christian and a Jew." 3. "A Reply to Kimchi's book +and on Wars of the Lord." 4. "Old Testament Foundations for Christian +Doctrines." 5. "Libro des los tres gracias." 6. "The Offering of +Jealousy." 7. "A Reply to Replies." 8. "Igereth hagezerah," in which he +gives reasons for his conversion. + +Abraham Beneveniste, senior chief rabbi of Seville, together with his +son and son-in-law, also rabbis joined the Church in 1492, when they +assumed the name of Cosonel. + +Abravanel Samuel (one of the three of the same name) was baptized in +1391, when he took the name of Juan de Sevilla. + +Aemilius, Paulus, born in Breslau, Germany probably in the first part of +the sixteenth century, died at Rome in 1576. After embracing +Christianity he was appointed Professor of Hebrew at Ingoldstadt in +1547. He was the first Jewish bibliographer. + +Alexander de Franciscis Hebraeus. As a Jew he was known as Elisha de +Roma. After his baptism in the sixteenth century he entered the Order +of the Dominican Friars, in which he distinguished himself as an orator. +Pope Clement VIII. appointed him proctor, then vicar-general, and +finally Bishop of Forli. He wrote--1. Hebrew notes on Genesis and +Exodus, with special reference to the text of the Vulgate. 2. A book +entitled "De Tempore et de Sanctis." + +Alexanderson (Ben Alexander) Daniel. After embracing Christianity at +Rouen, in France, 1621, he wrote in Syriac or rabbinic an open letter, +giving the reasons for his conversion and calling upon his former +co-religionists to follow his example. The letter was translated into +several European languages, and went through two English editions. +(London, 1688 and 1703.) + +Alfonsi Petrus (Moses Sephardi) was born at Huesca, Aragon, in 1062, and +died in 1110. He was physician to King Alfonso VI. After his baptism he +wrote a series of twelve dialogues between Moses and Pedro, _i.e._, +between himself as a Jew and a Christian. + +Alonzo de Cartagena, son of Solomon ha Levi, or Paul of Burgos, was born +in Burgos, Spain, in 1385, and was baptized with his father, brothers +and sisters in 1391. After studying philosophy and law, he became deacon +of Santiago and Segovia. He and his brother, called Gonzalo Garcia, +represented Spain at the Council of Basel. Alonzo, who was called "the +joy of Spain and the delight of religion," published several +philosophical and theological works, as well as some erotic poems. + +Andreas Johannes, a native of Xativa in the sixteenth century. After his +conversion he wrote a letter to the congregations of Southern France, +exhorting them to accept Christianity (Paris, 1552). His works which +were originally written in Spanish, were translated into Italian by +Domenio Castila (Seville, 1537), and frequently reprinted in Leipzig, +Venice and Utrecht. + +Alfonso de Zamora, born about 1474, embraced Christianity in 1506, and +his father Juan did likewise. Alfonso became professor of Oriental +languages at the University of Salamanca. For over fifteen years he +laboured under the auspices of Cardinal Ximenes, in the preparation of +the Complutensian Polyglot. He wrote a number of grammatical and +lexicographical works, an Epistle in Hebrew and Latin to the Jews in +Rome, in which he tried to convince them of the truth of Christianity, +translations of Commentaries on Isaiah and Jeremiah, &c., an +Introduction to the Targum, and a polemical work entitled, "Libro de la +Sabiduria de Dios." + +Anacletus II., Pietro Pierleoni Antipope to Innocent II., from 1130 to +1138. It is maintained that he was a very near descendant of one Baruch, +a rich Jew who had joined the Roman Church. There can be no doubt that +he was of Jewish origin, as Bernard of Clairvaux, a supporter of +Innocent, in a letter to Lothair, wrote that "to the shame of Christ a +man of Jewish origin was come to occupy the chair of St. Peter." He was +friendly to the Jews. This is interesting enough, but the more so, +because it gave rise to the legend of a Jewish Pope by the name of +Andreas, discovered among some penitential liturgies issued by Eliezer +Ashkenazi (Frankfurt on Maine, 1854.) In this it is said Andreas had +himself embraced Christianity, and become successively Cardinal and +Pope. In answer to an appeal from the Jews for protection against an +imminent persecution, he not only, by a speech, subdued the popular +passion but also calmed the Jews by sending them a penitential prayer +which had been composed in Hebrew, signed with his name Andreas. + +Another legend in circulation among the Jews, varying in the details, is +that this Pope's name was Elhanan, the son of Simon the Great, a rabbi +of Mayence, who was kidnapped when quite a child by a servant, on the +Day of Atonement. And when he became Pope, the story of his origin was +told him by his old Professor of Wurzburg, when he summoned the Jews of +Mayence to send a delegation to Rome, to discuss the question between +Judaism and Christianity with him. Accordingly, his own father appeared +before him, and one evening made himself known to him by his birth-signs +or, as some say, by a peculiar move in chess which he had learned from +him. The result was that the Pope suddenly fled in disguise to Mayence +and returned to Judaism. But his end was either that he was forcibly +burned at the stake or that he committed suicide. (See "Sippurim," by J. +B. Brandeis, Prague) This is the Judea de Monti, whose Jewish name was +Joseph Zarafti, was born at Fez, hence he is sometimes called "Joseph +Moro," died before 1597. After his conversion to Christianity, he +laboured as a missionary to the Jews at Rome. He published the sermons +which he preached to them under the Hebrew title [Hebrew: mevuchat +hayehudim] ("Confusion of the Jews.") The Roman Jews then protested +to the Curia, when he issued a mild letter to them in 1581, under the +title [Hebrew: igeret shalom] ("Lettera de Pace.") + +Aquin de Philippe, born at Carpentras about 1578, died in 1650 at Paris. +He was converted to Christianity in Aquino. His Jewish name was +Mordecai. He was a voluminous writer; the following is a list of his +works. 1. "Primigenæ Voces, sui Radices Breves Linguæ Sanctæ" (Paris, +1620). 2. "Pirke Aboth Sententiæ Rabbinarum Hebraices cum Latina +versione" (_ib._ 1620). 3. "Dessertation du Tabernacle et du camp des +Israelites" (_ib._ 1623). 4. "Interpretatio Arboris Cabbalisticae" +(_ib._ 1625). 5. "Behinat Olam" (L'Examen du Monde) of Yedaiah Bedersi, +Hebrew and French (_ib._ 1629). 6. "Ma'arik ha--Maareket, Dictionarum +Hebraicum Chaldaicum, Talmudico-Rabbinicum" (_ib._ 1629). 7. "Kina +Licrimae in Obitum Cardinalis de Berulli," Hebrew and Latin (_ib._ +1629). 8. [Hebrew: yud gimel midot] "Veterum Rabbinorum in Exponendo +Pentateucho Modi tredecim" (_ib._ 1620). + +Aquinas, Louis Henri de, son of the above, wrote a translation of the +commentary on the book of Esther, by R. Solomon ben Isaac, with extracts +relating thereto from the Talmud and Yalkut (Paris, 1627), and a Latin +translation of the first four chapters of Levi Ben Gerson's commentary +on the book of Job. (_ib._ 1623.) + +Aronda, Pedro de, Bishop of Calahisra and President of the Council of +Castile in the latter part of the fifteenth century, was the son of +Gongolo Alonzo, a Hebrew Christian. Aronda's brother, too, was Bishop of +Montreal in Sicily. + +Baena, Francisco, and his brother, Juan Alfonso Di, flourished at the +end of the fifteenth century and in the sixteenth century. They were +both Spanish poets. + +Baptista, Gioranni Giona Galileo, was born in Safed in 1588, and died in +1668. His Jewish name was Judah Jonah ben Isaac. After travelling on the +Continent, and being assistant rabbi in Hamburg, he embraced +Christianity in Poland in 1625. Then he went to Italy and was appointed +Professor at the University of Pisa, and later as one of the librarians +at the Vatican. He wrote (1.) "A Sermon in Hebrew and Latin on the +Messiah and the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles." (2.) +"Limud hameshehim" (Doctrines of Christianity), a Hebrew translation of +the Italian Catechism of Robert Bellarmin. (3.) "Berith Hahadasha,"[3] a +Hebrew translation of the N. T., with a preface by Clement IX. (4.) A +Hebrew Chaldaic Lexicon. (5.) A Treatise on the name of Jesus, "Hillufin +sheben sheloshah Targumim," a collection of the differences in the +Targums. Some of the works are in MS. in the Vatican library. + + +[3] According to G. M. Löwen in "Nathanael," 1903, No. 5, the Hebrew +title of this translation is "Arbaá Abne Hagilyonim Mehattorah +Hahadashah, Asher Neetku Milshon romi lilshon ibri al yad Johanan +hatobel Jonah. Weeherim otham Terumah la Kadosh hakohen hagadol +Klimenthi Tisshü." + + +Baptista, Garvanni Salomo Romano Eliano. He was born at Alexandria and +died in Rome in 1589. He was the grandson of Elijah Levita, the famous +Hebrew grammarian. Hearing that his brother was baptized at Venice, he +hastened there to win him back to Judaism, but became a Christian +himself in 1551. He wrote a catechism in Hebrew and Arabic, and similar +religious books, but gained especial notoriety as an anti-Talmudist, and +used his influence at the Papal Court to have the Talmud and other +rabbinic literature, destroyed altogether. This actually happened in +some places. But Baptista had to suffer for it, and his name, together +with Joseph Moro and Ananel di Folgio, also converts and companions, are +still branded by Jewish writers. When, in 1561, he was sent by Pope Pius +IV. on a mission to Egypt, the Jews of Alexandria bitterly persecuted +him at the instigation of his own mother. + +Bernard, Sarah, born in Paris in 1844, of Dutch Jewish parentage. At the +request of her father she was received into the Roman Catholic Church. +Her early years were spent in a convent. Later she studied dramatic art +in the conservatoire, and became famous. + +Bauer, Marie-Bernard (Herman Cohen), was born at Budapest in 1829, died +1898. After his conversion to Catholicism he joined the Carmelite order. +He distinguished himself as a preacher, first at Vienna, where he +delivered a series of addresses, which were published (1866) under the +title, "Le Judaisme Comme Preuve du Christianisme." Eventually he +attained to the rank of a bishop. In 1869 he became father confessor to +the Empress Eugenie. On November 17th, 1869, he delivered the dedicatory +address at the opening of the Suez Canal. He also published a book of +sermons, "Le But de la Vie" (1869), and a pamphlet, "Napoléon III, et +l'Europien" (1867). + +Caballeria Bonafos, son of Solomon ibn Labe de la Caballeria, was +baptized in the fifteenth century, and eight brothers followed his +example. Notwithstanding this, some members of this large family +suffered much from the Inquisition. + +Carben Victor, a convert, living at Cologne between 1442 and 1515, was +the author of the following controversial works: (1). "Opus Aureum ac +Novum in quo Omnes Judaeorum Errores Manifestatur." (2). "Propugnaculum +Fidei Christianæ, Instar Dialogi inter Christianum et Judæum in quo quod +Jesus verus Messias, verus Deus et Homo, Totius que Humani Generis +Salvator." + +Canta Joshua Dei, according to Steinschneider, belonged to the family +Cantarini ([Hebrew: mehakhazanim]), and according to Wolf, B. II. i. 131, +he was a convert to Christianity. He, together with Baptista Vittorio +Eliano, denounced the Talmud as containing blasphemies against the +Christian faith, in 1559, and the result was the burning of Hebrew books, +and his own assassination in the streets of Cremona. + +Carthagena don Alfonso, son of Paul of Burgos, died at Burgos in 1456. +He was baptized together with his father, brother and sister, in 1391, +and became Archdeacon of Compostella, and then succeeded his father in +the See of Burgos. The writers in the "Jewish Encyclopædia" contradict +each other in ascribing the succession at Burgos to both him and his +brother Alonzo, which cannot be unless one brother succeeded another. In +1431 he was the representative of Castile at the Council of Basel. Pope +Pius II., in his memoirs, called him "An ornament to the prelacy." Pope +Eugenius IV., hearing that the Bishop of Burgos was about to visit Rome, +declared in full conclave, that "in presence of such a man he felt +ashamed to be seated in St. Peter's chair." Among Carthagena's writings, +on history, morals, and other subjects, there is a commentary on the +twenty-sixth Psalm, "Correctus Ludovicius." + +Cohen Todoros, a native of France, lived at Florence in the sixteenth +century. After he embraced Christianity, at the age of fifty, at Geneva, +he wrote a book entitled "Maroth Elohim, Liber Visorum Divinum," in +which he relates the history of his conversion, and quotes passages from +the Bible and Kabbalistic works in favour of Christianity. The work, +published in Paris in 1553, was translated into Latin by Angelo Caruni +(Florence, 1554). It is inserted in Johannes Buxtorf's "Synagoga +Judaica." + +Cohen, Archbishop of Olmütz, Austria, at the end of the nineteenth +century. He wrote many works on Roman law, notably one entitled, in +German, "The Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire from the +Standpoint of Jurists" (1897). + +Coronel, Paul Nunez, born at Segovia, died in 1534. He was a rabbinical +scholar, and after his conversion he was appointed Professor at the +University of Salamanca. Cardinal Ximenes de Cisneros commissioned him +to translate the Bible into Latin. This translation is contained in the +"Complutensian Polyglot" (1541-17). He also wrote "Additiones ad Librum +Nicolai Lirani de Differentiis Translationem (Verborum)," which has not +been printed. + +Crescenzi Alexander lived at Rome in the seventeenth century. In 1666 he +translated from the Spanish into Italian Antony Colmenarde Ludesina's +treatise on "Chocolate." Mandosius speaks of him as a mathematician who +became celebrated on account of his report, which he edited with +mathematical notes, on the eruption of Vesuvius in 1660. + +Christiani Pablo, a convert of the thirteenth century. After his baptism +he became a member of the Order of the Dominicans. He is notorious as an +over-zealous missionary, who cherished the Boanergian spirit more than +the spirit of Christ towards his brethren, and he is only mentioned here +on account of the famous controversy he held at the palace of King James +with the great Rabbi Nahmonides, when he tried to prove from the Talmud +the truth of Christianity, and Rabbi Nahmonides declared that he did not +believe in the Haggadic stories of the Talmud. + +Compiegne de Weil, Ludwig, lived at Paris, and later at Metz, in the +second half of the seventeenth century. He was a descendant of Rabbi +Jacob Weil, of Nuremberg. After embracing Christianity he studied +theology at the Sorbonne. He translated several parts of Maimonides' +"Yad ha Hazakah." + +Conrat Mose (Cohen), born in Breslau, 1848, attended there the gymnasium +St. Maria Magdalena, where he probably embraced Christianity. He was a +professor of Roman law at the Universities of Zurich and of Amsterdam. + +David Bonet Bonjorn lived in Catalonia in the second half of the +fourteenth century. He is said to have been the son of the astronomer, +Jacob Poel. He was baptized in 1391. He had a friend by the name of +Propiat Duran, who was also baptized, but returned to Judaism. P. D. +tried to persuade him to follow his example, but when he refused, the +other addressed an epistle to him under the title, "Al Tehi Ca +Abothekha," which is considered as a masterpiece of satirical criticism +against Jewish converts to Christianity. + +Davilla Diego Arias, minister and confident of King Henry IV. of +Castile, died in 1466. He and his family became Christians when Vincent +Ferrer was preaching special sermons to Jews, and it is recorded that +they were generous towards the Church. His second son, Juan Arias +Davilla, was Bishop of Segovia. + +Delegado Gonçalo, a Portuguese convert of the sixteenth century, was a +poet. One poem narrates the circumstances of an English incursion in +1596, during which the town of Faro was stormed and sacked. The poem is +dedicated to Ruy Lourenzo de Tovava. + +Deza, Diego de, was not himself a convert, but of Jewish descent. He was +second inquisitor-general, Bishop of Salamanca, Professor of Theology +there, friend and protector of Christopher Columbus, and finally +Archbishop of Seville, in which city he died in 1506. + +Diego de Valencia, a satirical Spanish poet in the fifteenth century, +after embracing Christianity, entered the Franciscan Order, and +receiving the degree of doctor of theology, was known among his +contemporaries as a very learned physician, astrologer, and master of +sciences (_gran letrado_, _fisico_, _astrologo é mecanico_). He was one +of the leading Valencian poets, and most of his poems are contained in +the "Cancionero de Baena." + +Dominico Irosolimitano, born in Safed, Galilee about 1550, died in Italy +about 1620. He was educated at the rabbinical college in his native +city, studying not only the Talmud, but also medicine. After having +obtained the degree of doctor and the title of Rab, he lectured on +Talmudic law in Safed. His fame as a physician spread far and wide, so +that the Sultan of Turkey summoned him to Constantinople as Court +Physician. Subsequently he embraced Christianity, went to Rome, and was +received at the college of the Neophytes, where he taught Hebrew. He was +then employed as expurgator of Hebrew books. Dominicus was the author of +a Hebrew book entitled, "Ma'ayan Gannim" (Fountain of the Gardens), on +the principles of the Christian faith. He also translated into Hebrew +the whole of the New Testament, and most of the Apocryphal books +(1615-17). He was the compiler of the "Sefer ha Zikuk" (Book of +Expurgation), still in manuscript, one copy of which (in the library of +Cardinal Berberini, Rome), shews revision by him as late as 1619. + +Drach David Paul Chevalier, born at Strasburg, in 1791, died in Rome. +Drach was the son of a rabbi, and received a good education from his +father. In 1823 he embraced Christianity together with his two daughters +and his son Paul, who afterwards became a priest and a distinguished +Biblical scholar. Drach senior accepted the position of librarian of the +Propaganda in Rome. His principal works are the following: An edition of +the "Bible de Venice," 27 volumes, with copious and learned notes, +Paris, 1827, 33; "Relation de la Conversion de M. Hyacinthe (Simon) +Deutz, Baptisé à Rome le 3 Février," 1826; "Précédée de Quelques +Considérations sur le Retour d'Israel dans l'Eglise de Dieu," Paris, +1828; "Notice Concernant l'Origine et les Progrès de l'Hospice +Apostolique de St. Michel," Rome, 1842; "De l'Harmonie Entre l'Eglise et +la Synagogue, ou Perpétuité de la Foi de la Réligion Chrétienne," 2 +volumes, Paris, 1844; "Lexicon Catholicum Hebraicum et Chaldaicum in V. +T. Libros, hoc est Gulielmi Gesenii Lexicon Manuale Hebræo-Latinum +Ordino Alphabetico Digestum," Paris, 1848; "Le Pieux Hebraisant," a work +containing the principal Christian prayers, and a summary of the +Catholic Catechism in Hebrew and Latin, _ib._ 1853; "Documents Nouveaux +sur les Restes des Anciens Samaritains" (from the Annales de +Philosophic Chrétienne), Nov. 1853, _ib._ 1854. + +Eliano, Vittorio, grandson of Elijah Levita, a convert of the sixteenth +century. He became priest and canon. Well versed in Hebrew literature, +he was appointed censor of Hebrew books, first at Cremona, afterwards +(1567), at Venice. In this capacity he permitted (1557) the publication +of the "Zohar," and edited the "Tur" in 1558. + +Eskelis, Denis Baron de, and his sister, Countess of Winifen, son and +daughter of Freiherr Von Bernhard Eskelis, Austrian financier, who was +the founder of the Austrian National Bank, embraced Christianity in the +nineteenth century. Denis succeeded his father in the management of the +banking-house. + +Felix Pratensis, born at Prato, Italy, in the second half of the +fifteenth century, died at Rome in 1539. In 1518 he embraced +Christianity, then joined the Augustine Order and devoted himself to +missionary work among his brethren. He had a perfect knowledge of three +languages, and displayed such great fervour, though apparently with +little discretion, in his sermons, that he was called "the Jews' +scourge." While still a member of the synagogue, Felix published a Latin +translation of the Psalms, entitled, "Psalterium ex Hebræo ad Verbum +Translatum," Venice 1515. He arranged the Masorah for the "Biblia +Veneta," 1518, published by his disciple Bromberg. + +Ferretti Francesco Maria (Abot), whose Jewish name was Sabbathai Nahum, +was a native of Ancona or had been rabbi there, for he calls himself +d'Ancona. He embraced Christianity in 1734. He wrote a book entitled, +"La Verita della Fede Christiana," Venice, 1741. In this book there is a +prayer in Hebrew and Italian which gives us an insight into his +experience and life as a seeker after the truth. + +The prayer is as follows:-- + +"Creator of the worlds, Lord of lords! It is revealed and known before +the Throne of Thy Majesty that for many years my heart is restless and +my spirit is drawn hither and thither, in that the thought occurs to me +to forsake the faith of my fathers and to accept the Christian faith. I +do not, however, know whether this desire is good, a pure effect of the +working of the Holy Spirit, which aims at my salvation, and is +determined before the Throne of Thy Majesty, that Thy will and pleasure +should be accomplished in this faith. It is also known unto Thee that +just when I am in the synagogue or in the houses of study, and even in +the highest festivals when I am engaged in prayer, the desire of +acknowledging the Christian faith inflames my heart and mind to the +utmost. I cannot do otherwise. I must leave my bed in the middle of the +night, and with bitter tears which Thou wilt not disdain, beseech Thee, +that on the ground of Thy thirteen attributes, Thou mayest deliver me +from these inward vexations. Yet they become stronger and more vehement +every day, so that I am powerless to overcome them, and in weariness +repine. No sooner does one thought leave me than another arises; the +one whispers this, the other that. I am dumb and without advice. Thou +knowest also that, after I made an excursion and returned home, I felt a +little easier, but these thoughts took hold of me more mightily, making +me anxious with fear and dread, and giving me not a moment's rest either +day or night. They pursue me while dreaming or awake, on all my ways, so +that life is a misery to me. Therefore, O Lord, Thou God of Abraham, +Isaac, and Jacob, who art enthroned over the Cherubim, hear me! O Lord, +hearken unto me! Here I am, here I am! Behold, in fasting and in prayer +I supplicate Thy lovingkindness and grace, that Thou mayest graciously +incline to me from Thy throne of glory and grant my request. O, my God, +teach me to pray humbly and acceptably. Give me a new and pure heart, +and renew my spirit, that I may be enabled to understand the inward +emotions and to perceive the truth. Save me from this tribulation, and +lead me in the right way. If it is determined before the Throne of Thy +Majesty that I should accept the Christian faith, because it is good, +holy, and acceptable to Thee; O, so may it please Thee that I should +walk about in peace, and not depart from Thy way and will. All things +come from Thee, and Thou hast dominion over all, and Thou enlightenest +the eyes of those who love Thee, and Thou accomplishest that which is in +accordance with Thy counsel. When after this month is passed, these +spiritual emotions do not cease, then I will in truth acknowledge that +Thou alone from Thy dwelling place in heaven hast wrought this +restlessness in me, in order to lead me to my soul's salvation. So take +hold of me with Thy right hand, bring my soul near to redemption, and +save me from mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup +runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of +my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Praised be +Thou, O Lord. Teach me Thy statutes. Praised be Thou who hearest prayer. +Amen." + +Ferrus, Peter, a Jewish convert to Christianity, lived in Spain in the +fifteenth century. He was a poet of ability, but lacked discretion as +well as charity in his poems with regard to the Jews. + +Franchi, Guglielmo Dei, born in Rome, died there about 1660. After +having embraced Christianity he joined the monastic order of +Vallombrosa, and devoted himself to the dissemination of knowledge of +Hebrew among Christians. In 1596 he published, at Rome, a Hebrew +alphabet ("Alphabeticum Hebraicum"), giving the rules for the reading of +Hebrew, and three years later a short Hebrew grammar. (Bergamo, 1599.) + +Gonzalo, Garcia De Santa Maria, son of Paul of Burgos, was baptized with +his father in 1379, when he was eleven years old. He was appointed +archdeacon of Briviesca in 1412, and then successively Bishop of +Astorga, of Placentia, and of Siguenza. Besides his ecclesiastical and +historical studies, he made himself familiar with Jewish literature, and +was one of the most learned men of his time in Spain. He was present at +the Council of Basel as a delegate from Aragon. + +Forti, Hortensius (Johanan Hazak), Jewish convert to Christianity, lived +in the sixteenth century, born at Gorima, and settled at Prague, under +Maximilian II. He wrote "Dikduk Leshon Kodesh," a Hebrew grammar, +Prague, 1565-66, and "De Mystica Literarum Significatione," in which he +expatiates on the different ways of writing the Holy Name. The latter +work was published by Kircher in his "Oedipus Aegptytiacus ii." + +Heydeck, Don Juan, was before his conversion to Christianity a rabbi in +Germany, and afterwards professor of Oriental languages at the +University of Madrid. In 1792 he published a work in three vols. +entitled, "Defense de la religion Christiana," in which he reputed the +errors and attacks of Voltaire and Rousseau. This work next to the Bible +was the means of convincing Dr. Cappadose and Da Costa of the truth of +the Gospel. In 1807 Napoleon convoked a great Jewish Sanhedrin, when +some of the delegate rabbis were exuberant in their flattery of him as +if he had been the Messiah. Thus the Italian Rabbi Segri, in an oration +in honour of Napoleon's birthday said: "Truly a supernatural genius +appeared upon earth, invested with greatness and infinite fame." _Et ecce +cum nubibus coeli quasi Filius hominis veniebat et dedit ei potestatem +et honorem et regnum_ (Dan. vii. 13). R. David Zinsheimer, of +Strassburg, applied to him in a sermon, Isa. xlii. 1, 4, 6. Another +Italian rabbi opened the sitting with a speech in which this passage +occurs in reference to Napoleon. _Le genie createur, qui parmi les +mortels est le mieux formée à l'image de Dieu, en suit les traces +sublime._ It was then that Heydeck wrote to them, "If the Son of Man +shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John viii. 36.) (See +"Christen und Juden," by Dr. A. Fürst, p. 202. See also the "Missionary +Journal" of Dr. Joseph Wolf, 1824, containing a letter of Heydeck to a +friend of Wolf in England, in which he expresses great interest in +Wolf's journey to Jerusalem, and asks his correspondent to tell him that +it is his wish that he may become like Joseph in Egypt, a deliverer of +his brethren according to the flesh.) + +Henekstein, Alfred Freiherr Von, born at Ober Dobling, Austria, 1810, +died in Vienna, 1882. He was the son of the banker Joseph Von +Henekstein, and embraced Christianity in 1828. Joining the army in the +same year, he was gradually promoted, until in 1869 he was appointed +Chief of the General Staff. As such he acted under Benedek in the +Austro-Prussian war, when the Austrian army, through the blunders of +commanding officers, was defeated, and he and his superior were arrested +to appear before a court-martial. After some time the court was +dismissed without having given judgment. Leaving the army, Henekstein +passed the rest of his life in retirement in Vienna. + +Hess, Ernst Friedrich, lived in the sixteenth century. He was the author +of a controversial book entitled, "Neue Juden-geissel," cited as +"Flagellum Judæorum." (Fritzlar, 1589.) (Strack, "Sind die Juden +Verbrecher," p. 7.) + +Ibn Vives, Juan, grandson of one of the richest Jews of Valencia, was +the author of a book entitled, "Veritate Fidei Christianæ." It is +asserted in the "Jewish Encyclopædia" that he did this in self-defence, +because he was condemned in 1510 for Judaizing, but no proof is given. + +Iolante, a converted Jewess, married Dam Luis, brother of Henry, King of +Portugal, in the sixteenth century. + +Isaac Johann Levita, born in Germany 1515, died at Cologne, 1577. At +first he was a rabbi at Wetzler, he was baptized as a Protestant in +1546, but joined the Roman Catholic Church, and was appointed professor +of Hebrew at Cologne, which office he held until his death. He wrote a +Hebrew grammar in 1556. He also edited Maimonides' work on astrology, +and Moses ibn Tibbon's commentary on Aristotle's physics (Cologne, +1555). + +Johannes Hispalensis, flourished between 1135 and 1153. He was a native +of Toledo, and hence also was called J. (David) Toletanus. He was one of +the earliest translators from the Arabic. He translated chiefly +astrological and astronomical, but likewise some philosophical, and a +few medical, works, such as "Fons Vitæ," and "Epitome Totius Astrologæ." + +Johannes Pauli, born about 1455, died at Thann, 1530. He became a +distinguished preacher of the Franciscan Order at Oppenheim and +Strassburg, at which latter place he took notes of Geiler's Sermons, +which he edited at Schlettstadt, 1517. He is known chiefly, however, for +his collection of jests under the title, "Schimpf und Ernst" (Thann, +1519). Some of his stories were taken over into the "Hundred Merry +Tales" used by Shakespeare. + +John, of Capua, an Italian Jewish convert in the thirteenth century. He +translated Rabbi Joel's Hebrew version of "Kallilah wa Dimnah," from +Arabic into Latin, under the title, "Discetorium Vitæ Humane," and his +translation was the source from which that work became so widely spread +in almost all European tongues. + +Joshua Halorki was born in Spain in the latter part of the fourteenth +century, at Lorca, in Murcia. He early distinguished himself as a subtle +Talmudist and skilful physician. He was a Jew of the straitest sect. His +scrupulous search for arguments against Christianity was over-ruled to +his discovering that Christianity was founded on the Rock of Ages, +against which the very gates of hell could not prevail. Dr. Joshua de +Lorca then confessed, publicly, that in assaying to convict the Hebrew +Christian, Solomon Halevi, of heresy, he proved himself to be ignorant +of the spirit, and an unbeliever in the letter, of Moses and the +Prophets. He begged for the privilege of being baptized. He assumed the +name, when the sacrament of baptism was administered to him, of Geronymo +à Santa Fé. It was soon made evident that Joshua--or Geronymo, or +Hieronymus, as he is variably known in ecclesiastical history--was a +chosen vessel in the hands of his Redeemer. The new Hebrew Christian +devoted his immense wealth, intellectual and other, towards the +promotion of his Saviour's honour and glory, especially amongst his +Jewish brethren. His extensive acquaintance with Talmudical and other +Jewish lore, enabled him so to expose their false teaching, as to make +their fallacies very evident to such as would not hoodwink their reason +by impervious prejudice. His celebrated work, "Probationes N. T. ex V. +T. per quas doctrina Talmud improbitur, et dicitur liber contra errores +Judæorum," is one of the most decisive testimonies for Christianity, and +against Talmudism, which a Hebrew Christian witness could have borne. + +In the year 1413, an ever memorable conference between Jewish and +Christian divines was agreed upon. The meeting was convened at Tortosa, +in Aragon. The Pope-Pretender, Benedict XIII., or Pedro de Luna, +presided. The most renowned and famous Rabbis of the time were ranged on +one side, Geronymo à Santa Fé--assisted by Andreas Baltram, a native of +Valencia, another Hebrew Christian, afterwards Bishop of Barcelona--on +the other side, and they met on the 7th of February, 1413, to discuss +whether "Jesus, called of Nazareth, who was born at Bethlehem in the +latter days of King Herod, seventy years before the destruction of the +second temple, who was crucified, and died at Jerusalem, is really the +true Messiah, foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament." The +discussion lasted till Nov. 12, 1414. It occupied sixty-nine sessions. +It was attended by the grandees of the Church and Synagogue of the day. +The result was wonderful. All the Jewish disputants, with the exception +of two, admitted, and signed a declaration accordingly, that they were +fairly vanquished, and that utterly. Upwards of five thousand Jews made +a public confession of their faith in Christ, and were baptized into the +same. + +There is an account of that conference in a parchment MS., consisting of +409 fols., in Sto. Lorenzo del Escorial, entitled, "Hieronymi de Santa +Fide Medici Benedicti XIII. Processus rerum et tractuum et Europæ, +Rabbinorum ex une parte, et Catholicorum ex alia, ad convicendos Judæos +de adventu Messiæ." Contemporary Jewish writers are ominously silent +about it. The story of Joshua Halorki is full of suggestive matter for +serious thought for the Rabbis of modern synagogues, and for Christian +ministers of modern churches. + +John, of Valladolid, born 1335. An able speaker and acquainted with +rabbinical literature, he persuaded King Henry of Castile that he could +convince the Jews of the truth of Christianity if they were obliged to +listen to him and to answer his questions. An order was accordingly +issued, compelling the Jews to attend John's lectures in their +synagogues and to discuss them with him. In company with another Jewish +convert, John travelled throughout the Castilian provinces, lectured and +debated in the synagogues, but with lack of success. At Avilla, he +assembled the Jews four times and discussed with them the tenets of +Christianity before numerous Christian and Moslem audiences. At Burgos, +he summoned Moses ha Cohen, of Tordesillas, to a religious controversy +in the presence of Archbishop Gomez, of Toledo, but he made no +impression upon his opponent. Just because he was not content in +bringing arguments from Scripture to prove Christian doctrines, but in +imitation of the rabbinical method, he tried to base a doctrine on the +form of a letter. Thus, for instance, he claimed that the final closed +"mem" in the word [Hebrew: lemarbeh] (Isa. ix. 6), is an allusion to the +immaculate conception. + +Levi Barach (Joseph Jean François Elie), born at Hagenau, Elssas, 1721, +embraced Christianity in Paris, 1752. His wife refused to live with him, +and he refused to divorce her according to Jewish law. He obtained from +the Bishops of Verdun and Metz canonical opinions that a baptized Jew +might marry a Christian if his wife refused to be converted with him. + +Levi Ben Shem Job, Portuguese convert, lived at the end of the fifteenth +century. He is identified by some scholars with a certain Antonio, who +was chief surgeon of King John II., and who wrote a pamphlet entitled, +"Ajudo da Fé Contra os Judaeos." + +Mandl Christof, a Hungarian Jewish convert, baptized in 1534. His +godfather was George, Margrave of Brandenburg, to whom Mandl dedicated +his tract entitled, "Dass Jesus sey das Ewig Wort" (1536). He also wrote +two other tracts on the "Seventy Weeks of Daniel," and "Jesus is the +Messiah" (1552-7). + +Margarita Antonius, son of Rabbi Jacob Margoliouth, of Regensburg, was +baptized in 1552, at Wasserburg, Bavaria. He was teacher of Hebrew +successively at Augsberg, Meissen, Zell, Leipzig, and Vienna, where he +died. His book, "Der ganze Jüdische Glaub," &c., contained among some +good things, many bad and foolish things, and caused much harm to the +Jews and to the author himself. His work was variously received. Luther +made use of it in his writings. It was praised by Hoornbeek, B. +Luthenes, and Joseph Muller, while Wagenseil (who, as is well known, was +not very partial to the Jews,) spoke of it less favourably. According to +de le Roi he joined the Roman Church as a Protestant. + +Medici Paulus, a Jewish convert of whom the Roman Catholic Church had +reason to be proud, was a learned theologian and a skilful +controversialist against modern Judaism. Of his numerous works may here +be mentioned: 1. "Catalogo de Neofiti" (_illustri_), 1701. 2. +"Promptuarium Biblicorum Textuum ad Catholicum Fidem confirmandam et +Judaeorum informandam perfidiam" (1707). 3. "Dialoghi sacri supra il +vechiv e Nouvo Testamento," 41 parts in 21 vols. (Venice, 1731-35). 4. +"Riti e costumi degli Ebrei confutati" (Fifth edition, Venice, 1557). +This work is partly supplementary and partly antagonistic to a similar +work by the famous Jewish scholar, Leon de Modena. + +Mendelson (Sorel) Mendelssohn, youngest daughter of Moses Mendelssohn +the philosopher, joined the Church of Rome at the beginning of the +eighteenth century. She is described as "a woman of broad interests, +clear judgment, and exquisite manners." + +Morasini Giulio (Samuel Ben Nahamias, Ben David, B. Isaac, B. David, +Baal Teshubah) was born at Venice, 1612; died in 1687. He was descended +from a wealthy family which traced its ancestry back to Nehemiah. In +1649 he was present at a disputation held in Venice between two Jews +(one of whom was a convert), relating to the "Seventy Weeks of Daniel." +He then, together with his brother Joseph, decided to embrace +Christianity, and was baptized November 22 of the same year, his +godfather being Angelo Morasini, whose name he took. He went to Rome +under Alexander VII., intending to become a Capuchin monk, but was +dissuaded by the Pope. Clement IX. appointed him Hebrew scrittore of the +Vatican library, and he taught Hebrew in the Propaganda. He was the +author of a work entitled, "Derek Emunah" (Way of Faith), Rome, 1683. It +has as a frontispiece a portrait of the author at the age of +seventy-two, and is preceded by a sketch of his life. + +Nachman ben Samuel Halevi, Rabbi of Busk, Galicia. When Mikulski, the +administrator of the Archbishopric of Lemberg, invited the +representatives of Judaism to a disputation with the Frankists, July 16, +1759, he was one of the Frankist delegates. He afterwards became a +Christian, and took the name of Pietr Jacobski (Gräetz x., 392). + +Nola, Menahem (John Paul Eustatius), born about 1570, died at Rome about +1608. Having instructed Thomas Aldobrandino, brother of the Pope Clement +VIII., in Hebrew, he was influenced by him to become a Christian, and was +baptized in 1568. He was the author of several Italian works, mainly in +defence of Christianity. "Sacro Settenario" (Naples, 1579) is a +compilation of extracts from the Bible, with an explanation of the +ceremony of the opening of the gates in the year of Jubilee. "Salutori +Discorse" (_ib._ 1582) contains nine sermons on various dogmas of +Christianity, including those of the Trinity and the necessity for the +coming of the Messiah. Some of Nola's works are found in the library of +the Vatican, among them being commentaries, in manuscript, on +Lamentations and Ruth. He wrote also a description of the Hebrew +manuscripts in that library. + +Nunez, Henrique Judae, Portuguese convert, born in Borba, Portugal, died +in 1524. It is asserted that he acted as a spy against his people, and +in consequence was stabbed by two Maranos, disguised as monks. He had +received the appellation of Firme Fé, was revered as a saint, and people +ascribed marvellous healing power to his tomb. + +Vettinger, Edward Maria, born at Breslau, 1808, died at Blaseritz, near +Dresden, 1872. In 1828 he embraced Christianity. He wrote many works, +comprising novels, poems, satires, historical and biographical writings, +a complete list of which may be found in the "Moniteur des Dates," vi., +83, Dresden, 1868. This work may be mentioned here in particular. It +gives short biographical notes of important men (over 1,000,000 in +number) from the dawn of history to the date of the completion of the +book, including living persons. + +Paul de Burgos, called also Santa Maria. His Jewish name was Solomon ha +Levi; born at Burgos 1350, died in 1435. He was the wealthiest and most +prominent Jew of the city, and was thoroughly conversant with the Talmud +and rabbinical literature, and up to his fortieth year he officiated as +Rabbi of Burgos. His scholarship and intelligence, as well as his piety, +won the praise of Isaac ben Sheshet. Abrabanel, in his Commentary on +Isa. xxxiv., calls him a wise man. He embraced Christianity in 1370, in +his native place, after having studied diligently the O. T., especially +Jer. xxxi., the N. T. and the works of Thomas Aquinas. He said later, +_Paulus me ad fidem convertit_. His mother and his children were +baptized with him, but not his wife, who refused, yet was later +reconciled to him and also baptized. After finishing his theological +studies at Paris, he was ordained and appointed Archdeacon of Trevino, +and in 1402 became Bishop of Carthagena. Subsequently he became a member +of the regency of Castile and Archbishop of Burgos. He wrote "Dialogus +Pauli et Sauli Contra Judæos sive Sive Scrutinium Scripturarum," but his +principal work (in 1427) is "Additiones," which consists of addenda and +emendations to Nicolas de Lyra's Postiles on the Bible; also, in his old +age, he composed a "Historia Universal" in Spanish verse. As Jewish +writers assert that ambition and vanity were the motives of his +conversion, I give a short extract from his testament to his son, in +order that the reader may judge whether this charge is justified: "What +wouldest thou, my dearly beloved son, like best that I should give thee +while I am still alive, or leave for thee when I die? What better thing +could it be than the extension of that knowledge which thou hast already +gained from the Holy Scriptures, and which will strengthen thy +well-ordered zeal for the Christian truth?" He then quotes Isa. xxxviii. +19: "The father to the children shall make known Thy truth," and +continues: "I was not learned in my youth, but educated in Jewish +blindness and unbelief. While I learned to know the Holy Scriptures from +unholy teachers, I received the opinions of erring men who obscured the +pure letter of the Scriptures with impure devices. But it pleased Him +whose mercy is infinite to call me out of darkness to light and out of +the pit into the pure air of heaven; so that it appeared to me as if +scales fell from the eyes of my understanding. I began to seek the +truth, and to trust no more in myself, and so with a humble spirit I +prayed to God to shew me what appertained to the salvation of my soul. +Day and night I sought help from Him, and so it happened that my love +for the Christian truth increased, and finally I received strength +publicly to confess the faith which was already in my heart." Then after +telling his son how God had blessed him in raising him to a high +position of usefulness and dignity in the church, and that he had been +on intimate terms with King Henry III. and chancellor of his son, the +Regent of Spain, he intimates to him that, with all this, he had not +accumulated any worldly wealth. _Unum est quod silentio committere non +possumus nobis_ _ex Levitico sanguine descendentibus._ "One +circumstance which I cannot pass over in silence is this: that we are +descendants of Levi, and the promises which were given many centuries +ago have been fulfilled--'Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance +with his brethren, the Lord is his inheritance according as the Lord thy +God promised him' (Deut. x. 9). Truly God Himself is our inheritance. +Christ is our portion. This, my dearly beloved son, is my testament for +thee, and let it also be thine inheritance, that the Law of the Lord may +be thy joy, and that thou shouldest meditate upon His Word day and +night." + +Paulus of Prague, Elhanan ben Menahem; born in Chelm, Poland, about +1540; died at Prague about the end of the sixteenth century; baptized at +Nuremberg, 1556. He wrote several works in German, with Latin titles, in +defence of Christianity--1. "Solida et Perspicua Demonstratio de SS. +Trinitate." 2. "Confessio Fidei et Testimonia Scripturæ Sacræ de +Resurrectione Mortuorum." 3. "The Book of Jona," translated in Hebrew, +Greek, Latin and German. 4. "Mysterium Novum," with a preface of a +Hebrew poem consisting of 139 verses, arranged in alphabetical order, +and giving an acrostic of his own name. 5. "Symbolum Apostolicum." It is +asserted that he was twice baptized, or that he relapsed; but as writers +are not in accord with each other, as to dates and places, we may have +our doubts about it. + +Pierleoni (of a noble Roman family descended from a Jewish banker of +Rome) was baptized in the first half of the eleventh century, and took +the name of Benedictus Christianus. His son was named Leo, and his +grandson Petrus Leonis. It is from the latter that the family name is +derived. Petrus was prominent in the liberation of Pope Gelasius II., +and when Petrus died, his son of the same name was Cardinal, and on +several occasions rendered service to the Church. In 1130, this son, +Cardinal Pierleoni was elected Pope under the name of Anacletus II., +while the counter party chose Innocent II. + +Ponte, Lorenzo da (Jeremiah), born at Ceneda, Italy, 1749; died 1837. He +belonged to a well-known Jewish family, which had produced the +Italian-Turkish diplomatist, Dr. Israel Congeliano. He embraced +Christianity, assuming the name of Da Ponte, in honour of a Catholic +bishop who was his protector. At an early age he became professor of +_belles lettres_ at Treviso, and published various poems, including a +political satire, which led to his exile. He went to England and was +secretary to the Italian Opera Company in London. Then he went to +America, where he wrote various plays, sonnets, critical essays, and a +translation of the Psalms. But his best known work is his extremely +interesting "Memoirs," which Zuckerman has compared to Franklin's +Autobiography. They indicate that even in his youth he was proficient in +Hebrew, and the impress of his ancestry and of his early Jewish studies +has been discerned by critics of his works and views. + +Raphael, Mark, an Italian Jewish convert, flourished at Venice at the +beginning of the sixteenth century. It is said that he was a rabbi +before his conversion. He was consulted by Henry VIII. on the question +of the legality, according to Jewish law, of his levirate marriage to +Catharine of Braganza, and was invited by him to England. Raphael +accordingly arrived in London on January 28, 1531 (Calendar of State +Papers, Spanish, i. 335). He decided that such marriage was legal, but +suggested that the King might take another wife conjointly with the +first. Later, he reviewed his opinion by pointing to the object of +levirate marriage, and contending that as no children had been the +result of the union, the King must have married his brother's widow +without the intention of continuing his brother's line, and consequently +the marriage was illegitimate and invalid. We have here the picture of a +man whose mind as a Jew was trained in rabbinic quibbles, and as a +Romanist had learned to hold the doctrine of intention. + +Raimuch (Remoch) Astruc, physician of Fraga, in the fourteenth century. +As an orthodox Jew he visited Benveniste ibn Laki, of Saragossa, and +other prominent Jews; but in 1391 he embraced Christianity, taking the +name of Francisco Dias Corni, and endeavoured to convert his former +Jewish friends, among them, En Shealticel Bonfos (Gräetz viii. 85). + +Ratisbonne Alphonsi Marie, born at Strassburg in 1812, and died at +Jerusalem, 1884. After taking his degree in law he visited Rome, when +probably he met his brother, who won him for the Church. After passing +through the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, he joined the Order of +Notre Dame de Sion. He then went to Jerusalem, founded the Order of the +Sisters of Sion there, had a school for Jewish children, and officiated +there as a priest until his death. He was the author of "Elevations sur +les Litanies de la Sainte Vierge." + +Ratisbonne, Marie Thédor, brother of the former, born at Strassburg, +1802; died at Paris, 1884, was also a lawyer before his conversion. He +became successively, Professor in the Petit Seminaire, Assistant Rector +of the Cathedral of Strassburg, and Superior-General of the Order of +Notre Dame de Sion, founded by him in thanksgiving for the conversion of +his brother. Among other works, he published, "Essai sur l'Education +Morale" (Strassburg, 1828). "Histoire de Saint Bernard," 2 vols. (_ib._ +1841). "Le Manuel de la Mère Chrétienne" (_ib._ 186). "Questions Juives" +(1868). "Miettes Evangeliques" (_ib._ 1872). "Reponse aux Questions d'un +Israélite de Notre Temps" (_ib._ 1878). + +Ricius Augustinus, Jewish convert to Christianity and astronomer of the +fifteenth century. He was a disciple of R. Abraham Zacuto, and wrote a +work on the motion of the eighth sphere, a Latin translation of which +appeared in Paris, 1521. He quotes Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Hiyya, and +other Jewish authors, and mentions the epoch 1477. + +Riccio Paulo, or Paulus Riccius, was born in Germany, and flourished in +the first half of the sixteenth century. After his conversion to +Christianity he became Professor of Philosophy in the University of +Pavia, subsequently he was physician to Maximilian I. He was a friend of +Erasmus, and held a controversy with Eck on astronomical subjects. He +sought the spiritual welfare of his Jewish brethren, and imparted to +Christians much information about Jewish literature. His best known book +is his "De Posta Lucis R. Josephi Gecatilia" (Augsburg, 1616), which is +a free translation of a part of the Kabbalistic work of "Sha'a re Orah," +by Joseph Gikatila. Jerome Riccio (Hieronymes Riccius), Paulo's son, +sent a copy of the work to Reuchlin, who utilized it in the composition +of his "De Arte Cabbalistica." Riccio relates that he was ordered by the +Emperor Maximilian to prepare a Latin translation of the Talmud. All +that has come down of it are the translations of the tractates of +"Berakhoth, Sanhedrin, and Makkoth" (Augsburg, 1519), which are the +earliest Latin renderings of the "Mishnah" known to bibliographers. The +most important of his works is "De Cælisti Agricultura," a large +religio-philosophical work in four parts, dedicated to the Emperor +Charles and to his brother Ferdinand (Augsburg, 1541, 2nd ed. Basel, +1597). His "Opuscula Varia," which contains a treatise on the 613 +commandments, a religio-philosophical and controversial work, aiming to +demonstrate to the Jews the truths of Christianity, and an introduction +to the Kabbalah, followed by a compilation of its rules and dogmas, went +through four editions (Pavia 1510, Augsburg 1515, 1541, and Basel 1597). +Riccio wrote about ten other works, all in Latin, on various religious, +philosophical and Kabbalistic subjects, which appeared in Augsburg in +1546, and were reprinted in Basel in 1599. + +Rittangel, Johann Stephanus, controversial writer, born at Forsheim, +near Bamberg; died at Königsberg in 1652. He first became a Roman +Catholic, but when he found out the serious errors of the Roman Catholic +Church he became a Protestant. He was professor of Oriental languages at +Königsberg, and issued a number of translations of Hebrew works: one of +the "Sefer Yezirah" (1642); one of the "Passover Haggadah" (1644); he +published also his "Libra Vertatis" (Fraenker, 1698); and one of the +earliest translations of Jewish prayers, under the title, +"Hochfeyerliche Solentäten, Gebete und Collecten Anstalt der Opfer, +nebst andern Ceremonien so von der Jüdischen Kirchen am Ersten +Neuen-Jahrstag Gebet und Abendgebet werden müssen" (Königsberg, 1653). +His posthumous work, "Biblia Veritatis" was written to substantiate the +claim that the Targums prove the doctrine of the Trinity. This is also +the subject of his "Veritatis Religionis Christianæ." + +Rosenthal, David Augustus, German physician and author, born at Neisse, +Silesia, 1812; died at Breslau, 1575. In 1851 he embraced Roman +Catholicism and set about to improve the tone of the Catholic press and +the condition of the Catholics of Silesia. In 1862 he edited the +poetical works of the Roman Catholic mystic, Angelus Silesius, better +known as Johan Scheffler. Between 1869 and 1872, he published his +"Convertetenbilder aus dem neinzehnten Jahrhundert" (4 vols., +Schaffhausen), or biographical sketches of Jews and Protestants who had +embraced the Roman Catholic faith during the nineteenth century. This +was arranged according to countries. A supplement of the entire work is +found in the last volume. The "Convertetenbilder," which went through +several editions, is a very important contribution to the history of the +Church in the nineteenth century, and supplements de le Roi's work, +"Geschichte der Evangelischen Juden Mission," which treats only of the +Jews who have joined the Protestant Church. + +Santangel (Sancto Angelos) Luis (Azorias) De, a convert and learned +jurist of Calatayad, Spain, died before 1459. He was converted by the +sermons of Vincent Ferrer (probably in 1412, when that missionary was +most active) and was made magistrate of the capital of Aragon. One of +his grandsons took part in the discovery of America by lending 17,000 +ducats towards the expenses without interest. + +Sixtus Sinensis, born at Sienna in 1520; died in 1569. After embracing +Christianity he joined the Franciscan Order. By the order of Paul IV., +Sixtus and another convert travelled about the Papal States preaching in +the synagogues. He was more favourable to the Zohar than to the Talmud. +Besides homilies and mathematical writings, Sixtus was the author of the +"Bibliotheca Sancta" (Venice, 1566), a Latin work in eight books, +treating of the divisions and authority of the Bible. It contains an +alphabetical index and an alphabetical list of the rabbinical +interpreters of the Bible. + +Ugolino Blaisio, an Italian Jewish convert, born about 1700. He is known +for his "Thesaurus Antiquitatum" (34 vols., Venice, 1744-69). In this +work he reprinted most of the seventeenth century treatises on Jewish +antiquities by Bochart, Bonfrère, Buxtrof, Carpzov, Cellarius, +Clavering, Deyling, Goodwin, Hottinger, Huet, Lowth, Opitz, Pfeiffer, +Prideaux, Reland, Rhenferd, Saubertius, Selden, Sigonius, Spencer, +Trigland, Van Til, Wagenseil, and Witsius, besides some from fresh +contributors, and translating much himself from the "Midrashim." He also +himself translated the treatises Menahoth, and Zebahim (vol. xxi.) +Pesahim, Shekalim, Yoma, Succa, Rosh-Hashanah, Tamid, Megilah, Hagigah, +Bezah, Moed Katon, Ma'aseroth, Maaser Sheni, Hallah, Orlah, and Bikkurim +(vols, xvii.-xix.), besides a part of Maimonides' "Yad-Hazakah," and of +Abraham Portaleone's "Shilte ha Gibborim." + +Veil, Ludwig Karl de, a native of Metz, whose father and grandfather +were rabbis, the latter an author of Hebrew books, embraced the Roman +Catholic faith at the age of 17, when he was a teacher of Hebrew in +1655. It is said that Louis XIII., King of France, compelled him to be +baptized in Compiègne. At all events, the King and the Queen were his +sponsors. He is also called Compiègne, after the town. He became +afterwards ordinary Royal professor of Oriental languages in the +Sorbonne, Paris. Wagenseil, who made his acquaintance in Paris, praises +him for his modesty as well as for his learning and talents. Ludwig de +Veil translated the first eight tracts of the "Yad-Hazakah" of +Maimonides into Latin, adding notes thereto (Paris, 1662-78); also +"Sefer Hakorbanoth," with Abrabanel's introduction to Leviticus (London, +1683). A separate edition of this introduction appeared under the title +"Hakdamat Abravenl El Sefer Wayikra" (Amsterdam, 1701). + +Veit, Johann Emanuel was born in Ruthenplan, in Bohemia, in 1789, died +in Vienna in 1876. He was the son of a rich Jew named Benedict (Boruch). +He studied medicine and philosophy first at Prague and then in Vienna, +in which city he became professor and director in the Veterinary College +in 1819. In the newspaper "Bohemia," he was reported to have given the +reason for his conversion in these words:--"I went through the Old +Testament, and now I must look into the New." And to Döllinger he once +said, "Judaism is the vestibule to the Hall Christianity, and I wanted +to pass from the one to the other." Here are some remarks which he made +occasionally in letters to friends with reference to his spiritual +development and his coming to Christ. Thus he wrote:--"The time past, +the near as well as the remote, lies behind me like a series of +dissolving views. I am not in the state to give chronological data, I +know only that it is a good while ago that a decided direction to the +positive belief took me without my exertion." A deeper view is given to +us in the following letter:--"You do not know the miserable history of +my life, neither the ways by which the Divine Mercy has conducted me, +nor the unutterable distress incumbent upon me. Nobody did know me, +myself the least, but the Lord has helped me wonderfully. What can the +world judge of a poor, contrite old student, full of sinfulness, +craving only God's love, who has finally prostrated himself, in great +anxiety of heart, at the feet of Jesus, the Crucified, crying, 'O Lord, +do not cast away from Thee the poor dog which licks Thy feet, although +it stretches still its nostrils to the hideous savours of this world.'" +Having such a confession before us, we forbear to search after other +influences which may have worked upon his soul. A true Israelite, with +the humility of the woman of Samaria, he found in Jesus Christ the peace +with God which neither Judaism, the modernised as little as the +rabbinical, nor the philosophical systems could give him. Of course, he +desired to confess his belief in Jesus Christ as his Saviour and +Redeemer by baptism, and this he did on May 4th, 1816, in the Church of +St. Carl, Vienna. Eventually Veit was appointed as Cathedral preacher at +St. Stephen's and his fervent eloquence drew large crowds to hear him, +and many on bended knees cried out for pardon of secret sins. When in +1840 the Damascus blood accusation affair took place, Veit stood up in +the pulpit before the whole congregation, lifted up a crucifix, and +swore solemnly that this oft repeated accusation had no foundation +whatever in fact. + +Wolken of Ratisbon, a convert to Roman Catholicism in the second half of +the fifteenth century. In contrast to Veit, he was an accuser of his +former co-religionists. Whether this arose from personal spite or from +superstition does not matter. His memory is only here preserved as a +warning to others. + +Wolowski, a Polish family in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, +directly descended from Osias Tebuat Shor, gave to the Roman Catholic +Church several members, _viz._, a Jewess named Hayya Wolowski (she had +an excellent knowledge of the "Zohar"), Nathan ben Elisha (Michael +Wolowski) and his brother Solomon (Lucas Francis Levi Wolowski). They +were all influenced in favour of Christianity by the Frankist movement. +Some descendants of this family are still living in Galicia. + + + + +ADDENDA. + +CONVERTS IN THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM" IN LONDON. + + +The subject under the above title requires a special paragraph, because +it manifests to us the zeal which English Christians in the Middle Ages +displayed with regard to the conversion of the Jews, and that their +effects were richly blessed. + +In an article in the "Hebrew Christian Witness," 1875, by Christopher +Chattoc, of Haye House, Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire, entitled "Traces +of Early Anglo-Hebrew Christians from Authentic Sources," he says:--"All +our best historians allege that, at the expulsion of the Jews from this +country in 1290, about fifteen thousand were expelled. If we compare +this number with the approximate amount of the then population, it is +something considerable, and if we take the present population of the +country and compare the number of converted and unconverted Jews at the +present time, the relative proportion of converted Jews in 1290 would be +at least--say, five hundred. This cannot by any means be considered an +excessive estimate for men, women and children, as the conqueror is said +to have brought over Jews in great numbers, and they were much favoured +by the three first Norman kings. The 'Domus Conversorum,' or home for +converts, was established in 1232 (by order of Henry III.), a private +one in 1213 in London, and one even much earlier still in Oxford." He +then gives a list of three long pages full of names of clergy and +others, in which he traces Jewish names anglicized, and refers to quite +a number of historical works. This cannot for want of space be +reproduced here. I will only mention that Dr. M. Margoliouth said that +there were three Kings in Great Britain by the name of Solomon. But the +article by Rabbi Michael Adler, in the "Jewish Encyclopædia," may be +given in abridged form. "The 'Domus Conversorum' was situated in +Chancery Lane and had a Chapel attached to the buildings.[4] A similar +institution, on a much more modest scale, having been commenced by the +clergy in 1213. A chaplain was appointed to instruct the converts and a +warden to attend to their temporal affairs. Each male inmate received +1-1/2d., equal to about 2s. 6d. of the present currency, and each female +1d. During the fifty years that elapsed from the time of the founding of +the 'Domus' until the year of the great expulsion, about a hundred Jews +in all (?) participated in the benefits of the institution, a small +proportion out of the 1,600 Jews in England. All the expenses of the +'Domus' were borne by the royal treasury, while some of the bishops left +bequests to augment its funds. In addition to these sources of income, a +small poll-tax, called 'the chevage,' was levied upon all Jews, above +the age of twelve, to support their converted brethren. The treasury +grant amounted annually to £202 0s. 4d. (in present currency about +£4,000). At times this contribution was not forthcoming, and the +'converts' were reduced to sore straits of poverty. In 1271 the King +addressed a letter to the Mayor of London, and to the Warden of the +'Domus' complaining of numerous irregularities in the management of the +house; and it was not till the year of 1280, under the custos of John de +St. Denis, that definite regulations for the control of the institution +were drafted. The records of the 'Domus' end at the year 1608. As late +as the year 1717 a London converted Jew petitioned King George I. for a +grant from the funds of the 'Domus.'" + + +[4] The house was taken from a Jew named Herberton. + + +In accordance with the method pursued in this work, I give an +alphabetical list of the converts mentioned by name, in the above +article, as converts in the house:-- + + Arthur Antoc, 1663. + + Aseti Briasti and his wife, Perota, of France, in the + 14th century. + + Belager, a rabbi of Oxford, entered the house in 1281. + + Claricia, a Jewess from Exeter, resided there in 1353. + + Elizabeth, described as the daughter of Rabbi Moses, + Episcopus Judæorum, joined the converts in 1339. + She remained in the house for seventeen years. + + Edward of Westminster lived there from 1461 to + 1503. + + Edward Scales, from 1503 to 1527. + + Elizabeth Ferdinando, admitted in 1603. + + Elizabeth Baptista, from 1504 to 1532. + + Elizabeth Portugale, from 1492 to 1538. + + Fortunati Massa, admitted in 1581. + + Henry of Stratford, 1416-41. + + John of Castile, admitted in 1366. + + John de Sancta Maria of Spain, 1371-1405. + + John Durdragt of Dordrecht, Holland, 1425-55. + + John Fernando of Spain, 1487-1503. + + Katherine Wheteley, admitted in 1532. + + Mary Crook, admitted in 1532. + + Martin, son of Henry of Woodstock, 1413-1468, the + longest period of residence. + + Nathaniel Menda, from the Barbary States, 1578-1608. + He was baptized in London by John + Foxe, the author of "The Book of Martyrs." + + Philip Ferdinandus, a learned Polish Jew who had + taught Hebrew at Oxford and Cambridge and + Leyden, resided and died in the 'Domus' in 1600. + + Wolfgang, Jacob, from Germany, was admitted in the + year after the Gunpowder Plot. + + * * * * * + +_To be continued, and the next part will give accounts of Jewish +Converts in the Protestant Churches since the Reformation._ + + + + +PART II. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CONVERTS IN THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES. + + +The Reformation ushered in the time of civil and religious liberty, of +progress in every department of human activity, of thorough +investigation of every branch of learning, of more sympathy with human +suffering, and of more zeal among enlightened Christians for the spread +of the Gospel among all the nations of the earth. The Jews, as a nation, +were certainly not unaffected by it. For as the Reformation purged a +great part of the Western Church from image worship, superstition, false +doctrine and papal supremacy, it at the same time removed some of the +obstacles in their way of entering a Christian Church. They could go +into any of the Reformed Churches and find no images in them, and listen +to the reading of their own Scriptures, to the singing of their own +Psalms, and to sermons which were of a character to awaken and to edify +them. No wonder that Jewish voluntary conversions to Christianity since +the Reformation are more numerous than in all the previous Christian +ages since the time of the Apostles. + +In our list we properly place first the name of a Jew who came in +contact with the pious Count Zinzendorf. The story is given by Professor +F. Delitzsch. + +ABRAHAM, a rabbi, met the Count at Romseberg, where the latter took +refuge when he was expelled from Saxony. After some conversation they +got attached to each other, so that R. Abraham once invited the Count to +dine with him on the Sabbath. The Count accepted the invitation as +readily as it was given, and, cutting a slice from the loaf said, "Tell +me, Rabbi Abraham, if your hospitality is always so ready; has it never +been abused?" "Never, my lord," answered the rabbi. "I shall not be +tired of giving as long as my hand has something to give. It has been my +custom from my youth up; and even an apple never tastes as good as it +does when I have given a half to one poorer than myself. Besides, the +habit has been of great service to me." He then told him how, one +Sabbath day, a rough-looking man came in and asked for alms. Not daring +to touch money on the Sabbath day, he invited him to dine with the +family. After the meal the man departed with a gruff word of thanks. Not +long afterwards Abraham was passing through a forest, when robbers +seized him and nearly killed him, and, while on his knees recommending +his soul to God, another robber came up and called out, "Rabbi Abraham, +do you not know me? A man who fed me when I was hungry shall not die +thus." And, thrusting a piece of gold into the old man's hand, he drew +his companions away with him into the forest, leaving the rabbi to +pursue his journey. These two tried men became after this even greater +friends than before. The Count, like Philip of old, declared unto him +the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rabbi Abraham became a believer, attended +the services of the Moravian Brethren, but remained still unbaptized. +When he at last lay on his sick bed, Leonard Dober, one of the Count's +assistants, came to visit him. "Welcome, dear brother," said he, "at my +last hour. You sought me for years in the Lord's name, with love and +kind words; and see I have been found. My end is near; so is my +salvation. Will the Lord accept one who comes to Him at the last hour, +even though he approaches His Throne without the sacrament of baptism?" +"Yes," said Dober, "decidedly, as surely as it is written, 'Him that +cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out!'" "Blessed be the Holy One of +Israel for that word," said the dying man. Then he called for his son +Zadok and blessed him; and the last word they heard was, "Hallelujah!" + +ABRAHAMS, Rev. George, Minister of the Regent Street Chapel, London, in +the first half of the eighteenth century. + +ABRAMSON, a famous medal engraver, born in Potsdam, Prussia, in 1754, +died in 1811. He was a royal medallist and a member of the Academy of +Arts. He wrote on the taste for medals and numismatics, 1801. + +ABRAHAMSON, Rev. A. E., B.A., Oxon., Rector of Skilgate, Wiveliscombe. A +convert of the L.J.S., carrying on occasionally a mission to Jews in +Russia by correspondence. + +ADAM, Michael, a convert at Zürich, + 1550, translated into Judæo-German +"Josephus' War," the Pentateuch, the five Megilloth, viz., The Song of +Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. In this work he +was supported by Paulus Fagius. + +ADLER, Rev. August Carl, a native of Höchst in Hesse Darmstadt, convert +and missionary of the L.J.S. After special training in the Hebrew +Missionary College, he laboured for a short time at Bucharest and at +Frankfort-on-the-Maine, and after 1872 he had the charge of the mission +at Amsterdam, where he laboured with great ability and success. He died +there September 15, 1907. At his funeral the Mayor of Amsterdam said +that his life left a lustre which would be a guide to many. He testified +that Adler had engraven the truth in the hearts of those who knew him. + +ADLER, Rev. J., after his baptism, studied at Basel, then in Operative +Jewish Converts' Institution. He was a devoted missionary of the Mildmay +Mission from its beginning until he died. He was well beloved by all who +came in contact with him. He translated the New Testament into Yiddish. + +ADLER, a brother of the above, did for a time evangelistic work among +the Jews in the Baltic Provinces. His daughter is now the wife of a +clergyman in Australia. + +ADRIAN, of Emden, embraced Christianity in 1607 at Frankfort. He wrote +an hortatory letter to the Jews of Wittenberg in 1609, exhorting them to +repent and believe in the Saviour. + +ADRIANUS, Mathaeus, a convert in Germany, well known to Erasmus. He was +professor of Hebrew, wrote an Introduction to the Hebrew language, and a +prayer entitled, "Hora pro Domino." + +AGOSHE, a Falasha convert of the L.J.S. in Abyssinia. He was won to the +Saviour through the instrumentality of Mr. Flad and Mr. Bronkhorst, and +was baptized with 21 others in 1862. During the imprisonment of the +missionaries he ministered to their wants by supplying them secretly at +night with food. After they were released, he went to study at St. +Chrischona, in Basel, but the climate did not agree with him. In 1873 he +returned to Abyssinia and with Samony founded a school at the station of +Asseso, laboured there with great fidelity, and bore testimony for +Christ before all classes. God owned and crowned his labours, for on one +Sunday ten Falashas were baptized, amongst whom were some of his +relations. + +ALAMY, or Alomy Debtera, another Abyssinian convert of the L.J.S., had +his sphere of labour at Dagusu. + +ALEXANDER, John, an English Jewish convert in the seventeenth century, +wrote after his baptism a book entitled, "Covenant Displayed," in which +he shewed his brethren that the covenant of God with Israel is only +realized in Christ Jesus. + +ALEXANDER, John, was for many years an agent of the Bible Society at the +Crystal Palace, and did good work there. He laboured also with the +writer and the late Mr. Mamlock at the Paris Exhibition in 1879. He +accompanied the Rev. Frederick Smith to St Petersburg in 1874, when they +obtained permission to reopen the Mission in Poland. Alexander wrote a +number of articles for the "Scattered Nation" and for "Good Words," and +a book entitled "The Jews, their Past, Present, and Future" (London, +1870). + +ALEXANDER, Michael Solomon, first Protestant Bishop in Jerusalem,[5] +was born of Jewish parents in Schönlanke, a small manufacturing town in +the grand duchy of Posen in May 1799. He was trained in the strictest +and straitest principles of rabbinical and orthodox Judaism. At the age +of sixteen he became a teacher of the Talmud and of the German language. +In 1820, when in his twenty-first year, he came to England to engage in +a similar pursuit, and also to perform the duties of a shochet. At that +time, as he said, he had not the slightest acquaintance with +Christianity, and did not even know of the existence of the New +Testament. His knowledge of Christ was limited to strong impressions of +prejudice against the Holy Name. Disappointed of a situation in London, +he settled down as a tutor at Colchester. There the sight of a handbill +of the London Jews' Society, notifying its Annual Meeting, aroused his +curiosity, and he obtained and read the New Testament. Shortly +afterwards he accepted the post of rabbi at Norwich, and subsequently at +Plymouth, and in 1821 he married Miss Levy of that town. He there, in +the providence of God, became acquainted with the Rev. B. B. Golding, +curate of Stonehouse, to whom he gave lessons in Hebrew, and from the +conversations which ensued from time to time, Alexander, after much +inward conflict, almost came to the conviction of the truth of +Christianity. The struggle was now almost heart-rending. He used to +steal silently down to Stonehouse Church on Sunday evenings, and, under +the shadow of its walls, would stand riveted to the spot, while he +listened to the songs of Christian praise, in which he dared not as yet +take part. His congregation, however, soon got to hear of his leanings +to Christianity, and he was suspended from his duties as rabbi. He now +regularly attended Mr. Golding's ministry, and was eventually baptized, +on June 22, 1825, in St. Andrew's Church, Plymouth, in the presence of +1,000 people. His wife, who had been a secret enquirer, unknown to her +husband, was baptized six months later in Exeter. Owing to Alexander's +position, his conversion aroused much interest, and proved a great +encouragement to all workers in the cause. He was ordained deacon in +Dublin, in 1827, by Archbishop Magee, at a time when the ordination of a +Hebrew Christian was of very rare occurrence indeed, and appointed to a +small charge in that city. In December of the same year he was ordained +priest by the Bishop of Kildare, and joined the London Jews' Society, +which he served as missionary, in Danzig, from 1827 to 1830, and in +London from 1830 to 1841. + + +[5] This and following eleven pages are taken from _Biographies of +Eminent Hebrew Christians_. + + +One of the most interesting incidents in his work in Prussia was a visit +to his birthplace, and the meeting with his brother, a rabbi to a large +congregation near Posen. We quote the future Bishop's own words, as +shewing his humbleness of mind, and how fully he had left Judaism +behind, and entered into the joys of his new faith. + +"I cannot describe my feelings on finding myself now in Posen, my native +country, when I reflect on the wonderful dealings of the Lord with me +since I left this place nine years ago. I was then a wandering sheep +from my Saviour's fold, walking in darkness, and in the shades of death, +ignorant of the Lord that bought me. How did He lead me? the blind by a +way that I knew not. My soul doth magnify the Lord, because my spirit +rejoiceth in my God, as my Saviour, especially when I consider I am now +engaged as an humble, but unworthy, instrument to preach the glad +tidings of salvation, and to declare to my brethren, what the Lord hath +done for my soul. When my prospects of usefulness are dark, I look to my +Lord, and say, 'Thy grace is sufficient for me; Thy strength is made +perfect in my weakness.' + +"The Lord gave me another gracious token of His mercy at Posen. I wrote +to my brother, who is rabbi to the large Jewish congregation twelve +miles from Posen, informing him of my arrival, and requesting that we +might have a meeting. I had very faint hopes of his compliance, as he +had been most bitter against me since my baptism. His letter, however, +expressed a wish to meet me half way from Posen. I immediately set off, +and had the unspeakable satisfaction of embracing my brother, not as an +enemy, even for the Gospel's sake, but full of brotherly love and +affection, and even giving me credit for sincerity. I stated to him the +Gospel, and declared also to him an account of the hope that was in me. +He acknowledged that he had not given the subject due consideration, but +he promised he would. He told me what is very important, viz., _that it +is generally expected among the Jews, that the coming generation will +embrace Christianity, and that Judaism is fast dying away_. Time would +not allow him to be much with us, and we parted, praying together that +the Lord would open his eyes to behold His glory, as it shines in the +face of Jesus, and that we may both be united in His love, and become +brothers in Christ."[6] + + +[6] _Jewish Expositor_, July, 1828, p. 260. + + +In his work in London, Alexander frequently preached to Jews, and took +an active part in the revision of the New Testament in Hebrew and the +translation of the Liturgy into the same language. He held the post of +Professor of Hebrew and Rabbinical Literature in King's College, London, +from 1832 to 1841. In 1840 Professor Alexander's name appeared at the +head of some sixty names of leading converts from Judaism, who had +subscribed to a formal "protest of Christian Jews in England" against +the Blood Accusation, or charge against the Jews of using Christian +blood in their passover rites. This was a remarkable document, emanating +as it did from so many who were by nationality Jews, and who had lived +to maturity in the faith and practice of modern Judaism. + +Just at this juncture an event took place which then and since aroused +considerable commotion in the religious world at home, the establishment +of the Anglican Bishopric at Jerusalem. + +Dr. McCaul, to whom the Bishopric was first offered, declined it on the +ground that a Hebrew Christian ought to occupy the position. +Consequently, Alexander was selected and consecrated, as first Bishop +of the new See, on Sunday, November 7, 1841, in Lambeth Palace, by Dr. +Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of +London, Dr. Murray, Bishop of Rochester, and Dr. Selwyn, Bishop of New +Zealand. A distinguished company was present, including his Excellency +the Chevalier Bunsen, as representing the King of Prussia; Sir Stratford +Canning, Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary to the Porte; Baron +Schleinitz, Prussian Chargé d'Affaires; the Prussian Consul-General +Hebeler; Lord Ashley; the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone; the Right Hon. Dr. +Nicholl; Sir Robert H. Inglis; Sir Claudius Hunter, and the Rev. Dr. +Abeken, Chaplain to the King of Prussia. The sermon was preached by Dr. +McCaul from the appropriate text of Isa. lii. 7, "How beautiful upon the +mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that +publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth +salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" + +The next morning the Holy Communion was celebrated in the Episcopal +Jews' Chapel by the new Bishop, who preached his last sermon before his +departure from England, in the evening, from the appropriate, and, as +subsequent circumstances proved, pathetic words, "And now, behold, I go +bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall +befall me there," &c. (Acts xx. 22-24). On the 13th a farewell meeting +was held, and an address presented to the Bishop, who with Mrs. +Alexander, the Rev. G. Williams, his private chaplain, the Rev. F. C. +and Mrs. Ewald, and Dr. E. Macgowan, sailed from Portsmouth, on December +7. H.M. Steam Frigate "Devastation" was granted for the purpose by the +Government. The party arrived off Beyrout on January 14, 1842, and +reached Jerusalem on January 21. + +The entry of the Bishop into Jerusalem was a unique event in the history +of the Holy City, and was thus described by himself:--"On Friday evening +we arrived in the city of our forefathers under circumstances of +peculiar respect and honour.... We formed quite a large body--the +Consul-General (Colonel Rose), with seven or eight of his escort; +Captain Gordon, and six or seven of the officers of the 'Devastation'; +Mr. Nicolayson and Mr. Bergheim, who met us at Jaffa, and accompanied +us; Mr. Johns and the American missionaries, with escorts, who came to +meet us about three miles from Jerusalem; and, at last, the chief +officers sent by the Pasha, who had himself come to meet us in the +afternoon, but was obliged to return, as night came on, and it was damp +(we arrived about six o'clock), and a troop of soldiers, headed by Arab +music, which is something like the beating of a tin kettle. Thus we +entered through the Jaffa gate, under the firing of salutes, &c., into +Jerusalem, and were conducted to Mr. Nicolayson's house, where we were +most kindly and hospitably received, and all felt overwhelmed with +gratitude and adoration.... We had service in the temporary chapel on +Sunday last. I preached my first sermon from Isaiah lx. 15; Mr. Williams +preached in the afternoon, and Mr. Nicolayson conducted a German +service in the evening. We had a very good congregation, all our +friends, the Consul-General, Captain Gordon, and the officers, being +present. Our feelings on the occasion can be better imagined than +expressed, as you may easily suppose. We also had the Sacrament, and it +will be pleasing to the ladies of Reading to know, that the handsome +communion-service which they presented to the church was made use of for +the first time by the Bishop of Jerusalem."[7] + + +[7] _Jewish Intelligence_, 1842, p. 127. + + +_The Times_ contained a full account of the Bishop's entry, and +concluded with these words:--"The Mission is sure of the firm support of +the British Government and the British Ambassador at the Porte. As +regards Syria, the Consul-General has lent all the force of his official +authority, personal influence, and popularity, to set the undertaking +afloat, while the mild and benevolent character of the Bishop, and the +sound practical sense and valuable local experience of his coadjutor, +Mr. Nicolayson, are sure guarantees that caution, charity, and +conciliation will preside at all their efforts." + +In conformity with instructions received from Constantinople, +proclamation was made in the mosques, that "he who touches the Anglican +Bishop will be regarded as touching the apple of the Pasha's eye." + +The presence of the Bishop was soon felt in work amongst the Jews in +Jerusalem. The daily services held in the temporary chapel on Mount Zion +were a source of much delight to him, and also the large congregations. +The Bishop thus summed up his episcopal duties for the first year: "We +have had every ordinance of our Church performed in our chapel." The +Bishop had held his first ordination on March 17, had baptized a Jew on +Whitsun Day, and confirmed eight Hebrew Christians; married two +converts; finishing up with the ordination of a Hebrew Christian +missionary. The upper room proved all too small, and the building of the +London Society's permanent church, which was to serve the joint purposes +of a Cathedral, a chapel for British residence, and a mission centre, +was proceeded with, although Alexander did not live to see its +consecration. His episcopate was destined to be a very brief one, but +its three years may well be described as "years of plenty." His letters +shew how ardently he threw himself into his work, and how very near his +heart it was. Outlying districts of his extensive diocese were visited; +and the outlook was bright and promising. + +A great blow fell upon the work in the autumn of 1845, in his sudden +death, on Nov. 26, after the short episcopate of four years. The sad +event occurred in the desert at Ras-el-Wady, on his way to visit Egypt, +which formed a part of the diocese of Jerusalem. A pathetic interest +attaches to the Bishop's last annual letter, written before he started +for Cairo, in which, speaking of his arrangements, he alluded to the +"uncertainty of everything." + +As to the past he spoke with conscious satisfaction of the Divine +blessing resting upon the work of Jewish converts baptized and +confirmed, and amicable intercourse maintained with Jewish residents and +strangers in Jerusalem, of opportunities at Jaffa, of his visit to +Damascus, and of friendly relations maintained with the different +churches. He thus concluded: "On the whole we have great reason to thank +God and take courage, and to call upon our friends to join with us in +prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, on the memorable day, January +21, when we made our first entry into the Holy City. A day which is much +to be remembered, even when the results, which have already followed in +this short period, be alone taken into consideration; but a day which we +trust will yet prove one of the most remarkable in the history of the +Church, when the Lord 'shall build up Zion, and appear in His glory,' +and when all, who now mourn for her, seeing her desolate and trodden +down, shall rejoice for joy with her; and when God's people shall be +delighted with the abundance of her glory." + +Mrs. Alexander thus described the Bishop's last days in the desert at +Belveis, Nov. 3, 1845: "On setting out through the desert, each day my +beloved husband and myself rode our own horses; we generally were in +advance of the caravan, and we used regularly to chant some of our +Hebrew chants, and sang the following hymns: 'Children of the Heavenly +King;' 'Long has the Harp of Judah hung;' Psalm cxi.; 'Glorious things +of thee are spoken;' all out of our own hymn-book; and never did his +warm and tender heart overflow so fully, as when he spoke of Israel's +future restoration. When I spoke to him about his duties in England, he +answered, 'I hope, if invited, to preach my first sermon in England at +the Episcopal Jews' Chapel;' and on my asking what subject he would +take, he replied, 'I shall resume the subject I adopted when I last left +that dear congregation;' namely, that none of these trials had moved +him. (Acts xx. 24-28.)" + +His chaplain, the Rev. W. D. Veitch, reporting the death, said: "It was +truly a heart-rending scene. In a tent, in the wild sandy desert, no +medical help at hand, to see the widowed wife and fatherless daughter +bending over the lowly pallet, on which were stretched the lifeless +remains." + +"The immediate cause of death," wrote Mrs. Leider, who formed one of the +party, "was rupture of one of the largest bloodvessels near the heart; +but the whole of the lungs, liver, and heart, were found in an +exceedingly diseased state, and had been so for a length of time; the +accelerating cause, doubtless, was great and continued anxiety--such as +the Bishopric of Jerusalem and its cares can best account for. I heard +it said on this occasion that had his lordship not come into the East, +he might possibly have lived to a good old age; but the mitre of +Jerusalem, like the wreath of our blessed Lord, has been to him a crown +of thorns." + +The body was taken first to Cairo, where Mr. Veitch preached the funeral +sermon from the most appropriate text that could have been chosen--"So +Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab" (Deut. +xxxiv. 5). + +On December 6, a mournful caravan set out from Cairo with the Bishop's +remains, recalling the sad procession which returned to the Promised +Land with the bones of Joseph. The cortège arrived at Jerusalem on the +20th of the same month, at seven o'clock in the evening, and proceeded +at once to the English cemetery, where, by torchlight, the remains of +the beloved and venerated prelate were deposited in their last resting +place, the Rev. J. Nicolayson reading the service. Funeral sermons were +preached by him in Jerusalem the next day, and in the Episcopal Jews' +Chapel, London, on December 28, by the Rev. J. B. Cartwright. + +A letter of condolence to Mrs. Alexander, signed by thirty-one Jewish +converts at Jerusalem, was the most eloquent testimony to the blessing +which had followed the successful labours of the Bishop. The signatories +said: "Next to yourself and your dear family, we consider ourselves the +chief mourners; for we feel both collectively and individually that we +have lost not only a true Father in Christ, but also a loving brother +and a most kind friend. The suavity and benignity of his manner, which +so greatly endeared him to all, and which gained him the highest and +most entire filial confidence of every one of us, tend much to increase +the keen sense we feel of our loss. The affectionate love he bore to +Israel, which peculiarly characterised him, could not fail to render him +beloved by every one who had the privilege of being acquainted with him: +while his exalted piety, and most exemplary life and conversation, +inspired the highest reverential esteem. He was a burning and a shining +light; and when he was raised to the highest dignity in the Church, he +conferred the most conspicuous honour on our whole nation, but +especially on the little band of Jewish believers. With him captive +Judah's brightest earthly star has set, and the top stone has been taken +away from the rising Hebrew Church." + +We do not think that any more expressive words of the sterling quality +of the Bishop's character could have been penned than these. And yet we +should like to supplement them. + +Many friends testified their love and esteem for the Bishop by raising a +most gratifying testimonial to his memory, amounting to over £3,000, +which was handed to his widow and family. It is interesting to glance at +the list of contributors after this lapse of time, for it reveals the +fact that the Bishop was highly esteemed by rich and poor alike. Amongst +the former we notice the names of the Dowager Queen Adelaide, the then +Archbishops of Canterbury and Armagh, and the Bishops of London, +Winchester, Ripon, Lichfield, Lincoln, Peterborough, Llandaff, Sodor and +Man, and Madras. The Primate of All England spoke of Alexander having +conducted the affairs of his Church with so much discretion and +prudence, as to give no cause of complaint to the heads of other +communions residing in the same city, and to win their respect and +esteem by his piety and beneficence, and by his persevering yet +temperate zeal in prosecuting the objects of his mission. + +He lived and worked in constant dependence upon the Holy Spirit whose +power he conspicuously honoured. It was his invariable practice to +impress upon those whom he was about to teach the absolute impossibility +of their understanding divine things without His aid. This was as +noticeable in his earlier years as missionary, as in his later ones as +bishop. His conciliatory manner in dealing with Jews, his transparent +love for his brethren, his calmness amidst opposition, did much to +disarm the excited assembly at the Conferences in Aldermanbury, and the +violent attitude of the mob when he revisited his Jewish relatives at +Schönlanke. He was bold and fearless in the delivery of his message, +faithful in everything, anxious above all things to bear testimony to +the name and glory of his Master, and to make full proof of his +ministry, whether as missionary or bishop. + +His friends, and those who worked under him at Jerusalem, loved him for +his kind nature--for he had an ear, heart, and purse open to all--and +for his simple-hearted piety. He was an Israelite indeed in whom there +was no guile. He had a ripeness of Christian experience, and unaffected +earnestness of purpose. His was a strikingly interesting personality, +rendered doubly so in that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and in his +episcopal dignity a link with the primitive Hebrew Christian Church in +the Mother City of Christendom. + +The Bishop published: "The Hope of Israel," 1831; The "Glory of Mount +Zion," 1839; "The Flower that Fadeth," "Memoir of Sarah Alexander," +1841. + +ALEXANDERSON, Daniel, was baptized in Holland in 1621. He published in +the Syriac (rabbinic) language a confession of faith, to which he +appended an epistle to the dispersed Jews, asking them to accept Jesus +as their Saviour. This was translated into Dutch, German, and French by +Petrus Jacobi, (Amsterdam, 1642). + +ALMAN, Rev. S., a minister of the Gospel in New York. + +ALTHAUSEN, Dr., son of a well-known rabbi in Russia. After studying +medicine at Lemberg he was appointed as military doctor in Russia. At +the age of 35 he was converted and baptized by Pastor Landesen, in +Charkow, in 1855, and his wife and children followed his example a year +or two afterwards. He then devoted himself to missionary work in St. +Petersburg and in other cities, and did good work, notably in spreading +the New Testament which was plentifully supplied to him by the late Rev. +John Wilkinson, of the Mildmay Mission. + +ALTMANN, J., a convert of the L.J.S., baptized by the Rev. F. G. +Kleinhenn, at Bucharest, now labouring for many years as an evangelist +in Transsylvania, Hungary. + +ALTSCHILLER, L., son of the Rabbi of Morcompol, had received the tract +"Life of Augusti," which made a great impression upon him. He was +instructed by Goldinger of the L.J.S., and was baptized in Poland in +1848. + +AMSDEN, of Vermont, a convert and missionary to the Jews in the United +States about 1850. + +ANGEL, Rev. B., convert and missionary to the Jews in New York. + +ANTON, Carl (Moses Gershon Cohen), a descendant of Bartenora Hayim +Vital, born in Mitau (Curland), in 1722, of a family called "the Golden +Chains." After studying for seven years at Prague, under Jonathan +Eibenschütz, he travelled in the East and became very ill at +Constantinople. It was there when reading Dan. ix. that he began to +think seriously as to the state of his soul. On his return to Germany he +was baptized at Wolfenbuttel by Pastor Meyers in 1748. The Duke of +Brunswick appointed him Professor of Hebrew at Helmstadt. He wrote a +Latin tract, "The Wandering Jew," entitled "Commentatio Historica de +Judæo Immortali in qua haec Fabula examinatur et confutatur," Helmstadt, +1756; translated Abraham Jaegel's Catechism, "Lekah Tob" (Good +Instruction), Brunswick, 1756; and gave a description of a rare copy of +"Shulhan Aruk Eben haezer," to be found in manuscript in the City +Library, Hamburg. He also wrote "Fabulae Antiquitatum Ebraicum Veterum," +&c., Brunswick, 1756. Also "Sammlung Einiger Rabbinischer Oden Nebst +Einer Frayen Uebersetzung, Kurzer entworf Jüdescher Gebräuche +Akademischer Vorlesungen entworfen," three parts, Brunswick, 1752-1754. + +In the preface to his book, "Wahre Gründe, welche Einen Juden Zur wahren +Bekehrung, oder zum Heilande der welt Jesu Christo führen Können," he +utters the following fervent prayer: + +"At the conclusion of my work, I humbly invoke the righteous and +merciful Father, that He may enlighten all Israel with the light from on +high, that they may with a pure heart acknowledge Jesus as the only +means of their future life. O that they might see in the stem of Jesse +the tree of life, and be inflamed with love to Him by the Omnipotent +Spirit! O that they might at last acknowledge the Son of Mary as the +fountain of salvation out of which they can draw grace for grace! O that +they might seek a refuge in the long ago appeared Lion out of the tribe +of Judah, who has destroyed the dominion of Satan and restored eternal +peace! O that they might kiss with lips and heart the glorified Son whom +their fathers so carelessly rejected, but who has become the precious +Cornerstone, who after achieving His triumph ascended to sit at the +right hand of the Father and praised by the whole host of heaven. O +triune God, open thou their eyes, that they may see." ("A Fürst. +Christen und Juden," 163). + +Pastor de le Roi mentions a rumour that Anton at last relapsed into +Judaism, but this must have arisen because he defended Jacob Emden and +his former teacher Eibenschutz in their dispute with Waggenseil. Dr. S. +A. Hirsch, Professor in Jews' College, London, who wrote the article in +the "Jewish Encyclopædia" and referred to Grätz, does not give a +syllable about Anton's relapse. + +ARGAWI, M., convert and leading missionary of the L.J.S. in Abyssinia. +He has laboured there for many years amidst great hardships and even +amidst martyrdoms of his believing brethren. (See the little tract, +"Martyrs of Jesus.") + +ARIAS, E. P., missionary of the L.J.S. at Rome for many years. + +ARNHOLD, Siegfried Heinrich, D.Ph., embraced Christianity at Berlin in +1854. He was Professor of the Polytechnic in that city, and died as such +in 1884. + +ASSING, David Assur, born at Königsberg, 1787, died 1842, was baptized +in 1815. He was physician and poet; served first in the Russian and then +in the Prussian army. He wrote a treatise entitled, "Materiae +Alimentariae Leneamenta ad leges Chemico-Dynamicas Adumbrata" ("Food and +their Relation to Chemical-Dynamical Laws.") This was published at +Göttingen in 1809. + +ASSER, M. E., a convert, councillor at the Ministry of Justice in +Holland. + +AUGSBURGER, Emmanuel, baptized by Gottheil at Stuttgart in 1852, a +first-fruit of the mission there. Though only a working weaver by trade, +he accomplished much good by his voluntary testimony and by his +exemplary life. (See _Jewish Herald_, 1853 and 1886). + +AUGUST, Jacob Michael, baptized with his wife and children in +Greifswald, Germany, about 1723. He became Lector (reader) of Oriental +languages at the University of Leipzig. + +AUGUSTI, Friedrich Albert (Joshua), was born at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, +1691. He was the son of Joshua ben Abraham Eschel and Rebecca Pinto, +descendants of a Venetian family. When he was only seven years old he +shewed already great talents for learning, and delivered a sermonette at +a wedding, so that a savant present remarked: "This boy will be a +teacher in Israel." But as a precocious child he had to be guarded +against mischief. Once he nearly lost his life while bathing. After the +death of his father, Augusti, having read a book which described the +glory of Jerusalem, felt a great desire to go there, and it soon so +happened that a Jerusalem delegate, Aron Bar Jekutiel, arrived at +Frankfort, and offered to take him with him. The mother, after some +resistance to the boy's entreaties, finally gave her consent and parted +with him in sorrow. The two travellers went first to Russia, intending +to go by the Black Sea to Constantinople and then to Jerusalem. In the +Crimea a band of robbers overtook them at a lonely spot, and Augusti was +taken captive, while his companion managed to escape. The robbers +brought him to a town and sold him as a slave for three and a-half +dollars. After severe trials on board a ship, where he was tempted to +embrace Mohammedanism, the slave dealer sold him to a Mohammedan Jew by +the name of Ismael Bathmag, who brought him to Smyrna. Here the Jewish +community purchased his freedom from slavery for 100 dollars, and after +six months sent him home. On his homeward journey he stopped at +Kaminice, where he was dangerously ill with cholera. After his recovery +he eventually came to Cracow, where he remained four years studying +languages. From thence he went to Prague and devoted himself to the +study of Jewish theology under Rabbi Gabriel, who conferred upon him the +title of Morenu, D.D. He then interpreted the famous grammarian, Binyan +Shelomo. Returning to Frankfort, he saw his mother, who desired him to +get married and settle down, but he felt impelled to go to Italy in +order to study Kabbalistic lore there. While living in Sonderhasen, in +1720, he was maltreated by a gang of robbers, who broke into the house +in which he resided, and robbed him and his landlord to the amount of +20,000 dollars. It then so happened that a member of the princely family +of Schwarzburg died, when the Court Jew Wallich, in expressing his +condolence with the reigning prince, used the expression "der hochselige +Prinz" with reference to the deceased. Whereupon the prince charged him +with flattery, as he did not think that the Jews believed that a +Christian could be saved. Wallich then brought Augusti, who proved from +the "Sefer Hasidim" that a pious Christian who keeps the seven Noachian +Commandments has a share in the world to come. This incident was in the +providence of God the first means in Augusti's conversion. On that +occasion Dr. Reinhardt, an evangelical pastor, was present, and they +became acquainted with each other. This led later to discussions about +the interpretation of Isaiah liii. Augusti, after much searching in +Jewish commentaries, was convinced that this chapter speaks of a person +and that Jesus is the one in whom it was fulfilled. Before his baptism +he made an open confession in the synagogue of his faith in Christ, and +he was baptized on Christmas Day, 1722, in the presence of Prince +Gunther and the whole court officials. After his baptism he delivered +an address on Ps. ix. 2, in which he expressed his thanksgiving for +God's wonderful dealing with him. Soon after he began to study theology +at the Seminary of Gotha. In 1727, he went to Jena, and afterward to +Leipzig. He was appointed Assistant Professor of the Gymnasium at Gotha, +in 1729, and in 1734 became minister of the parish of Eschberge, in +which position he remained until his death. The famous theologian, +Johann Christi Wilhelm Augusti, was his grandson. Augusti published +several works in Latin and German, notably "Das Geheimnis des +Sambathian." ("The Mystery of the Sambathian," a fabulous river +mentioned in the Talmud, which casts stones during six days in the week +and rests on the Sabbath.) He also published a work on the Karaites. + +BABA, M. D. M., a convert of the L.J.S. in Persia. + +BACH, Daniel Friedrich, born in Potsdam, 1756, died in 1830, studied in +the Art Academy of Berlin. The year of his embracing Christianity is not +mentioned. He became a famous painter. (Brockhaus Conv. Lex. I. 99). + +BACHERT, Rev. S. T., A.K.C., convert and missionary of the L.J.S. After +his ordination he was curate of St. Matthew's, Marylebone, St. John's, +Kilburn, and St. Michael's and All Angel's, South Hackney, London. He +was appointed as head of the mission in Hamburg in 1874, where he +laboured with evident divine approval for about a quarter of a century. +He was the founder of a home for enquirers, with a workshop, as well as +of a chapel attached to it, where the inmates studied, worked, lodged, +worshipped, and were under a well-organized Christian training. A very +large number found eternal peace there, and quite a considerable number +became ministers and evangelists of the Gospel. Bachert was afterwards +promoted to be the Head of the Missionary Training College in London, +and when this was given up, he was sent to take charge of the mission in +the north of England. The story of his conversion is a very pathetic +one. + +BAFFRAL, James, a prolific statistical writer, baptized at Strasburg on +Christmas Day, 1859; his wife (_née Levy_) and five children two years +later. The relations, after the death of the father, tried their utmost +to bring the children back to Judaism, and they appealed to the law of +the land, but failed. One of the daughters afterward became +superintendent of the Deaconesses' Institution. + +BALAGHI, F., Professor of Theology in Hungary, was a pupil of Theodor +Meyer when he was stationed at Prague. + +BAHN, Martin August, a Berlin Jewish student, embraced Christianity when +he was under the teaching and influence of Schleiermacher, in 1837. + +BAHRI, Rev. Joseph, convert of the British Society at Stuttgart; +laboured for several years as missionary of the L.J.S. at Vienna, and +then as curate to Bishop Billing in the Parish Church of Spitalfields, +and then curate of Hoby and Rotherby where he died at the age of 43. He +was a spiritually-minded man and a fervent preacher, and cherished +boundless love for his nation. + +BALLIN, Josef, a well-known historical painter, a native of Weener, +Ostfriesland, was baptized by Pauli of the L.J.S. when stationed at +Berlin about 1843. + +BARNETT, Henry. The following is his own account of himself:-- + +"For twenty years I lived with my parents in a small town in Poland, +called Konin. These years were entirely spent in the study of tradition +and religion, as it had been my father's desire to preserve 'law and +religion' for the youngest of his family, the other members following in +the pursuit of business. In those years I knew not the nature of sin. +The New Testament I never saw with my eyes; such words as the 'gospel' +and 'missionary' were not at all in my vocabulary. I was going on with +the religion of my fathers in pride and conceit, yet weeping over sin +and pleading for mercy and pardon, though I did not know how hideous sin +was in the sight of God, neither did it ever enter my mind to ask myself +whether I obtained those things I so earnestly sought for from God. +Satisfied with the religious duties of my life whilst sin was doing its +work, and priding myself in being engaged in a higher capacity than the +mere ordinary trade or business man of the Jewish community. When I was +about twenty-one years of age I left my home to avoid military +conscription. Before I left I prepared myself for occupying a position +among the Jews as a 'slaughterer' in connexion with the synagogue. I did +not succeed in this, not being a good singer for conducting public +prayers. Reaching London, there seemed only one thing to do, viz., to +learn a trade in order to maintain myself. Whilst learning a trade +amongst my Jewish brethren I also learned 'Sabbath-breaking,' gradually +gave up the morning and evening prayers, and went more and more into +sin. + +"In a wonderful way the Lord brought me under the influence of the +Gospel. On the voyage from Hamburg to Hull I met with a Jew who +professed Christianity. I met him about six months later in London, and +made occasional calls upon him. While I was doing this my heart went +often up to God to deliver me from taking a wrong step. I only knew then +the opinion of Jews regarding the Jewish missionary and his enterprises. +I felt then that whatever the man himself might be, what he proclaims +was not to be despised, and I attended the Gospel meetings at spare +times with a kind of double feeling. I began to read the New Testament, +and 'faith came by hearing' before two years (1873) expired after my +being under the sound of the Gospel. I knew that I was a sinner, +according to Psalm li. I learned the meaning of Ezekiel xxxiii. 13. I +found the true Messiah of Isaiah liii., and understood that Christ died +_for me_. I 'believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved' (Acts xvi. +31). Since 1882 I have been enabled, like Saul of Tarsus, to cry, 'Lord +what wilt Thou have me to do?' (Acts ix. 6)." + +BARON, Rev. David, was likewise for many years in the Mildmay Mission +and companion to Barnett in his travels. He is the founder of the +Mission under the title, "Hebrew Christian Testimony for Israel." He is +known as a good expositor of Scripture and is author of several books +relating to the Jews. + +BARTHOLDY, Jacob Levi Salomo, was uncle on the mother's side to Felix +Mendelssohn born, in Berlin, 1779, died in Rome, 1826. He became a +member of the Protestant Church in 1805, and through his influence the +whole Mendelssohn family became Christians. He served as an officer in +the Prussian army, and in 1815 he was appointed consul-general in Rome. +He wrote treatises on modern Greek, a description of the Terolese war, +and "Traits from the life of Cardinal Consalvi." The Berlin Museum +possesses his collection of antiquities, comprising Etruscan vases, +bronzes, ivories, majolicas, etc., which are now displayed in the +National Gallery. + +BASEVI, George Joshua, architect, followed the example of his +brother-in-law Isaac Disraeli, in leaving the synagogue in 1817. But it +must be stated that no writer expressly asserts that either of the two +were received into the Church by baptism. This is known, that Basevi +while inspecting the bell-tower of Ely Cathedral fell and was killed +instantly, and then received Christian burial in the chapel at the east +end of the Cathedral. + +BASSIN, Eliezer, born about 1840 in the government of Moghilev, Russia. +In 1869 he went to Constantinople, and then after experiencing God's +wonderful dealings with him (so graphically described by Miss Stern in +her book "Eliezer") he made a public confession of his faith in Christ. +He was afterwards a student of the L.J.S. Training College at Palestine +Place, and was sent out as a missionary to Jassy, Roumania, by the same +Society. Later he laboured for some years in Edinburgh, under a Scotch +Society. He was the author of a work entitled, "The Modern Hebrew and +the Hebrew Christian," London, 1882, which contains an autobiography, +relating his experience after deserting from the Russian army, and +information about the Hasidim, especially the sect "Habad." Also "A +Finger-post to the Way of Salvation," 1882. In 1881 he published a +pamphlet entitled "Eintracht" (Harmony), in which he pleaded the cause of +the Jews against the Anti-Semitic agitation in Germany. + +BECHAR, J., baptized at Constantinople in 1873, studied at St. +Chrischona, Basel, and was appointed later as City Missionary in +Neuchâtel. + +BEHRENS, A. J., convert, student and missionary of L.J.S, was pioneer +Missionary in Safed in the forties of the 18th century and at Jassy in +1850. + +BEHRENS, Rev. A. D., son of the former, esteemed of the L.J.S., whom the +writer learned to know and love in 1873 at Breslau, was appointed to the +charge of the Mission at Vienna in 1875. A daughter married the convert +Glück, a physician of high standing in Bucharest. Thus father and child +have made known God's truth in their respective spheres. + +BEHRENS, S. J., another Jewish convert, was for twenty years accountant +and collector of the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, an +exemplary Christian, and well beloved by all who came in contact with +him. His life made a salutary impression upon his rich brothers in +Hamburg, who, although they yet remained members of the synagogue, +granted his wife a liberal pension for life. + +BELLSON, Rev. R., born in the neighbourhood of Cassel, Germany, in 1805. +L.J.S. missionary from 1831, successor of Pauli in Berlin, 1844. He was +an excellent scholar and was much respected by the cultured Jews. In the +very first year of his activity there, he had the privilege of leading +twenty Jewish souls to the Saviour. One of his converts was the Rev. A. +D. Hefter, another Kappelin. He wrote in "Dibre Emeth," "Blätter für +Israel's Gegenwart und Zukunft." + +BELMONTE, E., banker in New York, connected with Rothschild, joined the +Protestant Church, whilst a number of the same family joined the Roman +Church at different times. (See "Jewish Encyclopædia.") + +BELMONTE, Hannah, a near relation of Da Costa, and later his wife, +became a Christian in 1822. + +BENARY, Franz Ferdinand, born at Cassel in 1805, baptized between +1824-27. He became Professor of Theology in 1831, lectured in Berlin on +Oriental languages and exegesis, published the Old Indian Art poem, +"Naloduza" in 1830, a treatise under the title, "De Leviratu," Hebr. +1835. + +BENARY, Karl Albert Agathan, a brother of the former, likewise became a +convert, was teacher at the Gymnasium in Berlin, wrote largely on +Classics, died in 1860. + +BENASON, A., after his conversion wrote several Christian hymns. (See +"Saat auf Hoffnung, 1881.") + +BENDER, Carl Theodor, born at Berlin in 1818, studied law, and was +baptized in 1837 by Pastor Jonas of the Nikolai Kirche there. + +BENDERMAN, Edward, born in Berlin in 1811, son of a banker, embraced +Christianity about 1832. He became a celebrated artist and professor of +art in the Dresden Academy. Some of his pictures are: Boaz and Ruth, The +Jews in Babylon (Ps. cxxxvii.), Jeremiah amidst the ruins of Jerusalem, +The wandering of the Jews into captivity to Babylon, in the Natural +Gallery in Berlin. These pictures exhibit profound religious feeling on +the part of the artist, and sympathy with his Jewish brethren. + +BENDIX, Paul, Dr., was born at Rummelsberg in Prussia, Aug. 29, 1823. He +was early sent to a Christian school, where he was often moved to tears +when hearing of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the age of +seventeen he went to Danzig for rabbinical study, and afterwards to the +Berlin University, where he gained the diploma of Ph.D. in 1850. +Subsequently he became rabbi, and worked at Berent and Grandenz. He +disapproved of many of the old Jewish customs, but his congregation +refused to allow the introduction of any reforms. The wardens of the +synagogue at Grandenz, where he officiated from 1854 to 1858, wrote of +him in a testimonial: "The sermons of Dr. Bendix were instructive and +edifying, and owing to his splendid delivery and great oratorical power +they never failed to make a deep impression on his hearers." While at +Grandenz he made the acquaintance of a Christian clergyman, through whom +he was led to study the New Testament. The reading of this deeply +affected him. Later on he went to live in the house of a converted Jew, +which caused many of his hearers to warn him not to hold intercourse +with him on Christianity. But he was now seeking for truth and peace, +and though he avoided conversation, he could not help noticing the +upright and serious life of his landlord, who closed his place of +business on the Lord's Day, held family worship morning and evening, and +took a keen interest in home and foreign missions. All this made an +impression on him, and made him say: "This man, surely, possesses the +peace I am seeking. He asked me one day what took the place of +sacrifices since the Temple was destroyed, what were the essential +contents of the Jewish Prayer Book. I could only say to myself, Where is +the atonement for sin? I began to read the Old Testament with a +terrified conscience, and soon I found that my religious system was +built on the sand." At last he felt that he must give up his position as +rabbi, and he retired, not without much opposition, to Berlin, where he +spent his whole time in the closest study of the Word of God. He became +convinced at last that the old covenant was merely a preparation for the +new one (Jer. xxxi. 31-34). One difficulty was the word "virgin" in Isa. +vii. 14, but when he saw that it was always used in opposition to +married women, he at once accepted Christ as his Saviour, and was +baptized with his wife and children in 1860, in St. Matthew's Church, +Berlin. With a recommendation from Queen Elizabeth of Prussia he came +over to England, and from 1883 worked in connexion with the L.J.S. in +London. He died March 5, 1901, deeply regretted by both Jews and +Christians. + +BENFEY, Theodor, born at Nöster, near Göthingen, January 28, 1809, +became a convert to Christianity in 1848, died in 1881, at Göthingen. He +was author of numerous linguistic works on the Sanscrit, Bengali, +Hindustani, Persian, Egyptian, and Semitic languages. His two works in +English must be mentioned here: "A Practical Grammar of the Sanscrit +Language" (Berlin 1863, London 1868), and "A Sanscrit-English +Dictionary" (London 1868). He established a periodical, "Orient and +Occident," in 1862. + +BENJAMIN, Selig, a native of Bunzlau, Bohemia, and surgeon by profession +about the middle of last century. Embraced Roman Catholicism, but found +no peace, so he relapsed into Judaism, but remained in the same +condition, wandering about to find satisfaction for his restless soul, +until he came to Weikersheim in Würtemberg, and attended the services of +the court preacher Kern, when he was converted. Whereupon he went to the +synagogue and publicly confessed his evangelical faith before the +congregation. + +BENJAMIN, a Dutch Jewish convert. The story of his conversion is a +remarkable one and deserves a place here. Pauli and his assistant Bloch +visited once a Kabbalistic Jew on a very stormy night. The Jewish +neighbours, when hearing of their visit, watched for them outside the +house. They followed them on their way home, and when passing a bridge, +some called out, "Make an end of him (Pauli); throw him into the +water." Whereupon Benjamin, who accompanied his visitors, cried, "Away +with you!" and pushed the assailants aside. "He is a good man. He helped +me to keep the Sabbath properly." They then went away abashed. Benjamin +was afterwards baptized with his whole family in the presence of 3,000 +Jews. This was the first entire family which Pauli baptized at +Amsterdam. + +BENJAMIN, a Jewish convert in India, baptized by the Rev. ---- Laseron +in 1849. + +BENNI, a Jew who first heard the Gospel from Wendt and Hoff in +Königsberg, became a Christian Pastor in Petrekow, later in Radorn, and +through his faithful testimony not a few Jews decided to acknowledge +Jesus as their personal Saviour. + +BENOLY, Gabriel, M.D., baptized at Salem, Bromberg, in 1869, was +afterwards for many years medical missionary of the L.J.S., and did good +work in the East End of London. + +BEN OLIEL, a well-known family in Oran, North Africa, has given to the +Church three sons about the middle of the eighteenth century, baptized +by the Wesleyans in Gibraltar. + +BEN OLIEL, Rev. A., was for many years missionary in Rome, and then at +Jaffa and Jerusalem. He was a true man of God, an ardent lover of his +nation, whose spiritual welfare he endeavoured to promote by word and +pen all through a long life. He died in America towards the close of +last century. + +BEN OLIEL, Rev. Maxwell Mochluff, after finishing his theological +course at St. Aidan's, was ordained in 1860, and was curate in several +churches; also domestic chaplain to the Dowager Duchess of +Northumberland, 1864-66; minister of St. Patrick and St. Saviour, South +Kensington, 1878-81; missionary at W. Berkeley, California, 1889-91; +Rector of San Bernadino, Cal., 1891-93. Returning to England, he +conducted a mission to the Jews at Kilburn, by writing and lectures. As +a good preacher and thoroughly conversant with Jewish and Christian +literature, he was gladly heard in the churches and cathedrals of +England. His writings on the Jewish subject are numerous. + +BEN OLIEL, Moses, served for many years as Bible agent of the B. & +F.B.S. at Oran. + +BEN ZION, Benedix (Baruch), born in Homoslaipolia in the government of +Kiev, Russia, in 1839, was led to become a Christian in a remarkable +manner. Once, when still a little boy in the Heder, he and his +fellow-pupils passed by a Russian Church when they observed the cross +and images. His companions at once repeated Deut. vii. 26, and spat on +the ground. Ben Zion did not like this behaviour, so he made figures and +a cross with his stick on the ground. This was reported to the teacher, +who locked him up and punished him severely for it. The fanaticism of +the Jews in the place was so great that Ben Zion's father lost his +position as Talmud teacher, because his boy had been reading +Mendelssohn's German translation of the Bible. At the age of 13 Ben Zion +began his wandering career, and passing a chapel in a forest, his eyes +met the image of the Madonna and Child. Without the least desire to +render homage to the figure, but only conscious that for its sake he had +already suffered, he took off his hat, knelt down, and in this posture +fell asleep, and was finally awakened by a peasant. These apparently +trifling circumstances caused him later on to think seriously of +Christianity, and to search the Scriptures. He was baptized in Berlin in +1863, then studied medicine and graduated at the University of Würzburg +in 1867. He went to England, and having entered the service of the +British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, was +sent to Roumania in 1874 as medical missionary. In 1876 he was +transferred to Odessa, where he laboured successfully for ten years. +Then he was for a short time in Constantinople, and since about 1888 he +has been living in the United States and helping in missionary work. He +is the author of "Orah Zedakah," a collection of proverbs and parables +in the style of Ecclesiasticus (Odessa, 1876); "Kol Kore el Beth Israel" +(translated from the English by Dr. Ben Zion, London, 1868); a +translation into Judæo-German of Jos. H. Ingraham's "Prince of the House +of David," under the title of "Tiferet Yisrael" (Odessa, 1883-88), and a +translation into Judæo-German of Silvio Pelier's drama, "Ester +d'Engedé," under the title "Der Falsche Cohengodel." + +BERDENBACH, born at Offenbach, in 1809, brother of the great lawyer of +that name in Darmstadt, was baptized by Pastor Schultz in Berlin, in +1839. + +BERGER, Rev. S. D., convert and student of the L.J.S., was afterwards +ordained to the Ministry in the Lutheran Church U.S., and was appointed +missionary to the Jews in Chicago about 1885. + +BERGHEIM, M., a noble Jewish convert, was sent out by the L.J.S. in 1837 +to assist the Rev. Nicolayson in his work in Jerusalem. He was +afterwards a banker and died in 1896 as churchwarden of Christ Church, +Mount Zion. The Jewish traveller, Dr. Ludwig August Frankel, who +published a book on his visit to Jerusalem in 1860 (translated into +Hebrew by M. E. Stern), says he found there 131 Jewish Christians in the +Holy City, nine of whom were of the Bergheim family. + +BERGMANN, Marcus S., convert of the L.J.S., is well-known as a +missionary of the L.C.M. and translator of the Bible into Yiddish. A +second edition, with improved translation into simple Jargon, was issued +by him in 1905. In an account of his conversion he thus writes:-- + +"I was born in Wieruszow, on the borders of Silesia, in the year 1846. +My father (who was of the sect of Chassidim, which is the strictest sect +of the Pharisees, and a great Talmudist) died when I was about a year +old. Of my dear mother I have only a very dim recollection, as she, too, +died when I was but six years old. I had one elder brother and one +sister. My brother was established in a large way of business in Luben, +a town near Breslau, and my sister was brought up in the house of the +Chief Rabbi of Breslau, Rabbi G'dalia Titkin (who was a relative of +ours), whilst I was brought up with my uncle, Woolf Bergmann, a Chassid +like my father, in Wieruszow, under whom I studied much of the Talmudic +and Rabbinical literature. + +"When I was fourteen years of age I was sent to Breslau to study under +the chief Rabbi there. I did not like it at first, as I had to change my +Chassidic dress for the German style, but I soon became accustomed to +it. After a residence of three years in Breslau I went to one of my +uncles who was a Rabbi in Frankenstein, under whom I had ample +opportunity to practise for some time. I then went back to live with my +sister in Kalisch, and applied myself more than ever to the study of the +Talmud, believing it to be the most honourable of all employment and +most conducive to the glory of God, and the best mode of making amends +for my sins, which I found clung to me even when engaged in these +religious duties. + +"The word of the LORD to Abraham (Gen. xii. 1), 'Get thee out of thy +country and from thy kindred ... unto a land that I will shew thee,' +seemed at that time to be constantly ringing in my ears, and made me so +restless that I could not put my mind to anything. I obeyed that voice, +and in 1866, I left my native country and came to England. Shortly after +my arrival in London I established a small synagogue at which I +gratuitously officiated as minister for nearly two years; my sister from +time to time sending me remittances, as I required, from the portion +which I inherited of my father's property. + +"It pleased the Lord at this time to lay His hand upon me, and I was +laid aside for six weeks in the German hospital. When feeling a little +better I began to look into the Hebrew Bible, which was on the shelf in +the ward. As a reader in the synagogue I knew the letter of the whole of +the Pentateuch and other portions of the Old Testament by heart. + +"The portion of Scripture that made a great impression on me at the time +of my illness was Daniel ix. Several verses of this chapter (the +confession of Daniel) are repeated each Monday and Thursday by every +Jew; but the latter part of the chapter, which so plainly prophesies the +suffering of the Messiah, is never read--in fact the Rabbis pronounce a +dreadful curse upon any one who investigates the prophecy of these +seventy weeks. They say: 'Their bones shall rot who compute the end of +the time.' Remembering this anathema, it was with fear and trembling +that I read the passage about the seventy weeks, and coming to verse 26, +'Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself'--though we Jews are most +careful not to let a Hebrew book drop to the ground--I threw that Hebrew +Bible out of my hand, thinking in my ignorance that it was one of the +missionaries' Bibles. But although I threw the Bible away, I could not +throw away the words I had just read: 'Messiah shall be cut off, but not +for Himself.' These words sank deeper and deeper into my soul, and +wherever I looked I seemed to see them in flaming Hebrew characters, and +I had no rest for some time. One morning I again took up the Bible, and +without thinking or looking for any particular passage, my eyes were +arrested by these words (also in a chapter which is never read by the +Jews): 'For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the +transgression of My people was He stricken.' (Isa. liii. 8.) + +"This seemed to be the answer to the question I was constantly asking +myself during this time of soul-conflict--'Messiah shall be cut off, but +not for Himself.' For whom then? Here it was plainly revealed to me. +'For the transgression of My people;' and surely I belonged to His +people, therefore Messiah was cut off for me. + +"Shortly after this I left the hospital and was again among my Jewish +friends, but I could not banish from my mind these two passages. + +"One morning I put on my phylacteries and tallith in order to perform +the prescribed prayers, but I could not utter a single sentence out of +the prayer book before me. One passage (Psalm cxix. 18), 'Open Thou mine +eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law,' came into my +mind, and that I repeated over and over again, and for nearly two hours +that was the cry of my soul. After laying aside the phylacteries and +tallith I left the house without tasting food, and as I walked along the +streets I prayed again in the words of the Psalmist, 'Lead me in Thy +truth and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation, on Thee do I +wait all the day long.' My heart was burdened with a very great load, +and yet I dared not open my mind to any one. In this state I believe the +Spirit of God led me to Palestine Place. My heart failed me when I +reached the door of the late Rev. Dr. Ewald's house. + +"After several vain attempts, I ventured to knock, and was admitted to +see that venerable servant of the Lord. To him I unburdened my soul and +told him all that was in my heart. He asked me whether I was willing to +come into his Home for enquirers in order to be instructed in the truth +as it is in the Lord Jesus. I told him that was just what I needed, and +at once accepted his kindness, and I did not return to my Jewish +friends. This was just one week before the Passover. + +"On the first day of the feast several Jews of my congregation, who had +discovered where I was, came and entreated me to leave the missionaries +and go back with them. As I refused to do so, they said they would soon +get me away with disgrace. They left, but only for a short time, and +when they returned they brought a policeman with them and charged me +with being a thief, and as such I was taken to the nearest police +station and locked up. Whilst in the cell I was visited by several Jews +who implored me to return to them, and said that if I promised to do so +they would not appear against me on the morrow, and I would be +liberated. I answered in the words of David, when Gad, the seer, was +sent to give him the choice of his own punishment: 'Let me fall into the +hands of the Lord, for His mercies are great, but into the hands of man +let me not fall;' and I added, 'Thou shalt not bear false witness +against thy neighbour.' They left me disappointed. But I never spent a +happier night than in that prison cell, for I felt and fully realized +that the Lord was with me, and it was there that I for the first time +knelt down and prayed to God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. +Though up to this time I knew very little or nothing of the New +Testament, yet it seemed to me as if the Lord Jesus spoke to me in the +same manner as He did to His disciples. 'They shall put you out of the +synagogues, yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think +that he doeth God service; these things will they do unto you because +they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, +that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I have told you of +them.' 'And when they bring you unto magistrates, and powers take ye no +thought how or what thing ye shall answer, for the Holy Ghost shall +teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.' Passage after passage +seemed to come before me, as if the Lord Jesus had spoken audibly to me +to encourage me to cling close to Him and not to fear what man could do +unto me. + +"The night--though sleepless--I passed joyfully and peacefully. The +morning came, which brought other Jewish visitors with food from their +table, also entreating me to return to my Jewish friends. As I refused, +they told me that they had witnesses to prove the charge against me, and +I should be put into prison for at least three months; but I felt that +the Lord Jesus was my advocate, and that He would plead my cause. + +"About 10 o'clock I was taken out of the police cell and led to the +Mansion House (followed by a large number of Jews) to appear before the +Lord Mayor of London. The whole judgment hall was filled with Jews. My +chief accuser swore that I had robbed him, and three others gave their +evidence on oath against me. The Lord Mayor asked me, through an +interpreter (for I could not then speak English), what I had to say in +my defence, and whether I had any witnesses to prove my innocence. I +replied, 'I stand here in this position on account of my faith in the +Lord Jesus Christ. I am not only not guilty of the crime which is +imputed to me, but I have left all my valuable things at the house where +I lodged. It is only because I wish to become a Christian that I am +accused.' The Lord Mayor then ordered my chief accuser again into the +witness box, and asked him whether he knew that it was my intention to +become a Christian. The expression which flashed across his angry +countenance and was reflected by the face of the other Jews present, +sufficiently answered the question before he could speak a word. + +"On cross-examination they so contradicted each other that they +themselves proved my innocence, and I was at once set at liberty. (I +wish it to be clearly understood that this persecution was not in enmity +to myself personally, but rather in friendship and mistaken zeal. They +wished to save me at any cost from becoming a Christian). + +"On leaving the Mansion House I returned to Dr. Ewald, and after being +thoroughly instructed in the Scriptures, I was admitted into the visible +Church of Christ on the 7th of June, 1868, by the rite of baptism. + +"After my baptism I was admitted into the Operative Jewish Converts' +Institution, where I stayed nearly two years. In May, 1870, I was +accepted as an agent of the London City Mission, to work among my poor +benighted people in the East of London. During the first few years of my +mission work I had naturally to undergo much persecution, and the work +was most arduous, but by the blessing of God this is in a great measure +changed. + +"It is now fully thirty-one years since I became a follower of the Lord +Jesus Christ, and I can look back upon all these years and say that not +one good thing hath failed of all His gracious promises." + +BERNAL, Jacob Israel, an English Jew, in the first half of the 19th +century, had his children baptized, only one son, Ralph, remained in +Judaism. + +BERNAL, Osborn, M.P., the son of Ralph, embraced Christianity, and his +daughter married the Duke of St. Albans. + +BERNARD, D., baptized in Wilna with his wife and daughter in 1818, by +Pastor Nichlous, of the Lutheran Church, is recorded as having lived an +exemplary Christian life. He was first baptized in the Roman Church, +came then in contact with Luther, who had won him for the Evangelical +Truth, and wrote to him a letter with a view to strengthen him in the +faith, and that he should make it known to his brethren. + +BERNARD, Herman, born in Southern Russia in 1785, baptized in his youth, +settled in Cambridge as a private teacher in 1830, and was appointed +"Preceptor Linguæ Sacræ" in the University, October 18, 1837. Bernard +published the following works--"The Creed and Ethics of the Jews" in +selections from the "Yad Hahazakah" of Maimonides (1832), and +"Hamenahel" (the Guide of the Hebrew Student), 1839. The "Me Menichoth" +(Still Waters), an easy, practical Hebrew grammar, in two volumes, +appeared during his blindness. His lectures on the book of Job appeared +in one volume in 1864. + +BERNARD, Rudolf, a Swiss Jewish convert, published an Epistle to the +Jews in 1705, under the title "Lekah Tob" (good doctrine), in which he +tried to influence them in favour of Christianity. + +BERNAYS, Michael, was baptized in the 19th century, date not known. In +1872 and 1873 he taught at the University of Leipzig, and in 1874 he was +appointed extraordinary Professor of Modern German, English and French +Literature, at the University of Munich. He wrote on the poetry of +Goethe, under the title, "Der junge Goethe," Leipzig, 1875. + +BERNHARD, a Polish Rabbi, who was baptized by Pastor Storr, in the 18th +century, in Heilbronn, assumed the name of Christoph. David Bernhard. He +was afterwards Reader of Hebrew at Jena, and later at Tübingen. (Wolf, +B. ii. 3, 4.) + +BERNHARDY, Dr. Gottfried, born in Landsburg, 1860, died 1875, embraced +Christianity when studying in Berlin. He was a great classical scholar, +and wrote as Professor, "Syntax of the Greek Language," Berlin, 1829. +"Grundriss der Romischen Literatur," 1830. "Grundlinien der Encyclopædia +der Philologie," 1832, &c. + +BERNHEIM. We have only his memorial preserved as having been an +associate of Rev. J. Neander, and of another proselyte, Bonhome, in the +evangelization of the Jews in New York, about 1845. + +BERNSTEIN, Rev. Aaron, born in Skalat, Galicia, in 1841, received, as an +only son, a good and pious early education, and was when quite young +brought under the influence of the wonder Rabbi of the town, with whose +grandson he learned Talmud at school. At the age of 17 he was assistant +teacher in a town in Moldavia, when the Rev. W. Mayer, L.J.S. missionary +at Jassy, appeared one day in the Synagogue and had a discussion with +the Jews, on which occasion he received a German tract, entitled "The +Righteous shall live by his Faith." This made some impression upon him, +but it passed away, as he was too young to understand it all. A few +years later he went to Jassy, when he met Mr. Mayer again, who gave him +a Hebrew New Testament and the "Old Paths." These were the means under +God of leading him eventually to acknowledge the Saviour. He was +baptized by Dr. Ewald, together with nine other Jews, on November 22, +1863. After being for a short time in the Operative Jewish Converts' +Institution, he went to the United States, and after a year or so of +teaching in a school and privately, he entered a missionary college +which was established by a German missionary, known later as Bishop Auer +of Cape Palmas. He then studied Theology in the General Seminary, New +York, was ordained Deacon in Philadelphia in July 1870, and appointed by +Bishop Stevens as Rector of St. Paul's, Manheim, Pa. In June, 1871, the +L.J.S. sent him as missionary to Jerusalem, where he laboured only +about a year and a-half, as he could not stand the climate. Subsequently +he laboured in Bucharest, Paris, Liverpool, and Frankfort, but the +greater part of his missionary career was in London, with the exception +of an interval of three years, in which he was curate in Hertfordshire. +Bernstein had the honorary degree of M.A. conferred upon him by Columbia +College, New York, in 1873, owing to his taking the Greek Prize at the +Seminary in 1870, and later the Faculty of the Seminary gave him B.D. He +wrote "Sefer Roshey Hatayvoth," "Anglo-Israel Theory," translated +Professor Cassel's "Commentary on the Book of Esther" into English, +together with the "Targum Sheni" from the Original and Appendices (T. & +T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1888). He published "The City of David," "The Book +and the People," and contributed articles to the "Hebrew Christian +Witness," "The Scattered Nation," "The Everlasting Nation," "Jews and +Christians," "The Jewish Missionary Intelligence," and wrote about a +dozen tracts in English, Hebrew and Yiddish, and revised a new edition +of the Hebrew Bible in 1895. Editor of the "Kol M'Bhasser" since 1907. +_Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini Tuo da honorem._ + +BERNSTEIN, Rev. ----, a congregational minister in North London. + +BERNSTEIN, Theodor. Though brief, the information of this convert is +very interesting. He was baptized by the Rev. H. Stewart, in Liverpool, +on the same day that his spiritual teacher, the missionary H. J. +Joseph, was ordained to the ministry of the Church of England, in 1836. + +BIESENTHAL, Dr. Joiachim Heinrich--or, to give him his birth-name, +Raphael Hirsch--was born at Lobsens, in the Grand Duchy of Posen, on +December 24th, 1804, of pious and strict Jewish parents. His early +education was chiefly confined to the study of the national law and +tradition; and through much self-denial and sacrifice on the part of his +parents, who intended him for the rabbinate, he was able to have lessons +from the best teachers and most learned Talmudist scholars of the day. +He was what is called a _Bachur_ (_lit_. "young man"), a student of the +Beth Hamidrash, who is intended for the study of the law. The Talmudical +principle, "Know well what to answer an infidel," particularly moved his +father to insist that he should join with the study of Talmud that of +the Holy Scriptures and Jewish poetry. He soon found, however, that as +regards his study of the Bible he was left to his own diligence and +perseverance, for his teachers knew nothing at all about it; and, being +imbued with the Talmudical warning--"Keep your children from the study +of Holy Scripture," they were of opinion that it was not only a useless +study and waste of time, but also a danger to one's piety. + +In 1819, when Raphael was fifteen years of age, the town of Lobsens was +destroyed by fire, by which his parents were ruined. His education, +however, had to be completed, and so he entered the famous Jewish school +of Rawitsch, where he received instruction from rabbis, and principally +from Rabbi Herzfeld, of European renown. Deprived of every assistance +from home, young Raphael had to struggle hard during his four year's +residence there. On leaving Rawitsch he went to Mainz, where he received +most kind care and support from the Rabbi of that city, Löb Ellinger, +brother of the renowned Nathan Ellinger, or Nathan Bar Yospa, rabbi of +Bingen, several of whose manuscripts are in the Bodleian. + +The celebrated Heidenheim (Wolf Ben Samson) of Rödelheim, the greatest +Jewish critic and grammarian after Ibn-Ezra and David Kimchi, helped him +to the treasures of Jewish literature, lending him the best grammars in +the Hebrew language, so that he was able to acquire, with great +application on his part, a complete mastery of grammatical Hebrew. He +next gave himself up to the study of German history, and Latin and +Greek. His studies threw him into contact with the Rev. Dr. Klee, Roman +Catholic Professor at Bonn, who gave him lessons in Hebrew, and +introduced him to the Duchess of Coburg, the wife of General de +Mensdorff, Governor of the fortress of Mainz. From her, and all the +family, Raphael received many substantial proofs of kindness, and when +he was about to leave Mainz, which he did in 1828, she gave him a +considerable sum of money, and a letter written by herself to Baron de +Rothschild, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, and graciously intimated that she +would be glad to hear how he was getting on in life. Raphael found the +Baron not inclined to assist him when he heard that he meant to finish +his studies at Berlin, because he considered that a dangerous city, +where _all young Jewish students were being converted to Christianity_. +That there was great truth in this statement will appear lower down. +"Keep away from a city where thousands become apostates!" were his +parting words. Baron de Rothschild, however, sent him a letter of +recommendation to Baron de Hägemann, the Chancellor. When Raphael +delivered the letter, the not unnatural remark was, "What is the use of +a recommendation for assistance from Rothschild! Why did he not help you +himself?" So he was obliged to shift for himself at Berlin, and to earn +his living by giving lessons. He employed his leisure time in study. In +the year 1830 he resided for four weeks with a Christian family at +Havelberg, where he learnt for the first time what true Christianity +was, and he determined, as he said, to "search for Christian truth." In +this purpose his intercourse with Christian divines greatly helped him. +He studied theology and philology in the University of Berlin from 1828, +taking his doctor's degree in 1835. He studied under the Oriental +scholar, William Vatke, and his knowledge of the Hebrew grammar was +greatly increased by personal friendly intercourse with Dr. Gesenius, +the distinguished Hebrew scholar, at Halle. Raphael was baptized in 1836 +by the Rev. Dr. Kuntze, taking the Christian names of Joiachim Heinrich +and the surname of Biesenthal. + +That there was a considerable truth in Baron de Rothschild's observation +given above, is seen from the statistics of Jewish baptisms in those +days. + +Dr. Kuntze, who was a resident clergyman at Berlin, was instrumental in +leading many young Jews to Christ. He baptized eighty in eight years +(1829-36), whilst the Society's missionary, the Rev. W. Ayerst, baptized +forty-two adult Jews in three years (1834-7). Altogether, 326 Jewish +baptisms were registered in the Consistory at Berlin during the years +1830-37. A few years later (1844) the Rev. C. W. H. Pauli, the Society's +missionary, reported that there were above 1,000 converts resident in +Berlin; and in 1850, as many as 2,500. They filled all ranks and +stations, and were to be found in all the ministerial departments, and +in the university. + +In 1844, Biesenthal placed his services at the disposal of the Society, +and in doing so, wrote: "My Biblical studies led me, after much +searching and wandering for a long time, to find Him of whom Moses and +the Prophets did write. This result, this light which God caused to +shine in my darkness, I deem it my unrelenting duty to communicate to +others yet living in darkness, because the Lord Himself says that we +should not put our light under a bushel. The Apostles, as well as all +the Fathers, were furthered by the same disposition of mind. 'For where +your treasure is, there will your heart be also,' says the Lord. If +Christ be our treasure, our heart must be entirely and undividedly His +own, and all our talents devoted to the glory of His kingdom. Becoming a +missionary seems to me the surest way to fulfil Christ's commands. I +have long considered it both a duty and a privilege to communicate to my +brethren after the flesh the message of salvation, and to employ those +talents which God has given me for their welfare. My predilection for +the above has often seemed to be a token of God's will that I should +shew my brethren from their very literature, as well as from the Bible, +that the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ, and that +we can only know the Father through Him. During the last three years I +have acted upon this conviction, and embraced every opportunity to prove +to my brethren that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto +salvation, and my anxious desire now is to be enabled to devote all my +time to this pursuit." + +These earnest words are an echo of St. Paul's, "My heart's desire and +prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved" (Rom. x. 1). With +this spirit and aim, Biesenthal entered upon his long missionary career +of 37 years in connexion with this Society--active laborious years spent +in Berlin (1844-1868) and Leipzig (1868-1881). Eloquent in the +Scriptures, with a perfect command of Hebrew and wide knowledge of +Talmud and rabbinical literature, he was thoroughly furnished for his +life's work. Those who knew him well believed that he had intellectual, +literary and biblical qualifications in a most eminent degree, and that +he was the best Hebrew scholar of their acquaintance. His knowledge of +languages embraced--in addition to his native Polish--Hebrew, Latin, +Greek, Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic, Ethiopic, Samaritan, French, German, +Spanish, Italian and English. Never was missionary more highly gifted +with "tongues"--his equal in this respect is not to be found in the +ranks of the London Jews' Society; whilst with his pen he did even +better service than with his lips in proclaiming "Jesus Christ and Him +crucified" to his brethren after the flesh. + +Biesenthal's missionary life commenced on April 1st, 1844, as an +assistant missionary in this Society's mission at Berlin, under the Rev. +C. W. H. Pauli, where he also undertook the editorship of "Records of +Israel's State and Prospects," a monthly periodical designed to promote +the Society's work, to give treatises on Messianic passages of the Old +Testament, to discuss Christian and Jewish doctrines, and to give +attention to Jewish history and literature; he also wrote many articles +for the "Dibre Emeth." He continued to work in this humble capacity +under the Rev. R. Bellson until 1868, when his great abilities found a +recognition, even though tardy, by his appointment to the charge of a +new mission station of the Society at Leipzig. This important city, the +second in Saxony, and the seat of a university, had for many years been +visited by the Society's missionaries from Berlin at the time of the +great fairs, when Jews assembled from all parts, and to whom large +numbers of Old and New Testaments were sold. Biesenthal found some +seventy or eighty Hebrew Christians living there, and subsequently gave +it as his opinion that they might be "numbered by hundreds." There was a +small Jewish community of about 500, who, since 1849, had enjoyed the +rights of citizenship. This may seem to have been but a small field of +work for a man of such attainments, but he was the only missionary to +the Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Saxony; and, moreover, Leipzig +was the resort of many foreign Jews from Poland, Russia, Turkey, Greece, +Persia, and even from America, and thus altogether an important +missionary centre. Apart from the visible results in the form of +baptisms from Biesenthal's labours, the indirect results were great and +far-reaching. As a scholar his name was, for many years, a household +word in Germany, and especially in those circles where the Jewish +mission exerted its influence. His Commentaries on the Gospels and the +Epistles to the Romans and the Hebrews, so eminently useful in mission +work, obtained well-deserved eminence. + +The mission field, as time went on, became less promising and fruitful, +the Jews becoming infected with the socialism and rationalism in +Germany, as taught in the universities, churches, schools, and other +institutions. Zeal for missions almost died out; the Jews became the +subject of much Anti-Semitism. The long pent-up enmity against them +burst forth with great virulence. In Leipzig, as in other places, +petitions were sent to the Government urging the withdrawal of their +political rights and privileges. In return, the Jews paid back hatred by +hatred. + +This state of things led Dr. Biesenthal to take a gloomy view of the +general position. In his last report but one he said: "Hurricanes of +trouble are blowing from the four quarters of the earth against the +Church and against the Gospel," and added that in such circumstances +his report could not be a joyous one. + +Dr. Biesenthal doubtless obtained more satisfaction from his literary +than from his missionary labours; although, in his case, one was the +complement of the other. A scholar he was emphatically, and a brilliant +one withal, as his works abundantly and substantially testify; and as +such he will be principally remembered. + +His published works contained the following: "Auszüge aus dem Buche +Sohar, mit Deutscher Uebersetzung" (1837), a proof from Jewish sources +of the doctrine of the Trinity and other Christian verities; +"Hebräisches und Chaldäisches Schulwörterbuch über das A.T." (1836-7); +"David Kimchi's [Hebrew: sefer hashorashim] or Liber Radicum" (1838-48), +in collaboration with F. S. Lebrecht; "The Thirty-nine Articles of the +Church of England" (1840); "The Book of Psalms," Hebrew text and +Commentary (1841); "The Book of Isaiah," Hebrew Text and Commentary +(1841); "Chrestomathia Rabbinica Sive Libri Quatuor, etc." (1844); +"Menachem ben Serug's Hebrew Lexicon" (1847); "Theologisch-Historische +Studien" (1847); "Zur Geschichte der Christlichen Kirche," etc. (1850); +"Das Trostschreiben des Apostels Paulus an die Hebraer" (1878); and a +Hebrew Translation of the Epistles to the "Hebrews and the Romans," with +Commentary (1857-8). He also wrote Commentaries on "St. Matthew's +Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles," an Essay on "The Atonement"; and the +"Life of Gerson." + +In 1877, the University of Giessen conferred upon him the degree of +Doctor of Divinity. + +In his greatest work, the "History of the Christian Church," intended +for the special use of the Jews, he proved that they stood in close +connexion with the early Church, by bringing prominently forward the +history of Jewish believers who loved their Saviour devotedly and +laboured successfully for the spread of the Gospel at the time of its +first promulgation. + +Dr. Isaac Jost (1793-1860), the learned Jewish historian of Frankfort, +in reviewing Dr. Biesenthal's "Commentary on the Epistle to the +Hebrews," referred to it as a masterly composition, and also to the +author's extraordinary command of the Hebrew language, and said it +excelled everything which had ever been written before in the endeavour +to prove, not only that Christianity is to be found in the writings of +almost all the ancient prophets, and that Christ's coming fulfilled the +law, but that the rabbis of almost every age agree with the writers of +the New Testament as to the general character of the Messiah promised, +although they do not admit that Jesus was that Messiah. + +Dr. Julius Fürst (1805-1873), another eminent Jewish author, referring +to Biesenthal's Commentaries generally, and the extensive erudition and +thorough knowledge displayed of Jewish literature before and after the +Christian era, bore still higher testimony, and stated that all previous +attempts to translate the New Testament, or parts of it, were exceeded +by the distinguished labours of Dr. Biesenthal, not only on account of +the richness and fulness of matter, extracted with much taste from the +Talmud, Midrash, and Sohar, but also on account of the clearness of +thought with which he penetrated and exhibited the doctrinal teaching of +the Apostles. + +It is a matter for deep regret that these valuable Commentaries are out +of print, and consequently out of circulation. + +It is an interesting circumstance that Biesenthal also wrote, 1840, +under the pseudonym "Karl Ignaz Corvé," a work entitled "Ueber den +Ursprung die Juden Erhobenen Beschuldigung bei der Feier Ihrer Ostern +sich des Blutes zu bedienen, etc.," in which he defended the Jews from +the Blood Accusation at Damascus. + +Dr. Biesenthal retired from active service in 1881, and died at Berlin +on June 25th, 1886, at the advanced age of 82 years. + +BINION, Dr. Samuel A., son of Joshua, born in Suwalki, Poland, where he +received a good Hebrew and Talmudic education, and then studied at +Wilna, Breslau and Padua, under great Jewish savants. He then went to +England, about 1864-5, where, like Philip, he found Jesus to be the +Messiah, and he was baptized by the Rev. Dr. Ewald in Palestine Place. +He then attended lectures at King's College, and, probably through the +influence of Dr. Schwarz, he was sent to labour in the Protestant cause +in Spain, where he became superintendent of schools in Seville and in +the Balearic Islands. Thence he went to the United States, where his +linguistic attainments and great learning found free scope and due +acknowledgment. There he largely contributed to current encyclopædias. +He was one of the revisers of the "Century Dictionary of Names," and +wrote the article on the Kabbalah in "Charles Warner's Cyclopædia of the +World's Best Literature." Dr. Binion's master work is "Ancient Egypt," +two elaborate folio volumes on the art and archæology of Egypt. He is +also the translator of "'Quo Vadis,' with Fire and Sword," Dan Michael, +published in Holiday de Luxe editions, Philadelphia. + +BLEIBTREU, Philip Johann, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the middle +of the seventeenth century, died in 1702. He published a work in German, +entitled "Meir Naor" (the enlightened Meir from his Jewish name Meir), +Frankfort, 1787, giving an account of his conversion, notes on the +Jewish festivals, and on some Jewish prayers. The last words he uttered +when dying were, "Ich bleibe treu" ("I remain faithful"), in allusion to +his name, which is equivalent to the English name "Faithful." + +BLOCH, Edward, born in 1810. While holding the office of first master in +a Jewish school, was convinced of the truth of the Gospel, and then +baptized by Pastor Kunze, in Breslau, in 1836. + +BLOCH, Julius Paul, was born April 16th, 1816 at Jutroschin, in Prussia. +His parents, Simon and Zipporah, brought him up to be, like themselves, +strictly orthodox. Being clever, before he was 13 years old, when he +became "Bar Mitzvah," he had gained a thorough Talmudical education. He +grew up a very strict pious Jew, never missing synagogue either morning +or evening. In his fourteenth year he was apprenticed to a furrier. +Whilst thus earning his living, two missionaries came to Jutroschin. +Their advent caused a great commotion, as the city was then renowned as +one of the strongholds of Judaism. The Jews determined to oppose their +work, and Julius Bloch was one of the foremost to stone them. A year or +two later he had to travel as a journeyman in his trade. This eventually +brought him to Greifswalde, where he found employment with a Mr. Albert, +who, at last, made him foreman in his factory. This man and his wife +were true Christians, and often talked to him about Christ. He noticed, +too, the peace they enjoyed in hours of the greatest adversity, and his +faith in Judaism, as a religion of comfort, was shaken. At last he tried +to turn a deaf ear to all they said, but the seeds of eternal life had +been sown in his heart. He began to feel lonely and unhappy; he could no +longer say the Hebrew prayers, Jewish ceremonies began to lose their +hold, as having no solace for his disturbed mind. Of this time he says: +"I got a Bible, and began to read it. My conscience was awakened, and I +became my accuser. I put the Bible away and determined to remain a good +Jew, but the wounds of my conscience and heart became putrifying sores. +I tried to comfort myself that I had always lived a moral and blameless +life; but it was all in vain." At last his despair nearly drove him to +suicide, from which he was only saved by throwing himself on his knees +in prayer. That night he was "born again," and the next day, May 16, +1839, he openly confessed his newly found faith. The change became known +to the Jews. Arguments and threats, and even the offer from a brother to +establish him in business--all was in vain. The next year he went to +Berlin, and after preparation was received into the Church of Christ, by +Pastor Kuntze, on June 6, 1841. Further trials from his family awaited +him, until he fled to Amsterdam, where Mr. Pauli, the Society's +missionary, asked him to assist in the mission. From that time, 1843, +until May, 1900, when he died, his work was signally blessed, many Jews +through his influence being baptized. He thus passed away "as a shock of +corn cometh in in his season." + +BLOCH, Moritz (in Hungarian, Ballage Mór), born in Timova, 1816, +received a Talmudic education, then studied at the University of Pesth, +then Orientalia at Paris. In 1841 he sent a petition to the Hungarian +Parliament, asking for the emancipation of the Jews. He translated the +Pentateuch and Joshua into Hungarian, adding exegetical notes. In 1843 +he was baptized in Germany in a Lutheran Church. The next year he was +appointed Professor at the Lyceum in Syarvas, Hungary. He was an author +of several works on educational and theological topics, and edited, in +1840, the "Protestantische Kirchen und Schulbatt." + +BOCK, Wilhelm Isaac, a Jewish rabbi, after embracing Christianity, +taught Hebrew in Frankfort on the Oder, and published "Abraham Jugels +Lekah Tob, or Catechism for Jews in German," Leipzig, 1694. + +BONAVENTURA, Meyer, a Jewish convert, wrote "Das Judenthum in seinen +Gebeten, Gebrauchen, Gesetzen und Ceremonien," Regensburg, 1843. + +BONN, first master in a school, baptized at Königsberg in 19th century, +is recorded to have been very zealous in the work of the German Home +Mission, and preached the Gospel. + +BORG, Ernest Maximilian, a Jew who held a similar position to Bock, was +baptized much earlier in Breslau (de le Roi, I. 212). + +BÖRLING, Pastor J. Jacob, born in 1802, in Slavito, Russia, five times +experienced as a child God's mercy when he was in danger of being +drowned. He devoted himself diligently to the study of rabbinic and +Kabbalistic lore, until this whole system surfeited him with disgust +when he found that its votaries were far from being the saints they +pretended to be. In 1821, the missionaries Saltet and Betzner visited +Berditscheff, where the family then resided. Börling received a tract +from them, but his mother tore it in pieces. Later the missionary Moritz +arrived there, and as a born Jew he made a great impression upon +Börling, so that he began to search the Scriptures, and at length was +baptized by Saltet, his first missionary acquaintance, in 1823. In 1825 +he accompanied Joseph Wolff to Schuster on the Persian border. In 1828 +he went alone to Persia, to rescue German subjects who were sold into +slavery, in which self-denying mission he eventually succeeded. He then +studied in the mission house at Basel, and in 1834 he was appointed by +the Berlin Society as their missionary in that city. There he worked +zealously till 1840, when he accepted the call to become pastor of a +Church in Bellowesch, in the government of Tschernigoff. Börling was the +son-in-law of the missionary Goldberg, the brother-in-law of +Hausmeister. The latter wrote, "Leben und Wirken des Pastors J. J. +Börling." (Basel, 1852). + +BÖRNE, Karl Ludwig (Loeb Baruch), German political and literary writer, +born 1786 at Frankfort-on-the-Main, died in Paris, 1837. He was baptized +in the Lutheran Church at Rödelheim, by Pastor Bertuah, on June 5th, +1818. In 1819 he became editor of the "Zeitung der Freien Stadt +Frankfurt." Börne was a prolific writer. A complete edition of his +works, in 12 vols., was published at Hamburg in 1862. + +BRAHAM, John (Abraham), born in 1774, died 1856, a well-known musician +in London, where he was as a Jew leader of the choir of the Great +Synagogue, and became afterwards, as a Christian, especially popular for +his song, entitled "The Death of Nelson." Of his children, a daughter +became Countess Waldegrave, and later she married Lord Carlingford. + +BRANDON, a convert, educated at St. Chrischona, Basel, was sent by the +Scotch Church as missionary to Alexandria, in 1859. In 1862 he went to +Khartum, and after receiving permission from King Theodore, he entered +Abyssinia, and was partner with Flad and Stern in their labours and in +their captivity. After the release of the captives, he was actively +engaged in good work at Beyrout, Syria. + +BRANIS, a daughter of Rabbi Kempner, was baptized in 1826, out of pure +conviction. Her old father was also inclined towards Christianity, but +died before he could come to a decision. + +BRANISS, Christlieb Julius, born in Breslau, 1792, died 1873. He became +Professor of Philosophy at Breslau in 1833. He was the author of several +works on philosophy and metaphysics. One only requires mentioning here, +"De Notione Philosophiae Christianae." + +BRENZ, Victorin Christophorus, was baptized in 1601, together with his +parents and the whole family. His father, Samuel Frederick Brenz, is +known as the author of the "Jüdischer Abgestreifter Schlangenbalg" ("The +Jewish Serpent's Skin Stripped") against which Solomon Zebi Hirsch, of +Aufhausen, wrote "Der Jüdische Theriak" ("The Jewish Theriak or +Antidote") Hanau, 1615. Brenz, junior, after finishing his theological +studies, quietly and patiently, served in 1624 as minister at +Untermichelbach, receiving a stipend of 150 thaler, with which he had to +support his wife and four children. Later he had the care of two +churches, and yet he had to work in the fields as a labourer to earn his +living. Then he had the care of seven parishes, in which he exhausted +his strength, and died at the age of 47, in 1642. + +BRILLIANT, a convert, laboured as an Evangelist among the Jews in the +service of the Free Church of Scotland at Amsterdam, in 1866. + +BROMET, M. S., a Dutch Jew, baptized in 1855, was very much persecuted +by his brethren. He wrote several tracts, amongst which were--"De +Wederkomst en de regeering van den Heere Jesus Christus," "Kort +Oversicht van eenige gelijkenissen des Heeren," "De erste opstonding in +verband met de Wederkomst des Heeren," "Het National herstel en de +bekeering van Israel," "Elischoa God is miyn heil," Amst. Doct., +1874-76. + +BRONKHORST, S. H. convert, student and missionary of the L.J.S., in +Abyssinia 1859-1862, when he and Flad laboured together in Djenda. + +BRÜHL, John Henry, was born in 1823 at Schmiegel (Posen). He was sent to +school at a very early age, and, before he was five years old, was able +to translate the greater part of the Hebrew Pentateuch into German. A +short account of the life of Christ about this time influenced him +greatly. Later on he used, with his father, to visit a Christian family, +and through looking at the pictures in it he became interested in the +Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, though he found the Epistles +beyond his youthful grasp. When about ten years old he was studying +Isaiah, and was struck by the 53rd chapter; that which hitherto had been +a lurking suspicion became an absolute certainty, and the more so as he +saw how the principal Jewish commentators laboured in vain to prove that +this prophecy could not apply to Jesus of Nazareth. His growing +convictions of the truth of Christianity prevented his becoming a rabbi, +which his parents earnestly desired, so he resolved to be a +schoolmaster. During his course at the seminary, owing to the words of +Dr. Zahn, the director, he was convinced of the truth. Through the +London Jews' Society's missionaries at Amsterdam, where he then went, +he decided to be a Christian. He came to London, where he entered the +Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, and eventually was baptized in +1846. Later on he passed through the Society's Missionary College, and +in 1851 went to Baghdad, where he laboured successfully. In 1853 he was +ordained in Jerusalem. On his way back to Baghdad he preached to Jews, +Mohammedans and fire-worshippers, many of whom had never heard the +Gospel before. Many missionary journeys were made by him between 1854 +and 1864 through Persia and Kurdistan, leaving large numbers of +believers in almost every place. After visiting England in 1856, when he +received priest's orders and was married, he returned with the Rev. J. +M. Eppstein to Baghdad, where they remained until 1866, when the mission +was given up, but not until there were numerous converts from both Jews +and Mohammedans. The following year he was appointed to Lemberg, and in +1871 to Vienna, and in spite of immense difficulties gained many +faithful believers in both these cities. In 1875 he became Principal of +the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, where he remained for twelve +years, when he retired from active work. During this time 160 Jews +passed through the Institution, 70 of whom he baptized. By his death, in +1893, the Church and the world lost a great linguist, a good historian +and mathematician, but, above all, a thorough and devoted Christian +missionary. + +BRUNNER, W., born in Brody, Galicia, in 1822. His parents were in good +circumstances. After the death of his father at the age of 90, he came +to England, where he was converted and baptized by the Rev. Dr. Bailey, +Principal of St. Aidan's College. He was afterwards prepared for +missionary work by the British Society, and laboured at Marseilles and +in Switzerland. He had the privilege of bringing two brothers to the +Saviour. He died in 1890. + +BUZIN, Rev. Paul Theodor Ludwig, born in Clecko (Posen), was baptized in +Sagord (Isle of Rügen), by Pastor Ockel. He then studied at Basel, and +eventually became Pastor of a Lutheran Church in the United States. + +CACHET, Rev. Lion, a Dutch Jewish merchant, embraced Christianity in +1849, then studied theology and went to South Africa in 1858. He +officiated as pastor in different churches at the Cape and in Natal, and +founded eight new congregations. In 1876 he became pastor of the +Netherland Reformed Church at Velliersdorf. He took a great interest in +missionary work among the Jews, which he promoted through the newspaper, +"Zuid Afrikaanische Stem voor en tot Israel." + +CALMAN, Erasmus Scott, born in Lithuania, became a convert to +Christianity early in the nineteenth century. In 1839 he assisted +Nicolayson in his work in Jerusalem, travelling with him all over +Palestine, and being well received by the Jews. Later in life he took up +his residence in London. A friend having left him a large legacy to +enable him to work independently, he availed himself of just so much of +it as would meet the wants of the poorest pauper. He left the money +given him for his own comforts, probably with a large increase through +his savings, to trustees for the support of aged poor Hebrew Christians. +Calman was a learned as well as a good man, and published a treatise +entitled: "Some of the Errors of Modern Judaism contrasted with the Word +of God," and another entitled, "The Morrow of the Sabbath." + +CANTONI, Giuseppi (Jacob), a Jew from Trieste, won for Christ by the +Rev. Lewis Way, was baptized in the Chapel of the Dutch Consul at +Smyrna, before a large congregation, in 1832. + +CAPADOSE, Dr. Abraham, born at Amsterdam, 1795, of a Portuguese family, +died there December 16th, 1874. Here is his autobiography, which he sent +to his friend, Ridley Herschell, in London:--"I will no longer delay, +dear friends, to comply with your request that I would communicate in +writing the mode in which it pleased God to bring me to the knowledge of +Himself, and to lead me out of darkness into His marvellous light. + +"Being deeply sensible that it was not of myself I sought after God, but +that my compassionate Lord came to seek me when I was lost, it would be +false modesty if I were now to withhold an account which, when verbally +communicated, interested and edified many dear friends, who therein +traced the great love of the Saviour towards a poor sinner like me, and +thus were led to ascribe all the glory to Him whose name is blessed for +evermore. May this glory be the only object I shall keep in view in this +account! Such is the sincere desire of my heart; and I ask of God to +guide my pen in truth and sincerity, that I may be kept from all +self-seeking, into which the necessity of speaking of myself might +betray me. + +"Although I was by birth a Portuguese Israelite, I was by no means +zealous for the religion of my fathers. My education was rather moral +than religious; and though taught to hate vice, and to love what the +world calls virtue, I owe it entirely to the grace of God that at an +after period I was preserved from open impiety. + +"At an early age I was captivated by science and literature. I was fond +of balls, plays, and every worldly amusement; but study afforded me +still greater satisfaction. I became acquainted with the works of +Voltaire and Rousseau at an early period of my life; but their false +principles, and still more, the frightful consequences of their system, +as exhibited before my eyes in the history of the French revolution, +preserved me, by the divine mercy, from their hurtful influence. My +parents having destined me for the medical profession, I considered it +my duty to acquire the knowledge requisite for this calling; but I felt +more inclination for the study of the theoretical sciences, and for +philosophic research. + +"My friends were nearly all young men who made an outward profession of +Christianity; but the Lord had given me one friend among my near +relatives.[8] As we were both Israelites, and had been intimate from +childhood, our views on all subjects were very similar. (Dr. Capadose +here proceeds to state their intercourse with Bilderdyk, which is the +same as the account given by Da Costa, see page 172). The religious +element, if I may call it so, had not as yet entered into my soul. In my +early childhood, it is true, I had often felt an undefined need of +prayer; and when about nine years' old, had asked my parents to give me +a book of prayers, either in the French or Dutch language, that I might +understand them better.[9] I strongly urged my younger brothers and +sisters to the same practice; and this was the more remarkable as I had +very seldom seen any one engaged in prayer in my father's house. From +that time, amid all the changes of my outward life, I never omitted the +performance of this duty; and until my conversion to Christianity, it +constituted all my religious worship. The prayer I used ended with these +remarkable words:--'I wait for Thy salvation, O Lord!' I have preserved +the book containing it, and never look upon it without adoring the +goodness of that 'God of my salvation,' who has condescended to bestow +upon me, at a matured age, the blessing that the child of nine years' +old, hardly knowing what he asked, failed not to solicit from Him every +night before he lay down to rest. + + +[8] M. Da Costa. + + +[9] It is the general custom of the Jews to use the Hebrew language in +private as well as public prayer. + + +"During the period in which I was engaged in my studies, I occasionally +experienced very peculiar emotions. A poor woman used to sing psalms in +the street on Saturday evenings, to excite the compassion of the +passengers; and more than once have I left my books to listen to her, +overpowered by emotions which I could neither comprehend nor describe. +At the theatre also, when _Joseph in Egypt_ was represented, my tears +flowed at the sound of the morning prayer, which was imitated from the +Hebrew. At the synagogue, however, which, for the sake of decorum, I +still frequented, nothing had the least power to interest me. On the +contrary, the unmeaning ceremonies which appealed not to the heart, the +want of reverence, the bawling noise, the discordant singing, and +lastly, the employment of a language of which three-fourths of the +congregation did not understand a word, disgusted me so much, that I +ceased to attend it regularly, having always a great aversion to +hypocrisy. + +"In the mean time, as if the tempter had foreseen what was afterwards to +take place, he induced my friend and myself to change our mode of life. +We disliked half measures, and could not endure the modern Judaism which +chooses at its pleasure to dispense with the requirements of the Mosaic +law; we therefore resolved to become Israelites indeed, rigidly +observing all the prescriptions of the law, and thus compelling +Christians to entertain a higher respect for the Jewish religion. +National pride was now our ruling motive. In this spirit, and with these +views, we began assiduously to read the Bible. But, oh! the shame and +wretchedness of the unconverted heart! We could not get beyond Genesis. +Constant ridicule and jesting, and oftentimes even blasphemy (Lord, +enter not into judgment with us!) were upon our lips instead of prayer; +so that I at length told my friend it was better to abandon our reading +altogether than to engage in it in such a manner. + +"Thus our proposed plan vanished like smoke. My term of study was nearly +completed. This was in 1818. I took my degrees in medicine, left the +university, and returned to my native city Amsterdam, full of bright +prospects for the future. I had an uncle there, one of the first +physicians in Holland, a learned man, and highly esteemed by the +principal families. Having no children, he took me into his house and +adopted me as his son and successor. I was thus introduced at once to an +extensive circle of acquaintance; kind and respectable, it is true, but +with whom Christianity was a mere outward profession accompanied by an +entirely worldly life. None of these ever spoke to me on the subject of +Christianity. I have even heard some of my young friends make a boast of +their infidelity, and speak without reverence of the Lord Jesus Christ. +I once expressed my astonishment at this, and said, that though I did +not believe in Jesus, I thought that those who worshipped Him, and did +not consider Him to be God, were mere idolaters. A young physician who +was of the party, who was afterwards savingly converted to God, told me +some years after, how much ashamed he felt at the time, when receiving +such a reproof from an Israelite. + +"In the midst of constant occupation, in the diligent pursuit of +scientific knowledge, I yet felt an aching void within. I had been +subject from childhood to an oppression of the chest, which made me pass +many sleepless nights; and in these hours of wakefulness I often +thought, 'Why am I upon the earth? Why was I created a man? Should I not +be a thousand times happier if I were one of the lower animals? I should +not then endure what I now suffer in my body and in my soul.' Often did +I cry out, 'O that this day were my last!' Yet I was not disquieted on +account of my sins, else I should have shuddered at the thought of +death; I was under the burden and curse of sin, without knowing it, or +seeking for the remedy. + +"One day I went to pay a visit to my friend who had been lately married. +He had just received a letter from the celebrated professor already +mentioned. 'Would you like me to read it to you,' said he, 'together +with some beautiful verses he has addressed to me?' I gladly assented to +the proposal. The verses, in which he described, with power and feeling, +the glorious hopes of Israel, concluded with the words, 'Friend, be a +Christian, and I die content.' At these words, which he pronounced in an +under tone, my indignation was roused; my friend, it appeared to me, was +less shocked than he ought to have been. 'Take care,' said I, 'there is +a plan laid to seduce us.' I left him immediately. + +"This occupied my thoughts all the rest of the day. I could not imagine +how a man of such profound learning could believe the Christian +religion. From that day, however, both my friend and myself began +attentively to examine the Word of God; and when we walked together we +conversed on those passages that had struck us most. Having begun with +the Gospel of Matthew, it was striking to me to perceive, that so far +from seeking to subvert the authority of the Old Testament, he made it +the basis whereon to build the Gospel of Christ. + +"My friend and I spent several months in this way, becoming daily more +interested in our researches. At length, with thoughts and feelings very +different from those which formerly possessed us, we again determined to +read the Scriptures together. For this purpose we retired to a room in +my father's house; and I can never think without emotion on these +hallowed hours which we spent together, as in the presence of the God of +our fathers. Our interest increased as we proceeded. My mind, wearied +with vain speculations, now saw a new and boundless field open before +it, towards which it was irresistibly attracted; and thus before I had +ever heard of the electing love of God, I had experienced the power by +which He draws to Christ those souls whom He designs to bless. This +study of the word of God became at length the most urgent desire of my +soul. Merely to know the truth did not satisfy me: I felt that I must +really possess it, and live on its substance. I understood not then the +work that was going on within me; but I occasionally experienced moments +of delight arising from the conviction that divine assistance and +protection accompanied the course I was pursuing. + +"One night, when reading the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, I was so +much struck with its resemblance to the account of the sufferings of +Christ which I had read in the Gospels, that I was almost convinced I +had got another Bible instead of my own; being scarcely able to believe +that this chapter, which may be truly entitled an abstract of the +Gospel, was really in the Old Testament. 'How,' thought I, 'can any Jew, +after reading this chapter, doubt that Jesus Christ is the promised +Messiah!' Whence could this strong conviction arise? I had often read +this chapter before; but now I read it with the light of the Spirit of +God. From this moment I recognized Christ as the promised Messiah, and +this gave an entirely new character to our meditations on the Word of +God. It was the dawn of a glorious day to our souls, the light of which +increased more and more, enlightening our minds, warming our hearts, and +even then bestowing upon us unspeakable consolation. Many of the enigmas +of life, which had hitherto puzzled and distressed me, were now +explained; everything seemed to revive around me, and the object and +interest of my life were entirely changed. Happy days, thus gladdened by +a sense of the Master's presence! Never can I forget them! + +"I believe it was by divine direction that my friend and I did not +disclose to any one what was passing in our minds; and that we confined +ourselves to the study of God's Word, laying aside all other books +except Heydeck's 'Defence of the Christian Faith.' This learned man had +been a Rabbi in Germany, and having embraced the Romish religion, was +made Professor of Oriental languages at Madrid. This book, written with +great talent, and much knowledge of Scripture, is a defence of +Christianity against Rationalism. Its perusal was useful to us in two +ways; we found that the powerful logic with which he combated the +reasonings of Voltaire and Rousseau, entirely deserted him when he +attempted to defend Popery against the doctrines of the Reformation. + +"Whenever I had any leisure in the morning, I used to shut myself up to +read the Word of God, as I dared not peruse it in my uncle's presence. +One day I had been particularly considering the following passage in +Isa. vii. 14, 'Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall +call his name Immanuel.' On going down stairs I found a Jewish +physician, a friend of my uncle's, waiting for him in the ante-room. He +was turning over the leaves of a new edition of the Bible. 'There,' said +he, 'is a fatal passage we cannot easily wrest from the Christians.' It +was the very passage I had been meditating upon. My soul was deeply +moved, and I again perceived the guiding hand of my God. 'Why, then,' I +replied, 'should we not confess the truth?' My uncle now entered, and +enquired what subject we were discussing. The physician informed him; +and knowing my uncle to be deeply versed in the rabbinical writings, +asked him what the Rabbis say on the passage. 'Alas!' said my uncle, +'only a mass of nonsense.' With a beating heart I listened to this +admission; and inwardly thanked God for having permitted me to hear +these words from the lips of one whose rabbinical learning made him to +be considered as an authority by the Jews. + +"All these various circumstances convinced me more and more that truth +is to be found in Christianity alone. I could not now be satisfied with +mere knowledge, I longed for love. Then it was that the sun of +righteousness shed abroad in our hearts, not only the light that +illuminates, but the quickening warmth that enables the soul to live the +life of God. I saw that love had led the Saviour to seek me. I perceived +also my own sinful and miserable condition; but this feeling seemed +absorbed in a sense of the divine love. In Christ I found my life,--the +centre of all my thoughts and affections,--the sole object that could +fill the void in my heart,--the key of all mysteries,--the principal of +all true philosophy, yea the _truth_ itself. + +"I daily felt more and more the necessity of openly avowing my +sentiments. I can record, to the glory of God, that the certainty of +losing a considerable property, if I declared myself a Christian (which +the event has confirmed), never for a moment entered into the scruples +which made me hesitate. I dreaded the effect of the disclosures on the +kind relative who had treated me as his son; on whose choleric +temperament it might produce an impression that, at his advanced age, +might be fatal. Doubtless, had my faith been stronger, I should have +broken through every obstacle; but I could only suffer in silence, at +the same time earnestly praying to God to come to my aid, and open a way +before me. + +"And the God of mercy attended to the voice of my supplication. It was +my uncle's custom to read the newspaper aloud after dinner. One day when +I was sitting opposite to him in a state of great dejection, he read +out the following news from Hamburg:--'We have just witnessed a very +interesting event. A Rabbi, after having announced to his +co-religionists in the synagogue, that an attentive examination of the +prophecies had convinced him that Messiah has already come, and having +made a confession of the Christian faith, was baptized a few days since +in this city, and received as a minister of the gospel.' On reading +this, my uncle said the following words, which the position I was then +in rendered so remarkable: 'If this man has acted from self-interest, he +is worthy of contempt: but if from conviction, he ought to be +respected.' Oh, Christians! You who can sympathize in the feelings of +those like-minded with you, need I describe to you what passed in my +mind at this solemn moment? In a transport of joy I fell on the neck of +the venerable old man, saying, 'Yes, uncle, and it is God who makes you +feel thus; know that he whom you love with the tenderness of a father, +is in the same case with this Rabbi!' I pronounced these words in such +violent agitation, and in a tone so unusual, that my poor uncle thought +I was out of my senses. He left the room for a few minutes, as if to +allow me to recover myself; and at his return began to speak on a +different subject. + +"I could see that although my uncle was annoyed at what had passed, he +did not attach to my words the importance they deserved. I therefore +resolved, after having strengthened myself in God, to make the same +declaration to him the following day. He could no longer shut his eyes +to what had taken place; and a heart-rending scene followed. He beat his +breast, lamented that ever he was born, and exclaimed, in the bitterness +of his soul, that I was about to bring his grey hairs with sorrow to the +grave. His reproaches went to my heart; but the Lord strengthened and +comforted me, and enabled me to shew the dear old man such marks of +tenderness as at length somewhat soothed him. + +"When the change became known to my family, they first used gentle means +with me, in the hope that these new notions might pass away; but finding +I grew bold, and ventured to preach the gospel to them, they resorted to +harsh treatment. It was a season of deep trial to my soul. This state of +things increased the ardent desire I felt publicly to confess Christ. My +family wished me to go into Germany, or some other country, for this +purpose; but to this I objected, lest it should appear as if I were +ashamed of the step I was about to take. My friend and I at length +decided on Leyden as the place where we should receive the rite of +baptism. The 20th of October, 1822, was the day so ardently desired, on +which we were admitted members of the Church of Christ. Kneeling in the +presence of the congregation, before the God of our fathers, who is the +true God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--we had the unspeakable joy, +unworthy sinners as we were, to confess before the Christian Church, the +blessed name of that great God and Saviour who had come to seek and save +us when we were lost. Glory be to God." + +Among Capadose's writings, the most noteworthy are: (1) "Aan mijne +geloofsgenooten in de Ned. Heb. Gem.," The Hague, 1843. (2) +"Overdenkingen over Israel's Roeping en Toekomst," Amsterdam, 1843. (3) +"Rome en Jerusalem," Utrecht, 1851. + +CAPLAN, Rev. W. H., was a native of the Baltic provinces. He was +converted to Christianity through the reading of the New Testament, +which he received from a friend at home. He then went to London for the +purpose of being able the more easily to make a public profession of his +faith, and was baptized there about 1876. In 1877 he became assistant to +the Rev. Theodore Meyer, of the Presbyterian Mission in Whitechapel. +After a few years he studied at King's College, and was ordained to the +ministry of the Church of England in 1885. Then he became curate in +several churches in England, and finally emigrated to Canada, where he +is doing good work in the Canadian Church. + +CARLTON, Rev. S. J., a native of Silesia, baptized in the Irish +Presbyterian Mission at Hamburg, about 1892. Subsequently he joined the +Church of England, studied at Ayerst Hall, Cambridge, was L.J.S. +missionary curate at St. Benet's, Stepney, then curate at St. Jude's, +Mildmay, 1901-4; St. Peter's, Cricklewood, 1904-6; St. Mary Magdalene, +Peckham, 1906-8; and vicar of All Saints, Camberwell, from 1908. + +CARRET, Ludwig, a convert who lived at the beginning of the seventeenth +century, wrote a Hebrew letter giving an account of the history of his +conversion. This letter appeared in the Appendix in Buxtorf's Synagogue +Judaica (de le Roi), but not in all editions. + +CARO, Pastor F., convert and missionary of the Berlin Society in 1845-8, +had the privilege of baptizing a Jewish lady in her ninetieth year, in +the presence of all her children, one of whom was the above-named +Branis. + +CARO, Regierungsrath in Merseburg, is recorded as having rendered the +Government good service, especially in the educational department, in +the 19th century, and that he was a devoted Christian. + +CASPARI, Carl Paul. Norway during the nineteenth century found her most +pre-eminent witness for Christ and defender of Christianity in that son +of Israel whose name is mentioned above. Carl Paul Caspari was born at +Dessau 1814. His parents were orthodox Jews, and his father was a +merchant there. In this city, which through Moses Mendelssohn has become +so celebrated, the Jewish community influenced many of its citizens in a +remarkable manner, on account of their ability and intelligence. They +established a Jewish seminary, which was called after Prince Francis, +"The Francis School." It gained a great reputation, and even attracted +Christian pupils. German services were held in the synagogue, at that +period an unheard-of innovation. The religious instruction in the school +was given in an enlightened spirit. Caspari imbibed this influence, and +when he attended the Gymnasium it obtained complete control over him. In +1834 he went to Leipsig, in order to study Oriental languages. Here he +read the Old Testament diligently, but he found in it only the teaching +he had formerly received. The New Testament he could not accept. +However, he was animated by a strong sense of duty, and he inscribed on +his desk the motto, "Thou canst, therefore thou oughtest." Yet he soon +became convinced that his will was a very feeble instrument. At this +period, Granel, who had formerly been his schoolmate at Dessau, and who +afterwards was so well known as the Superintendent of the Saxon Foreign +Missions, became Caspari's faithful friend and wise counsellor. Granel +persuaded him to carefully read the New Testament. He opened the book at +the Acts of the Apostles and read of Paul's persecution by the Jews. He +was impressed with the truthfulness of the narrative, and so he +concluded to continue his reading. When he reached the Gospels, the +words of Christ and the accounts of His wonderful miracles greatly +affected him. The thought came to him. "Perhaps Jesus can also help me +out of all this misery which I find in my soul," and, as he a year +before his death said, "I came to Him as to my living Saviour--just as +in the days of His flesh men sought comfort from Him." Pastor Wolf, of +Leipsig, and the young theologian, Franz Delitzsch, afterwards the +celebrated professor, together with Granel, dealt with him faithfully in +this time of struggle, and because the young man was sincere the +conflict ended in his victory. At Pentecost, in 1838, he received from +the same Pastor Zehme, in Leipsig, who had previously baptized Freidrich +Adolph Philippi, Holy Baptism. He now discontinued his former studies +and devoted himself to the study of theology, giving especial attention +to the Old Testament. After leaving the university he was at first a +private scholar, and as such wrote an exposition of the prophecy of +Obadiah, and also the first volume of an Arabic grammar, which was +translated into several languages, and is in use to-day. He declined a +call to the Königsberg university, because he wished to work only in a +Lutheran institution. He received a call to such an one in 1847, namely, +to the Norwegian university at Christiania, where he displayed his great +powers as a theologian. He wrote expositions of many books of the Old +Testament, and performed especial service in editing the newly revised +Bible in Norwegian, which is now used in the churches of that country. +The question of the signification of the Apostles' Creed, which through +Grundtvig, had greatly agitated the Northern Evangelical churches, led +him in 1858 to a thorough investigation of this ancient Confession of +Faith. He decided that the Creed undoubtedly had its formation in the +times of the Apostles, that it had become part of the life of the +Church, but that the Holy Scriptures alone had been and must remain the +standard of belief, and to which all the teachers of the Church from its +foundation until Grundtvig had adhered. The Apostles' Creed had not +always had this authority, nor is it the direct word of Jesus Christ, +but it stands for an expression of the primitive faith, and he who +disputes its truth should not be considered a Christian. Caspari +received abundant thanks for his labours. The city of Erlangen bestowed +upon him the title of "Doctor of Theology." Many philosophical societies +elected him to their membership, and Swedish and Norwegian Orders gave +him honors. He ever retained true affection for his own Jewish people, +and often spoke eloquently in behalf of Jewish missions. In 1865 he +became President of the Norwegian Central Committee for Jewish missions, +and later a Director of the Lutheran Central Societies at Leipsic. He +served with especial diligence at the Students' Missionary Association +at Christiania, where a conference was held over Jewish missions. He +divided his discourse into four points, including the following +questions and answers: + +I.--Is Jewish mission work necessary? Yes; because without it the +majority of the Jews would never be reached by the preaching of the +Gospel. + +II.--How shall they be converted? By establishing in every Church +societies of earnest Christians, who shall support proselytes from +Judaism as missionaries among their own people. + +III.--How shall these missionaries carry on their work? Not by dispute +and argument, which create only intellectual knowledge, but through the +promulgation of the way of salvation, must the Jews embrace the truths +of Christianity, through which Christians also are converted. + +IV.--How are the converts to be treated? Possibly they might primarily +be organized into circles, in order to serve as leaven among their +friends, but much depends upon their various former environments. + +The idea of a Jewish national existence greatly impressed him, and he +clung firmly to this hope for Israel's future. In 1891 he had the +pleasure of appointing the first Norwegian Jewish missionary. After a +remarkable, important and richly blessed activity for the Church of +Christ, he fell asleep in 1892. Professor Bang called him "the Teacher +of all Scandinavia," and testified that his death should be considered +as an historical Church calamity. Caspari himself cherished but one +ambition, to live and die in favour with Christ Jesus, and depended to +the last on the Saviour's word, "Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no +wise cast out." + +Some of Caspari's works are as follows: + +(1) "Commentar über Obadja," Leipzig, 1842, followed by (2) "Beiträge +zur Einleitung in das Buch Jesaia." (3) "Untersuchungen über den Syrisch +Ephraimitischen Krieg unter Jotham und Ahas," Christiania, 1849. (4) +"Commentar zu Micha," ib., 1852. (5) "Theile des Jesaia seit 1853." (6) +"Zur Einführung in das Buch Daniel," Leipzig, 1869. (7) "Quellen der +Geschichte des Taufsymbols und der Glaubensregel," Christiania, 1868-9. +(8) "Grammatica Arabica," Leipzig, 1842-48; a second edition appeared in +1866. + +CASSEL, Paulus (Selig), was one of the most distinguished Hebrew +Christians whom Germany produced during the 19th century, and one of the +most remarkable missionaries ever in the Society's ranks. + +Speaking of the necessity of writing a history of converted Jews, the +"Jewish Chronicle" said that the most important chapter of it would be +that which, concerning Germany, contained the lives of such men as +Benfey, Bernhardy, Lehrs, Neander and Veith; and after them should be +mentioned Cassel, who became a pillar of the Reformed Church, and +acknowledged that "a genius like Cassel is always an honour to his +former brethren in the faith," whilst wondering that one who observed +for so many years the Jewish ceremonial laws, ate at the table of Jacob +Joseph Ettinger, the rabbi of Berlin, who was the admirer of Michael +Sachs, and the author of the article, "History of the Jews," in Ersch +and Grüber's great "Encyclopædia of Science," could have embraced the +Christian faith.[10] It was indeed a strange spectacle, and a sorrowful +one withal, for every Jew with any feeling whatever, to see Paulus +Cassel teaching Christianity in the same city of Berlin, where his +brother, David, was a well-known rabbi, training young men for the +Jewish ministry. + + +[10] "Jewish Chronicle," January 9, 1880. + + +We must, however, first speak of his early years. Selig Cassel, to give +him his Jewish name, was born at Glogau, in Silesia, on February 27th, +1821, of Jewish parents. He was educated at the Gymnasia of Glogau and +Schweidnitz, and subsequently at the university of Berlin, where he made +a special study of history as a pupil of the famous historian, Dr. +Ranke. + +Cassel took his degree at Berlin and Licentiatus Theologiæ in due +course, and received the faculty for headmaster for all classes of the +gymnasium in Latin, Greek, theology, history, geography and German +literature. He then, for a time, was on the journalistic staff of the +"Constitutionelle Zeitung" in Berlin. Afterwards, in 1850, Cassel went +to Erfurt, where he was the editor of the "Erfurter Zeitung" from 1850 +to 1856. + +His Christian friends, and especially, according to his own statement, +his study of the history of Israel, led him to Christianity, which he +embraced in 1855, being baptized at Büssleben, a village near Erfurt, on +May 28, and receiving the names "Paulus Stephanus." Every year +subsequently he was wont to celebrate this "second birthday," as he +called it, amidst his friends and congregation. + +We now come to the second period of Cassel's life, as a renowned +Christian writer, preacher and orator. For a few years Cassel remained +in the town, where the great change in his life had taken place, and +became custodian of the public library and secretary of the "Erfurt +Academy." He was then called to Berlin by the Prime Minister, who +entrusted him with the editorship of the official "Deutsche Reform." He +resigned this post in six months' time to return to his beloved books +and studies at Erfurt. + +At this time honours were showered upon him. King Frederick William IV. +of Prussia honoured him with the title of "Professor." The University of +Erlangen conferred on him the degree of "Licentiatus Theologiæ." +Afterwards, in Vienna, Cassel obtained that of "Doctor Theologiæ" +(Doctor of Divinity). In 1859 he returned to Berlin and delivered +public lectures, which were more and more largely attended and +appreciated by both Jews and Gentiles. These lectures made him known +throughout the capital and the country. + +Dr. Cassel was elected a member of the "Landtag," the Prussian +Parliament, in 1866, and became a prominent member of the Conservative +party. As this took him too much from his literary work, he soon laid +this mandate down. + +In 1868, the third and most famous portion of Cassel's life commenced, +when the Society appointed him their missionary in Berlin and minister +of Christ Church, a stately Gothic building, with over a thousand +sittings, erected by the Society in the Wilhelmstrasse, in 1864. + +For twenty-three years many children of Israel heard the Gospel from Dr. +Cassel's lips both in Berlin and other places of Germany, and indeed of +Europe. The good done by means of his sermons and lectures can never be +fully estimated; and, in addition to this, numbers of Jews were +influenced in a Christian direction by his numerous publications. + +It would be impossible for us to follow the indefatigable missionary in +his multifarious activities in Berlin and in Germany generally during +these busy years; but we may be allowed to quote from a published letter +which he addressed in 1887 to English friends, entitled, "Thoughts on +the Jewish Mission": + +"Invitations came to give lectures in places at a distance. A dear +friend of mine shewed me in 1860 a map of Germany, on which he marked +all the towns in which I have lectured. Since then I have delivered +over a thousand original lectures in Berlin and elsewhere. God's hand +has guided me everywhere. My journeys have extended from Amsterdam to +Buda-Pesth. I always had an attentive audience, and the poorer people in +both large and small towns heard the Word with gladness--nay, even with +enthusiasm. + +"During the anti-Semitic agitation, such journeys for the purpose of +delivering lectures were more extensive. I had then become known through +my defence of Gospel charity, even in circles which were not outwardly +known as Christian. The meetings which were held at the period resembled +more nearly the ideal at which I aimed. A considerable number of persons +listened to the lectures, who had completely turned their backs on the +Church." + +Speaking of his ministerial and missionary work in Christ Church, the +doctor said: + +"The special blessing of the Church consisted in the regular exposition +of the _Old_ Testament. It has been my custom to expound the Old +Testament every Sunday evening, from the first Sunday I came into office +(Jan. 5th, 1868) up to the present time. It was the first time in Berlin +that this was made a practice. There were, therefore, from the very +beginning hearers, consisting of Jews and earnest Christians. Those +expository sermons have been the greatest blessing, and have specially +united me to the congregation." + +Professor Cassel baptized 262 Jews in Christ Church; amongst them +doctors, authors, merchants, nearly all educated persons. But, as he +said, "I am not fond of statistics. I sow the seed, but do not stop to +ask how much may be the fruit." + +Dr. Cassel was an ardent lover of his own people. "Though he has left +us, he was by no means our enemy. He still fights against those who hate +the Jews," said the "Jewish Chronicle." It was he who raised his voice +against Stöcker in Berlin, and endeavoured by voice and pen to soften +down the excitement and anger of German Protestants, and to secure the +peace of his former brethren in the faith. + +In the spring of 1891, when he retired from his duties, Dr. Cassel did +not cease to preach, wherever an occasion offered, and he continued to +write. So great was his love and zeal that he could not forego +instructing and baptizing Jews who wished to become members of the +Church of Christ through his instrumentality. The number of his converts +must exceed some hundreds. Many of them were in high positions, and +residing in various parts of the world. + +Dr. Cassel's death took place, after great sufferings, on December 23rd, +1893, his last words being, "Wo ist denn das Himmelreich?" His funeral +was held on December 27th in the afternoon. In Christ Church, where the +coffin had been placed before the communion-table, a funeral sermon was +preached by the Rev. Pastor Weser from St. John i. 12. The Rev. Dr. +Dryander, the General Superintendent of the Lutheran community, also +addressed the congregation. After the service within the sacred edifice +the obsequies were completed, in the presence of a large concourse of +friends, at the old Jerusalem Cemetery, where Dr. Cassel's mortal +remains lie in their last resting-place. + +We append a few testimonies to the life, example, and powerful influence +of Dr. Cassel: + +Mr. C. Urbschat, of Königsberg, who for several years worked under Dr. +Cassel in Berlin, wrote of his labours:-- + +"Professer Cassel was a highly educated missionary, and showed +extraordinary ability in influencing the higher classes of Jews in +favour of Christianity by his lectures and by his pleadings on their +behalf. He was a man of profound learning, of great diligence, and of +restless zeal in propagating the Gospel of his Master amongst Jews and +Christians." + +The "Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums" said:--"When the anti-Semites +began to show themselves, Cassel remembered his origin, and opposed the +leaders, Stöcker, Wagner, and others with great decision and manliness. +It was this manly action that gives us some satisfaction for his +desertion of the parental religion. We have to judge this apostasy very +differently from that of many others in former and present times, as he +did not forsake his old creed for any worldly reason, or to get honours +and position, but rather because he followed a mystical line of thought. +God alone can judge the veracity and purity of his life; we dare not. +'Peace be to his ashes!'" + +Of the two brothers who, though divided in life, died about the same +time, the _Jewish Chronicle_ remarked:--"The deaths of David and Paulus +(formerly Selig) Cassel remove two brothers, both of whom had won a +place for themselves among the honoured names of Jewish scholarship.... +Paulus was the greater man of the two, a scholar and writer of a higher +type, and his works will live. He took a worthy part in the struggle +against anti-Semitism. Paulus Cassel was perhaps the first man to +recognise what was really meant by writing a history of the Jews." + +One of Dr. Cassel's numerous converts, baptized by him in 1870, sent the +following most touching tribute to his memory:--"There was no way of his +life in which he failed to shine. Study and knowledge sealed in his +heart the great truths of religion. His was the faith which is clothed +in wisdom; his the wisdom which is hallowed by faith. His faith was to +him, as it should be to all of us, an armed angel. His affectionate +heart not only throbbed with love for his own kindred, but was alive to +sympathy with those who needed it. I always found him benevolent and +singularly gentle. He taught the world that the Jew, hitherto despised, +must be despised no more; he conquered a place in society, in the +highest society--the intellectual circle--for the people of his faith. +And this victory he won, not by dint of clamour, or falseness, or +obstrusive self-assertion, but by the force of his own intellectual +powers, his unsullied integrity, his admirable character. Dr. Cassel +gave mankind a useful lesson, a touching example, a glorious spectacle: +he showed how a Christian Jew lives! His knowledge was the altar on +which he stood to worship the great God-man! History confirms the truth, +which the Psalmist, whose music he loved, taught mankind ages ago--that, +'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'" + +The industry of Dr. Cassel was truly prodigious, and was especially +evidenced by the large number and character of his writings. + +A complete list of all his books and pamphlets would fill a large space, +so mention can be made only of his more important writings, +namely:--"Juden Geschichte" in Ersch and Grüber (1847), "Magyarische +Altertumer" (1848), "Von Warschau bis Olmutz" (1851), "Thüringische +Ortsnamen" (1856-58), "Eddische Studien" (1856), "Rose und Nachtigall" +(1860), "Weihnachten, Ursprünge, Bräuche und Aberglauben" (1862), "Die +Schwalbe" (1869), "Drachenkämpfe" (1869), "Vom Wege nach Damascus" +(1872), "Name und Beruf" (1874), "Löwenkämpfe von Nemea bis Golgotha" +(1875), "Das Buch Esther" (1878), translated by the Rev. A. Bernstein +into English and published by T. and T. Clark of Edinburgh (1888), "Vom +Nil zum Ganges" (1879), "Christliche Sittenlehre" (1880), "Aus literatur +und Symbolik" (1884), "Sabbatarche Errinerungen," "Die Hochzeit von +Cana" (1884), "Aus Literatur und Geschichte" (1885), "Aus dem Lande des +Sonnenaufgangs" (1885), "Kritische Sendschreiben über die Probebibel" +(1885), "Wie ich über Judenmission denke" (1886), "Das 900 jährige +Jubiläum der russischen Kirche" (1888), "Aletheia, Vorträge" (1890), +"Das 1000 jährige Reich" (1890). For Lange's Bible-Commentary he wrote +the expositions on the books of Judges and Ruth. His works against +anti-Semitism were "Wider Heinrich von Treitschke für die Juden" (1880), +"Die Antisemiten und die Evangelische Kirche" (1881), "Ahasverus" +(1885), and "Der Judengott und Richard Wagner." Dr. Cassel composed many +poems under the title, "Hallelujah," containing 188 hymns, and also some +dramas (Vom Könige, Das neue Schauspiel, Der Weiner Congress, Paulus at +Damascus, Paulus at Cyprus, &c.) + +From 1875-91 Dr. Cassel edited and published a weekly paper, "For +Christian life and knowledge," entitled "Sunem." + +Such, in conclusion, was this truly wonderful son of Israel, and +follower of Christ. His gigantic intellect, marvellous ability, +persuasive oratory, brilliant pen, were alike consecrated to the service +of his Lord and Master, and to the spiritual welfare of his brethren. +Sage, philosopher, scholar, author, preacher and missionary, he was a +king amongst his fellow-men. His name will live immortal in the annals +of Jewish and Jewish missionary literature. + +CERF, Karl Friedrich, born in 1782, died 1845, embraced Christianity. +Friedrich Wilhelm IV. conferred upon him the title of Royal +Commissionsrath for services rendered. + +CERF, Friedrich Rudolf, with his wife, Angelica Henrietta, _née_ Israel, +belonging to Mendelssohn's circle, were baptized at Schöneback in 1818, +and their daughter in 1822. + +CHERSKIER, a convert in Warsaw, translated the Book of Common Prayer +into Hebrew in 1836, since when 26,000 copies have been issued by the +L.J.S. + +CHERSKI, Reuben, a native of Thorn, was brought up in Leipzig. When +quite a youth he entered a Christian Church, for which offence he was +locked up by his father in a cupboard. Sometime after he heard +Biesenthal and Poper speak to the Jews about Christ at the Leipzig book +fair. Then he found a New Testament among his father's books, and read +St. John iii., and was punished by him for doing so, forbidding him to +read it again. After this he received another New Testament from a +colporteur of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and read it with a +pricked conscience for disobeying his father. Then, after he and his +father were saved by Christians from a fire at Eisenach, he, being now +seventeen years of age, left for Frankfort to seek a livelihood there. +Through a paternal friend he got employment in the office of the "Freund +Zeitung." The chief editor, Israel Harsch, one day in a walk pointed out +to him a man in clerical costume, wearing gold spectacles, with a +countenance of great gentleness, by saying, "He is a Meshummad, a +missionary to the Jews." Cherski now recollected that he had seen him +once at Leipzig, and was warned to keep aloof from him. However, from +that time he began to attend Dr. Poper's meetings, at one of which he +met Dr. Biesenthal too, listened to their lectures, and left for Paris +apparently unimpressed. Then he met Poper again, received from him the +tract "Messiah, the Son of David, is also the Son of God," became a +changed man, wrote to his father a confession of his faith in Christ, +returned to Frankfort, where he found that his fiancée, Lydia, had in +the meanwhile also been converted. + +CHRISTIAN, Gustav Christopher, baptized at Nüremberg 1719, and died +there about 1735. He was the author of two Judæo-German works--"Yesod +Emunath Yeshua" (The basis of the Faith of Jesus), Berlin, 1712; and +"Die Bekehrung's Israel," Schwabach, 1722. + +CHRISTIANI, Friedrich Albrecht, was born in the middle of the +seventeenth century, died at Prostnitz at the beginning of the +eighteenth century. He was baptized in 1674 at Strassburg, having +formerly been the Chazzan (Precentor) at Bruchsal. After having occupied +for twenty years the chair of Semitics at the university of Leipzig, he +retired to Prostnitz. Christiani's works comprise the following, all +published at Leipzig. (1) "Zebah Pesah" (The sacrifice of Easter), an +account of the Jewish celebration of Easter in the time of Jesus, and at +the present. (2) "Seudath Purim" (The meal of Purim), 1677, a +description of Jewish fasting and feasting. (3) "Zahakan Melumad +Umethareth" (The Scholarly Gambler repenting) 1683, a German translation +of the work of Leon of Modena on gambling. (4) "Abravanel's Commentary +on the first prophets, with a Latin index," 1686. (5) "The text of Jonah +with the Targum Massorah and the commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Kimchi +and Abravanel, and a Hebrew Latin Vocabulary," 1683. (6) "Iggereth" +(Letter) 1676, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews, translated from +the Greek into Hebrew. (7) "Traktat von dem Glauben und Unglauben der +Juden," 1713. + +CHRISTIANI, Moritz Wilhelm, born at Altorf at the end of the seventeenth +century, died at Prague, 1740, probably a member of the Keyser family of +Schleusingen, Bavaria. He claimed to have been a rabbi at Schleusingen +before his baptism in 1715. Christiani wrote: (1) "Kurze Beschreibung +einer Jüdischen Synagogue und eine Beschreibung der Synagogalen +Gebraüche," Regensburg, 1723. (2) "Die Schlacht und Visiterkunst, _ib._, +1724." (3) "Ausgang von dem verstockten Judenthum und Eingang zum wahren +Christenthum," an account of his conversion, his profession of faith, +and several orations, Erfurt, 1720. (4) "Rede zur Einladung für +Rabbinische Studien," written in Hebrew and German, inserted in "Johann +David Köhler's Program," Altorf, 1785. (5) "A German translation of the +Sefer ha Minhagim of Jacob Levi (Matta Ril)," published at Bremen, 1733. + +CHRISTIAN, Friedrich Ernest (as a Jewish teacher called Abraham Saul), +was baptized with his wife and two grown-up sons by Pastor Stemnitz in +1772. + +CHRISTMANN was baptized in 1775. + +CHRISTLIEB, Wilhelm, declared that it was a sermon which he heard +preached to the Jews by Pastor Dekan Soldanus in the town hall of Cassel +which convinced him of the truth of the Gospel. He was baptized in 1785. + +CHRISTLIEB, Friedrich Wilhelm, another convert, made himself +particularly obnoxious to the Jews by attacking the Talmud in a bitter +spirit. He wrote: "Greuel der Verwüstung des heiligen Jerusalem durch +den jüdischen Talmud," Cassel, 1681. "Lästerungen der Juden gegen +Christum," _ib._, 1682. A theological treatise: "Jesus Christ und Sohn +Gottes nach Kabbalistischer Art erwiesen," Rinteln, 1697. + +CHRISTHOLD, Christian Albert, born in 1687, was baptized when young with +his mother. He had great talents, so that at the age of 23, in 1700, he +was appointed Rector of the Gymnasium in Oettingen, when he wrote a +Latin treatise advocating toleration and liberty to the Jews. He was +afterwards a faithful minister of the Gospel till his death in 1772. +Schulze said of him, "I have hitherto not found anyone like him." + +CHRISTHOLD, Christiane Sophie Magdalene (Judith), a relative of the +above, followed his example. + +CHRISTFELS, Philipp Ernst (Mordecai), born at Neuhaus, 1671, son of +Moses Shemaja, received a good rabbinic and German education. Being of a +disputatious disposition, he very often in his wanderings disputed with +Christians on religious subjects, amongst whom was the well-known +Wagenseil. A learned rabbi, by the name of Hirsch Froman, once advised +him to read the New Testament. Another Rabbi, Abraham Reviga, Kabbalist, +with whom he studied, intimated to him that under the attribute called +Binah is to be understood the Son of God. This made him restless, but at +the same time enquiring. He was finally, after nine months' instruction, +baptized in 1701. Christfels was the author, before his baptism, of a +book in Hebrew, entitled "Rephuah Hanephesh," "Soul-Medicine," and after +he became a Christian, the Pentateuch with the Targum's and Rashi's +commentaries were printed under his supervision. + +CHRISTIAN, Gottlob Meyer (Abraham Meyer), baptized by Schulze (the +celebrated missionary of Callenberg Inst.), in 1769. He afterwards +studied Theology. + +CHRISTIANUS, Paulus, embraced Christianity about the beginning of the +eighteenth century, together with his son. The latter suffered martyrdom +(de le Roi, i. 131). + +CHRISTLIEB, Johann Ludwig Karl Friedrich (Aaron Mendel), was baptized by +the Court preacher Kern, in the eighteenth century. + +COHEN, Dr. Medicinalrath, a convert, at Posen, between 1830-40, took a +lively interest in the evangelization of his brethren, and encouraged +the missionaries Händler and Bellson in their labours. + +COHEN, Esther, baptized at Constantinople in 1873, was a deaconess at +Mildmay, and was sent in 1885 to Jaffa as a missionary. + +COHEN, Rev. James, was all his life an ardent supporter of missions to +the Jews, and for many years a member of the L.J.S. Committee. As far +back as 1849 he delivered an address to the students in the Hebrew +College. He was for many years Rector of Whitechapel, where he +eloquently preached both by word and pen. Later he was Vicar of Heston. + +COHEN, Joseph Philipp, born in Prussia, was converted at Swansea, a +narrative of which he gave in a little tract, entitled "The Sweetness of +Christianity," London, 1845. It was chiefly owing to his being of a +serious turn of mind that he felt the need of redemption from his sins, +and that made him study diligently the Old Testament. Afterward a lady +gave him a New Testament, and the first passage that met his eye was, +"Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give +you rest." He was later a missionary of the British Society until 1873. +After that time he continued his calling independently. + +COHEN, J. John Baptist, after much suffering on account of his +conversion to Christianity, was employed by Lewis Way as an evangelist +in Smyrna, and remained there when Lewis Way left the station in 1837. + +CORAL, J. N., a native of Rhodes, embraced Christianity in Jerusalem +some time between 1860 and 1870. He was a very earnest and loving man, +an acceptable preacher of the Gospel in Judæo-Spanish and in Hebrew to +his Sephardic brethren. He did excellent work when he used to visit with +the writer the towns of Palestine in 1871-2. + +CORESH, Daniel, a convert, mentioned in Wolff, Bibliotheca Hebraica 3. +N, published at Amsterdam a Latin treatise in 1727, under the title +"Quinque aperti flores collecti ex horto malogranatorum et in fascicula +digesti." He states there that he had then lived in Amsterdam as a +Christian for fifteen years, so that he must have been baptized in 1712. + +DA COSTA, Isaac. Much has been written about this great son of Abraham, +and the following is a short account of his conversion from his own +pen:-- + +"You request of me, dear brother, some account of my conversion to the +Christian religion, and to the faith in Jesus Christ; and I cannot +refuse to tell the things which the God of our fathers has wrought in my +soul. I will cheerfully join my testimony with that of my brethren, both +by nature and in grace, who endeavour to instruct others and to teach +their hearts by retracing the ways of God towards them in His providence +and His grace. + +"To set His dispensations towards me in a clearer light, I must refer to +many long past events. A son of Israel is constantly reminded that his +personal history is closely linked with that of his fathers. I must then +crave indulgence for prefacing my account with some particulars +respecting my parentage, which I derive from one of the Jewish families +that have for several ages dwelt in the Spanish peninsula. Some of my +ancestors in that country professed Catholicism, first by compulsion; +and afterwards (a case by no means uncommon in the history of our people +in Spain and Portugal) from conviction, or, at least, in sincerity. +Humanly speaking, we might still have inhabited that country, and +professed the Romish faith; but one of the members of our family, Canon +Tresonis, of the collegiate church of Oporto, gave up, in consequence of +his doubts on religion, his office and his country to return to the +Synagogue of his ancestors. + +"We learn from various biographical works[11] the history of Gabriel +(_Judaic_ Uriel) da Costa (Latin,'a Costa') who with his younger +brothers, was circumcised at Amsterdam, where, after falling into +complete infidelity, he ended his life very unhappily. It is from one of +these younger brothers, Joseph da Costa, that I take my descent, by the +direct male line. My family belonged, during two centuries, to the +Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam, where it enjoyed all the +privileges which Holland then presented to my nation in its exile and +tribulation. My father, who shared in the sentiment of devotedness to +the house of Orange, so common amongst the Jews, and who was therefore +very inimical to the revolution, educated me in the same principles. He +was a very upright man, and gifted with a large share of good sense; and +my education was to him an object of the most affectionate care and +solicitude. His religious principles were by no means those of a strict +Jew, although he maintained a decorous respect for the outward +ordinances of religion. My mother was much more inclined to the +religious observances of modern Judaism. + + +[11] "Exemplar Vitæ Humanæ," printed at the end of the "Colloquy of +Limborch with Prabio"; Bayle, "Dict. Historique," art. A. Costa; Wolff, +"Bib. Rabbin," &c. + + +"From childhood my mind had been partially influenced by a sort of +religious instinct, a vague desire to know and to serve God, whilst I +was, at the same time, involved in doubt and uncertainty, both as to +Revelation itself, and with regard to the ordinances, and the oral +traditions of the rabbis. At times I strenuously addicted myself to the +devotional use of the prayers, the rites and commandments of my +religion; at others, I relapsed into doubt, and gave way to a distaste +for all these outward observances. The scoffing and irreligious +philosophy of the eighteenth century inspired me with horror; and my +attention was earnestly directed to the acquiring of an intelligent +conviction respecting the existence and government of God, and the +immortality of the soul. But the books I consulted in my search into +these high interests failed to afford me satisfaction. Their arguments +were not of sufficient weight fully to convince me of their truth, nor +did their reasonings fix me in complete incredulity. Materialism +alarmed, distressed, and shocked me. But the subtleties of Plato, of +Mendelssohn, and others, could not reach my heart, nor warm it. My mind +was at that time far from being convinced of the historical fact of +Revelation, or of the veracity of the Old Testament, of Moses, and the +Prophets. And although in the midst of this uncertainty, I still clung +to the great recollections of my nation from a feeling of natural pride, +my commerce with unbelievers, and my study of philosophers, had wrought +in my mind so far as to exclude the idea of an immediate and positive +revelation. I had formed a sort of deistical system, in which were +mingled rabbinical and Mosaic principles. I looked upon Jesus Christ as +a light proceeding from Israel for the illumination of the Gentiles: +meanwhile the vanities of the world and sin ruled in my daily life. Such +was the state of my mind when in the providence of God two events +occurred which had a marked influence on my future course. + +"My father, perceiving my inclination for study, destined me to the +career of jurisprudence, a pursuit which, though formerly closed to the +Jews, had been partially opened to them since the revolution of 1795. +From the age of thirteen to fifteen years (1811-1813), having attended +regularly the Latin classes in my native city of Amsterdam, I began a +course of lessons with the Professor of Antiquities and Literature, a +man of learning, and possessed of a highly refined taste. His historical +lectures gave him ample opportunity for asserting and setting in a +conspicuous light the truth and high authority of the writings of Moses, +and he earnestly vindicated those records from the sophisms and +fallacies of Voltaire, and the other sceptics of the age. The idea of a +_positive revelation_ was now awakened in my mind; I began to believe in +the divinity of the Old Testament, and this great truth gradually +developed, was to me as a beacon amidst doubt and obscurity. Revealed +religion, the divine authority of the Bible, is an historical fact. + +"My study of the Bible history was soon followed by enquiries which +originated partly, I must own, from national pride. In the midst of the +contempt and dislike of the world for the name of Jew, I had ever +gloried in it. I began, therefore, to study the history of our families, +and of our nation, in Spain and Portugal, in respect to its +theology--its poetry--its attainments in science--its political and +diplomatic position, taking a general review of its prosperity and of +its astonishing calamities. Throughout their history, both ancient and +modern, I perceived something so extraordinary as to be quite +inexplicable, unless we view the Jews as the subjects of remarkable +privileges, and of as remarkable a downfall; of a special election of +God, and of an enormous crime on the part of the elect people. It was +thus that the consideration of Judaism prepared me for the knowledge of +that religion, which alone is the solution and the fulfilment of the +pure and divine Judaism of the Old Testament. + +"Another circumstance in my life tended to my further enlightenment. The +perusal of the ancient classics, the political events of 1813 and 1815, +even the study of the history of my fathers according to the flesh, +awakened in my soul the faculties of poetry. As a youthful poet, I was +presented by a learned Hebraist of our nation to the greatest of our +Dutch contemporary poets, the celebrated Bilderdyk, who died at the age +of 75 years in 1831. He was a remarkable man in all respects, and one +whose political and religious convictions, and originality of mind and +character, had armed all this present age, at least in his own country, +against him. Misunderstood, persecuted, banished in 1795, and harassed +by all sorts of misfortunes, he had found from his youth, strength and +consolation in the Gospel of Christ. Attached in heart to the truths of +the confession of the Reformed Churches, he had besides early perceived +the glorious future, announced by the prophets to the ancient people of +God, and how their conversion to the Messiah, crucified by them, would +be one day to the nations at large like life from the dead. From thence +arose a particular attachment to Israel for their fathers' sake, and for +the love of Christ, who sprung from Israel according to the flesh. Very +naturally, I felt strongly drawn towards this extraordinary man, I +became his disciple, and also his intimate friend for eighteen years to +the day of his death. It is to him, under the hand of God, and through +His adorable grace, that I saw the light which led me to the Christian +religion, and to the faith in Jesus, my Saviour, and my God. Not that +Bilderdyk ever sought to make a proselyte of his young disciple. With a +wisdom which I can attribute to nothing but the direction of the +Almighty, he rather endeavoured not to sway my mind by the influence +which his superior intelligence gave him over me. He only endeavoured to +render me more of an Israelite than is consistent with the wisdom of the +present age. He spoke to me of the Old Testament; he directed my +attention to the prophecies, to the promises given to the fathers, to +the portions of revealed truth, preserved even in the traditions of the +Rabbis (Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Joseph, &c.) Especially he +tried to make me feel that the true Christian shares in the hopes of +Israel in regard to a glorious reign of Messiah upon the throne of +David; and that on the other hand (it is thus that he expressed himself +in a piece of poetry which he addressed to me in 1819), the sincere Jew +is a Christian in hope. + +"Soon the hand of God led us further on. It was in 1820. Bilderdyk and I +were engaged in a deeply serious conversation on the things of God and +of truth. In the ardour of discourse he happened to say to me, that the +ancient Jews themselves had acknowledged a plurality of persons in the +ineffable unity of God. That God seeing Himself, contemplating Himself, +reflecting Himself, begot His Son from all eternity; and that the Son is +He whom Christians adore in the person of Jesus Christ crucified. + +"Then did my eyes perceive the first rays of new light. I began to read +the New Testament; I read that unspeakably sublime and blessed word (St. +John i. 6-14), 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with +God, and the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh.' I began to feel +an abhorrence of sin, for which the Saviour Himself manifested in the +flesh, had suffered the death of the cross. I perceived the fulfilment +of the prophecies of Isaiah, xi., liii., lxi., and in Psalms xxii., cx., +&c. I adored--I believed, and by degrees this faith operated upon my +conscience and my practice. Religion was no longer merely a sublime +speculation, or a great national interest; I found that I must become +the property of Jesus Christ, that I must live to Him, and by Him. +Twenty years have elapsed since that period. Shame in the sight of God +and before men befits me in recording so holy an obligation. But He who +called me from the midst of darkness is faithful. He will not suffer me +to quit this life without having truly glorified Him with my lips, and +in my life, by the faith which alone saves. During the early days of my +convictions I had, though with some hesitation, opened my mind on the +subject, to my friend Capadose. We soon entered into a full discussion +of it--and our conversations were more and more directed to the great +questions of the truth and salvation; we read and examined together. A +third enquirer into the Scriptures and the truth in Christ, was soon +after joined with us. God gave me, in 1821, a wife whose choice from the +first communication we had together on this all-important subject, was +in accord with my own. By a remarkable providence of God, Hannah +Belmonte, my cousin, betrothed to me in 1820, had been, through a train +of family circumstances, brought up in a school of Christian young +ladies. Having been admitted to share their religious instructions, she +became acquainted with the catechism of Heidelberg, and had heard the +blessed name of Jesus before I did. From the time I imparted to her what +was passing in my own mind, she became to me a beloved sister in Christ, +as well as a faithful companion in the trials of life, and in the search +after eternal life through faith in our great God and Saviour. Together +with our friend Capadose, we were baptized the 20th October, 1822, at +Leyden; and the Lord afterwards added to us three other members of our +family. We kept up a good understanding, and uninterrupted communion of +feeling with my mother-in-law Belmonte, and her eldest daughter, Esther; +though we were far from anticipating the happy change and renewal of +heart and life, which quickly developed itself. By the Divine blessing, +a conversation that my mother-in-law and I had together, one evening, +was made the means of arousing her to a serious concern for the +salvation of her soul, and this example was soon followed by her +daughter. Both displayed great eagerness for Christian instruction, and +shortly after they openly confessed the name of the Lord Jesus, and +were baptized by the venerable and pious Pierre Chevalier (pastor of the +Walloon church in this town)--who is now with them before the throne of +the Lamb. + +"Our mother, then aged sixty-eight years, survived her baptism two +years, a period which she devoted almost entirely to prayer and studying +the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, her previous reading +having been confined to the most frivolous publications. Perfect peace +was the portion of her latter days, and her last words were, 'Come, Lord +Jesus!' Her daughter Esther, who afterwards married the worthy son of +the Walloon pastor, our intimate friend and brother, Monsieur J. +Chevalier, after a most edifying course of devotedness to her Lord and +Saviour, died in her confinement in June, 1840. Her soul also reposes in +peace in the bosom of Abraham, and in the full fruition of His presence +who redeemed her with His blood. + +"Another member of our family, who had become a disciple of Christ, and +had been baptized some time after us (but quite independently of us), +had preceded our dear sister in death; delivered from the depths of sin +by the healing grace of the Lord, he had found pardon and eternal life +through the new and living way of the blood of Christ. After having +studied theology, he was about to assume the pastoral charge of one of +our churches, when he was called to his rest. + +"To God the most holy, be thanksgiving and praise for his unspeakable +mercies in life, in death, and throughout all eternity. Amen." + +After Bilderdyk's death Da Costa was generally recognized as his +successor among the Dutch poets. He wrote fifty-three longer and shorter +poems. Amongst his other works are--"Israel en de Volken" (2nd ed. +Haarlem, 1848-49), a survey of the history of the Jews to the nineteenth +century, the third volume dealing with the history of the Spanish and +Portuguese Jews. The work was translated into English under the title, +"Israel and the Gentiles," by Mary Kennedy (London, 1850), and into +German by a friend of God's Word (Miss Thumb), published by K. Mann, +Frankfurt, A/M. 1855. He also wrote two papers, "The Jews in Spain and +Portugal, and the Jews from Spain and Portugal," in 1836; "The Von +Schönberg (Belmonte) family," in the "Jahrbuch für Holland," 1851; and +"The noble families among the Jews" (Navorscher, 1857). + +DAHAN, Job, a Jew in Mogador, baptized by the L.J.S. missionary +Ginsburg, about 1872-3, had to experience, like St. Paul, stripes and +imprisonment, yet remained steadfast in the faith and laboured for the +Master. + +DANIEL, David, laboured as a pioneer missionary at Safed, in 1849, +amidst great difficulties and personal dangers. As soon as one enquirer +came forth to make a public confession of his faith in Christ, Daniel +was exposed to ill-treatment from his unbelieving brethren, and at last +compelled to return to Jerusalem. Later he laboured among the Jews in +Frankfort, and the rest of his life he spent as a lay-worker at +Wadhurst, in Sussex. He was a true servant of Christ. + +DARMON, Solomon, born in Algiers in 1850, baptized by Ginsburg in 1872, +laboured with tokens of Divine approval in Mogador. A Jewish widow, who +had declared that if angels from heaven were to tell her that Jesus is +the Messiah she would not believe, was convinced at length through the +testimony of Darmon. His own wife later followed his example. + +DARMSTADT (Rabbi Schittenhoven), was baptized in Switzerland, in 1749, +by Pastor Augusti. + +DARMSTADTER, son of a learned Jew, was baptized in Darmstadt, in 1680. +Concerning him, there appeared in Breslau, in 1713, a little book by +Deakonus Caspar, entitled "Geschtillte Sehnsucht eines wahren Israeliten +nach dem himmlischen Jerusalem" ("The longing of a true Israelite after +the heavenly Jerusalem satisfied"). To show the Jews that Christianity +was a matter of deep concern with him he abstained from food for several +days, and by his whole life and conversation he exercised a salutary +influence upon them. + +DAVID, Andreas Friedrich, born at Altofen, in 1750, was baptized in +Vienna about 1785. Superintendent Folk reports of him in that year that +he was a sincere man and the first Jewish convert received into the +Evangelical Church in Austria ("Kalkar Israel," 203). + +DAVID, Fanta, a Falasha convert in Abyssinia. Concerning him, Argawi +wrote on March 14, 1889, that he had accompanied him on a long journey +on foot to Monkullo, in order to be able to send a letter from there to +their friend, Mr. Flad, in Germany. + +DAVID, Ferdinand, born in Hamburg, in 1810, was baptized in Berlin by +Pastor Schultze, in 1828. As a musician and composer he associated with +Mendelssohn. He died at Klosters, in Granbündten. His sister Louise, +born in 1811, also embraced Christianity and died in London as Madam +Dulken, in 1850. + +DAVID, Georg Nathan, son of a Jewish merchant, was born at Copenhagen in +1793, and after receiving a good education, embraced Christianity. He +became Professor at the University of Copenhagen, founded the newspaper +"Fäderlandet," which advocated the political rights of the people. He +was also director of a bank. He died in 1874. + +DAVID, Hakim, physician and learned Talmudist, was baptized by the +L.J.S. missionaries at Bagdad, in 1850. + +DAVID, J., laboured as an evangelist among the Jews in Hamburg and +Holstein about 1875. + +DAVIDSON, Benjamin, a native of Posen, embraced Christianity in London, +probably under the ministry of Ridley Herschell, who had known him at +home. In 1843 they both belonged to a Hebrew Christian Prayer Union, +which used to meet once a month for prayer. In 1847 Davidson was +appointed Principal of the Missionary Training College of the British +Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. He also used +to instruct enquirers. He was the author of an "Analytical Hebrew and +Chaldee Lexicon," "Syriac Reading Lessons with Analysis," and "Chaldee +Reading Lessons," an English edition of Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar. He +assisted in the editing of the "Englishman's Hebrew Concordance." His +chief literary work, however, was posthumous--a Concordance of the +Hebrew and Chaldee Scriptures. Davidson was also actively engaged from +time to time in missionary work. In 1866 he laboured in Vienna and had +much intercourse with students. In Bordeaux he stirred up an interest in +the Jews among evangelical Christians, so that they founded the "Societé +d'amis d'Israel." In 1871 he became Superintendent of the Home for Aged +Converts and for Orphans, where he died the same year. + +DAVIS, Joseph, a native of Poland, was baptized in 1819, in Edinburgh, +and was probably the first convert of the Edinburgh Jewish Missionary +Society, which was founded the year before. He afterwards laboured as a +missionary among his brethren. + +DAVIS, Rev. Nathan, was one of the first missionaries of the Free Church +of Scotland. He was sent to Tunis in 1830, where he raised a spirit of +enquiry amongst the Jews, and baptized some of them. In 1848 he was +transferred to Gibraltar. + +DENNIS, Rev. Dr. M. J., worked first as a missionary in Palestine. Later +on he left the Holy Land and joined Mr. Freshman's mission in New York, +but his station was at Boston. + +DESAIR, Ludwig (Leopold Dessauer), born in Posen in 1809, embraced +Christianity. He is known as one of the greatest Shakespearian actors of +the nineteenth century. + +DETMOND, Johann Hermann, son of the Court physician at Hanover, born in +1787. The whole family embraced Christianity, and Detmond, junior, +became a member of the German Parliament in 1848. ("Jewish +Intelligence," 1856, p. 329). + +DEUTSCH, Christian Solomon, born at Temesvar, in Hungary, 1734. Up to +his twentieth year he studied scarcely anything but the Talmud at home +and in Prague. The Bible was a sealed book to him. He had married, as +the custom was then, very young, and had his board and lodging with his +father-in-law, so that he could apply all his energies to Talmudic +study, till he should be a light in Israel. In 1760 his wife died, and +after four months he married the second daughter, and was kept again. In +the same year he received from the Grand Rabbi of Moravia, the title of +Moreinu or D.D. However, he was not happy; he had read a passage in the +Talmud, tract Megillah 24 b, which troubled him. It is thus: "R. Jose +said: I was vexed all my life in not being able to understand the +prophecy in Deut. xxviii. 29. 'Thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind +gropeth in darkness,' until one dark night I met a blind man carrying a +burning torch, and asked him, 'What good is that torch to you?' He +replied, 'Although I cannot myself see, yet others can see and take care +of me that I fall not into a pit or among thorns and briars." This +awakened serious thoughts in Solomon's mind. He felt that he was not +even like the blind man, for he had neglected the Word of God in the Old +Testament, and as for the New, he, living in a Roman Catholic country, +had never heard of it. So he began to practise penitence by wearing a +garment of horsehair over his body, fasting and castigations. At night +he often used to weep over his sins, and his wife could not console him. +Then she reproached him that he had some secret which he kept from her. +To this he replied, "I will confess the truth to you; we must choose +another way and get out of the darkness in which we are living, if we +wish to escape from hell." He had been already meditating about +embracing Christianity, and this he betrayed somewhat by his behaviour, +and the result was that he was compelled by the rabbi to divorce his +wife. When three Roman priests heard of this affair, they visited him, +and one of them assured him that he had prayed to the Virgin for his +conversion, therefore he ought at once to join the Church. But Solomon +refused, and left his home in 1762, praying on the way for guidance in +the name of Jesus. This prayer he records in full in his autobiography. +He came to Prague and then to Saxony, studying the Scriptures on the +way. Here in "a prominent town" (probably Dresden) he visited the rabbi, +and they enjoyed themselves in a discussion over some knotty Talmudic +subtleties. On October 24, he read for the first time Isa. liii. and +asked the rabbi concerning whom the prophet spoke. Then the rabbi +appointed an hour and a private place where he would speak to him about +this chapter. When they met together he was astonished to hear the rabbi +revealing as a secret his belief that the chapter was fulfilled in Jesus +of Nazareth. Thence Solomon went to Leipzig, Berlin, Amsterdam, and at +last to London, where he was very ill. After his recovery in 1763, he +returned to Holland. On his way by ship to Arnheim, he met a Swiss +Christian, who took a great fancy to him, and in a conversation +expressed a wish that the Lord might enlighten his eyes as he did Rabbi +Jechiel Hirschlein who had been baptized at Zurich. In short, after much +instruction, Solomon was baptized at Amsterdam, on June 25, 1767, after +handing in a written confession of his faith under the title, "Jehovah +Glorified through the acknowledgment of the true Messiah Jesus Christ, +proved from the writings of the Prophets, Evangelists, and Apostles," +consisting of 175 pages, and printed at Amsterdam. He then studied +theology and became Pastor at Mydret in 1777, where he laboured +faithfully till his death in 1797. His chief literary work was, +"Israel's Verlosinge en eeuwige Behoudenis" (Israel's redemption and +eternal salvation), 3 vols., Amsterdam, 1769-93. + +DEUTSCH, Ignaz Friedrich Gottlieb, a native of Perskretscham, and +evidently a relative of the next, was baptized in Berlin in 1825. + +DEUTSCH, Siegmund Herman, was a remarkable personality. He was born in +Perskretscham, Silesia, in 1791. As usual he had an early Talmudical +education. Then he went to the Gymnasium, and then to the University of +Breslau, where he studied mathematics and astronomy. In 1815 he served +as a soldier in the Prussian army, took part in the war, and was +promoted to be an officer and teacher in the military school in 1817. +Then he had a duel with some one and was imprisoned in a fort. There he +was converted to Christianity, and afterwards served as an artillery +officer in the Greek liberation war. + +Returning to Berlin in 1824, where he attended the ministry of the +celebrated Gossner, he associated with the convert Lachs, who was a +teacher in a school for deaf and dumb, sat under the theological +teachings of Neander, and was thus spiritually prepared for being called +to labour for the Master among his own people. This call came from Dr. +McCaul, and after a little more preparation in the Hebrew College in +Palestine Place, he was sent by the L.J.S. as a missionary to Warsaw in +1828, where he laboured (with a short interval at Breslau) till 1833. He +then was stationed in Bavaria. He died in 1864, leaving a MS. (not yet +printed) on the future of Israel. + +DISRAELI, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield, born in London, December 21, +1804, died there April 19, 1881. Of this preeminently distinguished man +in the nineteenth century there are many biographies and lasting +monuments. We need only record very briefly here that he was one of +England's greatest sons and statesmen, and the greatest ornament of the +Jewish people in modern times. An ardent lover of his nation, a genuine +English patriot, a friend of his great Queen, a thorough Protestant +Churchman, yet with liberal tendencies, and a true believer in +Christianity, which he regarded as completed Judaism. His works are +these: "Vivian Grey," 1817; "The Infernal Marriage;" "Ixion in Heaven," +and "Popanilla," 1828; "Contarini Fleming," and "The Wondrous Tale of +Alroy," 1832; "The Young Duke," about that time; "What is he?" 1833; +"Revolutionary Epic," 1834; "Coningsby," 1844; "Tancred," 1847; "Sybil," +1845; "The rise of Iskander," "Vindication of the British +Constitution," "Venetia," "Henrietta Temple," "The Tragedy of Count +Alarcos," and "Lothair," were all productions of his great intellect at +different seasons. Benjamin's mother, his sister Sarah, born 1802, his +brother Ralph, 1809, and his brother James, 1813, were all Hebrew +Christians. + +DISRAELI, Isaac, left the synagogue in 1817. Though we have no definite +information about his baptism, we may reasonably assume that he was a +member of the Church of England. This appears from his having his +children baptized, from his pamphlet, "The Spirit of Judaism," in which +he vindicated himself for the step he had taken, from his articles on +"The Talmud," "Psalm Singing," the Pearl Bibles and six thousand errata +in his "Curiosities of literature," &c., all shewing that he was an +earnest student of religious subjects and of the Scriptures, and that he +endeavoured to spread the light of truth. + +DUCAT, H., a native of Warsaw, embraced Christianity, together with his +wife, about the middle of the nineteenth century. He was a saintly +Christian man, laboured as missionary for some time under the British +Society, was one of the founders of the Hebrew Christian Prayer Union +and of a Loan Fund for needy converts. His sons-in-law are the Rev. Dr. +Flecker and the Rev. John Schor. + +DUSHAW, Amos I., spent the greater part of his youth in Jerusalem, +Palestine, where he attended the school of the London Jews' Society. +Here the seeds of Christian truth were sown in his young heart. He +afterwards came to London, where he was brought into close connexion +with the members of the above-mentioned society, and the germs of truth +gradually grew, budded, and blossomed into faith in our Lord as his +Messiah. + +Dushaw went to America in 1895. The following year he was baptized, upon +confession of his faith in Christ, in the Fourth Congregational Church, +at Hartford, Conn. + +He followed Horace Greeley's advice, "Young man, go West." He was +determined to obtain a classical education. After a hard struggle, that +perseverance and determination to conquer all obstacles always a +component of the Jewish character, enabled him, in 1901, to graduate +from Redfield College, South Dakota. He afterwards returned to New York, +and entered the Union Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in +1904. June 12, 1905, he received a preacher's license from the New York +Presbytery. + +While pursuing his regular academic course he made a speciality of +sociology, literature and history. Especially was he interested in +Hebrew history and the present social, religious and political status of +Israel. He supplemented this study by personal observation as a worker +on the East Side of New York. This training enabled him to write for +"The People, the Land and the Book" some very choice articles. Several +secular papers quoted from one of his articles, "Moses and Jesus." + +The production of this article was due to the following incident. Dushaw +called upon one of the leading reformed rabbis to discuss the general +condition of the Jews in the Ghetto. This rabbi was so much impressed +with his insight into the situation, and also with his information on +many facts pertaining to Israel's development, that he advised him to +return to the Hebrew ranks. Israel, he said, would appreciate his +ability, whereas the Church would simply cast him out, because he was a +member of Israel. He thought Dushaw was foolish to waste his time in the +Church. On separating, the rabbi gave him a lecture, "Moses and Jesus," +delivered in his temple. Dushaw then decided to write one on the same +subject, from his own point of view. We quote from it. + +"If Solon belongs to Athens, Lycurgus to Sparta, Moses belongs to +humanity. He is the greatest among the great, the deliverer of his +people, the world's legislator, and the apostle and prophet of +Monotheism...." + +"I wonder how much Jesus, the brother and pupil of Moses, did to make +Moses as popular as he is to-day? It was Jesus who inspired the men to +translate the writings of Moses into so many tongues. Yet this does not +in any way belittle Moses. What if the pupil is greater than the master! +Surely Moses would not envy Jesus if he accomplished more. Moses, the +most unselfish man that ever lived, would be only too glad to see a +brother the Saviour of the world. Did he not wish that all Israel were +prophets? What right has the Jew to reject Jesus? Has he not made Israel +the most known people? What if his followers did persecute Israel? +Persecution is contrary to the spirit of Jesus. + +"Jesus has proved Himself to be the greater Moses. He has been a light +to the nations, guiding them to Moses, to the prophets, and unto God. +Wherever Jesus is proclaimed, there the Monotheism of Moses is +established, and the ethic, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,' +is given a wider interpretation." + +The article "The Ghetto and Its Relation to Jewish Missions." The +substance of this work was delivered at the "First International Hebrew +Christian Conference," held in Mountain Lake Park, Md., July 28-30, +1903. + +The article, "Hebrew Christian Literature," was written at the request +of the editor. + +As he came in contact with both cultured and uncultured Christians, and +discovered how little they appreciated the work of Israel, he was led to +write the two articles, "Salvation is of the Jews--Jesus," and "Let +There Be Peace." We quote from the first one: + +"I am anxiously awaiting the hour when there will be a new nation--'a +nation born in a day'--when the martyr nation, the suffering nation of +Isaiah, will awake from its cruel slumber and perceive that for the last +nineteen hundred years a fountain of life has been flowing for it from +the heart of one of its own sons--the best son of Israel--Jesus Christ. +What a spiritual revolution will then take place in the world! Heaven +and earth shall resound with joy! For Israel, the Prince of God, shall +clothe himself in robes of righteousness and go forth in the might of +Jehovah to conquer the earth for the Lord--to set up everywhere the +banner of social, political and spiritual freedom. Then, and not till +then--when every one shall serve his brother faithfully; when all +barriers now separating Jew and Gentile shall be no more; when every man +shall dwell unmolested under his fig-tree; when God shall be worshipped +in the Spirit of Jesus; when the old order of things shall pass away and +the whole earth shall be known as the temple of God,--then shall +Israel's mission end. For then there will be no more Jew, but all shall +be called children of God and brothers of Jesus." + +DWORKOWITZ, Rev. Paul, a native of Russia, baptized by the L.J.S. +missionary Dr. Klee, in Berlin, about 1864 or 1865. He then studied at +Basle, and laboured as a missionary of the British Society, and Pastor +in Warsaw, the Baltic Provinces, Breslau, Munich and Hamburg, with much +blessing upon his labours. He is a gifted man, and above all, an +"Israelite indeed." + +EBERS, George Moritz, born in Berlin, 1837. He became first Professor on +Egyptology in Jena in 1868, and then in Leipzig in 1870. He travelled +for eighteen months in Spain, North Africa, Egypt, Nubia, Arabia Petrea. +The result of his Archæological and scientific investigations he +published in several works--1. "Eine ägyptische Königstochter" +(Stuttgart, 1864), which describes Egyptian life at the time of the +Persian conquest. This was translated into English by Gore (London, +1870). 2. "Disquisitiones de Dynastia xxvi. regum Æg." (Berlin, 1855). +3. "Aegypten und die Bucher Mosis, ein Sachlicher Commentar zu Genesis +und Exodus" (Leipzig, 1868). 4. "Durch Gosen zum Sinai aus dem +Wanderbuche und der Bibliothek" (Leipzig, 1872). 5. "Ueber das alt +aegyptische Schrift System" (1875). 6. "Papyrus Ebers," his chief work, +which is in the University of Leipzig. 7. "Ein hieratisches Handbuch +Altaegyptischer Arznei Kunde," 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1875). 8. "Giarda," +"Homo Sum," "Josua," "Aegypten in Wort und Bild" (Stuttgart, 1878). + +EBERTY, Georg Friedrich Felix, born in Berlin in 1812, studied law, and +in 1851 become Professor at the University of Breslau. He wrote "Die +Gestirne und die Weltgeschichte, Gedanken und Raum, Zeit und Ewigkeit" +(Breslau, 1846-47). This work was translated into English. "Walter +Scott," 1860, also translated into English. "A Biography of Byron" +(Leipzig 1862). "Geschichte des Preussischen Staates," 7 vols. (Breslau, +1866-73). + +EDELSTEIN, Rev. S., after finishing his theological course at Leipzig, +went to Canada, and was ordained by Bishop Hellmuth in 1880 and +appointed to a church at Eagle, Ontario. + +EDERSHEIM, Rev. Dr. Alfred, born at Vienna, March 7, 1825, died at +Mentone, March 16, 1889. We give the following extract about him from +the Memoir of Dr. Saphir, by Rev. G. Carlyle: "In 1847 young Edersheim +became a student at the University of Buda-Pest. He had been brought up +luxuriously in Vienna, and was one of the leaders of fashion. He was +highly educated, spoke Latin fluently, knew Greek, German, French, +Hebrew, Hungarian and Italian. When Cremieux, the head of the French +bar, paid a visit to Vienna, the synagogue presented him with an +address, and deputed young Edersheim to deliver it. Cremieux was so +pleased with his eloquence that he offered his father to take his son to +Paris, and provide for him for life, but his parents would not give him +up.... Before the winter was over, Edersheim was under the teaching of +the Holy Spirit, and had glorious views of the Deity of Christ. Trusting +in His One Sacrifice, and filled with the peace of God, he gave himself +up to be His servant in any way it might please God to direct him. He +opened a class to teach the students English on the condition that the +Bible should be their only lesson book. Baptized, and now full of life +and vigour, it was resolved that he should go to Edinburgh, to the Rev. +Professor Duncan, to complete his theological studies. Edersheim, after +his ordination, was missionary first in Jassy, Roumania, and then +minister for many years at the Free College Church, Old Aberdeen, and +then at Torquay.... He then joined the Church of England and became +Vicar of Loders in Dorset." + +He resigned his living in 1883, and settled at Oxford, where he held the +position of Grinfield Lecturer of the University. He was also Warburton +Lecturer of Lincoln's Inn, and "Select Preacher" of the University of +Oxford. + +Dr. Edersheim was a voluminous author, and his works are extremely +valuable from the fact that he was able to deal with his subject both +from the standpoint of a learned Jew and a learned Christian. It may be +as well to state here his total output, from which it will be seen how +wide and extensive was his range of study and scholarship. He was +Translator and Editor of the "History of Speculative Philosophy from +Kant to Hegel, from the German of Dr. Chalybäus, with introduction by +Sir Wm. Hamilton" (Edinburgh); "Kurtz, History of the Old Covenant (vol. +1) with condensed abstract of Kurtz's Bible and Astronomy"; "Lange, +Bible Commentary on St. Matthew" (2 vols.); "Kurtz, History of the +Christian Church, with emendations and additions" (Edinburgh, 1860); +Author of "History of the Jewish Nation from the Destruction of +Jerusalem to the Establishment of Christianity in the Roman Empire" (T. +and T. Clark, 1856. Revised by Rev. H. A. White. Longmans, 1896); "The +Golden Diary of Heart-Converse with Jesus in the Book of Psalms" +(R.T.S.); "Elisha the Prophet, his History and Times" (R.T.S.); "The +Jubilee Rhythm of St. Bernard," and other Hymns, chiefly from the Latin +(J. Nisbet and Co., 1866); "The Temple, its Ministry and Services as +they were at the time of Jesus Christ" (R.T.S., 1874); "Sketches of +Jewish Social Life in the days of Christ" (London, 1876); "Bible +History," 7 vols. (R.T.S.); "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah," 2 +vols. (Longmans, 1884; eighth edition, 1894); "Jesus the Messiah," an +abridged edition of the foregoing; "Prophecy and History in relation to +the Messiah, being the Warburton Lectures for 1880-84" (8 vols., +Longmans, 1885); "Commentary on Ecclesiasticus," in "The Speaker's +Commentary on the Apocrypha" (J. Murray, 1888); "Tohu-va-Vohu (Without +form and void)," a collection of Fragmentary Thoughts and Criticisms, +edited by his daughter (Longmans, 1890), and various articles from time +to time in the "Edinburgh Review." He was also editor of "Israel's +Watchman" in 1877. + +EDUARD, Julius Anton, born in Lissa (Posen), in 1785. When still a young +boy he felt drawn towards Christianity. In order to prevent this +tendency developing further, his mother and stepfather, then living at +Breslau, sent him away to relatives at Lissa. But in due time he +embraced Christianity, and friends helped him to study theology at +Berlin, and he was ordained in 1816, and laboured for many years as a +faithful and beloved Pastor at Breslau. His name occurs often in the +reports of the L.J.S. as one who took a great interest in the mission to +the Jews, and as having also accompanied the missionaries on their +journey to Poland. + +EGSIABHER, Debtera Gebra, a very learned Falasha convert, labouring +among his brethren in Abyssinia in 1874, when Mr. J. M. Flad met some of +the converts at Kassala. + +EHRLICH, Herman, born at Cracow in 1837, of a family locally designated +as Anshey Emeth (men of truth). He was baptized in London by Dr. Ewald +in 1856. After working as a lay-helper for three years, he was appointed +missionary by the London City Mission, under whom he has laboured +faithfully ever since. He was one of the first organisers of Sunday +services in theatres, and he founded the Hebrew Conference Hall, Old +Montague Street, Whitechapel, where he is [1909] doing evangelistic +work. + +EISENSTEIN, Ferd. Gotthald Maxim, born in Berlin, 1832, died there 1852. +Though only twenty years old at his death, yet he was a Ph.D. teacher in +the Academy and a notable mathematician. + +ELIYAHU, Rabbi Mullah, of Bushire, is recorded, together with Eliyahu of +Bagdad, as having been baptized at Bagdad in 1852. The father of the +latter had lost his occupation among the Jewish community on account of +that, and this Eliyahu afterwards accompanied Stern on his journey to +Mosul and Kurdistan. + +ELKANA, Rabbi Paulus, of Prague. Superintendent Olarius, who wrote a +preface to a Hebrew translation of the Augsburg confession prepared by +Philipp Gallus in 1888, reports of the above rabbi who had been his +teacher, that he was converted to the Christian faith through reading a +Hebrew translation of the Gospel by St. Matthew and of the Epistle to +the Romans. + +ELVIN, Johannes, carried on missionary work among the Jews in Hamburg in +1850, under great political difficulties. + +EMIN, Pasha (Edward Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer), born at Oppeln, +Prussian Silesia, in 1840; killed at Kinena Station, Congo Free State, +October 23, 1892. When he was only six years old his parents had him +baptized in the Protestant Church at Neisse. Whether this famous +explorer remained a Christian or not is uncertain, but his parents must +have either embraced Christianity before or at the time of his baptism. + +EPPSTEIN, Rev. John Moses (Levi, such was his name at first), was born +at Memel, in Prussia, Feb. 24, 1827, being the son of Elijah Levi and +Rose, his wife (_née_ Eppstein). Soon after his birth his father died, +and he was brought up by his grandfather, Rabbi Benjamin Eppstein, who +retired to Jerusalem when his grandson was nine years old, adopting him +as his son, and making him take the name of Eppstein. Until he was +sixteen years old Moses was taught little else than Hebrew and the +Talmud. About this time several friends of his became Christians. At +first the only effect on him of their conversion was to make him more +bigoted; indeed, he went about with a dagger for some time in the hope +of killing his cousin Lauria, a rabbi who had become a Christian. At +last, through the latter, he was led to study the Prophets, and +eventually the New Testament. After this his eyes began to be opened to +the truth as he saw fact and figure, and type fulfilled in Jesus of +Nazareth, who must have been the promised Messiah. The Talmud was put +aside for the whole written Word of God; this he studied at the risk of +being killed, the reading of even the Old Testament causing suspicion. +He had therefore to resort to all sorts of contrivances to enable him to +search the Scriptures. His own words tell out his feelings at this +time:--"My convictions deepened daily, and I longed to openly confess +the Lord Jesus; but I had not the courage to give up all for Him. All +sorts of thoughts swayed my mind, and often, when my conscience troubled +me, something would whisper to my troubled heart, 'When you grow up and +get your property you will be free to embrace Christianity, now your +wisdom is to hide your convictions.' But I was not happy, and continued +praying, and the Lord heard my prayer, for I was soon compelled to take +refuge with the Society's missionaries. In the house where I lived there +was a small synagogue. I was the only Levite in the congregation, so +that on days when the Law was read I had to read after the priest; as I +was going up to the desk my sash caught, and the tracts I had in it fell +out. The bystanders stepped forward to see what they were; on finding +their contents, 'Apostate,' they yelled, 'with these about you, you +desecrate our place of worship, and dare even to go up to read the Law!' +The whole congregation began beating me, and would probably have +murdered me, had it not been for one of them. As soon as I was free from +my persecutors, my only safety was in flight. I went to my room, and +committed myself in prayer to the Lord, and then went straight to the +house of Mr. Nicolayson." After a course of instruction he was baptized, +July 13, 1844, by Bishop Alexander. + +After his baptism he found a situation in Cairo, in which he stayed for +several years, until he felt the missionary call. His employer did his +best to prevent him leaving, even to offering him a share in his +business. But his mind was made up, and he entered the Protestant +College at Malta, as a theological student, spending five years there. +He then offered himself to the Society, and in 1854 entered the Hebrew +College in Palestine Place. In 1857 he was appointed a missionary of +the Society at Bagdad. The results of his work are summed up in his own +words, "The mission was a great success, not from the number of +baptisms, but from the large numbers to whom we preached Christ." In +1867 he commenced his great work at Smyrna, where, through his labours +during eighteen years, many Jews were born again, and were baptized. In +1885 he left Smyrna. One who knew him and his work there wrote after his +death, "Mr. Eppstein will ever be remembered by thousands of Jews living +at Smyrna, and in the interior of Asia Minor. When his death became +known many Jews said, 'He was a good man, and loved our people.' He had +friends amongst the rich as well as the poor, whilst learned and +unlearned looked up to him for his great learning and Talmudical +knowledge." + +In 1885, on the death of Dr. Stern, he was appointed head of the +Society's mission in London, a post for which he was singularly fitted. +He knew English, German, French, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, Greek (both +modern and classic), Latin, Syriac, Chaldee, Felachi (the Nestorian +dialect of Chaldee), Persian, Italian, and Turkish. In 1893 he removed +to Bristol, in charge of the "Wanderers' Home." Here his work was +greatly blessed, as many as eighty-two Jews being baptized by him up to +1902. During his missionary career he baptized 262 Jews and Jewesses. + +At last, in May, 1903, his call came to higher service. Shortly before +his death, though suffering greatly, he said he was "the happiest man in +the world," and again, "I thank God that He enabled me to lay hold of +the Pearl, and to lay hold of it with both my hands." The Society +suffered a great loss when Mr. Eppstein passed away to his eternal rest. +As a missionary he was to the end most able and faithful, and his life +and life work will ever be remembered with heartfelt gratitude to the +Almighty God for all that he was able to do through a life so fully +dedicated to His service, as was that of the late John Moses Eppstein. + +EWALD, Rev. Dr. F. C.[12] In the middle of last century there was no +name more familiar to the friends of Israel than that of Dr. Ferdinand +Christian Ewald; and no missionary to the Jews was more highly honoured +for his work's sake than this distinguished son of Abraham. + + +[12] "Biographies of Eminent Hebrew Christians," W. T. Gidney. + + +It is somewhat difficult to write a memoir of one who was too modest and +retiring to say or to write much about himself: and who left but few +materials from which to frame a biography, for it was his express wish +that no lengthened life should be written. He felt that his record was +in Heaven, and that his works would follow him. As he has been at rest +for over thirty years, we think that the time has come when an account +of his life should be added to that of other labourers in the same +field, in which he was by no means the least conspicuous worker. + +Ewald was born of Jewish parents, on September 14th, 1801, at the +village of Maroldsweisach, near Bamberg, Bavaria. His parents were poor, +and the education which the village offered was all they could command. +Such, however, was his ability that his friends raised a fund sufficient +to send him and his brother (mentioned on page 215) to a better school, +where he evinced a great aptitude for languages. Later on he entered the +missionary college at Basle. Whilst there he was baptized, in 1824, at +the age of twenty-three, by the Rev. Dr. Von Brunn, adding the name of +Christian to his patronymic. He remained at Basle for a few years +longer, during which the Society paid a part of his training expenses. +He subsequently graduated at the University of Erlangen. In 1829 he was +accepted as a student in the Society's College, and in 1832 he entered +the service of the Society. He took Lutheran orders in the same year, +being ordained at Lörrach, near Basle, by the Decanus Hiltzig. These he +subsequently laid aside, when he was ordained by the Bishop of London, +in 1836. + +In the early part of 1832, he visited his native country for the purpose +of seeing his mother, his sister and her husband, who resided at +Bischberg, near Bamberg, and were still of the Jewish faith. His sister +told him, before he parted from her, that she believed that Jesus was +the Messiah and Redeemer. His brother Dr. Paulus Ewald, had already +renounced Judaism, and was Lutheran Pastor at Merkendorf, Bavaria. + +Ewald's missionary career naturally falls into three periods: the first, +1832-41, spent in the Barbary States; the second, 1841-1851, in +Jerusalem; and the third and last, 1851-1874, in London. His work was +thus both wide in extent and lengthened in duration. + +Ewald commenced his work in Africa on September 17th, 1832, by opening +a mission at Algiers. The Rev. John Nicolayson, of Jerusalem, having +visited that city in the spring of that year, and having met with a +cordial reception, came to the conclusion that the newly-emancipated +Jews (_i.e._, from the Moorish to the French dominion in 1830), were +ripe for a missionary effort. Consequently Ewald was sent out in the +autumn. His reception, however, was chilling in the extreme. + +The moment he landed he was told by the Custom House authorities, when +they saw the Bibles which he had brought with him for distribution, "You +have chosen the worst part of the world for your good intentions; there +is nothing to be done in that way here." His answer was, "This book, the +Bible, has already done great things, and I trust the Lord will bless it +also in this country." Discouragement crossed Ewald at every turn, for +he wrote: "All those whom I met with, and to whom I stated the object of +my mission, told me that there was nothing to be done here, because the +people are too bad--that the Jews are the worst set of people that exist +in the world--and that most of the Europeans who have come over are the +outcasts of human society. I believe this to be true, but I think, +because this is true, I am in my proper place; the Gospel of Christ is +able to convert man, to convert even publicans to righteousness." + +Ewald commenced to work amongst the Jews speaking to them and selling +his Hebrew Bibles. On one day he sold as many as nineteen copies for +twenty-six francs, a large sum from poor Jews; but they would not take +the New Testament. He also hired a house, intending to have services +there for Jews, when the French Governor-General sent him a letter +forbidding him to preach. This was a great blow, virtually suspending +missionary operations, and Ewald left Algiers. + +His next attempt to found a mission in the Barbary States was more +fortunate, and he had the honour of establishing the Society's mission +in Tunis, in 1833, laying the foundation of the extensive and +encouraging work now carried on by the Rev. C. F. W. Flad, the son of +the Society's veteran Abyssinian missionary, Mr. J. Martin Flad. + +At the time of Ewald's appointment to Tunis, which was before the days +of the French occupation, the Jews were greatly oppressed by the native +population. Indeed his very first experience, gained before his actual +arrival, gave him an insight into the way in which this persecution was +carried on. At Goletta, the port of Tunis, he met more than 300 Jewish +men, women and children, who were seeing some of their friends off to +Jerusalem. He says:-- + +"I saw a specimen of the cruel treatment the poor Jews meet with in this +country. Some of those who accompanied their brethren to the Goletta sat +down upon a bank, from which they could look to the ships where they +embarked for Jerusalem; but soon there came a Moor with a stick in his +hand, and drove them away. An old Jew, with a white beard, spoke some +words to the man which I could not hear, as I was standing too far off; +on this the Moor got into a passion, and smote the poor Jew repeatedly +in his face. I cannot express what I felt when seeing this--'O! that the +Salvation of Israel would come out of Zion; O! that the Lord would bring +back the captivity of His people; then,' and only then, 'will Jacob +rejoice, and Israel be glad!' Now poor Israel is oppressed everywhere +more or less." + +Ewald made a very successful beginning amongst the Jews of Tunis, and +found an open door in that dark and benighted country. Within three +months he had sold 398 Bibles, New Testaments, and portions in Hebrew, +Arabic, Italian, Greek, Spanish and French, for in so many different +languages had the work to be carried on. + +He instituted a service on Sunday, and had much intercourse with Jews, +including several rabbis, one of whom was excommunicated for visiting +him. Ewald used to visit the Jewish quarter with his pockets full of +tracts. + +In July of 1834 Ewald visited Monastir and Susa, at both of which places +he was able to proclaim the Gospel to numbers of Jews. He was back at +Tunis in September, and at once resumed his intercourse with Jews. He +says:--"I have from morning till night every possible opportunity for +preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus our Lord to Jews and +Mahometans, sometimes in my own dwelling-place--at other times in their +habitations, or shops, synagogues, or in the market-place. The desire to +read and to possess the Word of God is daily increasing among the +remnant of Israel in this country. Even the very poor save a few +shillings in order to buy the pearl of great price. Others who are even +too poor to follow their example, made an agreement to pay a few pence +every week. Doors have been opened for the circulation of the Scriptures +along the coast and in some places in the interior." + +In 1835 Ewald visited the Jews along the northern coast of +Africa--Solimon, Nabal, Hammamet, Susa, Monastir, Medea, El-Djem, Sfax, +Gabes, Menzel, Shara, the Island of Gerba, and Tripoli were visited, and +the Gospel preached to many thousands and thousands of copies of the +Bible were placed in their hands, and tens of thousands of tracts +circulated. Most interesting records of this visit remain, to one of +which we cannot refrain from referring. Ewald was preaching on the wild +shores of Gabes, where the Jews had never so much as heard of Christ, +but where the general cry was, "Give me a Bible; give me a Bible; here +is the money for it!" so that he had none left for other places, at +which the poor Jews cried out for the Word of God, like children +perishing with hunger. + +In 1836 Ewald made a visit to England for ordination, but was soon back +at his work again. We cannot follow this devoted and faithful missionary +in his untiring efforts for the lost sheep of Israel in Africa, and must +be content with giving his own summary of his labours. On the last day +of the year 1838, he wrote:-- + +"I have now been since 1832 on the coast of Africa. It has been my +privilege to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to many thousands of the +sons of Abraham during that period. To thousands I have been permitted +to present the oracles of God, and tens of thousands of tracts have been +put into circulation among the great mass of the Jewish population of +this country. The effect produced by these various means of grace may be +thus described: The greater part of the Jews know now that Christianity +is not a system of idolatry, but a revelation of God built upon the +Scriptures; that the precepts of the Gospel are very good and beneficial +to mankind. They acknowledge, for the most part, that the only +difference which exists between the Christians and the Jews is, that the +former maintain the Messiah is come, and Jesus Christ is the Messiah, +whilst the latter deny both, which may, however, fairly be decided by +the Word of God. They perceive that true Christians are not the enemies +of the Jews, but, on the contrary, their well-wishers, who provide them +with the Scriptures, and pray for their real welfare. The greater part +of them are now acquainted with the written Word of God, and we are able +to appeal with more effect to the testimony of Scripture without being +constantly told, 'These passages do not occur in our Bibles, but are a +fabrication of yours, in order to make us believe that Jesus is the +Messiah.'" + +For three years more Ewald carried on the work, and then, owing to +repeated attacks of ophthalmia, he had to return to England in 1841, +after a residence of some eight years in the Barbary States. + +He did not, however, long remain idle, for he was within a few months +appointed to assist in the Society's Mission in Jerusalem, and he and +his wife were members of the party which accompanied Dr. Alexander, the +first Anglican Bishop, to the Holy City. They sailed from Portsmouth on +December 7th, 1841, and reached Jerusalem on January 21st--being six +weeks on the journey, which is now accomplished in nine or ten days. + +For ten years Ewald laboured earnestly in the work of the conversion of +the Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem, being also chaplain to Bishop +Alexander during that prelate's occupation of the see. + +One of the most interesting incidents connected with Ewald's labours in +the Holy City was the instruction and baptism of certain rabbis. Three, +named respectively, Abraham, Benjamin, and Eliezer, had placed +themselves under Christian instruction. A deputation from the Jews of +Tiberias arrived to enquire whether the report was true, that fourteen +rabbis of Jerusalem had embraced Christianity. The Jews of Jerusalem, +very much exasperated on that account, did all in their power to avoid +coming in contact with the missionaries, and removed all the books which +they had previously received through the mission, in order that they +might not be suspected. + +Shortly afterwards two of the rabbis, Eliezer and Benjamin, known +henceforth as Christian Lazarus Lauria and John Benjamin Goldberg, were +baptized with two other enquirers, Isaac Paul Hirsch and Simon Peter +Fränkel. The Rev. John Nicolayson, the head of the Society's mission, +referring to the event, wrote: "It is not a small thing, that the +apparently impenetrable phalanx of rabbinism at Jerusalem has thus +actually been broken into; and two Jerusalem rabbis been incorporated +into the restored Hebrew Christian Church on Mount Zion. How sore the +Jews felt on this occasion you can easily conceive. They were, in fact, +after all, taken by surprise, and felt sadly disappointed in having to +yield up at last any lingering hope they might have had of their +return." + +Of the third rabbi, Abraham, Mr. Ewald said: "There was, indeed, +something which marred my joy on that occasion, which was the absence of +rabbi Abraham. For years had he been the faithful companion of rabbi +Eliezer and rabbi Benjamin; he had the same convictions, but he could +not leave his wife; the struggles between natural affection and +spiritual blessings were too hard for him, and he returned." Ewald +witnessed other interesting missionary events at Jerusalem, which had a +great bearing upon the subsequent history of the Society; namely, the +baptism of John Moses Eppstein, and the ordination of Messrs. +Tartakover, A. J. Behrens, Sternchuss, Murray Vicars, and Henry Aaron +Stern. + +During the early part of his sojourn there, Ewald had the great +misfortune to lose his wife, who died on January 16th, 1844. He brought +his motherless children to London, but returned to Jerusalem in 1846, +just after his second marriage. In the same year he published a "Journal +of Missionary Labours in the City of Jerusalem, during the years +1842-4," which are exceedingly interesting reading, even after this +lapse of time. + +It is striking to note that at that time the Jewish population of +Jerusalem was only 6,000, out of a total of 18,000; whereas the Jewish +population now [1909] numbers 60,000, out of a total of 80,000. + +Ewald was compelled to leave the East, owing to ill-health, in 1851, +when he became the Society's senior missionary in London. He at once +made his way into the hearts and homes of many Jews, and founded, in +November, 1853, an institution for poor enquiring Jews, called "The +Wanderers' Home." Such was its success that within five years 303 Jews +and Jewesses had availed themselves of its benefits, no less than 150 +being baptized; 76 entered the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, +and six went to the Society's College. In 1858, owing to lack of +financial support, the Home was closed. It was, however, re-opened in +1860, and has, under Dr. Ewald's and successive management, been the +means of influencing large numbers of Jews in a Christian direction. + +Ewald's reports of his work are full of encouraging missionary facts. He +was in labours "most abundant," both for the Society and the "Wanderers' +Home." For nineteen years he was at the head of affairs, and at least +forty Jewish families in London were brought through his means to faith +in Christ. He was one of the ablest missionaries who ever served the +Society. + +In 1858 Ewald thus wrote of the work: "Certainly, mighty changes have +taken place amongst those Jews to whom the missionary has not been +debarred an access. If you go into their houses, you find on their table +the Bible, the Old and New Testament, just as you see it on the table of +Christians, and I have seen the authorized version of the Bible not only +in private houses, but in the synagogue. When you converse with +intelligent Jews, you soon observe that they have read the New +Testament, and other Christian books and that they know what the +fundamental doctrines of Christianity are, namely: the fall of man; the +redemption of mankind through the Lord Jesus Christ; the atonement; the +Deity of Christ; the doctrine of the Trinity, &c.; and they know also +that every true Christian believes these doctrines. Then, much of the +animosity towards converts has been gradually removed, by the number of +Jews who have embraced Christianity. You cannot meet with many Jewish +families who do not count among their relatives some converts. I have +myself heard Jews defending their friends, not for having embraced +Christianity, but from the alleged imputation of having embraced it +through impure motives. The more Christianity gains ground in the Jewish +community, the more will friendly feelings arise towards those of their +number who conscientiously look upon the Lord Jesus as the Christ. +Amongst fifty thousand Jews in England we reckon three thousand +converts. In London alone there are eleven ministers of the Lord Jesus +Christ who are converted Jews, preaching the Word of Life to perishing +sinners, whose ministry the Lord owns by granting them many souls for +their hire. These thousands of converts are as a salt in the earth, and +through their instrumentality a work is carried on silently and quietly +in this country. They have all acquaintances and friends, to whom they +speak occasionally of the Lord Jesus; and thus true religion is spread +among the Jews." + +When, in 1870, Dr. Ewald, owing to increasing years, retired from the +mission, he could thankfully look back upon a successful career, whether +passed in North Africa, Palestine, or London. During his residence in +the metropolis hundreds of Jews were baptized, out of some thousands +instructed by him. + +Dr. Ewald died at Gipsy Hill, London, on August 9th, 1874, at the age of +73 years. + +Ewald published in 1856 a German translation of "Abodah Zarah" +(Idolatrous Worship), the name of one of the treatises of the Mishnah, +of the Tosefta, and of the Babylonian and the Palestinian Talmud, for +which his University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of +Philosophy. A distinction which he valued still more highly was the +degree of Bachelor of Divinity, which honour was conferred upon him by +the Patron of the Society, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in +consideration of, as the diploma stated, his proficiency in the study of +divinity, of Hebrew and Oriental languages and literature; and also of +his missionary labours and eminent services in the promotion of +Christianity amongst the Jews. + +The then Bishop of Carlisle (Dr. Montagu Villiers) described Dr. Ewald +as a "missionary genius," a description fully deserved for his ability +and devotion to the work to which he gave his life. + +EWALD, Dr. Paulus, a brother of the preceding, also embraced +Christianity. He was lecturer at the University of Erlangen, and later +became Pastor of Pappenreuth, Bavaria. He published a translation of the +Talmud tract, "Pirke Aboth" (The Ethics of the Fathers), in 1825. + +EZEKIEL, Hakim David, a physician and famous Talmudist at Bagdad, and +son of a rich Jew, was baptized there in 1850, and subsequently laboured +as a colporteur in the mission. + +FALK, Max, Hungarian statesman and journalist, born at Budapest in 1828, +became a Christian as a student at the University. He displayed great +talent as a writer and politician. In 1866 he was appointed as +instructor of Hungarian to the Empress Elizabeth. The next year he +became editor-in-chief to the "Pester Lloyd," raising that paper to a +high level of excellence. In 1869 he was elected a member of the +Hungarian House of Representatives. The Emperor of Austria has decorated +him with the Komthur Cross of the Order of St. Stephen. + +FANTA, Kendy, together with Beru and I. Jasu, were indefatigable in +proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to their brethren during the +captivity of the missionaries in Abyssinia. + +FARO, Aharon Gabai Rodriguez, a rich Portuguese Jew living in Holland in +the seventeenth century, was converted through reading Ragstatt de +Weile's tract, "de Heerlykheyd Jesu Christi," and having heard of an +attempt that was made by a Jewish teacher to murder the author, he +decided to be baptized by him. Ragstatt himself mentioned the case in +the sermon which he preached on the occasion on Ps. ii. 6. + +FAUBER, of Gran, a highly respected Jew in Pesth, was baptized in 1847. + +FAY, I. L., was won for Christ in 1820 by the L.J.S. missionary L. D. +Mark, who laboured at Offenbach. Fay studied theology and became Pastor +in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. + +FELS, Christian Leberecht, born in 1640, became eventually Rabbi in +Prague. After embracing Christianity at Cöthen, he returned to Prague +and claimed his patrimony, but the Government authorities refused to +sanction it unless he became a Roman Catholic. So he had to seek his +livelihood by teaching Hebrew and rabbinics in various schools and +Universities. To convince his brethren of the truth of Christianity, he +wrote in German a treatise under the title "Hodegus Judæorum" (Frankfort +and Leipzig, 1703), in which he, besides the Scriptures, adduces proofs +from the Targums and the Talmud in favour of Christianity. He published +a Latin Hebrew Grammar under the title "Brevis et perspicua via ad +linguam sanctam" (Sunderhausen, 1696). Also "Brevis et perspicua via ad +accentionem," 1700. No less than 52 Jews were influenced by him to +accept the Gospel. He held a Professorship at Wittenberg, but on account +of war he had to leave, and went to Verden and Lubeck, where he gave +lessons. He died in the faith at Hamburg in 1719. + +FERDINAND, Philip: "Hebrew teacher; born in Poland about 1555; died at +Leyden, Holland, 1598. After an adventurous career on the Continent, +during which he became first a Roman Catholic and afterward a +Protestant, he went to Oxford University, and later removed to the +University of Cambridge, where he was matriculated Dec. 16th 1596. He +claimed a pension from the 'Domus Conversorum,' which was paid Feb. 3rd, +1598, and receipted for by him in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. The same +year he was attracted to Leyden by Joseph Scaliger, who obtained a +professorship for him. Scaliger himself acknowledges having learned much +from Ferdinand, in the short time he was at Leyden. Ferdinand's only +publication was a translation of the six hundred and thirteen +commandments as collected by Abraham ben 'Kattani' in the Bomberg Bible +(Cambridge 1597.) + +"The following is a list of his writings: 'Dictionary of National +Biography'; Wood, 'Athenæ Oxnienses,' ed. Bliss, i. 677; Cooper, 'Athenæ +Cantabrigienses,' ii. 239; Scaliger, 'Epistolæ,' pp. 208, 594, Leyden, +1627; 'Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society,' Eng. i. +27."--_Jewish Encyclopædia._ + +FINKELSTEIN, Rev. A. M., had a school for Jewish children in +Philadelphia in 1885. + +FINKELSTEIN, Rev. Samuel, a convert from Russia, emigrated to Australia +and became pastor of a German church at Melbourne, where he also founded +a mission to the Jews in 1868. + +FLEGEL, Petrus, a convert, was Professor of Hebrew at the University of +Strassburg in 1564. More is not known of him. + +FLEISCHALKER, Rev. J. C, was educated at St. Chrischona College, near +Basle. He laboured for a time as L.J.S. missionary in Jerusalem, where +he was ordained by Bishop Gobat. In 1868 he became pastor of St. +George's Episcopal Chapel, New York. He was a true servant of God. + +FORTUNATUS, Wilhelm, a physician, became a convert to Christianity +through the simple reading of the New Testament, and was baptized in +Baden in 1639, (Wolff, Bibliotheca Hebraica 1, p. 564). + +FOULD, Achille, French Statesman and Minister of Finance under two +Napoleons, born in Paris in 1800 died in 1867. In the Jewish +Encyclopædia, it is stated that he married into a Protestant family, and +his children were educated in that faith, but he never formally abjured +Judaism, though he was buried with the rites of the Protestant Church. +But de le Roi states that in his ripe age, with full convictions, he +joined the Reformed Church, of which he had always been a true member. +The two statements are easily reconciled. He was a regular attendant at +that Church for many years, but was only baptized in his old age. (See +"Jewish Intelligence," 1868, p. 13.) + +FRANCO, Rabbi Solomon, baptized in London in 1670. Wolff in Bib. Heb. +1678 records the fact that he took Ps. lxxxv. 11 as his motto, "Truth +shall spring out of the earth," and tried to convince the Jews that the +earthly promises to Israel have a higher spiritual meaning in their +being realized in Christ Jesus. + +FRANCO, Abraham and Jacob, Portuguese Jews, who had once the first city +houses in London. Their posterity have all become Christians, according +to Peixotto. + +FRANK, Rev. Arnold, born in Hungary, baptized in 1877 at Hamburg, +studied theology at Belfast, was appointed missionary at Altona in 1884, +where he [1909] still labours faithfully with tokens of divine blessing. +He is the author of a pamphlet entitled "The Jewish Problem and its +Solution" (Belfast, 1883). + +FRANKEL, Dr. B., has written his own history entitled, "Das Bekenntniss +des Proselyten, das Unglück der Juden und ihre Emanzipation in +Deutschland" (Elberfeld, 1841). + +FRANKEL, Rev. E. B., was first a missionary of the British Society, and +then entered the service of the L.J.S., and laboured successfully at +Jerusalem until 1869, where he had the privilege of baptizing his own +brother. From Jerusalem he was transferred to Damascus, where he +laboured for some years both as a missionary and chaplain to the English +community, holding evening classes and meeting the Jews at the book +depôt; the latter was once set on fire. Then he went to Tunis, and +together with his son-in-law, the Rev. E. H. Archer-Shepherd, laboured +faithfully till he retired to Bournemouth, where he died in the Lord. + +FRANKEL, Dr. Ivan, Medical Councillor in Berlin, became, as a convert, a +great friend of the Jewish mission, and attended the Missionary +Conference in 1870. + +FRANKHEIM, a convert in Breslau, wrote two books: 1, "Doctrine of +Cohesion" (Breslau, 1835), 2, "Popular Astronomy" (_ib._, 1827 and +1829). + +FRAUENSTADT, Christian Martin Julius, German student of philosophy, born +at Boyanawo, Posen, 1813; died at Berlin, 1879. He was educated at the +house of his uncle at Neisse, and embraced Christianity in 1833. He +wrote, "Studien und Kritiken zur Theologie und Philosophie," Berlin, +1840; "Ueber das Wahre Verhältniss der Vernunft zur Offenbahrung," +Darmstadt, 1898; "Aesthetische Fragen," Dessau, 1853; "Die Natur +wissenschaft in Ihren Einfluss auf Poesie, Religion, Moral, und +Philosophie," _ib._, 1885; "Der Materialismus, seine Wahrheit und sein +Irrthum," _ib._, 1856; "Briefe über die Natürliche Religion," _ib._, +1858; "Lichtstrahlen aus Immanuel Kants Werken," _ib._, 1872. He also +wrote much about Schopenhauer's philosophy, whose works he edited in six +volumes. + +FRESHMAN, Rev. Jacob, was the son of a Hungarian Rabbi, who settled in +Quebec, Canada, in 1855. His father officiated in the synagogue there +for three years, and after becoming convinced of the truth of +Christianity together with his wife, four sons and three daughters, were +all baptized by the Rev. J. Elliot, then President of the Montreal +Methodist Conference. Freshman, senior, was soon appointed as a Pastor +among the Germans in the province, and laboured in this office for nine +years. On account of his ability and learning, the degree of D.D. was +conferred upon him. Several Jews were also brought to a knowledge of the +truth through his ministry. He died through an accident in 1875. His son +Jacob was an equally able and zealous man, established a mission to the +Jews in New York City under the name, "Hebrew Christian Work." By his +popular lectures to Christians on Jewish subjects, and by his earnest +addresses to Jews, he won the hearts of both, and glorious results +followed his ministry. Many of the converts became themselves ministers +of the Gospel. Having built a church especially for this work, he +retired from the mission to carry on private ministerial work. + +FREY, Rev. (Joseph Samuel) Christian Friedrich, born at Stockheim, near +Wurzburg, in 1771. His father was an assistant rabbi, in good +circumstances, and a distinguished opponent of Christianity, owing to +his wife's brother having become a Christian. The children were early +prejudiced against Christianity by their home teacher, who read to them +the story about Jesus as given in the "Toldoth Yeshu." At the age of +eighteen Frey became a teacher and a precentor in small congregations. +In the course of his wanderings he met a Christian merchant, who induced +him to enquire into Christianity, and this happened repeatedly with +others. He then learned the trade of shoemaking, and was finally +converted in 1798, at Prenzlan, when his master, a worldly man, +dismissed him on account of attending prayer meetings frequently. +Encouraged by Christian friends he went to Berlin, and applied to Pastor +Janicke for admission into his missionary training school in 1800. From +there he went to London. Then, after holding meetings with Jews in Bury +Street, Spitalfields, he wrote a most touching appeal to the Committee +of the L.J.S. (or rather to those earnest Christian men who formed +themselves later into a Committee) in 1801, and thus he gave the first +impulse to the establishment of the London Society for Promoting +Christianity amongst the Jews in 1809. (See "Our Missions," p. 19). + +Of Frey's converts at that time an excellent one was Erasmus H. Simon, +who after his baptism studied theology at Edinburgh, and went with +Thelwall to Amsterdam, in 1820, to work in that city amongst the Jews, +as he knew the Dutch language. In 1816 Frey went to America, where he +assisted in the reconstruction of the already existing American Society +for Evangelizing the Jews, under the title of "The Society for +Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews in New York," under which he +laboured for some time. + +Frey is the author of a long and learned dialogue, entitled "Joseph and +Benjamin;" also of a Hebrew Dictionary. + +FRIEDBERG, Emil Albert von, born in Kanitz, 1837, studied law in Berlin +and Heidelberg, became eventually Professor of Ecclesiastical Law at +Leipzig in 1869, and was ennobled in Wittenberg. His published works on +Church law are too numerous to mention here. (See de le Roi, vol. ii. +230, 231). + +FRIEDBERG, Heinrich, born in Friedland, 1813, also a great lawyer, +became, after holding important offices of state, Minister of Justice in +Prussia, and received from the Emperor Frederick the Order of the Black +Eagle. + +FRIEDBERG, Eduard, also born in Friedland, in 1827, and evidently a +relative or a brother of the preceding was baptized by Pastor Ideler. + +FRIEDENTHAL, Karl Rudolf, embraced Christianity together with his +parents and the whole family. In 1838 the family bought an estate near +Neu Silesia, where they did much in the diffusion and strengthening of +evangelical life in the midst of a Roman Catholic population. +Friedenthal was born in Breslau, 1827, studied law, held offices under +the Government, and then retired to the family estate, devoting his time +to good works. He published a pamphlet in 1864, entitled "Solus +Republicæ Supremæ," in which he strongly advocated the organization of +charity to the poor. He was elected a member of the Reichsrath. During +the Franco-German war he volunteered for the purpose of nursing the +wounded. He died in 1890. A near relative, Major A. D. Friedenthal, +likewise became an evangelical Christian. + +FRIEDLANDER, Benjamin, born 1773, the son of David Friedländer, the +friend of Mendelssohn, embraced Christianity at the age of 61, together +with his wife. They, in this respect, followed the example of their +children. The whole family were decided Christians, and one of them, Dr. +Julius Friedländer, wrote a history of the Reformation, and a history of +Numismatics, and other historical works. + +FRIEDLANDER, Ludwig, born in Königsberg, 1824. As a Christian he became +Professor of classical Philology and Archæology. He wrote +"Wörterverzeichniss zu Homer," Leipzig, 1860; "Homerische Kritik von +Wolf bis Grote," Berlin, 1853; "Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte +Roms," 3 vols., 1862-71, in which his Christian principles especially +appear. + +FRIEDLANDER, Rev. Zebi Herman, a native of the Archduchy of Posen, was +baptized by Dr. Ewald, in London, about 1862. By his piety and +affectionate gentle disposition he exercised a salutary influence over +the enquirers, whom, under Dr. Ewald, he also instructed. In 1870 he was +sent by the L.J.S. to Tunis, after having laboured for a short time at +Manchester. In 1873 he was transferred to Jerusalem, where he was +ordained by Bishop Gobat. The Jerusalem Jews revered him more than any +missionary before, because he had manifested to them practical love by +being very charitable to the poor refugees from Russia, in 1885. He was +chiefly instrumental in founding the Jewish agricultural colony at +Artouf. He edited at that time a paper entitled, "Tidings from Zion." He +went later on to New York, where he edited "The Peculiar People." He +died there whilst engaged in prayer on his knees. + +FRIEDMAN, Rev. George, a convert of Pastor Faltin, in Kischineff, became +his assistant there about 1885. He then translated the Lutheran +Catechism into Hebrew. Having afterwards sojourned for a time in +Jerusalem, he went from there to London, and was after a while appointed +by the British Society as missionary at Wilna, and he has since been +doing faithful work for the Master in various towns in Russia. In 1895, +the year of the great and horrible pogroms, he rendered great and +immortal service by consoling and supporting the poor suffering Jews. + +FRIEDMANN, Paul, born at Berlin about the middle of the nineteenth +century. Although the son of a Jewish convert, he may exceptionally be +mentioned here, as he is a very suitable illustration of the fact that +Christians of Jewish origin cherish in their hearts warm affection to +the people from whom they have sprung. Moved by a feeling of compassion +towards the Jews, who suffered persecution in Russia between 1880-90, he +visited the land of Midian in 1890, with the intention of founding a +colony there. He, after due negotiation with the Egyptian Government, +actually founded one in 1901, on the east side of the Gulf of Akabah, +but the new colony did not last more than two months. Internal +dissensions broke out between the leaders, who were Christians, and the +Jews. Friedmann, who had sunk 170,000 marks in the project, brought a +suit against the Egyptian Government for £25,000. The Russian Consul in +Cairo also opened an investigation, and violent denunciatory articles +appeared in the Egyptian press, especially in connexion with the death +of one of the settlers, who had been forced to leave the encampment +because of insubordination. In connexion with the venture Friedmann +privately published "Das Land Madian," Berlin, 1891. + +FRIEDMANN, Rev. Ben Zion, a native of Russia educated in the strictest +school of the Pharisees, emigrated to Palestine between 1870-80, took up +his abode in Safed, where he studied the Talmud with the other disciples +of the Hahamim in the Beit-hamedrash. Whilst there he found Jesus Christ +as his Saviour. In the same place he has been working as a missionary +among his former friends and companions for many years, and is certainly +regarded by them as one who has not, by embracing Christianity, +forfeited a share in the world to come. Mr. Friedmann has been to a +great extent the means of establishing a hospital for the Jews in Safed +and a school for their children. He is the author of a tract, "Or +Haolam" ("The Light of the World"), and he translated "Gideon and the +Angel of the Lord" into Hebrew. + +FRIEDRICH, J. C., wrote several works, among which are these--"Die Söhne +Jacobs," "Weissagungs parallelen mit Virgil," Breslau, 1841, "De +Christologia Samaritanum," Leipzig, 1881. + +FROHLING, Carline, a Swedish converted Jewess, laboured as assistant +missionary at Stockholm, in 1880-82, by conducting an industrial school +in which poor Jewish children were taught useful work, and by visits +among the resident families, and spreading the Gospel. + +FROMMAN, Dr. Heinrich Christian Immanuel, physician and author, was one +of the most distinguished converts in the first half of the eighteenth +century in Germany. He had been studying in Dessau, under rabbi David +Fränkel, when one day he visited a tailor who, on seeing him, began to +weep. Asking for the cause, the tailor said that he was grieved by the +thought that such a nice young man should be lost. Fromman thereupon +rebuked him sharply--but the tailor did not mind it--and offered him a +New Testament, urging him to read it. He went away, but came again +another time and asked for the same Book, but when he saw it was written +in German, which he could not read, he threw it on the table and left +the house. He then went to a bookseller, wishing to buy a Bible, who +demanded a thaler for it, which he could not afford to pay. However, the +tears of the tailor gave him no rest, and at last he bought the German +Old Testament, and spent whole nights in learning to read. Having +acquired this knowledge, he was glad to receive the New Testament and to +study it diligently. He then went to Gotha and confessed his faith in +Christ, and was baptized about 1722 or 1723. During his study of +medicine, he translated the Gospel of St. Luke into Judæo-German, in +1730. Later he translated other parts of the New Testament. Having +written the tract, "Das Licht am Abend" ("Light at Eventide"), which is +still circulated and appreciated among the Jews, he managed to acquire +the art of setting up type and of printing when he was an inmate of the +Callenberg Institute, and produced the work with his own hands as well +as mind. He also wrote and translated other Christian books, and +composed the fundamental part of the rabbinic commentary on St. Luke, +which Dr. Biesenthal perfected and brought to light. + +FUERST, Dr. A., a native of Pommern, Germany, when only fourteen years +old, heard the L.J.S. missionary Moritz discussing Christianity with the +Jews in his native town, and received from him a Bible. Another time he +received a tract from the L.J.S. missionary Hartmann, which made a +strong impression upon him. After studying in a seminary for teachers, +in Schneidemuhl (Posen), he went to England, and was instructed and +baptized by the Rev. Ridley Herschell in 1856. Subsequently he was +appointed by the British Society as a missionary in England. From 1867 +to 1871 Dr. Fürst laboured among the Jews in Stettin. He then entered +the service of the Free Church of Scotland, and was stationed at Prague, +Amsterdam, and Strasburg, and latterly he retired to Stuttgart, where he +still bore testimony to the Jews of the assured hope of salvation, +through his Master whom he so long and faithfully served. Dr. Fürst was +a fine scholar, and he wrote a book entitled, "Christen und Juden Licht +und Schattenbilder aus Kirche und Synagoge," Strasburg, 1892. + +GANS, Eduard, born in Berlin, 1798, studied, and through the influence +of the philosopher Hegel, embraced Christianity in 1825, and in 1828 +became professor in the Berlin University. He wrote, among other works, +"Das Erbrecht in Weltgeschichtlicher Entwickelung" (4 vols.), Stuttgart, +1834, which was translated into French by Leoménie, Paris, 1845; "Ein +System des römischen Civil Rechts," Berlin, 1827. He edited Hegel's +"Geschichte der Philosophie," and "Jahrbücher für wissenschaftliche +Kritik." He died as professor in 1839. + +GELBFLAUM, Rev. Isidor, was born in the city of Warsaw, in Russian +Poland, in the year 1865, of orthodox Jewish parents. We cull the +following from his autobiography:--"My father was a corn merchant in +very comfortable circumstances. His desire from the day of my birth was +to bring me up in strict adherence with Rabbinical traditions, and I, on +my part, followed dutifully and cheerfully the guidance of my dear +father. But very early in my career, God graciously intervened, and in +1877 I came into contact with a colporteur of the British and Foreign +Bible Society, who sold me a copy of the Hebrew New Testament. Though I +was only then in my thirteenth year, I nevertheless read the +newly-acquired treasure with intense longing to find out whether Jesus +of Nazareth was the Messiah. I used diligently to read the New Testament +whenever the opportunity presented itself. One day my father suddenly +came into the room where I was reading the Acts of the Apostles. He +immediately demanded the production of the book, and I instantly gave it +to him. A few weeks later on I had occasion to be in the market-place, +and I purchased another copy of the same colporteur, which I read with +greater caution. Although I thus read the Book again and again, I could +not understand it, much less could I apply its contents. I was like the +Ethiopian eunuch, and needed some one to explain to me the meaning of +the revelation of God's purpose to mankind. Soon after an event occurred +which contributed greatly to determining my spiritual future. My +parents, noticing the abatement of my zeal for rabbinical Judaism, +decided to send me to a _Yeshiba_, and they determined on Pressburg, in +Hungary. I had not been in Pressburg more than a week, when I was +brought into contact with a Hebrew Christian missionary from Vienna, who +was visiting the place at the time for missionary work. He spent over an +hour with me explaining the things of God, and directing my attention +to the Messiahship of the Lord Jesus. I remained in Pressburg till the +spring of 1881, after which I returned to Warsaw. In 1885 a Protestant +Christian lady in Warsaw became interested in me, and by her advice, and +with a letter of introduction to the late Rev. Dr. Stern, I came to +England in June of that year, only to find that my would-be instructor +had been called home to his rest. I waited till the arrival of the Rev. +J. M. Eppstein, who instructed me and subsequently baptized me in 1886. +I then entered the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, and passed +the following two years there in happy association with other converts +to Christ. In 1888 I offered my services to and was accepted by the +London City Mission, and worked among my brethren in the East End of +London till March, 1893, when I was appointed by the British Society, +and ultimately sent to Leeds. Since coming to that city, I have been the +humble instrument, in God's hand, of leading many of my brethren to +Christ, two of whom have become Christian ministers, one in the west of +England and the other in the United States of America. A third convert +given to me is an earnest Sunday school teacher, and a fourth a local +preacher." + +GELLERT, Alexander, was a missionary of the L.J.S., first in England and +then, in 1861, in Roumania, where he had some fruits of his labours, and +died in 1870. + +GELLING, Michael, was born 1597, and baptized 1616. He translated in +Hamburg R. Isaac Troki's "Chizzuk Emunah," 1633, into German. Dr. John +Müller made use of this MS. in his "Judaismus detectus," 1694, and it +came into possession of M. Chr. Ziegra. Wolff in his "Bibliotheca +Hebraica," iv. p. 639, gives detailed information about this MS. and a +specimen of Gelling's translation. Bishop Kidder wrote a refutation of +the "Chizzuk Emunah" in his "Demonstration of the Messiah," in 1694. +Jacob Gusset likewise in his "Controversarium adversus Judaeos ternio," +Dortrecht, 1688. The whole was edited by Arnold Borst, and published in +1712, at Amsterdam, under the title, "Jesu Christi Evangeliique Veritas, +salutifera, demonstrata in confutatione libri Chizzuk Emunah." The Rev. +A. Lukyn Williams is now answering the same in English, and the writer +is translating it into Yiddish. + +GERMANUS, Johannes Isaac Levita, having been convinced that Isaiah liii. +was a Messianic prophecy and fulfilled in Jesus, was baptized with his +wife and his son Stephen by Joh. Draconites in 1546. Later he became +professor of Hebrew in London and in Cologne. He wrote a controversial +work entitled: "Defensio veritatis Hebraicae," Cologne, 1558, also a +Hebrew grammar, "Mebo Imre Shofar," which passed through several +editions; a treatise on the book of Ruth; and translated some of the +works of Maimonides and Juda Ibn Tibon into Latin. His son, Stephen, who +was a physician, translated the prophet Malachi into Latin. + +GEROLD, Rev. G. L., was a rabbinical student in Breslau, baptized by Dr. +Stern in the year of his death, graduated at Cambridge, was ordained in +1898, and is now Rector of Easthope, Much Wenlock, Salop, in the diocese +of Hereford. + +GERSON, Christian ben Meir Biberbach, born at Reeklichhausen, August 1, +1567, received the usual Talmudical education, and was a teacher in +several places. A neighbour, who was a Christian woman, borrowed from +him ten pence, giving him as security a Lutheran New Testament. Curious +to know the source of the Christian errors, he and his two +brothers-in-law read it with much amusement. Yet finding there +quotations from the Old Testament, he continued reading it more +earnestly, comparing Scripture with Scripture, until his conscience was +awakened and felt the need of salvation through Christ. He wrote +afterwards--"I found such light, for which I have to thank the Lord God +all my life." He was baptized by Pastor Silberschlag at Halberstadt, +October 19, 1600. Gerson's son Stephen was baptized years later, but his +wife got a divorce from him. He then taught Hebrew at Copenhagen, and +eventually, after being persuaded by friends, he became a preacher of +the Gospel. Testimony is given him that he heartily loved his people, +and defended them against blood accusations. His works are: "Des +Jüdischer Talmud fürnehmster Inhalt und Widerlegung," Gislav, 1707, +Gera, 1613. A German translation of the eleventh chapter of Tract +Sanhedrin. Gerson died on October 22, 1642, only 47 years old, as a +preacher of the Gospel, in poverty. He was pastor of two parishes, +receiving a stipend of six gulden, and had to work as a farm labourer +for his living. In the Jewish Encyclopædia it is stated that Gerson was +drowned at Roelheim, September 25, 1627. Here is a specimen of the +contradictory statements of historians. + +GERSON, Rev. Marks, was born in Kovno, Poland, in 1879. His father died +when he was four, and his mother when he was thirteen. Up to that age he +received the usual Jewish education and his elder brother kept him at +school for another year, but then he had to make a start to earn his own +living. He worked with relatives for five years, and then came to +London, where the "Hebrew Christian Testimony" was instrumental in +leading him to Christ. In 1898 he was admitted into the Operative Jewish +Converts' Institution, and in December of the same year was baptized by +the Rev. G. H. Händler in Christ Church, Stepney. In June, 1899, he was +confirmed by the Bishop of Stepney, and in 1901 he was accepted by the +Church Missionary Society for training first at Clapham Common, then at +Blackheath, and subsequently at the College in Islington. On the 18th of +June, 1905, he was ordained in St. Paul's Cathedral, and since then he +has laboured with good success in India: being stationed at present in +Calcutta. + +GERSTMAN, W. A., was a missionary of the L.J.S. at Jerusalem in 1837, +and then on account of illness was transferred to Constantinople in +1840. + +GINSBURG, Rev. Dr. Christian David, born at Warsaw, December 25, 1821, +embraced Christianity there in 1846, was missionary of the British +Society in Liverpool till 1863, when he retired in order to devote +himself entirely to literary work. Dr. Ginsburg contributed a +considerable number of valuable articles on Jewish topics to Kitto's +Encyclopædia, published a book on the Karaites and Essenes, and a full +account in English of the Kabbalah, its doctrines, development, and +literature. But he will be especially remembered for his massoretic +studies, and translation of Elias Levita's "Massoreth-ha-Massorah" in +1867, and of Jacob ben Hayim's "Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible," +published in the same year. He was on the Revision Committee of the Old +Testament. He edited the Massoretic Critical Text of the Hebrew Bible +for the Trinitarian Bible Society, 1894, and also Salkinson's +translation of the New Testament into Hebrew, 1886. + +GINSBURG, Rev. J. B. Crighton, was instructed and baptized by the L.J.S. +missionary Hausmeister, at Strasburg. After doing good work in England, +and not without results, he laboured for many years in Algeria. Among +his converts there were Moses Ben Oliel and T. E. Zerbib. He then +laboured faithfully in Mogador, amidst many difficulties and trials, and +lastly he had the charge of the mission at Constantinople from 1886, +till the time of his death there, when he entered into the higher +service of Heaven. + +GOLDBERG, Dr. John Benjamin, was one of a number of rabbis and learned +men, who were converted to Christianity in Jerusalem in the first half +of the nineteenth century. He was baptized in Christ Church, Jerusalem +by Nicolayson, in 1843. He had consequently to undergo much persecution +and loss of property. In 1847 we find him as a preacher of the Gospel to +his brethren in Cairo, and then, on account of illness; he was +transferred to Salonica. In 1851 he was appointed as missionary at +Constantinople, and from there he went, in 1860, to Smyrna. Goldberg was +a most spiritually-minded and lovable man. His latter years he spent in +England, and contributed to the "Hebrew Christian Witness," in 1874, two +learned and very valuable and extensive articles on "The Language of +Christ," and on "The Future Division of the Land of Israel." + +GOLDBERG, Johann Peter, missionary to the Jews. We give the following +extracts from his life and work, edited by his son-in-law, the Rev. J. +A. Hausmeister:-- + +"It might appear strange that Goldberg should so soon give up his +acquired profession and become a teacher; but the fact is, that, from +his earliest years, he showed a disposition more for intellectual +employment than for business, for the latter he never displayed any +great talent. At the same time, he did not conceal his religious, or, +rather, anti-Jewish tendencies, as he was always open and +straightforward. These were in his case tolerated, because he was +respected on account of his learning, and in a few years he was duly +appointed as teacher of the whole Jewish community. + +"Concerning his conversion, he, in his reminiscences, tells the story +thus: 'On New Year's eve, 1803, I and several Jews went, out of +curiosity, to the Hall, where the congregation of the Moravian brethren +worshipped. Here, I heard, for the first time, of the birth, the +destiny, the suffering, death, and the resurrection of our Saviour, and +seized by a kind of foreboding feeling, my heart was filled with joy and +happiness. Deeply touched, I left that sacred house with the resolve to +visit it often, and the impressions of the love of God to men were so +forcibly within me, that they also accompanied and refreshed me in my +sleep. Yet, alas! this beneficial impression vanished soon, by reason of +the implanted prejudices against Christianity, and of the unbelief which +had already taken root in me, even in the Scriptures of the Old +Testament. But since that night I felt, more and more, a disconsolate +emptiness in my heart, though I continued, at a distance, from the way +of life.' We hear here the knockings of God on the door of an erring +heart, which refused to open itself. How often must the gracious God +visit a man, now with love and then with affliction, before He can gain +admittance into his soul. But a Jew has still more difficulties to +contend against; for the prejudices against Christianity, which he +imbibes from his youth, arise from the natural heart as soon as it has +come under the influence of the truth. He has to contend not only +against the enemy of unbelief, but also against the enemy of +superstition, which bars his way in every direction. Though Goldberg was +surrounded by various Christians at Neuwied, and came, sometimes, in +contact with the Moravian brethren, yet many years passed before he +submitted to the Word of God, and found the peace which the world can +neither give nor take away. It is very telling for the character of +Goldberg that he chose Neuwied for his home. With his former principal +at Hamburg, he continued a friendly correspondence, and received from +him repeated invitations to return to the situation, where every +prospect for his advancement and happiness awaited him. But he was firm, +and felt no matrimonial inclinations for the rich merchant's daughter, +but rather chose for his partner the daughter of Solomon Rubens, the +Jewish butcher at Neuwied. They were married in 1806, and she brought +him something better than money--a true and loving heart; which helped +him to carry his burden, and was ready with him to cast that burden upon +the mighty shoulders of the Saviour, and to participate in his joy and +peace. Nevertheless, many a rivulet flows into the Rhine, and the couple +had to drink much of the bitter waters of Marah, before they tasted of +the cup of salvation. I will only mention a few instances:-- + +"When Goldberg established his own home, he resumed his connexion with +his family, not only by correspondence but by paying them a visit, which +he had long yearned to do. In the very fruitful year of 1811 he started +upon his journey, in spite of the dissuasion of the Austrian ambassador +at Frankfort, who had told him that he was liable to punishment in his +country, because he had failed to present himself for military service. +Safely arrived at Regensburg, the superintendent of the police refused +at first to give a _visé_ to his passport for Austria, as it had not the +signature of the ambassador, but he and his wife at last prevailed over +the officer. In Vienna, again, the police told him that he would have to +be transported home as a transgressor of the law, but through the +influence of a banker, a cousin of Goldberg, and by means of a bribe, he +was permitted to remain some time in Vienna unmolested. On his return +journey to the Rhine he experienced immediate Divine protection, even in +a more striking manner. He had made this journey on foot, and came one +day very tired to a village and rested a little in an hotel. Black +clouds covered the sky and announced the approach of a storm, when +Goldberg resumed his march, though against the warning of the hostess, +as he was very anxious to see his wife and children as soon as possible. +As soon as he entered a thick forest, the rain came down in torrents, +accompanied by thunder and lightning, and the wanderer had to stop. +There was an open space in the forest with only a few stumps of trees in +it, and he was meditating upon which of the stumps he should sit down. +He decided for the one which stood on the right. Scarcely had he sat +down, when the stump on the left was struck by lightning and shivered to +pieces. He was thus much impressed with the wonderful protecting care of +the providence of God. + +"The Jews have many nice customs and rites as well as beautiful prayers. +When the Spirit of God will some day revive this people, then will many +a Jewish form and custom, which is now performed like an empty ceremony, +be exercised in spirit and leave a blessing. One of these customs is, +that after the service on the Sabbath and on feast days, the children +approach the parents, who lay their hands on them and bless them.[13] +Also, when a Jew goes on a journey, the members of his family follow +him and pronounce a blessing. It was so before Goldberg started on his +journey that his mother-in-law laid her hands on his head, blessed him, +and then added: 'Farewell, we shall never see one another again.' Yet +Goldberg could not believe that these parting words would be fulfilled. +When on his journey back he spent a night at Regensburg, and awoke early +in the morning, there suddenly appeared to him near his bed, the form of +a friendly woman, dressed in white, who looked at him complacently. He +recognized her as his mother-in-law, looked at his watch, it was four +o'clock, and was greatly astonished. He rose up and resumed his journey, +and when he arrived at Frankfort, he met a Jew from Neuwied, of whom he +enquired after his family, and was told by him that they were all well, +and at last that his mother-in-law had died. Now he understood the +meaning of the apparition. He used often to refer to this event and say: +'You know that I am no believer in ghost stories, yet I have, myself, +experienced, and am convinced, that spirits can be in communication with +one another.' Deeply moved, he returned to his family, and his arrival +was to them a great comfort. + + +[13] This custom is very seldom seen nowadays. + + +"We should have thought that all these experiences would have caused +Goldberg to think right earnestly of making his peace with God, but this +was not yet the case. When a man does not read the Word of God with +prayer, and does not seek the influence of the Holy Spirit, no +conversion can take place in his heart. Goldberg, at this period, had +lost all faith in the Bible. He belonged to a society of so-called +enlightened Jews at Neuwied, who contributed to a periodical entitled +'Measaph.' He, himself, wrote many nice Hebrew articles, with the object +of enlightening his co-religionists, though his own mind was yet +surrounded by darkness. His Jewish friends and some Christians used to +read novels together, and lived according to the pernicious principles +which the frivolous books inculcated. But though he was a member of this +circle, yet the good hand of the invisible God kept him from falling +into gross sins, so that all his experiences of Divine help and +protection contributed, at least, to maintain in him the fear of God. He +used often to speak of this with great thankfulness. + +"The Lord had also continually given him a cross to bear, in order to +bend his stiff neck. In those times of dreadful wars, Goldberg, on +account of his knowledge of the Polish and Russian languages, was often +obliged to act as interpreter among the troops of these nations who had +their quarters there. + +"In 1814, he was called one evening, very late, to quiet an uproar that +had arisen among the Russian soldiers. This accomplished, he returned +home late in the night, and in the darkness he did not observe a waggon +that stood in the way, and fell over the shaft and broke his leg; and, +consequently, was laid up for several weeks. + +"In November, 1815, a daughter was born to him; another, four years of +age, suddenly died on the same day. His wife, likewise, fell into a +dangerous illness, which lasted twenty-four weeks, and from continued +watching by her bedside, he became exhausted and extremely dejected. He +described his experience of that time thus:--'Placed in a condition of +tedious misery and all kinds of sorrow, and not having a single +sympathetic soul to comfort me, I became utterly dejected. I could not +think of God with a feeling heart, and, therefore, suffered +indescribable pangs in body and soul. When once I lay down at midnight, +and placed my miserable condition vividly before me, a feeling of +despair seized me, and I cried out: "Lord, how long?" But immediately +God set me up by instilling a beam of hope within my soul, that He would +soon deliver me out of my trouble. This new hope revived me, and I felt +peace; my wife, also, became better that very night and felt a +refreshing influence. Then I went in a corner, wept and prayed for the +help of God in the sense of Ps. xxxii. and xxxviii., and vowed to the +Lord to read again His Word with reverence, and to place myself entirely +under His guidance, and to be no longer so distrustful. From this moment +another Spirit had the rule over me. Injurious books which had led me to +unbelief were laid aside, and the Bible had a new attraction for me. Now +also a longing after the promised Redeemer revived in me. In this +manner, He who searches the hearts, and is near to them who seek Him in +sincerity, prepared me gradually for the time when He, as the good +Shepherd, would completely open the door to His fold for me, and +translate me out of the darkness into His marvellous light.' So +Goldberg could speak after he had already come to the knowledge of +Jesus; but the way in which this was brought about was, in its +beginning, obscure. He, himself, tells of the first occasion thereto: + +"'In August, 1817, a learned Jew, who had recently come from London, +where he was teacher for a long time, sent for me, and told me, in a +cautioning tone, that a certain gentleman had visited him on that day +and put the astonishing question to him whether there were not some Jews +there who would be inclined to read the New Testament in the Hebrew +language; in which case he could supply them with it gratis. Then, he +added, that there is in London a Society for Promoting Christianity +amongst the Jews, having agents abroad of whom this gentleman must be +one, and, therefore, I should beware of coming in contact with him. But +this communication effected a different impression upon me to that which +was intended. The gentleman against whom I was warned was neither a +preacher nor a missionary, but a universally respected merchant, by the +name of Keetman. I had a great desire of becoming acquainted with this +dangerous man, who took so much trouble to visit the Jews and to talk to +them on religious matters, and as I was not in the habit of visiting +people without any occasion, this desire increased the more. At last I +ventured, one Saturday, to go to Mr. Keetman, and say to him that I had +heard that he had Hebrew books, and if he wished me to copy them I +should be ready to do so.' In this manner Goldberg became acquainted +with an earnest and warm friend of Israel, and this acquaintanceship +formed a new chapter in his life, which I cannot better designate than +his awakening." + +GOLDENBERG, D., was born in Piatka, Volhynia, in 1805. His father, Hayim +Baruch, was a learned rabbi, and consulted by others on difficult +rabbinic questions. His grandfather was a Zadik or wonder rabbi, and +used to talk to him about the speedy coming of the Messiah. At the age +of 10 his parents found him a bride, and at the age of 17 he was +married, and went to live with his father-in-law in Tschidoroff. Passing +through a severe illness, he began to think earnestly about the state of +his soul before God. He felt the burden of his sins and frequently +prayed for the advent of the Redeemer. His friends advised him to divert +his mind by more diligent study of the Talmud, but he remained restless. +At this time, in 1821, cholera visited the place, and he dreaded to die. +Passing by just then a Christian school, he heard the children pronounce +the ineffable name of Jehovah, which attracted his attention, so he +bought a catechism to see what the Christian doctrine was, but he laid +it aside. Then he received a packet of tracts and a New Testament from +Myerson, who got them from the L.J.S. missionary Moritz when he visited +Berditscheff. He was not long after convinced of the truth of the +Gospel, visited Moritz, and with his friend went to Berlin, where he was +instructed and baptized by Pastor Schultz ("Jewish Intelligence," 1824). +His father came to Berlin and tried to win him back to Judaism, but +when he found that he was thoroughly in earnest and happy in his faith, +he left him in peace in a friendly manner. Goldenberg went then to +London, and was thence sent to Poland, to witness for Christ among his +brethren. + +GOLDINGER, Tobias W., was a L.J.S. missionary in Poland in the forties +of the nineteenth century, where he laboured successfully. He was, under +God, the means of the conversion of a number of Jews, one of whom may be +named here. Goldinger had once given the "Life of Friedrich Augusti" to +the son of Rabbi L. Altschiller, of Marronopol, and this led to his +eventual conversion. The case attracted at the time much public +attention, as the young man passed through a great struggle with his +family, but came out triumphant. Goldinger laboured latterly at Breslau, +where the writer had the privilege of making his acquaintance at the end +of 1872, and was very much impressed by his gentle Christian spirit. It +is a pity that Pastor de le Roi, who was at that time his colleague, did +not give us more information about him. It is probably because +Goldinger, like many other Jewish converts, out of modesty was reluctant +to publish to the world his personal history. + +GOLDSMID, Frederick, is known to have laboured as a successful +missionary in India. + +GOLDSTERN, Israel, a native of Lemberg, Galicia, educated in strict +orthodoxy. Already in his early manhood he became President of a Talmud +Union. Failing in health, he journeyed to the Bath Heines, and on his +way met a Christian merchant who, in a conversation, convinced him that +the Talmud has no Divine authority. This shook his faith in modern +Judaism. For two years he had no peace of mind. His widowed mother, in +order to divert his attention, got him married. But it did not last long +before he came into collision with his family on account of his +religious views, so he left for Constantinople, whither his wife +followed him. Eventually he was baptized by Pastor Bonnet, in Cologne, +in 1875, while his wife still hesitated to take the decisive step. His +father-in-law, when he found out the place of their residence, brought a +suit against him for embezzling his property, because before he left +Lemberg he had pawned his wife's ornaments, which he himself had given +her. However, his friends at Cologne, paid the whole sum. He afterwards +studied theology at Barmen, and became missionary of the Westphalian +Rhenish (now called West German) Society, under which he has been +labouring with much blessing upon his efforts ever since. He succeeded +the writer at Frankfort-on-the-Maine. + +GOTTFRIED, Johann Adam (Nathan), born at Altona in 1726, died in 1773. +After losing his father in his youth, his mother sent him to an uncle, +who was a diamond cutter in London, to learn the trade. There he somehow +heard the name of Jesus and got to love it. He soon returned, and his +mother went with him to another relation, Rabbi Koppel Fränkel, at +Fürth, under whose auspices he made rapid progress in Jewish learning, +so that at the age of 17 he was asked to take charge of a school in the +country. Two years before, two rabbis predicted that he would yet become +a Meshummad. The Jews in former days used sometimes to call a sharp boy +Meshummad or ganov (thief). At the age of 21 he passed by an evangelical +church at Sulzberg, and listened to the worship there, and was solemnly +moved. Henceforth he studied the Scriptures, especially Isaiah liii., as +he had heard that Christians refer to it. The result was that he made a +public confession of his faith, and was baptized by Pastor Pfeiffer, at +Erlangen, in 1750. He studied theology, but was too humble and timid to +ascend the pulpit. So he maintained himself by teaching Hebrew, Latin, +Greek, and French, and by writing. One of his works is entitled: "Der +troslose Jude in der letzten Todesstunde." Another is, "Der bussfertige +Sünder Schriftgemässe Vorstellung und freundliche ermahnung an +sämmtliche proselyten der jetzigen Zeit. Vernünftiger Unterricht über +die natürliche Religion und desen Vornehmste Streitigkeiten und über die +Christliche Religion." + +GOTTFRIED, Philip Selig, born in 1722 in a little town near Halle. When +ten years old his mother died, and the Jewish authorities would not +allow her to be buried there, because they had heard a rumour that "she +had in her dying hour committed her soul into the hands of Jesus Christ +the Saviour of the world." His father had to take her at night to Halle +for burial. Philip was then sent to a school at Fürth, where he studied +the Talmud diligently. He narrates in his autobiography, 3 volumes, +Leipzig, 1755: "I can, without boasting, say that when I was 13 years +old I could repeat by heart 500 pages of the Talmud without mistake, and +deliver a Derashah (sermon) on a solemn occasion." His father then got a +theological student to instruct him in Latin and German, but made it a +condition that he should not mention the subject of religion to the boy. +However, the teacher and his clever, inquisitive, pupil soon had +disputations together. It happened one day that a Jewish girl passed by +their house, dressed in black and accompanied by a number of Christians +leading her to church to be baptized. A neighbour asked Gottfried +whether he liked the procession, and his reply was that "it looks like +leading a criminal to the place of execution." "Quite right," said the +other, "the girl is led as a sinner to Jesus to have her sins washed +away by the blood which He shed on the cross." Gottfried continued his +disputes about Christianity with his teacher, who sometimes was +perplexed in not knowing how to answer his objections. He brought a +Hebrew scholar to him and they read Isaiah liii. together, Gottfried +quoting the rabbinical interpretations of it, and the other refuting +them. After the debate was over, Gottfried earnestly reflected upon the +subject, and was convinced that the Christians are right. He then bought +a New Testament for 12 groschen, and studied it critically. After a long +inward struggle and earnest prayer, he by the aid of the Holy Spirit +triumphed over his intense prejudices, and applied to a pastor for +Christian instruction. Before his baptism, in 1738, he had to answer 400 +questions in his examination. Two sisters followed his example. The +father disinherited them all. The convert Friedrich Augusti was then +very kind to him. In 1788 he published a Kabbalistic work entitled +"Sepher Shimush Tehillim." His chief work was his weekly paper, "Der +Jude," in 9 volumes, Leipzig, 1767-1771. + +GOTTHEIL, Rev. Paul Eduard, brother of Rabbi Gustav Gottheil, of the +Temple Emmanuel, New York, born at Franstadt (Germany), April 5, 1818, +died at Stuttgart in 1893. He was one of the most distinguished converts +and missionaries in the nineteenth century. He studied theology at Basel +and then entered the service of the British Society in 1848, in which he +continued all his life. He was for many years minister of the English +Church at Canstadt, and then minister of the Diakonessenhaus at +Stuttgart. In both offices he was very successful. Some of those he +baptized at Nuremberg, Canstadt and Stuttgart, have become ministers of +the Gospel or missionaries to the Jews, like Bahri and Löwen, who both +laboured at Vienna. He published "Blätter für die Evangelische Mission +unter Israel," 1850-1858; "Der Messias Israel's Hoffnung und aller +Völker Verlangen," 1863 (translated into English); "Mishan Lehem, +Lebensbrot für Gottes Volk aus Gotteswort" (Hebrew and German), 1871, +Yiddish and German 1873; "Die Arbeit an den Einzelnen," in "Nathaniel," +1891, No. 6; an extensive Memoir of Professor Franz Delitzsch in "The +Everlasting Nation," 1890. + +GOTTLIEB, K. J., was a native of Sadagora (Bukovina, Austria), a town +which has been the residence of several generations of wonder-working +rabbis for about a hundred years, and has become the Mecca of the +Chassidim. Naturally he was brought up in strict orthodoxy. An elder +brother of his, however, managed to learn German and to study medicine, +and settle as a practitioner in Pesth. At the age of 16 Gottlieb visited +his brother, in whose house he found a Hebrew Bible with a German +translation, which he diligently read, and his brother explained to him +difficult passages, directing his special attention to Messianic +prophecies without at once disclosing his own views. This excited his +interest, and he began to enquire into the subject. He then happened to +meet with a Jewish tract, entitled "Source of Salvation," in which the +year 1864 was assigned for the advent of the Messiah, but in which the +Messiahship of Jesus was distinctly repudiated. This caused him to ask +his brother if he could throw light on the subject, and to his surprise +he found that his brother had long been a baptized Christian, and he +resolved to become one likewise if he should by instruction be +convinced. A place was then found for him as Hebrew teacher in the +Scotch Mission school, and he received Christian instruction from Pastor +König and Pastor Wagner. However, it was found advisable to send him to +Prague, where, after receiving further instruction from Mr. Schönberger, +he was baptized by him in 1876. Gottlieb studied afterwards at Basel, +and for a time was a missionary of the Free Church of Scotland, but most +of his missionary career was in the service of the Berlin Society, in +Berlin, Jassy, Chernowitz, near his home, and lastly in Stanislau. In +all these places he was much beloved for his excellent qualities and +true Christian piety. He died comparatively young, and "the remembrance +of his name is for a blessing." + +GREEN, Rev. Samuel J., was baptized in 1859 by the Rev. John Wilkinson, +the founder of the Mildmay Mission to the Jews. He went to Australia and +preached the Gospel to the Jews at Bathurst, where he also built a +church in 1879. + +GURLAND, Rev. Rudolf Hermann, born in Wilna, 1836, of a family which +were Spanish Gentile Christians, who became Jews and had fled from the +Inquisition at the beginning of the eighteenth century into Russia. The +father was a strictly orthodox and bigoted Jew, and sent his son to +various yeshivas (rabbinical colleges), so that in 1857 he received the +title of Doctor, and was called to be the President of the Seminary at +Berditscheff, where he remained till 1860. He tried at first to +introduce reform in the Synagogue, and wrote a work under the title "Das +Judenthum und die Reformversuche des 17 und 18 Jahrhundert" (only in +M.S.), but won no sympathy for his attempt. Meeting a traveller in 1862, +he received from him a Hebrew New Testament, and at the same time +learned from him about Pastor Faltin's missionary activity at +Kischineff. He went there and became rabbi of a congregation. One day he +came to Faltin and asked him if he could get him pupils for caligraphy +and drawing, and showed him some specimens of his work. Faltin tried to +do so but failed, and then proposed that they should read the Hebrew +Bible together. Gurland agreed, but made it a condition that the main +issue between Judaism and Christianity should not be introduced. Some +time passed in reading book after book of the Old Testament, and Gurland +gave no sign of any change in him. They were reading Isaiah liii. for +the second time. When Faltin finished, Gurland said, "Read it over +again," but he could not wait till he had done so, because he was +inwardly moved, and went home in silence. Faltin then fell on his knees +and earnestly prayed that God might open the eyes of the rabbi to see +Christ in all His glory. The next time Gurland came, he asked Faltin to +read again the same chapter; and then he could no longer resist the +striving of the spirit within his heart, and exclaimed, "I do not know +what it is, I now find much in the Bible which I have not found before, +although I know it by heart. The chapter must refer to your Jesus, and I +must soon acknowledge that He is the promised Messiah." The result of +this meeting was, that the rabbi became the pupil of the pastor, +receiving frequent instruction from him in the doctrines of the Gospel. +But this frequent intercourse between them could not fail to be observed +by the Jews, yet they at first had not the slightest suspicion of the +rabbi's intention, but on the contrary thought that Faltin was inclined +to embrace Judaism. In fact, one of them told this to one of his +congregation. This man came to the pastor and questioned him about it, +and was assured by him that he would never deny his Saviour, but it was +possible that Gurland might embrace Christianity. Several rabbis came +now to Gurland and, like the Protestant, asked him whether Faltin wished +to become a Ger (proselyte) to Judaism. This brought the matter to a +climax, and he confessed before them all that Jesus was the Messiah and +proved his convictions from the Bible. They cried, "You have a false +Bible," but he answered, "Compare it with your own and see whether it is +false." What he had to suffer afterwards, need not here be described. He +and his wife were baptized on Easter Sunday, 1864, before a large +congregation of Christians and Jews. He then studied theology in Berlin, +returned to Kischineff and became assistant pastor to Faltin, when many +Jewish converts were the result of their labours. Gurland was later +chief pastor at Mitau, working at the same time among the Jews. His +latter years were devoted to spreading the New Testament in Wilna, +Odessa and the Baltic provinces, under the auspices of the Mildmay +Mission to the Jews. Professor Delitzsch called him "A noble soul." + +GUTENHAUER, Gutschalk Eduard, after having been won for Christ and +baptized by the Rev. W. Ayerst in Berlin in 1836, studied philosophy and +became Professor at the University of Breslau in 1841. There he +published a work about Leibnitz, and another about Lessing, 1842, 1852. + +HALBMILLION, Jacob, a convert of the L.J.S. at Jerusalem, was afterwards +house-father of the Wanderers' Home in London, under Dr. Stern, and then +one of the first missionaries of the Mildmay Mission, zealously +labouring in London and then in North Africa. He died in Morocco in +1888. + +HAMBURGER, a convert in Holland, died in 1872. Da Costa delivered an +oration at his funeral. + +HÄNDLER, Rev. H. G., born in Warsaw in the thirties of the nineteenth +century. In his youth he became distinguished for his Talmudical +learning, so that the epithet Harif or Nilley (expert) was applied to +him at that time. Gifted with a good memory, he easily acquired a +knowledge of German, Polish, Latin, and Greek, and he compiled a +collection of noble sayings in the Greek Classics. When quite a young +man he came to London, and was converted to Christianity under the +ministry of Dr. McCaul, Reichardt, and others, in Palestine Place. After +four years at the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution he studied in +the L.J.S. Hebrew College, and then laboured as a missionary in Breslau, +and in Tunis. In 1873 he opened a school for Jewish children (mostly +girls) at Cracow, and carried it on successfully for about ten years. In +1883, he was transferred to Vienna, where he had many tokens of Divine +blessing upon his efforts. One of his converts has for many years been a +Chaplain in India, and is still there. Händler assisted Professor +Delitzsch in his translation of the New Testament into Hebrew, and +furnished the abbreviations to Professor Dalman's Chaldaic Dictionary, +revised Biesenthal's rabbinic "Commentar der Romans," wrote several +tracts, and revised the Judæo-German translation of the Bible for the +Trinitarian Bible Society. + +HARZUGE, Johannes, brought out a German translation of the New Testament +in Hebrew characters in 1550. Some Hebrew words were retained in this +translation for the purpose of making it more intelligible to the Jewish +readers at that time. A specimen of this translation will be found in +Wolff, (Bibliotheca Hebraica iv. 205). + +HAUSMEISTER, Rev. Jacob August, was born in Stuttgart, 1806. His father +was a quiet man, and his mother was rather inclined towards +Christianity, and often ejaculated, "O that my son Jacob might become a +Christian. We Jews cannot keep the commandments and are therefore +without consolation, whilst Christians are saved by grace." Hausmeister +was left an orphan when still young. Left without a guardian, he was +inclined to live a worldly life. Meeting a Christian companion, he +followed him to Church, and listened to the fervent preacher Hofacker. +His uncle, a watchmaker, to whom he was apprenticed, heard of it and was +very angry with him, but he persevered in going to Church. Hausmeister +was baptized by Dekan Heswig in Esslingen in 1825. He then studied at +Basel, and afterwards in the Hebrew College, Palestine Place. In 1832 he +was appointed missionary by the L.J.S., at Strasburg, where he laboured +zealously till the end. Three scores of converts were the fruit of his +labours. Hausmeister did also much literary work. He wrote the tract (1) +"Wörte der Liebe an meine Brüder nach dem Fleisch"; (2) "Gespräch zweier +jüdischen Freunde über das Wort Gottes"; (3) "Winke und Mittheilungen +über die Mission unter Israel"; (4) "Ueber den Unterricht der +Proselyten, Evangelische Mission unter Israel"; also biographies of +Börling and of Goldberg, his near relatives. + +HEFTER, Rev. Albert David, born in Dombrowa, Galicia, in 1819. His +father was a well-to-do jeweller. His mother had made a vow that he +should become a rabbi. When he was only four years of age he was +instructed by a Zadik, or wonder working rabbi. Among the books of his +father he found a New Testament, and questioned him as to its contents, +but it was snatched away. Whilst he was in the Yeshiva, his parents +died, and he went to Tarnopol, to live with a married sister, where he +pursued his studies, but took offence at the philosophical opinions +which some of his fellow students entertained. One of them offered to +teach him Science, and he consented with a view of bringing his friend +back to Talmudism. After a time he came to Cracow, where he got +acquainted with the L.J.S. missionary Hoff, who gave him to read "The +Confession of a Proselyte," by Fränkel, and also the New Testament. This +brought him to a knowledge of the Saviour. But it was not thought safe +to baptize him in Galicia, so he was sent to Bellson, in Berlin, who +baptized him in 1846. Hefter was one of a band of noble and most learned +missionaries of the L.J.S. in the nineteenth century. He was stationed +eight years in Jerusalem, then a short time in Pesth, and then in Memel +and Posen, and, lastly, for many years in Frankfort. One of his converts +there is the very able and successful missionary, Rev. M. Kameras, of +the British Society, at Vienna. A blind Jew who was baptized by Hefter, +died on Christmas Day, 1881, and his last words were, "I shall see Him." + +HEILBRONNER, Johannes Christlieb (Moses Prager), was baptized in +Heilbronn in 1709, his wife in Pirma in 1716. He taught Hebrew and +Talmud in various universities. He published a tract on Isaiah liii., +Tübingen, 1710; "Klare Beweisthümer über Jesum Christum, dass Er der +wahre Messias und Sohn Gottes ist, aus dem Alten Testamente, der +Rabbinen und Kabbalisten Schriften, nachgewiesen mit einem Anhang, was +für einen Messias die Juden erwarten," Dresden, 1715; "Eine Widerlegung +der Einwürfe der Juden gegen die Geschlechtsregister Christi, besonders +wider die Schrift Chizzuk Emunah gerichtet," Hamburg, 1718. + +HEINERSDORF, Julius Christian, born in Breslau in 1805. When a little +boy at school he had to suffer much persecution from the Christian boys, +and he became a bitter enemy of Christianity, but in riper age he got to +know and esteem true Christians, who read the Old and New Testaments +with him, and through their influence he was baptized in 1826. He then +studied theology, and became a pastor, and later superintendent (equal +to a Bishop or Moderator) near Königsberg. He was a gifted and pious +man, and his ministry was blessed. + +HELIC, Lucas, was a member of the Moravian brethren in 1570, when, owing +to his excellent Hebrew scholarship, he was elected as co-translator of +the Kalitzir Bible. He received Moravian ordination, and preached the +Gospel till 1858; also printed his sermons for circulation. + +HELLMUTH, Isaac. The fact that the subject of this sketch was one of the +three Hebrew Christian Bishops of the last century--Bishops Alexander +and Schereschewsky being the other two--invests his life and memory with +a special interest for all workers for Israel. + +Whilst Alexander spent his life in actively seeking "the lost sheep of +the house of Israel" in various lands of their dispersion, and +Schereschewsky the "other sheep" of the Redeemer's fold in the heathen +Empire of China, Bishop Hellmuth's career was mainly associated with the +promotion of the spiritual and intellectual interests of the sons and +daughters of the Greater Britain beyond the seas. + +Isaac Hellmuth was born at Warsaw, Poland, on December 14th, 1820, and +was from early childhood instructed and trained "according to the +perfect manner of the law of his fathers," in Rabbinical schools of high +repute, where he acquired great proficiency in Biblical and Talmudical +learning. His parents gave him a thorough religious and secular +education. He was sent at the age of sixteen to the University of +Breslau, where he continued with success his studies in classical and +Oriental literature. At that time Dr. S. Neumann, a Hebrew Christian, +and a missionary of the London Society for Promoting Christianity +amongst the Jews, was stationed at Breslau. Being also a professor at +that University, he was more especially brought into contact with +learned Jews and students, over whom he exercised great influence. It +was through him that young Hellmuth had his attention drawn to +Christianity. In 1841 he came to England, and was baptized in All +Saints' Church, Liverpool, by the Rev. H. S. Joseph, a missionary of +the same Society. Isaac had two brothers. When he was baptized his +father cut him out of his will altogether. But, on his father's death, +his two brothers, although they themselves remained Jews, generously +restored to their Christian brother his share of their father's +property. + +After remaining some three years in England, studying English theology +under Hugh McNeile, Haldane Stewart and others, Hellmuth left for Canada +in 1844, taking with him commendatory letters from many eminent +clergymen, including one from Dr. Sumner, afterwards Archbishop of +Canterbury. Hellmuth's ministerial life was principally spent in Canada, +where he had a distinguished career, for many particulars of which we +are indebted to "Bishops of the Day," which particulars were most likely +furnished by himself. Hellmuth was ordained both deacon and priest in +1846 by Dr. Mountain, Bishop of Quebec. He received the Lambeth degree +of D.D. in 1853, and the honorary degrees of D.C.L. from Trinity +College, Toronto, and D.D. from the University of Lennoxville in 1854. +He spent eight years as rector of Sherbrooke, Quebec, and as professor +of Hebrew and Rabbinical Literature at Bishop's College, Lennoxville, of +which institution he was also vice-principal. His views were strongly +Evangelical. He resigned his posts in Quebec on being made general +superintendent of the Colonial and Continental Church Society in British +North America. The Bishop of Huron, Dr. Cronyn, had been much troubled +about Provost Whitaker, of Trinity College, Toronto, whose teaching he +considered unsound, although the other Bishops of the province, on being +referred to, upheld it. The Bishop, not satisfied, decided to establish +at London, Ontario, a college more under his own control. This resulted +in the formation and partial endowment of Huron College, which was +opened in 1863 under the presidency of Dr. Hellmuth, who was also made +archdeacon of Huron. His educational enthusiasm led him to start a +college for boys, called Hellmuth Boys' College. Recalling his efforts +in its behalf, he said: "Twice I visited England to plead its cause, and +through the liberal gifts of friends in the mother land, the grounds and +buildings for the Divinity College were secured. Amongst the benefactors +of this College, one valued friend, the Rev. Alfred Peache, endowed the +Divinity chair with the munificent sum of £5,000 sterling. + +"Huron College faithfully fulfilled its trust and served its designed +end. Over one hundred devoted ministers of Christ's Gospel have been +trained within its walls, the majority of whom are labouring with +success in our own Diocese, while the remainder have been called to +occupy prominent positions in various other parts of our Dominion." + +In 1867 Dr. Hellmuth was made rector of St. Paul's Cathedral and Dean of +Huron. He used his large private means unsparingly in advancing the +cause of higher education. In 1869 he launched the Hellmuth Ladies' +College. + +The venerable Canon Christopher, rector of St. Aldate's Church, Oxford, +thus alludes to this institution:--"He found that Canadian Protestants +were sending their daughters to convent schools, because they did not +know of any good Protestant ladies' school. He established an excellent +school for young ladies near his own house. I addressed nearly a hundred +young ladies in this school in 1872. Some of these had to travel twelve +days and nights from their homes to their school, in the absence of a +railway from British Columbia." + +Dr. Hellmuth was chosen on July 19, 1871, by a large majority of the +diocesan synod to be Bishop Coadjutor of Huron, with the title of Bishop +of Norfolk and the right of succession. Dr. Cronyn died in the following +September, and Dr. Hellmuth became Bishop of Huron. He had been +consecrated in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Ontario, on August 24, +1871. In 1877 the Bishop formed a scheme for a Western University in +connexion with Huron College, subscribing no less than 10,000 dollars +towards it. In the following year he attended the Lambeth Conference, +and took confirmations for the Bishop of London in Norway, Sweden, and +Denmark. He came to England again, in 1880, to obtain funds for the +Western University, which was opened on October 5, 1881, with a medical +faculty in connexion with it. By 1881 the Bishop's exertions had proved +so successful that the S.P.G. aid was no longer required, and the +diocese could rely on its own resources. + +During the Bishop's episcopate, which lasted from 1871 to 1883, great +progress was made in every department of diocesan work. The number of +livings increased from 34 to 65; the number of churches from 149 to 207; +and the clergy from 92 to 135. The Sunday schools rose from 110 to 166; +and the communicants from 4,390 to 8,910. Dr. Langtrey, in his "Colonial +Church Histories,"[14] says that the Bishop "devoted himself with great +earnestness to his work, and soon became very popular throughout the +country." The Rev. Dr. Hurst, a resident of twenty years in Huron, thus +referred to the Bishop's labours:--"I can speak from personal knowledge +of his liberality, zeal, and self-denying efforts to make his diocese an +active mission field, and a model for higher Christian education--much +at his own personal expense--in both of which God greatly blessed his +instrumentality. His indefatigable and successful labours have been +acknowledged by all parties in the Church."[15] + + +[14] Published by the S.P.C.K. in 1892. (See p. 111.) + + +[15] "The Greater Britain Messenger," C. and C.C. Society, May, 1896, p. +113. + + +The Bishop resigned the see of Huron in 1883 under somewhat peculiar +circumstances. The Bishop of Ripon (Dr. Bickersteth) desired to have Dr. +Hellmuth appointed his Suffragan under the Act of Henry VIII. Dr. +Hellmuth, being informed that his title was to be Bishop of Hull, and +that the letters patent could not be executed till he had resigned the +see of Huron, formally resigned that see on March 29, 1883. + +In his last charge, delivered before the Synod of the Diocese, the +Bishop's broad and loving sympathies found vent in the following +expressions:--"I am fully persuaded, as I said on a former occasion, +that the glory of the Church is her assimilation to Christ. And never +will her usefulness and her splendour reach their meridian until the +love of a common Saviour shall bind together every heart and unite every +hand. Envy, jealousy, evil surmisings and uncharitableness can only tend +to weaken and scatter the resources of the Church and palsy her +exertions; but, when through the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit, +arm shall be linked to arm, and heart to heart, and prayer to +prayer,--when to love and serve Christ, and to anticipate heaven, and to +save immortal souls,--when these shall be the grand and all absorbing +terms of Christian communion,--oh, then, what a firm and powerful +phalanx shall go forth from the Church of the living God against the +powers of darkness and the enemies of men! For this ONENESS of aim I +would again repeat, Pray, strive and labour." + +The news of the Bishop's resignation was received with great regret +throughout the Dominion, and a service of plate was presented to him +with an address from the standing committee of the diocese. + +On March 21, 1883, the Bishop of Ripon issued a Pastoral to his diocese, +in which he formally announced the Royal assent to the appointment of +Dr. Hellmuth as Bishop Suffragan of Hull. In the following May, nearly +two months after Dr. Hellmuth's resignation of the see of Huron, the law +officers of the Crown discovered that the Act of Henry VIII. did not +apply to any one already in Episcopal orders, and that therefore Dr. +Hellmuth could not become Bishop Suffragan of Hull. Bishop Hellmuth, who +was thus placed in an extremely anomalous position, appealed to the then +Governor-General of Canada, Lord Lorne (the present Duke of Argyll), who +made representations to Mr. Gladstone, at that time the Prime Minister. +In reply, Mr. Gladstone pointed out that the Bishop of Ripon still +intended to avail himself of Dr. Hellmuth's services as his Assistant +Bishop or Bishop Coadjutor. Bishop Hellmuth then took up his work in the +diocese of Ripon as Assistant Bishop, although the position was +obviously very different from what he had been led to expect when he +resigned the see of Huron. With the consent of Bishop Bickersteth, +further representations were made to Mr. Gladstone, who replied +expressing regret for the error which had been committed. By the death +of Bishop Bickersteth, in 1884, Dr. Hellmuth's position became still +more trying, for his commission as Bishop Coadjutor ceased, and he made +another appeal to Mr. Gladstone for some suitable preferment, but +without success. He was rector and rural dean of Bridlington from 1885 +to 1891, and perpetual curate of Bessingby from 1888 to 1891. In the +latter year the Colonial and Continental Church Society gave him the +chaplaincy of Holy Trinity, Pau, which he held for six years. He was +subsequently rector of Compton-Pauncefoot, Somerset, from 1897 to 1899, +when he retired owing to failing health. He passed away within two +years, on May 28, 1901, at the advanced age of eighty-one. + +Bishop Hellmuth was the author of "The Biblical Thesaurus" (1884), a +literal translation and critical analysis of every word in the original +languages of the Old Testament, with explanatory notes and appendices; +and "The Divine Dispensation," a critical commentary on the Hebrew +Scriptures. Amongst his minor contributions to literature may be +mentioned two articles in "The Everlasting Nation"; one on "The +Authenticity and Genuineness of the Pentateuch," (1867) and the other on +"The Spirit of Prophecy," a luminous paper on the allusions in the Old +Testament to the Messiah of his race. + +The Bishop married, first, Catherine, daughter of the late General +Thomas Evans, C.B., who died in 1884, and secondly, in 1886, Mary +Louisa, second daughter of Admiral the Hon. Arthur Duncombe, son of the +first Baron Feversham, and widow of the Hon. Ashley Carr Glyn, son of +the first Baron Wolverton. + +The Bishop, as was natural, ever evinced hearty and unbounded interest +in the spiritual welfare of his brethren according to the flesh, and on +many occasions advocated, from pulpit and platform, their claims to the +Gospel. In the work of the London Jews' Society he was especially +interested. Towards the end of his life he frequently presided over the +meetings of its Committee, amongst whom he was ever a _persona grata_. +His solid learning, acquaintance with the languages and modes of thought +of his own people, sound common sense, wise and prudent counsels, as +well as his urbanity and courtesy, made him an ideal chairman. He had +unlimited sympathy with those engaged in what he regarded as a great +and important work, for he could enter fully into its arduous character +and numerous difficulties. Many a time did he pay a friendly visit to +the Society's House,--a delightful interlude in official routine--to +encourage and to sympathize; on one occasion narrating the thrilling +story of how, in early youth, he had found Him whom his soul loved. The +Bishop's sterling qualities of heart and mind, his confiding nature and +buoyant temperament, and his bright and happy face, always infused +sunshine wherever he went. + +One who knew him writes:--"We cannot forego one personal word in +grateful appreciation and loving remembrance of the charming personality +of one, whom, during the latter period of his long and honoured life, we +were privileged to call our friend. To know him was indeed to love him +as well as to honour and esteem. His sweet and gentle nature, his +amiable disposition, his beautiful character, his fatherly attitude, and +his unfailing tenderness and sympathy, have indelibly associated him in +our mind with the beloved disciple St. John, whose last words would have +been natural indeed upon his lips, 'Little children, love one another.'" + +HEYMAN, Heinrich Wilhelm David, son of a shochet (slaughterer) in poor +circumstances. When he was only ten years old, he was obliged to give +lessons to peasant boys in order to help his father. He was fond of +reading, and read Lessing's and Mendelssohn's works, and this caused him +to get new ideas of the world, and to keep aloof from the Talmud. Coming +in contact later on with Dr. Heinrich Ditmar, the author of a universal +history, he learned from him to know the Gospel, and he and his wife and +three children were baptized in 1833. Then his mother and wife refused +to have anything to do with him. Then a son and daughter got very ill, +and he was tempted with the thought that he was punished for his +apostasy, yet he persevered in prayer, and could triumphantly exclaim in +the midst of his troubles, "Lord Jesus, Thou art still my Lord and my +Saviour." At last, in 1844, he was called by the friends of Israel in +Basel, to be the principal of the house for proselytes in that city, +which office he held faithfully, with great ability and usefulness in +many directions, till his death in 1868. One of his sons became pastor +at Altbayern, and the other, Frederick, who was formerly pastor in the +Pfalz, succeeded him as principal and agent of the Basel Mission to the +Jews, and became a professor in the University there. + +HERSCHELL, Moses (Christian Moritz), was born at Breslau, September 13, +1754. In 1804 he embraced Christianity, and at his baptism assumed the +name of Christian Moritz. Among his works, the following deserve +mentioning: "Kampf der Jüdischen Hierarchie," Breslau, 1784; "Jüdische +Intoleranz und Fanatismus in Breslau," _ib_. 1789; "Patriotische +Bemerkungen," _ib._ 1790; "Ueber die Allzufrühen Ehen der Jüdischen +Nation," 1790; "Apologie der Menschenrechte," Zurich, 1793; "Biographie +des Jüdischen Gelehrten und Dichters, Ephraim Moses Kuh," _ib._ 1791. + +HERSCHELL, Rev. Ridley Hayim, born at Stozelno (Posen), April 7, 1807, +was strictly brought up, together with his four brothers, in Jewish +orthodoxy. When quite young he had a desire to become a rabbi, and left +home seeking to enter some rabbinical school. In his wanderings he was +overtaken by robbers, but escaped. At the age of fourteen, he came to +Rabbi Aron in the town where his grandfather Hillel resided; there he +remained two years among the Chassidim, seeking, after their manner, in +vain to become perfectly righteous before God. How he came to the +knowledge of Him who is the Lord our Righteousness, he has himself +recorded in the following pages: + +"Having been favoured by God with pious parents, their great care was to +impress my mind from childhood with a profound reverence for God, and +for the Holy Scriptures. I was taught to repeat the morning and evening +prayers with great solemnity; and on the feast days my attention was +particularly drawn to the impressive confession in our Liturgy, 'It is +because of our sins we are driven away from our land,' &c. On the Day of +Atonement I used to see my devout parents weep when they repeated the +pathetic confession that follows the enumeration of the sacrifices which +were appointed by God to be offered up for the sins of omission; and +many a time I shed sympathetic tears as I joined them in saying, that we +have now no temple, no high priest, no altar, and no sacrifices. As I +advanced in years and understanding, my religious impressions became +stronger; fear and trembling often took hold upon me; and what was then +my refuge,--what the balm for my wounded spirit? Repeating more prayers, +and asking God to accept the calves of my lips. This satisfied my mind +at the time; but the satisfaction arose from ignorance of the character +of God as a holy and a just Being, and of my own state as a guilty +sinner, whose prayers proceeding from unclean lips, could not be +accepted as a sweet savour by the thrice holy Lord God of Sabaoth. + +"I continued in this state of mind until I was about sixteen years of +age. During this period of my life, I often spent three sleepless nights +in the week, studying the Talmud, and other Hebrew works. I also +committed to memory several chapters of the prophets every week, in +order that I might become sufficiently familiar with the Hebrew language +to correspond in it. At this period I became acquainted with a Polish +Jew, who had studied several years at the University of Berlin, and +consequently had become acquainted with Gentile literature. He strongly +advised me to give up the study of the Talmud, and devote myself to the +study of German and secular literature. After a hard struggle of mind, I +resolved to follow his advice, and accordingly went to ----. Here there +was not only a change in the character of my studies, but an entire +change in my habits and mode of life. Many things that I formerly +regarded as essential parts of my religion, were considered by my +fellow-students _alt modisch_ (old fashioned), quite unfit for the +_aufgeklärten_ (enlightened). At first my conscience was much disturbed, +and I was often very unhappy; but, after a time, these feelings wore +off; I conformed to the manners of my fellow-students, and I also +'lived like a Christian,' as the Jews in those parts are wont to say of +such of their brethren as have no fear of God before their eyes. I +formed acquaintance with many young Gentiles; and this I could now do +with impunity, as neither they nor I troubled ourselves about each +other's religion; neither of us, in reality, having any, although they +called themselves Christians, and I was a Jew. The only thing that +reminded me what people I belonged to, was the look of contempt I +received now and then from Christians; and the little children in the +streets calling after me, 'Jew, Jew.' Then, indeed, I realized that I +belonged to the people who have become a proverb and a by-word among the +Gentiles. + +"I well remember the first time I ever heard of one of my brethren +becoming a convert to Christianity. It was a young Jew, who was +apprenticed to a tradesman in the town where I studied. My idea of +Jewish converts to Christianity was, that they renounced their national +privileges and obligations; that they separated themselves from the +covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and publicly joined +themselves to the ungodly Gentiles, who live without God, and without +hope in the world. Although at this time I had laid aside many of the +outward observances of the Jewish religion, I had still a strong +attachment to the fundamental doctrines of the Jewish faith, because I +believed them to be of Divine origin. The idea of any Jew becoming a +Christian, therefore, seemed to me a dreadful apostasy; and I regarded +the youth above-mentioned with mingled pity and contempt, as one who +had forsaken God, and given up all hope of eternal life. + +"I pass over in silence several years of my life, which were devoted to +the world, and the things of the world; during which time I kept up such +a measure of conformity to the customs of my religion as I considered +respectable and consistent; but my early convictions and impressions +were faded and forgotten; and I belonged to that class whom the Psalmist +designates 'men of the world, which have their portion in this life.' + +"In process of time the Lord laid His afflicting hand upon me. The death +of my beloved mother, whose tenderness to me I remember to this day with +the deepest gratitude and affection, was a heavy stroke to me, and +plunged me into the utmost grief. I was then visited with sickness, and +my conscience became much disturbed. What I then endured can only be +expressed in the language of the sixth Psalm. I solemnly vowed to become +very religious; I resolved to fast one day in every week, to repeat many +prayers, and show kindness and charity to the poor. But this could not +pacify my guilty conscience, as the study of German literature had +weakened my confidence in religious observances,--had driven me from my +own religion, and given me nothing in its place. One day I was in acute +distress of mind, feeling, as David expresses it, that I had sunk 'in +deep mire, where there is no standing'; that all my own efforts to free +myself were of no avail, my struggles only made me sink deeper and +deeper. For the first time in my life I prayed extempore. I cried out, +'O God! I have no one to help me, and I dare not approach Thee, for I am +guilty; help, O help me, for the sake of my father Abraham, who was +willing to offer up his son Isaac, have mercy upon me, and impute his +righteousness unto me.' But there was no answer from God,--no peace to +my wounded spirit. I felt as if God had forsaken me; as if the Lord had +cast me off for ever, and would be favourable no more. I fully +understood the words of the Psalmist, 'Mine iniquities have taken hold +upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs +of my head; therefore my heart faileth me' (Psalm xl. 12); and I felt +that all my devotional exercises were what the prophet Isaiah was +instructed to declare the sacrifices and offerings of the Jews in his +days to be,--vain oblations, an abomination in the sight of God. + +"I was far from my home and relatives; and my gay companions, seeing I +was depressed in spirits, though ignorant of the real cause of this +depression, earnestly urged me to frequent the theatres, and other +public amusements, to cheer my mind. At first this partially succeeded; +but the merciful kindness of God left me not thus to my own devices, but +graciously interposed, and again roused me to seek after more solid +happiness. + +"God, in his tender mercy, had again disturbed and disquieted my +conscience so much, that I fully realised the words of the Psalmist, 'I +am troubled, I am bowed down greatly, I go mourning all the day long, +for my loins are filled with a loathsome disease, and there is no +soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken; I have roared by +reason of the disquietness of my heart' (Psalm xxxviii. 6-8). I had no +peace nor rest; but wherever I went, or however I was employed, I +carried about with me a sense of misery that was intolerable. I could +say with Job, 'The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison +whereof drinketh up my spirit' (Job vi. 4). + +"One morning I went to purchase an article in a shop, little knowing +that God had there stored up for me the 'pearl of great price,' which He +was about to give me 'without money and without price.' The article I +purchased was wrapped up in a leaf of the Bible, which contained a +portion of the Sermon on the Mount. The shopkeeper was, probably, an +infidel, who thought the Bible merely waste paper; but God over-ruled +the evil for good. As I was walking home my eyes glanced on the words: +'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.' This +arrested my attention, and I read the whole passage with deep interest. + +"'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their's is the kingdom of heaven. +Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are +the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do +hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed +are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in +heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they +shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are +persecuted for righteousness' sake, for their's is the kingdom of +heaven.' (St. Matthew v. 3-10.) + +"I was much struck with the sentiments contained in this passage, and +felt very desirous to see the book of which it was a portion; I had no +idea what book it was, never having seen a New Testament. A few days +after, God directed my footsteps to the house of an acquaintance, on +whose table lay a copy of the New Testament. Impelled by curiosity I +took it up, and in turning over the leaves beheld the very passage that +had interested me so much. I immediately borrowed it, and began to read +it with great avidity. At first I felt quite bewildered, and was so +shocked by the constant recurrence of the name of Jesus, that I +repeatedly cast the book away. At length I determined to read it +through. When I came to the twenty-third chapter of the Gospel of St. +Matthew, I was astonished at the full disclosure of the nature of +Pharisaism, contained in it; and Christ's lamentation over Jerusalem, in +the concluding part: 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the +prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I +have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her +chickens under her wings, and ye would not!' affected me even to tears. +In reading the account of the crucifixion, the meekness and love of +Jesus of Nazareth astonished me; and the cruel hatred manifested against +Him by the priests and rulers in Israel, excited within me a feeling of +compassion for Him, and of indignation against His murderers. But I did +not as yet see any connexion between the sufferings of Jesus and my +sins." + +In 1828 he entered the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, which +was under the superintendence of Erasmus Simon, and was baptized April +14, 1830, when he took the name of his godfather, Rev. Henry Calbone +Ridley. Owing to some scruples, he preferred to enter the nonconformist +ministry, in which he also zealously laboured for the spiritual welfare +of his brethren. He was one of the founders of the British Society. +Among his converts was Dr. A. Fürst, a very able missionary of that +Society. Ridley Herschell edited a periodical under the title, "Voice of +Israel." He wrote also an account of his journey to his home, "A Visit +to my Fatherland"; "Reasons why I am not a Roman Catholic." With the +assistance of Sir Culling Eardley he built Trinity Chapel, Regent +Street, where he was, one might say, a father to the converts in London +in 1845-6, and they reciprocated his love by sixty of them presenting +him with a polyglot Bible, in eight languages, in 1845. + +HERSCHELL, Rev. David Abraham, a brother of the above, a very saintly +man, baptized in Basel, 1845, was first his assistant at Trinity Chapel +and afterwards, nearly all his life, minister of the Congregational +Church, Loughborough Park, Brixton. + +HERSCHELL, Rev. Louis, another brother, laboured for many years as +missionary and deputation of the British Society, and was a minister at +Ware, and later at Peckham Rye, London. He died in 1890. + +HERSCHELL, Rev. Victor, another brother, emigrated to the United States, +was baptized in the Seventh Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and was +ordained to the ministry there. + +The son of the fourth brother, who remained in Judaism till late in +life, embraced Christianity in Germany. + +HERSCHEL, Sir William, English astronomer, born at Hanover, November 15, +1738, died at Slough, August 22, 1822. His father, Abraham, brought him +up as a musician, and in that capacity he went to England in 1755, in +the band of the Hanoverian guards, and for a considerable time earned +his living as a teacher of music, obtaining a position as organist in +Bath, in 1760. This seems to show, in all probability, that either he +was baptized during this interval of five years in England, or that he +was baptized in Germany. For as a professing Jew he would scarcely have +ventured at that time to apply for the position of an organist, neither +would his services have been accepted. He is known as the founder of +Sidereal Science. His views on the position of the Solar System, in +relation to the Milky Way, still form the central factor in the modern +theory as to the constitution of the universe. He is also known as the +discoverer of the infra-red solar rays. + +HERSHON, Paul Isaac, was born in Buczacz (Galicia) in 1818, where he +received an excellent Hebrew and Talmudical education. Going to +Jerusalem he came under the influence of Nicolayson, and was baptized by +him. He then studied in the Jerusalem Missionary College from 1842 to +1846. Afterwards he was appointed principal of the House of Industry, +and then from 1848-55 he laboured as missionary in England. Then he was +appointed as head of the model farm at Jaffa, which office he resigned +on account of illness in 1869, and returned to England. Henceforth he +devoted himself to literary work, and wrote "Extracts from the Talmud," +1860; "The Pentateuch according to the Talmud," Hebrew, 1874; "A +Talmudical Miscellany," 1880; "Treasures of the Talmud," 1882. He died +in London, 1888. + +HERTZ, Henrik, Danish poet, born at Copenhagen, August 25, 1798; died +there February 25, 1870. He embraced Christianity in 1832. His dramatic +works alone comprise eighteen volumes and were published in 1854-73. + +HEYNEMANN. From this family in Saxony, whose head was Court +Commissioner, no less than nine persons embraced the Protestant faith +about 1749. + +HIERONOMY, David, baptized with his wife and six children in 1676, was +nominated by the King Friedrich of Prussia as Inspector of the +Synagogue. He had to suffer martyrdom. + +HIRSCH, Rev. David Jacoby, was born in 1820 at Sandersleben, in the +Duchy of Anhalt. His parents were strict Jews. He received his early +education at a school in Dessau. When he was a young man he came over to +England, and in 1844 got to know the late Dr. Marsh, who first spoke to +him of Christ. This led him to study the Word of God, and to enquire how +he, a sinner, could be saved. Subsequently, Dr. Baylee, of Birkenhead, +took a great interest in him, as he taught his boys German, French, +Latin, and Hebrew. From him he received instruction in the Christian +faith, and at the end of 1845 was baptized by him, and married his +daughter. Later on he was ordained by Bishop Sumner for the German +pastorhood at Liverpool, a post he filled until 1852, when he added to +his pastoral duties missionary work among the Jews, receiving a grant +from the Society for twelve years. He then retired until his death, in +1898, greatly missed by all who knew him. + +HIRSCH, Paul Wilhelm, was baptized in 1692, taught Hebrew, and issued a +pamphlet in Berlin, 1717, under the title "Entdeckung der Tekuphath," in +which he exposes the superstition held by rabbinic Jews, and then +published in the calendar, that at the entrance of each of the four +seasons of the year the fluid of the vessels containing water is turned +into blood. This superstition has probably done them much harm. + +HIRSCH, Siegfried, born in 1816, studied history under the celebrated +historian Ranke. Through the influence of Neander he became a devoted +Christian. In 1844 he was appointed professor of history in the +University of Berlin, where he was esteemed and beloved by the students. +He was one of the founders of the conservative paper "Kreuz Zeitung." He +died in 1860. + +HIRSCH, Theodor, born 1806 in Altschottland, near Danzig, embraced +Christianity through the influence of Schleiermacher. He too became +professor of history, first at Danzig, and later, in 1865, at +Greifswald. In spite of his great learning, it is recorded that he was a +very quiet and humble man. He died in 1881. + +HOGA, Stanislaus, a native of Casimir, Russia, was, after embracing +Christianity, a missionary of L.J.S. in London. He was mostly engaged in +literary work, and translated "Songs of Zion," a selection of English +and German Hymns, into Hebrew (1834--with additions, 1842); a +translation of McCaul's "Old Paths" into Hebrew; "Nethivoth Olam," 1851; +a Hebrew grammar of the English language, 1840; "The Controversy of +Zion," a meditation on Judaism and Christianity, 1845; "Halichoth Orah," +which is a translation of Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress"; "Eldad and +Medad," which is a dialogue contrasting the New Testament and the +Talmud; "Malakh Haberith," a translation of the tract "Angel of the +Covenant." He also, together with Reichardt, revised the old edition of +the Hebrew New Testament. + +ILIEWITZ, Alexander, a medical missionary long connected with the +Society's work in Jerusalem. It would not be easy to mention a +missionary who, throughout a long career of labour, had shown more +loving sympathy for his brethren, or more patience and self-denial in +labouring for their good, than he did. He was not a theologian, or a +Talmudical scholar, and was not fitted for carrying on learned +disputations with highly educated Jews. But he had a simple, trustful +faith, which made him never tired of proclaiming the way of salvation. A +learned rabbi, widely celebrated for his profound knowledge of the +Cabbala, complained that he had dared to preach Christ to _him_. "I did +not send for him," said the rabbi indignantly, "to tell me that the +Messiah has come. I sent for him to prescribe for my bad feet." He was +in a special way the friend and helper of the poor and unlearned. He +used to tell a sad story about a young Jew of this kind who died of +cholera in 1865. When dying, this poor lad whispered to Mr. Iliewitz as +he stood by his bedside, "You have often told me to 'kiss the Son lest +He be angry.' He _is_ angry! He _is_ angry!" and so passed away. + +His early life was one of continuous trial and struggle. His father died +before he was born. At an early age he left home and became apprentice +in a surgeon's shop at Berditcheff, where he remained three years. He +then removed to Odessa, and afterwards to Galicia, where he stayed eight +years with a surgeon. He entered the college at Lemberg, passed the +examinations, and received his medical diplomas. + +The crisis of his life was now approaching. He was taken ill, and this +made him think about his soul. "I knew the Almighty God," he wrote at a +subsequent period, "only from nature. I saw how gracious and merciful He +was towards me, and therefore I lifted up my hands and eyes to Him, and +prayed in my ignorance: O Lord, Thou hast made me so that I could learn +many scientific and useful things, grant me now also opportunity to be +better informed of Thy Holy Name. In this also the Shepherd of Israel +heard me." After his recovery he removed to Pesth, where he met +missionaries; he was taught the way of salvation. In 1845 he was +baptized, and in 1856 he was sent to Bucharest. Two years later he was +transferred to Jerusalem as assistant medical missionary, in which +capacity he laboured until within a year or two of his death. He passed +away on June, 1895, aged 80. Many will rise hereafter and call him +blessed, having received the first seeds of eternal life through him. + +IMMANUEL, Siegmund (Salomon Jacob), born in Hamburg, 1792, died at +Minden, 1847. Seeking for true religion, he found it in the Gospel, and +embraced Christianity in 1809. When still a student at the Gymnasium of +Altona he wrote a treatise entitled, "Animadversiones ad Coluthe carmen +de rapta Helena cum specimine Versionis Germanicæ." He then studied +theology at Helmstadt, Göttingen and Leipzig till 1813. After being a +private teacher at the house of the Russian General Berdiageff he, in +1814, became state teacher at Hirschberg, in Silesia, and in 1821 was +appointed Principal of the Gymnasium at Minden, which position he held +until his death. He was the first principal to introduce gymnastics into +the school curriculum (1831), and to divide the Gymnasium into +departments of arts and sciences (1840). Among Immanuel's works may be +mentioned: "Die Anfänge der Reformation und die Gründung des Gymnasium +in Minden" (Minden, 1822), "Declamation Unterricht auf Schulen" (_ib._ +1824), "Historischer Unterricht auf Gymnasium" (_ib._ 1827), "Gutachten +über Herrn Lorinser's Schrift zum Schutze der Gesundheit auf Schulen" +(Bieldfeld, 1836). + +ISAACS, Rev. Albert Augustus. The cause of missions to Jews possessed a +very intelligent and warm-hearted advocate in the Rev. Albert Augustus +Isaacs, who was himself, as his name indicates, of Jewish parentage, and +who throughout his long life, identified himself with every movement for +the welfare of his brethren according to the flesh. + +Mr. Isaacs was born in the island of Jamaica, on January 24th, 1826, at +Berry Hill, a coffee plantation, of which his father was the owner. +Jamaica was at that time one of the most prosperous colonies of Great +Britain. His father, Isaac Isaacs, had become a convert to Christianity +some years previously. We have no authentic particulars of his father's +life, although we have an idea that in the story of "The Star of Peace," +by "Ben Abram," which ran through the first two volumes of "The +Everlasting Nation," the adventures of Isaac Da Costa, in Jamaica and in +England, were those of his own father. + +Albert was his second son, and was sent to England for his education, +which was received at Maze Hill, Greenwich, under Dr. Smithers. The +religious instruction in the school, and preparation for confirmation, +though slight in themselves, led him to serious reflection, and were the +means of deciding him to give his heart to Christ at the age of +fourteen, and they influenced his future career. When he left school +Albert returned to Jamaica for four years, at the expiration of which +time, on the recommendation of Canon Carus, he entered Corpus Christi +College, Cambridge, being a contemporary of one who afterwards became +master, Dr. Perowne, and of Bishop Moule, of Mid-China. Young Isaacs' +residence at Cambridge was marked by a strict adherence to his +collegiate studies, which he commenced daily at five o'clock in the +morning. His religious life was very fruitful, he being a teacher in the +Jesus Lane Sunday School, the founder of the Cambridge University Prayer +Union, and the organizer in his college of successful efforts on behalf +of the Bible Society and the Church Missionary Society. He himself +ardently desired to become a missionary, his sympathies being especially +drawn towards East Africa. The door, however, was not open in that +direction, and so after taking his degree in 1850, he was ordained in +the same year by Dr. Davys, Bishop of Peterborough, and licensed to the +curacy of the parish church in that city, of which the Bishop's son, a +well known evangelical of those days, was the vicar. If our supposition +about "Ben Abram's" story is true, the following information from the +last chapter but one of the "Star of Peace" is interesting. We read +there that Isaac Da Costa (his father) had so arranged his movements as +to be present on an occasion of great interest to himself and others, +and with no little pleasure was looking forward to the opportunity of +witnessing his son's ordination. He had been unable to say what might be +the day of his arrival, as the voyage from Jamaica to New York was made +at irregular intervals, and it would appear that he arrived too late to +witness that rite, for we read, "All was silent as the night in the +little cathedral town in which Da Costa's son had begun his ministerial +work. It was late when the last train arrived from the west, and a cab +containing the father drove to the lodgings of the son. The sound of a +bell vibrated upon the ears of those who were slumbering; but it was not +so loud as to arouse them to consciousness. But early in the morning a +messenger arrived from the chief hotel to announce the arrival of Mr. Da +Costa. Telegrams were not so far available in those days as to enable +him to communicate the fact of his arrival. It was Saturday night, and +Da Costa had calculated on the enjoyment of the services of the Lord's +Day amidst the scenes of his son's labours. As these consisted of four +separate services--in whole or in part--he had the evidence that his lot +was not cast in idle, although it was in pleasant, places." + +Mr. Isaacs remained in the curacy at Peterborough for two years, +discharging his ministerial duties with zeal and ability. In 1852 he +became an association secretary of the L.J.S., having charge of the +counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincoln. The following year he was +appointed assistant clerical and association secretary for the north +metropolitan district. Mr. Isaacs had married the eldest daughter of the +Rev. J. M. Johnson, rector of Scoulton, Norfolk, and a niece of Lord +Berners. She was a remarkably clever linguist and a student of Hebrew. +She died in 1856, after a very brief married life. After her death Mr. +Isaacs visited Palestine in the winter of 1856-7, and found the +particulars gleaned during that visit of much subsequent use in his +advocacy of the cause. He gathered the materials for subsequent books, +took numerous views of the country, and bought a property near Jaffa +called "The Model Farm," which, under an edict of the Sublime Porte, +was made over to him as a British subject. He visited Palestine again in +1869, and was a traveller also in various parts of the world. + +Mr. Isaacs married, secondly, in 1861, the eldest daughter of the Rev. +S. H. Causton, Vicar of Highgate, and a niece of Lord Lilford, who died +in 1866, leaving two children, Miss Annie Isaacs and the Rev. Wilfrid +Henry Isaacs. Thirty years later, in 1896, Mr. Isaacs married Mrs. +Peppin, the widow of Surgeon-Major Peppin, and daughter of James +Herdman, Esq., of Zion House, co. Tyrone, Ireland, who survived him. + +Mr. Isaacs was Jubilee Secretary for the L.J.S. during the year +commencing February 15, 1858, and ending on the same date in 1859, which +post entailed upon him much additional labour, to which he always looked +back with considerable pleasure. He resigned his secretaryship in July, +1859, having served the Society with great acceptance for nearly seven +years. + +Mr. Isaacs now went to Jamaica on a short visit to his family, and +improved the occasion by giving lectures, which were attended by crowds, +in order to stir up an interest in the Holy Land. He had given a very +great deal of attention to photography, a difficult pursuit for the +amateur in those days, and was the first to introduce it into his native +country. On his return to England, he occupied successively posts at +Laura Chapel, Bath; in London; at Hanford, in Staffordshire; and at the +Priory Church, Malvern. + +In 1866, he was appointed by Lord Berners, vicar of Christ Church, +Leicester, in his old diocese of Peterborough, where for more than 25 +years he laboured in season and out of season, carrying on his ministry +on staunch Protestant and evangelical lines, and being surrounded by a +large band of fellow-workers, who heartily appreciated his teaching and +work. The parish was thoroughly re-organized; numerous useful agencies +started; the church restored and its accommodation increased; schools +and other buildings erected. Mr. Isaacs was known as "the Jew of +Leicester," and continued his great interest in all efforts for the +conversion of his brethren to Christianity. He also rendered much and +conspicuous voluntary aid to other Societies, notably the Church +Missionary Society, the Church Pastoral Aid Society, and the Church +Association, as well as to all local institutions and enterprises. + +Mr. Isaacs took great interest in elementary education, and was returned +at the head of the poll, by a majority of nearly 4,000 votes over the +second candidate, at the first School Board election in Leicester. He +also greatly interested himself in, and was successful in raising the +tone of the Police Force, the members of which most thoroughly enjoyed +the winter and summer treats which he arranged for them. Mr. Isaacs was +also chaplain of the Leicester gaol, a work in which he took the keenest +interest, and where he was the means of leading many a sin-stricken soul +to the Saviour of sinners; and reforming the lives of those who had been +led astray principally through strong drink. The work at Leicester was +thus of a very arduous character. Notwithstanding the poverty of his +parish, Mr. Isaacs raised as much as £25,000 for various objects during +his incumbency. His whole ministry eloquently testified to the power of +a simple and faithfully proclaimed Gospel. + +In 1891 Mr. Isaacs was appointed to the incumbency of St. Augustine's, +Bath, or, as it had long been known, Portland Chapel, which position he +held till 1899. It was a post after his own heart, with its associations +and traditions handed down from a long succession of faithful Protestant +ministers. For a short time he was in charge of Eaton Chapel, in London. +Mr. Isaacs frequently took chaplaincies on the continent, especially in +Holland and Germany, and in 1902 he became resident English chaplain to +Christ Church, Düsseldorf, and ministered to the congregation there up +to the day of his death, on Sunday, November 15, 1903. + +His home-call was very sudden, and found him in full work, just as he +would have desired. He had no previous illness. + +The funeral took place on Thursday morning, November 19, at the +beautiful Friedhof cemetery at Düsseldorf, where he rests. Amongst the +company present were Mr. Mulvany, the British Consul, with Mrs. and Miss +Mulvany, and about 120 other friends, mostly attendants at the Consulate +Chapel. The memorial sermons were preached on the following Sunday in +the Consulate Chapel by the Rev. T. H. Sparshott. When Mr. Isaacs went +there the congregation numbered only about thirteen persons. He soon +gathered round him, however, an attached people, upon whose affections +he obtained a strong hold, and his ministry was very gratefully +welcomed. Not only did he increase the attendance at the Sunday services +till an excellent congregation was built up, but on Thursday afternoons, +at his own residence, he held Bible readings and social gatherings, +which were warmly appreciated by a large number of young men and women. +Those who understand the intense loneliness of British residents in a +continental city, especially one somewhat off the beaten route of +tourists, will readily comprehend how much such kind hospitality and +friendly intercourse must have meant to strangers in a strange land. + +Mr. Isaacs' travels familiarized him with Palestine, and he wrote "The +Dead Sea" (1857); and "A Pictorial Tour in the Holy Land" (1858). He was +also the author of the well-known "Biography of the Rev. Henry Aaron +Stern, D.D." (1886); and the editor of four volumes of "The Everlasting +Nation" (1889-92). Amongst his other publications may be mentioned "Emma +Herdman, Missionary Labours in the Empire of Morocco" (1900); "The +Fountain of Siena, an Episode in the Life of John Ruskin" (1900); "In +the Lord," a series of articles, published in the "English Churchman" +(1901); a series of articles entitled "The Tabernacle and the Temple," +published in the "Protestant Alliance" magazine (1902); followed by a +second series in the same magazine, (1903), entitled "The Protestants of +the Bible"; and "The New Vicar" (1903), published posthumously. + +Besides his literary gifts, Mr. Isaacs possessed considerable gifts and +talents in art and in music, being a keen judge of both. He had some +knowledge of colloquial French, Italian, and German, and not long before +his death gave a short address in German at a mission hall on "I am the +way, the truth and the life," which was listened to with marked +attention. He had promised to give a second address on the Wednesday +which followed his death. + +Mr. Isaacs was a man of keen intellect, marked ability, deeply taught by +the Spirit of God, and a faithful servant of Christ during his long +ministerial career of fifty-three years. His Jewish descent, his +acquaintance with the language and customs of the Jews, his sympathy +with them and zeal for their conversion made him a strong and an +acceptable advocate in the cause of Jewish missions. He was a Life +Member of the L.J.S., and frequently attended the meetings of the +Committee, where his long and varied experience, and prudent counsels +were fully appreciated. + +It will be easily gathered from the above that Mr. Isaacs' life was +extremely rich in incident and experience. He was blessed with wonderful +strength and health, which he attributed greatly to total abstinence +from alcohol and smoking, and enjoyed the friendship of many prominent +people, amongst whom may be mentioned Prince Münster. + +Mr. Isaacs in his own person was a proof of the success of Jewish +evangelization, and of its far-reaching consequences, and we would close +this brief biography of our departed friend with the last words from his +"Star of Peace":-- + +"When Isaac Da Costa arranged for the baptism of his children he was, in +the providence of God, opening the floodgates of blessing for himself +and family. The consequences were to be widespread as well as important. +Up to that time, not one of his family in any of its branches had ever +been brought out of Judaism into the full revelation in Christ of the +Law and the Prophets. But when he closed his eyes, he left behind him +the record of every member of his family but one, both on his own and on +his wife's side, having embraced the Christian faith, and thus set their +seal to the truth and inspiration of God's Holy Word." + +JACOB, John, a Jew from Poland, was baptized in England, in the +seventeenth century. In 1679 he wrote a tract under the title, "The Jew +turned Christian, or The Corner Stone," which was translated into Dutch +and published in Amsterdam, under the title, "Jesus de waare +Hoeckstein." In this he magnifies the grace of God as manifested in and +through Christ Jesus, by which alone fallen man can find acceptance in +God's sight and realize perfect peace and salvation. + +JACOBI, B. T., was born in Königsberg, 1807. His father went to England, +and became a Christian there. During his absence his wife, not knowing +at all about her husband's religious change, embraced Christianity, and +was baptized with her four children. Jacobi studied theology, and was +appointed Chaplain, at the George Hospital, Königsberg, having also the +pastoral charge of the Workhouse, and giving religious instruction in a +High School. From 1858 he was also acting as missionary of the British +Society, and quite a number of Jews of the higher class were won by him +for the Saviour. He was permitted to celebrate his ministerial Jubilee +in 1877. + +JACOBI, Karl Gustav Jakob, born at Potsdam, 1804, died at Berlin, 1851. +He was a distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the University of +Königsberg and Berlin from 1825, and, together with Abel, made his +epoch-making discoveries in the field of elliptic functions. Most of +Jacobi's papers were published in Crelle's Journal, "Für die Reine und +Angewardte Mathematik," and in the "Monatsberichte" of the Berlin +Academy of Sciences, of which he became a member in 1836. Of his +independent works may be mentioned: "Fundamenta Novæ Theoriæ Functiones +Ellipticorum," Königsberg, 1829; and "Canon Arithmeticus," Berlin, 1839. +Jacobi's lectures on dynamics were published in Berlin in 1866 and 1884. +The Berlin Academy of Sciences published his "Gesammelte Werke," 8 +vols., 1881-91. + +JACOBI, Heinrich Otto, born at Tutz, West Prussia, and educated in a +Jewish school in Berlin. He was baptized by Pastor Hossbach. After +teaching in several schools, he became Professor of Greek Philology at +the Fried. Wilh. Gymnasium of Berlin in 1860. He wrote several treatises +in the Greek language, and received the degree of D.Ph. from the +University of Königsberg, even without passing an examination. He died +in 1864. + +JACOBSOHN, S. S., born in German Ostrowo, 1810. He went to Berlin and +studied painting in the Academy of Arts. After being an earnest enquirer +for a year, he was baptized by Pastor Kunze in 1831. Two years later he +entered the service of the Berlin Jewish Society, and laboured among the +Jews until 1871, with great patience and love toward them, so that many +acknowledged that he was a true Christian. He published a tract +entitled, "Immanuel, die Erscheinung des Messias in Knechtsgestalt, +seine Erlösungsthätigkeit und die Ausbreitung seines Reiches nach +Jesaia" (Berlin). + +JACOBSON, Heinrich Friedrich, born in Morenwerder, 1804, died in 1868, +as a true pious Christian, lamented by all who knew him. He became +Ordinary Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Königsberg in +1836. He was author, among other works, of "Geschichte der Quellen des +Katholischen Kirchenrechts der Provinzen Preusen und Posen," (1839); +likewise "Geschichte der Quellen des evangelischen Kirchenrechts," of +the same provinces, (1844). His chief work was, "Das Evangelische +Kirchenrecht des Preusischen Staates und seiner Provinzen," (Halle, +1862-66). + +JACOBSON, Jacob, was born at Goldingen, in the province of Courland, +Russia. He tells his own story thus:-- + +"My parents early taught me to value the precepts, rites, and ordinances +of Judaism, which they most rigidly observed. They therefore early +placed me under the care of a Talmudical tutor, to be instructed in the +Jewish faith, which consisted in the religious observances established +by the authority of the Rabbis, and the promised reward to those who +adhere to them. + +"As I grew older, and began to reflect upon the nature and principles of +Judaism as practised in the synagogue, my understanding showed me that +such formal worship could not be in accordance with the will of God, +that something or other was deficient in the system, there being nothing +solid to influence the heart and give vitality to the worshipper. I +could not help experiencing at times something like a vagueness in my +mind with regard to my religious perceptions. + +"By the providence of God I was led to leave home; and, although it was +contrary to the wishes of my parents, I set out on my journey, and in +due course arrived in England, in the City of London. After my sojourn +there for some time, I was incidentally brought into contact, for the +first time in my life, with one of those messengers who are sent out by +the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, +whose work is to disseminate the Word of Life. It was by him that the +Gospel was, in the first instance, proclaimed in my ears. Though some +impression was made on my mind in consequence of his preaching, I +nevertheless resisted it, on account of the deep-rooted prejudice I had +imbibed against the Christian religion, and I refused his kind +invitation to go to his house. + +"God, who guides the destiny of men in a most marvellous way did, by His +gracious design, cause me again to meet the same missionary, who once +more entreated me to accept Jesus as the Messiah, and to search into the +truth of the Christian religion. As on the former occasion, I again +resisted with increased strength, and again declined his kind +invitation. Still, the impression which was left on my mind on this +second occasion, led me to reflect upon the question at issue between +Jews and Christians, and whether this Jesus, whom our forefathers had +rejected, was the same who should redeem Israel. Thus I was for some +time perplexed and undecided, and in my perplexity I at length resolved +that I would go to the missionary's house, not with any desire to be +converted, but simply for further information. + +"I thus became directed to read the Word of God, in order to verify the +predictions which refer to the Messiah, and their fulfilment in the +Person of Jesus Christ. I then began to read the New Testament, and to +compare this with the Old, and, in course of time, the doing so +terminated in my conviction that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, who gave +Himself a sacrifice for sin, and was cut off but not for Himself. After +some inward struggle of mind, my agitated feelings may be better +conceived than described, and in spite of all hindrances that presented +themselves, I was enabled, by the grace of God and the enlightening +influence of the Holy Spirit to decide for Christ, and He became my Lord +and Saviour. I avowed myself by public baptism a believer in the Triune +God. + +"After some years of Christian life, I was called to the service of God, +in making known the same Saviour and the same Gospel I had received to +our benighted Jewish brethren, and, by the grace of God, I have been +engaged in so doing for fifteen years, in Newcastle and the district. +The Lord has graciously blessed my humble efforts, and unto Him I +ascribe the glory." + +JACOBY, Dr. Ludwig, was the founder of German Methodism at St. Louis, +Mi., U.S.A., and helped to spread it in Germany, in the latter half of +the 19th century. His biography is found in the Rev. Fr. Kopp's +characteristic pictures from the history of Methodism. + +JACOBY, Rev., was one of Dr. McCaul's converts in Warsaw, and missionary +of the Protestant Episcopal Church to the Jews in New York. He became +later on an earnest Army Chaplain in a small-pox hospital during the +Civil War, in Washington, 1864. + +JAFFE, Philipp, M.D. and historian, born at Schwersenz, Posen, 1819, +studied under Ranke in Berlin, where he won the history prize. He +published "Monumenta Germaniæ Historica," 1854-63; "Bibliotheca rerum +Germanicarum," 1864; "Regesta pontificum Rom. a Condita Ecclesia ad +Annum post Chr. 1198"; in which work no less than 11,000 papal documents +and letters were investigated, and in consequence received the attention +of Pius IX. These ecclesiastical studies led him finally to embrace +Christianity in 1868. + +JAFFE, Philipp, son of Rabbi Baer of Gnesen, Posen, was born in 1824. +Naturally he was brought up in strict orthodoxy and early imbibed +prejudices against Christianity, so that when reading a book in the +school he refused to utter the name of Jesus. His father sent him later +to Wales to learn commerce at the house of a relative. Then a Christian +lady gave him a New Testament which he secretly read, and that became +the means of his conversion. He studied in London, and at the age of +twenty-six he was ordained in the presence of the then Secretary of the +British Society, whose service he afterwards entered and laboured as a +missionary in Bristol and in Birmingham; and then from 1853 till 1857 at +Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Nüremberg and Hamburg. He was instrumental in the +conversion of a number of Jews, among whom was a Jewess 83 years of age, +and also in the conversion of a Roman Catholic priest. + +JAIR and JAN, Dr. Aga, two Persian Jews, the latter of whom especially +was under the influence of the C.M.S. missionary, the Rev. Dr. Bruce. +They were baptized by the Armenian Protestant pastor in Hamadan in 1878. + +JANASZ, Adolf, proprietor of an estate at Ploch, near Warsaw, having +together with his father embraced Christianity, and then afterwards +married the daughter of the L.J.S. missionary Rosenthal, henceforth +devoted himself to good works and especially to promote Christianity +among the Jews by word and deed. In 1863, after the Polish revolution, +he founded an orphanage on his estate, which he maintained at his own +expense. He also appointed a Bible-woman in Warsaw to visit the Jews, +and always showed sympathy and rendered practical help to the +missionaries, and sent from time to time considerable contributions to +the L.J.S. He published a little excellent work in German, entitled "Die +Zukunft des Volkes Israel," Berlin, 1882. + +JANY, a Jewish officer who served in the Prussian army from 1806 to +1815, afterwards embraced Christianity, and then devoted himself +especially, till the age of 90, to the care of the deaf and dumb, and +was one of the presidents of the Deaf and Dumb Institution at +Königsberg. + +JASU, was one of the three Falasha converts who carried on the work of +the mission during the imprisonment of the missionaries in Abyssinia. + +JEDIDA, Hirsch Leib, Smlinsky, born in Gragewo, Russia, 1847. After +being strictly brought up and becoming Bar Mitzvah (confirmed) at the +age of 13, he studied at several rabbinic schools for five years, and at +last at Plotzk, where he formed a firm friendship with another Bachur +(student), by the name of Samuel Nasielsky, a native of Warsaw. They +both thirsted for knowledge and studied diligently. The other had one +day to return home, on account of the illness of his mother, and Hirsch +soon followed him. In Warsaw they came in contact with the missionary +Ifland, who showed them another source of knowledge besides the Talmud, +and which alone could satisfy not only their minds but also their souls. +Having read the New Testament, they were convinced that Jesus was their +Saviour. They resolved now to go to Germany together. Before doing so +they met with a monk, who tried to win them for the Church of Rome and +as they were not able to answer all his objections to Protestantism, the +result was, that they read the New Testament more diligently and +earnestly. Hirsch was further instructed by Ifland, and was baptized in +the Reformed Church at Warsaw, by Superintendent Splasczynsky in 1864, +when he received the name of Jedida (beloved of the Lord). His fervent +prayer before his baptism is recorded, but it is too long to reproduce +here. His friend, who had hitherto been hindered by his family, now +joined him, and they travelled together to Bromberg, where they were +welcomed by the missionary Koppel into his home at Salem. His parents +came to fetch him home, but he returned. Here Samuel was also further +instructed, but as Jedida got ill, he was sent to the Hospital Bethany +at Berlin, and he followed him there, where he was baptized in 1866, and +received the name of Luria, and very often visited his sick friend, to +whom he was attached, like David to Jonathan. But Jedida's earthly +pilgrimage now drew to a close, yet, before his departure, he composed a +Hebrew prayer as follows:--"O Lord! watch over my bed when my end draws +near and my soul departeth. Stretch Thou forth Thy hands to receive and +to bring it into Thy habitations. Place me among the heirs of Thy +kingdom. Satisfy me with Thy comfort and salvation. Make me to rejoice +in the light of Thy countenance, that I may ever live with Thee. Amen." +The Lord answered his prayer and gave him grace and strength to endure +excruciating bodily pains calmly and resignedly, and took him to +Himself in September, 1867. His friend followed him three years later +and was buried at his side. + +JERTES, Dr., known to the Rev. F. W. Becker, laboured with great +blessing as a missionary at Frankfort-on-Main in 1838. + +JESAIA, Paul, an educated Jew of Prague, after showing an inclination +towards Christianity at home, went to London on business about the +middle of the seventeenth century, where he came in contact with true +Christians. The Jews being then few in number in the city, intercourse +between them and Christians frequently took place on very friendly +terms. In Bohemia there arose a false Messiah who deceived the people. +On his way to London, a Jesuit at Antwerp tried to convert him to Roman +Catholicism. All this contributed to his searching for the truth, and +when he found it in the English Church, he at once joined it by baptism. +Then he wrote a treatise under the title, "A Vindication of the +Christian's Messiah," London, 1654. (Wolff, Bib. Heb. 4. N. 1811. d.) + +JOACHIM, Joseph, born in Kittsee, Hungary, 1831, is known to have +embraced Christianity. He became a famous musician on the violin, and +founded a high school for music at Berlin in 1867. + +JOACHIMSTHAL, born in Goldberg, 1818, was baptized by Pastor Schultz in +Berlin, 1842. He became eventually Professor of Mathematics in Berlin +and in Halle. He died in 1861. + +JOHN, Evangelist, was one of those Jews baptized at Constantinople about +1827-8, in the time of Wolff, when they were put in prison and +bastinadoed. + +JOLBERG, Madam Regine Julie (_née_ Zimmerman), was born at +Frankfort-on-Main in 1801. Her father was a wealthy man, and sent her at +the age of thirteen to a Christian school at Heidelberg, where she +received good impressions. In 1821 she married a Jewish lawyer, named +Dr. Neustetel, and they settled at Hanau. There the seed sown in her +heart at school began to spring forth, her husband too was influenced by +her and by an evangelical pastor who visited him in his sickness, and he +wished to be baptized, but died before he could realise his wish. She +gave him a Christian burial. Subsequently, in 1826, she was baptized +with her children, and married her former teacher, S. Jolberg. Her +second husband died three years later, and soon after the children she +had by him. Then she went to the village of Berg, near Stuttgart, in +1831, with the two children of her first husband, and there her +Christian faith was strengthened and deepened by the circle of Christian +friends around her. In 1841 she took a house at Leutsheim, where she +instructed children in knitting. This school became later an asylum for +poor children. This was four years after enlarged to admit a branch for +the education of teachers. Six years later, in 1851, she hired a small +castle in Nonnenwier, with garden and woods, from Baron Bücklin, because +she had already eighty nurses under her instruction and supervision. +This institution prospered and became well known, so that her example +was followed in different parts of Germany and other countries. After 25 +years labour there were 300 Nonnenwier sisters in Germany and abroad, +and 260 nurses for children. She became known in Germany as Mutter +Jolberg, and rightly so, for indeed she was a mother in Israel. + +JOSEF, an artist, was baptized in Stockholm, 1832, through the preaching +of the L.J.S. missionary Moritz. + +JOSEPH, H. S., was precentor in the synagogue at Bedford, where he heard +the Gospel. In 1829 he resigned his office and went to Norwich, where he +was baptized by the Rev. Samuel Titlow. He wrote afterwards: "Reasons +for Renouncing Judaism and Embracing Christianity," Norwich, 1830. He +studied theology and was ordained in 1836 as minister or curate of St. +Simon's Chapel, Liverpool. With the permission of the Bishop of Chester +he established a Hebrew service. It may be mentioned, too, that on the +day of his ordination in Liverpool, six Jewish souls were baptized by +the Rev. H. Stewart, viz., Theodor Bernstein, and Joshua George Lazarus +with his wife and three children, and twelve others that year. In 1837 +Joseph became connected with L.J.S., from whom he received a grant. He +was the first, as far as we know, to open a home for enquirers, of which +he had the charge for many years. + +JOSEPHSON, Cornelius, was Flad's companion in the Gospel in Abyssinia. + +JOSEPHSON, Karl and Ludwig, two brothers, who were converted in +Westphalia in the first half of the nineteenth century, and have given +to the Church in Germany quite a number of theologians and pastors. + +JOSEPHSON, Van Reis, born at Stockholm in 1818, became a Christian +whilst at school. He then studied at the University of Upsala, and +graduated in 1842. Then he applied himself entirely to music, and became +Director of Music at the University. His compositions were popular in +the north, such as: "Vart land," "Rings Drapa," "Islossning." His church +compositions have made him famous, e.g., his "Kyrie," and his "Quando +Corpus." + +JOSHUA, was colporteur in Syria and in Asia Minor about 1860. + +JULIUS, Henrietta, sister of the physician Nicol Heinrich Julius, +attended the Church of Dr. Routenberg in Hamburg, which caused her to +embrace Christianity, and was baptized in 1820. Her brother became a +Romanist, but lived with her in harmony. She wrote a German biography of +Elizabeth Fry. + +KAHN, David Isaac, a physician at Uhlefeld, called afterwards +"Christfreund," received Christian literature from the Mission at Halle, +and this alone was the cause of his and his whole family embracing +Christianity at Cadolzburg in 1739. The eldest son who still hesitated, +was baptized afterwards. + +KAHN, Rev. J., L.J.S. convert, graduated at Cambridge. After being +curate in various parishes and then Vicar of Bishopstone, Sussex, he +became Vicar of St. Stephen's, Holloway, in 1884. + +KALKAR, Christian Andreas Herman, born November 27th, 1802, at +Stockholm, died at Gladsaxe, February 3rd, 1886. He received his early +education from his father, who was a rabbi and a member of the +consistorium, and at the schools of Copenhagen, where, in 1818, he +became a student of law. In 1823 he embraced the evangelical faith and +studied theology, passing his examination in 1826. After being teacher +at Oldensee, from 1827 to 1841, he travelled in Spain, and was appointed +minister at Gladsaxe and Herloi in 1844. Among Kalkar's many works may +be mentioned--"Evangelische Missionsgeschichte," 1857; "Geschichte der +Römisch-Katholischen Mission," 1862 (German translation, Erlangen, +1869); "Geschichte der Christlichen Mission unter den Heiden," 1877 +(German translation, Gütersloh, 1879); "Die Mission unter den Juden," +1868 (German translation, Hamburg, 1869); "Israel og Kerken," +Copenhagen, 1881. From 1871 to 1880 Kalkar was editor of the "Theologisk +Tidskrift." + +KALORIA, Rev. John B., a native of Jerusalem when he for the first time +heard the Gospel from the L.J.S. missionaries. After his conversion he +studied at Basel, and was then sent out to Uruguay as pastor and teacher +in a German Colony there. About 1887, he assisted Mr. Eppstein in +London, and then went to the United States, where he became engaged in +Ministerial work, contributing valuable articles to the Jewish +Missionary periodical at New York, "The People, the Land and the Book." + +KAMERAS, Rev. Nathanael, missionary in Vienna, of the British Society +for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. The following is an +abridged extract from his autobiography:-- + +"On the road leading from Russian Lithuania to Russian Poland there +stands a large and lonely inn. It was there that I first saw the light +of day in the year 1862. A clay-floored entrance divides the rooms of +this extensive house into two rows; on one side are the rooms for the +strangers, who lodge here over night, the large tap-room, and the small +rooms belonging to my parents; on the other, a one-windowed chamber, +where our teacher slept, and the hall, a pretty large room, set apart +for prayer and study. It contained long narrow tables and forms, an +ornamented cupboard on the eastern side, in which the Thora-rollen (law +scrolls) were kept, a prayer-desk with a seven-branched brass candelabra +and a hanging lamp. The male members of our family, and Jews from the +neighbouring villages, assembled there for Divine Service, to which the +women listened in an adjoining room. There, too, our teacher instructed +my four brothers and myself in the Hebrew language, and in the Talmud. +As soon as I was five years of age, my parents, wrapping me up in a +Tallith (prayer-mantle), solemnly brought me in there, in order that I +might receive the necessary instruction; so that from that moment I +devoted myself exclusively to study. Every other occupation, every other +employment, every recreation, game, or fun of childhood, all that makes +the heart light and the body strong, was banished from my life. I felt +like a bird imprisoned in a cage, and debarred the free movement of its +limbs; outside, was the world in all its beauty, where numbers of joyous +creatures were flying about in the full enjoyment of their individual +freedom, whilst I, powerless, clung to the bars. Before my eyes lay a +landscape, rich in rural splendour; as far as I could see, village after +village, surrounded by fruit-laden trees, presented a most cheerful +aspect, and from the window I could watch the Christian children at +their play, enjoying the fresh air of freedom in the flowering fields +and sprouting meadows. Amidst the songs of birds, the rustling of leaves +and the roar of the forest, I caught the sound of happy human voices, +whilst I, chained to my books all day and until late at night, was +forced to pore over marriage contracts and divorces and other similar +things, which would have been better kept from my childish reason. 'Oh, +if I were only that poor farm-servant coming home from the fields with +the tired horses, or that ragged boy driving his cows home!' Thus I +sighed. But all my longings and wishings were useless; I had to go over +the same tiresome road that all the Jewish children of orthodox parents +must labour through. The master behind me, drove me on with a volume in +one hand and the rod in the other; my father drove me, my relations +drove me, and thus, without rest or quiet, I was hurried through all +those voluminous works that are of no value for practical existence +whatever, so that the years of my childhood passed by, joyless and +unenjoyed. + +"This Jewish elementary school, called Cheder, seemed to me just like a +prison, and the teacher, who bore the title of Melamed, I looked upon as +a jailer, so that when the news reached me of my parents' resolve to +send me to a Yeschiva, I welcomed it with the same joy with which a +convict welcomes his acquittal after long and hard imprisonment. + +"It was not difficult to find a suitable Talmud school for me. The +son-in-law of our district Rabbi was Rosh-Yeshiva (professor at a Talmud +college) in a town where an uncle of mine lived. Thither my parents sent +me shortly after I had been confirmed (Bar mitzvah), that is to say, +when I had completed my thirteenth year. There, in his private lodgings, +I visited Rabbi Schimele Wolf, for so the Talmud lecturer was called, +and begged him to accept me as a pupil. At first he received me very +coldly, and with dignity that involuntarily pointed to the importance of +his position, but after I had delivered the recommendations I brought +from his father-in-law, and had told him that his family doctor was my +uncle, the stern look in his coal-black, thoughtful eyes, that shone +like two glowing specks out of his pale face, fringed by a black beard, +relaxed, and with extreme friendliness, he dispensed with the usual +examination on entrance, and ordered his servant to lead me to the +Yeshiva, and assign me a place there. We were still at a considerable +distance from our destination when a great noise of human voices broke +on my ear, and when at last I entered the hall, in which the Yeshiva was +held, I was quite stunned by the terrific noise that was being made +there. More than a hundred boys, youths of about thirteen to twenty +years of age, were assembled, each one screaming and moving about in +unrestrained restlessness. Some of them were sitting round long, narrow +tables, continually swaying the upper part of their bodies backwards +and forwards or from side to side. Others were standing in front of +small portable desks, leaning over them or swaying to and fro with them, +or going round and round them. Each boy had a ponderous volume open +before him, from which he chose a passage, that he quoted at the top of +his voice. One roared like a lion, 'Omar Rabbi Akiwa (Rabbi Akiwa said) +sa......id, sa......id ..Ra......bbi...A......ki......wa..., oi Mamuni +(Oh Mammy) Rabbi, oi Tatutim, (Oh Daddy) Akiwa, oi Ribene schel olam (Oh +Lord of the World) said; said Rabbi Akiwa; what did Rabbi Akiwa say? A +...ki....wa...sa......id...,' and so on for hours. Another sang very +daintily, imitating the voice of the chanter in sad and joyful melodies, +such as had remained in his memory from the various festivals, or he +composed something at will, with the following words; 'According to the +doctrine of Samai it is permitted to eat an egg that has been laid on a +holiday on that same day, whereas according to the doctrine of Hillel, +it is forbidden.' My arrival attracted their attention and had a +subduing effect; there was a lull. Suddenly a voice cried: 'The +Massgiach (overseer) is coming.' This was uttered in the same sing-song +manner, as though the boy were studying some sentence out of the Talmud. +It was repeated by a second, then a third and a fourth in the same +manner, and was the signal for them all of one accord to begin their +lamentations and singing afresh, with increased vigour, endeavouring to +drown each other's voices. It is in this way that these pale boys and +youths prepare for the 'Schir' (lecture), which lasts from two to four +o'clock in the afternoon, taking place daily, and being carried out in +the following manner:--The scholars stood round in a semi-circle at the +feet of the Rabbi, who sat on an elevated chair at a desk. Charging one +pupil to read a certain passage out of the Talmud, he desired another to +read the commentaries to it, and again a third to read and explain the +marginal notes to those commentaries. + +"In the quiet cloisters of a large town I met a lonely man, living one +day like another, a quiet and edifying life, to whom I felt particularly +attracted. His head was a real study; a long white beard covered his +breast, and he had a high, broad forehead, a finely arched nose, and +large blue eyes, in which a whole world of goodness lay; over his +features there was an expression of touching humility, as though he +would excuse himself to everyone for daring to breathe the air and to +fill a space in the universe. Hoping that with him I should not fare +badly, I settled down there, and indeed, I did not regret it. From the +beginning he showed me his goodwill in unlimited measure, taking care +that I should receive free board from the prayer-men, who assembled +there three times a day, and in such wise that I boarded with a +different one each day in the week; besides which he contrived to give +me ample pocket-money. I was often allowed to substitute him in reading +'Mischnais for anniversaries' (extracts from the Talmud to be read for +the departed souls on the respective days of their death, which the +relations generally remunerate well). He took me with him wherever he +was called to sing psalms or say prayers, either at the cradle of a +new-born child that had scarcely opened its eyes to the light, or at the +bedside of the dying, closing them to the light, to a wedding-feast or +to a death-watch, and everywhere money poured in. Thus we lived together +day and night in a neighbourly, friendly manner in the cloisters, and +nothing lay further in the recluse's thoughts than that he should rob me +of my peace of mind, which, however, he did without wishing to do so. +His fervent prayers for the redemption of the people of Israel it was +that had such a striking effect on my mind. Years will not efface from +my memory the sight of that old man at midnight, when all around was +quiet, and he thought himself unobserved, taking off his shoes and +seating himself on the floor, imploring the Lord in heartfelt sincerity, +in His mercy to return to Jerusalem and reign there as He had +prophesied. I still hear those heart-rending tones, in which he prayed; +'Stretch out Thy right hand, Oh God! and in mercy redeem the people of +Israel. Oh, that it might soon be announced to the unhappy nation: "Your +Redeemer has come to Zion!"' Every sentence was accompanied by a sigh or +broken by a sob. He imagined me to be asleep, but I heard every word, +and was often moved to tears, involuntarily beginning myself to pray +eagerly and perseveringly that the Messiah might soon come and release +His people from captivity. From henceforth I devoted much thought to the +subject, and, in my childish fancy, pictured to myself how glorious it +would be when the Messiah would come, and, as a child rejoices to greet +its father from afar, I looked forward, daily and hourly, to the advent +of the Redeemer of Israel. On the other hand, the question often worried +me; Why does not God answer such real and fervent prayers? Why does not +the Messiah come to release His people? I did not dare to speak to Rabbi +Todresch, such was the name of the recluse, on the subject, but once +when a Talmudist from some well-known Talmud school came back to his +home in the cloisters, I told him what it was that troubled me so much, +and my astonishment was indeed great when I heard his answer: 'Prayers +such as those will and can never be answered; for the Messiah has come.' +In vain did I beg him to explain it to me, but he purposely avoided all +my questions, telling me only so much that he possessed a book which +explained the question thoroughly, but which he could not entrust to me +for fear of the consequences such a step might have for himself; +besides, it would be of no use to me, as I should have to give up my +present career entirely. 'If you want to know the full truth,' he said +to me, 'you must go abroad, for only there can you search after the +truth freely and independently; whereas here, you must sell your freedom +for your bread.' Tortured by restlessness, despair and longing, and +fearful lest my parents should get ear of the change in my heart, when +they would certainly oppose my plans, I decided to follow his advice at +once and to leave Russia. + +"After taking a hearty leave of the recluse, and my new friend, the +Talmud student, I seized my staff and went out into the wide world, a +toy for wind and weather. Like a nomad, I wandered uncertain, for a long +period, from town to town and from village to village. It was quite late +often when I reached a strange place; all the doors and gates were +closed, and I turned my steps to the ever open house of God, entered +upon a 'Kasche' (a Talmudic question of dispute) with any one of those +present, and I immediately felt at home, had my board and lodging, and +the pious prayer-men, who came there daily, openly and secretly pressed +their charitable gifts into my hand. Thus I was enabled to wander +through the whole of Russia to the frontier, which, having no passport, +I could not legally cross, and was therefore forced to smuggle myself +through by giving a man a rouble to conduct me through a wood which led +into Germany. Now that I was in another country, my position became a +different one. On reaching the first German town, I asked as usual for +the 'Beth-Hamedrash' (Jewish prayer and school-house), but to my +greatest dismay no one could give me any information. Only one thing I +was aware of, and that was that I could not make myself understood at +all. It was evening; the first stars, those companions of my wanderings, +began to twinkle in the sky, but into my sad heart no light would enter; +there all was dark and dull. Here I was, standing at the corner of a +street leaning against a post, a little bundle in my hand, without +means, work, knowledge or language; alone, forsaken, not knowing where +to turn. A lady passing by stopped and looked at me inquisitively. The +sight of a slender little lad, clothed in the long wide Kaftan, with a +pale face and sad eyes filled with tears, must have aroused her +sympathy. She addressed me, but finding I did not understand a word she +said, she gave me a few pence and showed me an inn where I could pass +the night. It was certainly a very cheap night's-lodging that I had, but +I was obliged to sleep amongst tipsy room-companions, to whom I was much +too interesting a personage for them to leave in peace. Some would +insist on making a common covering of my long coat; others played +incessantly with my long fore-locks, whilst others again were interested +in my Arba-Kanfoth (a garment with fringe at the ends) and were +continually pulling at them. It was a long, weary night that I passed +there, and as soon as the rising sun shone faintly through the dirty +window-panes I hastened out, and, being once more alone, allowed my +tears to flow. For the first time since my departure home-sickness with +all its overwhelming power quite overcame me, and I felt the seriousness +of life in its full meaning. However, I soon took courage again, laid my +Tephillin (prayer-strap) on and implored the Lord to lend me His +assistance and protection, taking a solemn oath that from henceforth I +would blindly let myself be guided by Him in all things. With this +sacred oath and with the firm conviction that the Lord would carry out +all to His glory, I went on my way. With great difficulty and many +privations I reached Breslau, where I met a man from Russia, who +assisted me in obtaining a place as instructor of the Hebrew language in +a Polish Jew's family. After staying there a few months I seemed, +curiously enough, to be drawn as by an invisible hand towards Vienna. +The money I had earned as a teacher amply sufficed to take me there, and +after a lengthy search, I found inexpensive lodgings in a Jewish family. +(The head of the family is dead, but the wife still lives here, and her +son is now, thanks be to God, a dear believing Protestant Christian.) +Here I became acquainted with a Jewish shoemaker, who was the first to +give me a New Testament in the Hebrew language to read. The very first +sentence in that book was sufficient to draw me to it like a magnet, for +there it was written what that Talmud-scholar had briefly told me, +written clearly and in full, namely, that the Messiah, who until now had +been the object of my prayers, my desires and hopes, had actually been +born. On asking him to tell me something more about the book, the +shoemaker conducted me to the missionary, Herr E. Weiss, who advised me +to go to Pastor Schönberger, preacher at Prague, where I found a very +friendly welcome. I passed the winter there, but, as Pastor Schönberger +was obliged to be away for a year, he took me to his friend, the Rev. D. +A. Hefter, L.J.S. missionary at Frankfort-on-the-Main, who kindly took +me under his paternal care. + +"The year 1881 was a decisive one for me. The Word of Life rooted itself +deeper and deeper in my heart; prejudices vanished one by one, and the +love of Jesus took their place. I perceived how deeply my heart had been +wounded by sin; but at the same time I acknowledged the most lovable of +all the children of the earth, the Son of God, who has redeemed me too +through the shedding of His innocent blood, and has healed all my +wounds. On the 14th of August, 1881, I was baptized by the missionary, +Herr Hefter, in the 'Dreikönigskirche' at Frankfort-on-the-Main, +receiving the names Nathanael Karl Albert. At first I learnt the art of +bookbinding in Frankfort, but as the Rev. D. A. Hefter desired me to +become a pupil at the missionary-house in Barmen, I complied with his +desire most willingly, regarding this step as one indicated by the Lord. +One year I passed in the preparatory-school of the missionary-house, and +four years in the seminary itself. During these years I received +abundant blessings from the Lord. I was led deeper and deeper into the +Spirit of the Word of God, and guided to more independent search by +teachers endowed with truly divine minds, and treated with the greatest +affection by a friendly circle of brethren, among whom I was permitted, +thanks be to God, to grow stronger in faith, more fervent in love, and +riper in understanding. To serve the Lord in His empire, and to win +souls for Him out of His ancient people of the covenant, was my most +coveted desire, and this too the Lord has granted me in His endless +goodness and mercy. At the end of the year 1887 I passed my final +examinations, and at the beginning of 1888, in answer to the proposal of +the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, I +was permitted to begin my active duty among Israel in Vienna. Three +years later, in 1891, I received my ordination from the celebrated +theologian of Würtemberg, Dr. Burk, in Stuttgart. + +"One incontestible certainty has been proved to me both in the wonderful +guidance of my life as also in my profession, which I now hold for more +than sixteen years, that of myself I can do nothing, not even the +slightest thing, and imbued with the conviction of my powerlessness and +utter helplessness, of my own poverty and wretchedness, I have learnt to +make use of the sweetest privilege of our life, namely, the subjection +of my own will to the will of my Saviour, Jesus Christ." + +KAUFMANN, Rev. Moritz, T.C.D., a native of Germany, convert and student +of the L.J.S. about 1860, was ordained Deacon in London, 1865; priest in +the diocese of Meath, 1869. He held two livings in Ireland, was +Lecturer, Tutor, and Assistant Chaplain of St. Aidan's College, +Birkenhead, from 1877 to 1883. In 1884 he was appointed Vicar of +Erpingham, and afterward Rector of Ingworth, Norfolk. Dr. Kaufmann +obtained the prize for Hebrew, Chaldaic and Syriac, and is the author of +the following works: "Socialism, its Nature, its Dangers, and its +Remedies Considered," 1874; "Utopias, or Schemes for Social Improvement +from Sir Thomas More to Karl Marx," 1879; "Christian Socialism," 1888; +"Charles Kingsley, Christian Socialist and Reformer," 1892; "Socialism +and Modern Thought," 1895. + +KAUTZ, Christian Friedrich, baptized in Berlin, 1702, published in 1703 +"Des 12 jährigen Jesu vom Nazareth Verstand im Fragen und antworten, +darüber sich die juden verwundern," also "Erkannte Göttliche Wahrheit +aus der Schrift Alten und Neuen Testamentes," Waldenburg, 1716, and a +"Catechismus für Juden," 1720. + +KEYPER, a native of Prague, was Rabbi in Schleusinger, where he was +converted and baptized by Superintendent Friedrich Ernest Weis in 1715. +He afterwards was lecturer on Jewish antiquities in Altorf and in +Regensburg. Later he gave lessons in Talmud and Rabbinics at Bremen. +Wolff in Bib. Heb. 3, 4, N. 1356 b. speaks of him as a learned, upright +and sincere man. + +KIEL, a physician from Roumania, made, as a pious Jew a pilgrimage to +Jerusalem, thinking that in the Holy City he would find spiritual +satisfaction and peace, but he did not find it in the Judaism that he +found there, but in the Gospel which was preached by the missionaries. +He and his wife were baptized by Bishop Alexander in 1844, and he +laboured afterwards as a medical missionary in Safed. + +KLEIN, Julius Leopold, a native of Hungary, born at Nocskolez, 1810, +died in Berlin, 1810. He was a physician, poet and writer. His works +appeared in seven volumes, under the title "Dramatische werke," Leipsic, +1871-2. + +KÖBNER, Pastor Julius, was born in Denmark in 1806. Was by profession an +optician like Spinoza, but God vouchsafed to him greater spiritual sight +than to the philosopher. He embraced Christian faith in the Lutheran +Church of which he became a minister, but afterwards joined the +Baptists. Endowed with spiritual and mental gifts, he henceforth +laboured with great zeal in Copenhagen, where he built the Christian +Chapel, and also in many other parts. Later he laboured in Berlin, where +he died 1884. His notable writings are, "Das Lied von Gott," an epic +poem from the creation to the redemption of the world. "Die Waldenser," +a dramatic poem with notes, "Die Neue Erde." On his hundredth birthday, +1906, appeared a hundred of his choicest sermons in the press, under the +title "Lebens Wasser." + +KOFLER, Carl, born in Lemberg, 1820, was baptized with his parents at +Breslau in 1822, graduated at the University there, and was appointed +Vicar in Bad Lardeck in Silesia in 1851. He is recorded to have been a +gifted preacher of the Gospel and a conscientious pastor. He died in +1877. + +KOPPEL, Dr. J., born in the Archduchy of Posen in 1830. He began to +learn Hebrew when he was three years old. Afterwards he attended a Roman +Catholic school, where he was badly treated, and he imbibed strong +prejudices against Christianity. In 1846 he entered a Jewish seminary +for teachers at Bromberg, and when he finished his studies, he was +appointed teacher by the Government in a town near the Russian border, +and also interpreter. At that time he realised that there was a great +contrast between the Bible and the Talmud, but he had no inclination +towards Christianity whatever. Coming to Berlin, he made the +acquaintance of Dr. Jaffe, whose brother was a missionary of the British +Society, and he advised him to go to him for Christian instruction. The +result was that he was baptized by Jaffe. In 1860, Koppel entered the +service of the British Society, and laboured at first in England. In +Bristol he became acquainted with George Müller and with his +institution, which served him to good purpose in his future activity. +Returning the same year to Bromberg, it happened that one day a pair of +boots were stolen from him, and a poor beggar boy was suspected of the +theft. This incident awakened in Koppel's heart deep compassion towards +the poor neglected boys, and he applied to the municipal authorities for +permission to found a Home or Ragged School for them where they might +receive Christian training. This permission was, after some hesitation, +granted, and the Home was opened in 1864, which served at the same time +as a refuge for gutter children, orphans, Jewish enquirers and converts. +Koppel then displayed great activity together with Dr. Ben Zion, Dr. +Mossa and other friends whom he gathered around him. They instructed the +children, visited the prisons, preached to the Jews, of whom thirty-five +were converted there. Koppel laboured in faith, and the means of support +were not wanting. A waiter sent him 200 thaler and rich people helped +him liberally. In 1866 there were seventy inmates in the "Home" at +Salem. In 1869 Koppel, not feeling strong enough to carry on the work, +delivered it to others and went to London, where he did similar work and +was well known at the Mildmay Conference Hall. Subsequently he went to +Texas to found a colony there. + +KRONHEIM, Joseph Nathaniel, a native of Magdeburg and son of wealthy +parents. In his youth he led a restless life, served as a soldier under +Napoleon I. in his Russian campaign, and then was schoolmaster in +Magdeburg, where he bought a New Testament, to teach moral principles +from it. The rabbi, on hearing of this, dissolved the school. He then +came to England and made the acquaintance of Bishop Alexander, who +preached the Gospel to him. He then took more time to investigate the +question at issue between Judaism and Christianity, travelling in the +country to sell optical instruments, till he came to the Rev. Wyndham +Madden, of Woodhouse Parsonage, near Huddersfield, by whom he was +further instructed and baptized in 1832. In 1835 he settled as optician +in Belfast. A year later the friends of the Jews there, observing his +Christian character, ability, and great Biblical knowledge, asked him to +give up his business and become an agent of the Belfast Auxiliary +Society, which he did, though he was then sixty years old. Through him a +lively interest was awakened in Ireland for the cause of missions among +the Jews. He laboured there for seventeen years, and died in 1852. + +KRÖNIG, Rev. Joshua Charles Solomon, heard the Gospel in Paris from the +L.J.S. missionary Markheim, and was baptized by him in 1857, in the +chapel of Lewis Way, when Lord Shaftesbury was one of the sponsors. +After doing good work in London as a city missionary, he studied +theology at King's College, was ordained by the Archbishop of York, +1871-1872, and was appointed by trustees to the Vicarage of St. +Barnabas, Hull, where he laboured for the rest of his life as a faithful +minister of the Gospel to his congregation and missionary to his own +people, esteemed and beloved by them both. In 1875 he opened a +reading-room for Jews, which he called a "Beth hamedrash," in which he +placed one of his own converts as house-father. In 1881 he bought a +house for this purpose, on which he placed the inscription, "The doors +of Zion, house for studying God's Word." In 1884, he told a pathetic +story of a Jew who was a blasphemer, but whom the power of the Gospel +converted and regenerated, so that he became his assistant in the work +of the mission. Krönig was much sought after as a deputation. + +KROPVELD, Rev. E., Pastor at Ablasserdam in Holland and Secretary of the +Dutch Reformed Church Mission to the Jews. He was brought up in strict +Jewish orthodoxy. Starting in life in a merchant's office and living +carelessly, he one day had a conversation with a Christian peasant, who +assured him that he was certain of entering at last into the heavenly +Canaan. This made a deep impression upon him, and he began to live in +stricter conformity with Judaism. At the age of seventeen he heard the +L.J.S. missionary Pauli preach, and felt the power of the Gospel +message, which led to his being baptized. He then became a colporteur of +religious books, when he suffered much from his friends, yet lived so +economically that he managed to save sufficient money to enable him to +study for the ministry. He then became Pastor in Rundem, Minnertsga, +and at last in Ablasserdam. He wrote several books in relation to the +Jews. + +KUH, Christian Daniel, a merchant in Breslau, having been convinced of +the truth of Christianity, was baptized in the Evangelical Church at +Breslau in 1805. The result was that his wife and three children, his +brother-in-law Hans August Fisher, and his fiancée followed his example. + +KUNERT, Rev. Karl, was born on May 25th, 1870, at Krotoschin, in Posen, +one of the Prussian provinces. Of his history he says:--"My father was a +furrier, who, in the family of his grandfather, a rabbi at Breslau, +received not only the usual superficial knowledge of Judaism, but at the +same time a truly orthodox education, and, as a pious Jew, he took good +care that the laws of his people should be strictly kept by his whole +family. + +"I was named Karl, after this great grandfather, and I was expected to +follow his profession likewise. As far as I can remember, I assisted at +Divine service every morning and evening from about the third year of my +life, and from the age of four I joined in the prayers whenever they +were offered. Nor were the other branches of my education in any way +neglected. Being able to read and write when quite a little boy of five, +I became well versed in the history of my people and country. When nine +years of age I was sent to the college of my native town, and later on, +when my parents removed to Breslau, I visited the Catholic college of +that town, but at the same time the Jewish school. It was at this +period of my life that I got a very strong antipathy to Christ and His +adherents. Is that to be wondered at? All I saw was the thoughtless +worship of Popish idols. And then, the greater evil to my young soul was +wrought by my fellow-pupils, who, though educated in the Catholic faith, +nevertheless found much pleasure in laughing at each new thought or +religious exercise, and spent much time in reading all kinds of immoral +books. + +"I was very fond of reading, and in the memorable year 1885, the Lord +led me to purchase the New Testament. There was a certain sacristan at +Breslau who sold the books and tracts of the British and Foreign Bible +Society, and often on Sundays, about dinner time, I went to see him and +to buy books to read. In this way I came into possession of the New +Testament in Greek, German and French. But the sacristan never uttered a +word in favour of the Gospel, and I thought him a very greedy man who +sold Christian books for the only purpose of gaining money. Such +behaviour in a professing Christian, together with the sad experiences +in my school-time, made me an embittered enemy of Christ and His Church. +During my time at college I visited the University and the Rabbinic +Seminary, in order to prepare myself for the chosen profession of a +Rabbi. The bitter hatred of all who confessed Christ grew more and more +intense, and at last, I triumphantly delivered a public lecture at +Berlin against Christianity. + +"But already, at the time of my visiting the Rabbinic Seminary, I felt +an inner restlessness, and even when I changed theological studies for +other pursuits, this uneasiness would not quit me. I used to perform the +Jewish law with a still greater zeal, notwithstanding that the inner +voice told me most distinctly that I was wrong and would never find true +happiness in this way. I could speak to no one about this conflict of my +soul. The Jews did not understand me, and Christian people I most +heartily despised. + +"I then resolved to go to Paris, firmly believing that new surroundings +would restore my peace of mind, and I felt I must conquer the heartfelt +unrest at any rate. But on the very day of my arrival in Paris I took +the train for Antwerp, and the next morning found me wandering about the +streets of that town in dread despair. At length I resolved to return +home, and that once more at Berlin I would seek rest in work. But in +vain. I wandered under the old trees of the Tiergarten for long hours +wrestling with my God, whom I was willing to serve, but after my own +fashion as a Jew. I would not yield, and though I was hardly able to +bear this inward conflict longer, I still went on with praying in public +on the Day of Atonement. + +"At the close of November, 1898, my anxiety grew so strong that I +resolved to start for Altona, in order to be thoroughly instructed about +Christianity, in a mission house. Nobody had told me of such an +institution, but by chance I learned of its existence from one of its +former inmates. The 26th of November, 1898, found me at Hamburg. But +still the old Adam would not yield, and I never entered the mission +house till the utmost need forced me to go and see the Rev. A. Frank. He +received me most kindly, and was willing to give me shelter in the +house, but told me that, like all other inmates, I would have to engage +in manual labour. I most gladly agreed to this, and I became a pupil of +the mission on December 1st. + +"Far from the noise and influence of the world I first met my Saviour in +all His glory. There was no question now about justification by +performing Moses' laws; His light made me see my sins in all their +awfulness, and I broke down crying, 'My punishment is greater than I can +bear' (Gen. iv. 13). But soon Divine love made me sing, 'My life is +preserved' (Gen. xxxii. 30), and all my heart went out to my Saviour who +had done so much for me. I was baptized on April 23rd by Pastor Aston. +For a short time after I stayed at Hamburg as a private teacher, and the +Lord's blessing was with me; but I was soon asked by our dear Pastor +Dworkowicz if I would be willing to work as missionary to the Jews, and +he felt I might be of service at Königsberg. Circumstances at the +beginning of 1901 made my way clear. I knew then that it was after my +Saviour's will that I should enter upon this work; so I applied to the +British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, and I +was accepted on June 9th, on the recommendation of Pastors Dworkowicz, +Aston and Frank, of Hamburg. I commenced work there under the direction +of the first named, but on March 15, 1902, I started for Königsberg, in +order to labour in that city for the glory of God my Saviour. 'The Lord +hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad' (Ps. cxxvi. 3)." + +LANDSMAN, Daniel, was living in Jerusalem about 1870, maintaining +himself by his handiwork as a strict, pious Jew. Whenever the L.J.S. +missionary Stern met him he used to preach Christ crucified to him, so +that at last he, in a passion, assaulted Stern violently, but at length +was conquered by the Gospel, and then became his best friend. After his +baptism in the Holy City he witnessed for Christ there before the Jews +for some time. Then a position as assistant missionary was offered him +in the Scotch Presbyterian mission at Constantinople, where he zealously +laboured for seventeen years, and Bassin, afterward a missionary was one +of those in whose conversion he was instrumental. He then emigrated to +the United States, and was appointed by the Lutheran Synod at Missouri +as missionary in New York about 1883, where he was blessed in his +efforts to win souls for the Kingdom of God. He wrote the following +tracts, partly in Hebrew and Yiddish, "Jeshua Sar ha Panim"; "Jeshua ha +Nozri ist der Messiah Emeth," "Memra," "Shabbath Feiertage und +Beschneidung"; "Was sagen die Rabbinere über Maschiah"; "Was sagt die +Kabbalah, &c., über die Dreieinigkeit Gottes," 1888. + +LASERON, Dr. Michael Maximilian August Heinrich, born in Königsberg, +1819, died in London, 1894. His father was a rabbi, but died on the same +day, as his mother, when he was only seven years old. Laseron was then +brought up by bigoted relations, who were not very kind to him. Owing to +this he had no great love for the Jews, but rather sought after +Christians, from whom he learned to know the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. +He did not conceal his convictions, but told his relatives that he had a +desire to become a Christian. Thereupon they so illtreated him that his +life was in danger; so when he was seventeen, he escaped on foot to +Frankfort, enduring great hardship on the way. Then he was instructed +and baptized by Pastor Keimers, but he could not remain in Frankfort on +account of persecution by the Jews, so he went to Basel. Scarcely had he +arrived there, when he got very ill, and the wife of the missionary, a +lady by the name of Haslen, nursed him till he recovered. Friends in +Switzerland recommended him to the L.J.S., and he was for a time in the +Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, Palestine Place. Then he entered +as a student the newly-founded Missionary Training College of the +British Jews' Society, and remained there over two years. However, +though he was interested in the Jewish mission, and took practical part +in the same, yet he felt that he was called to be a medical man, and the +Committee allowed him to leave in 1849. Thereupon he went to Erlangen +and studied medicine, and at the same time practised homoeopathy +privately. Laseron then returned to London, and was a successful +practitioner. Settling at Edmonton in 1854, he there lost his eldest +child. This was the occasion for a call to a great enterprise of faith +which bore glorious fruit. The bereaved parents noticing in the street +poor, half-starved children, resorted to prayer and then resolved to +establish an asylum for poor children where they could receive a good +education. An Irish lady hearing of it, sent him £3; with this +encouragement he hired a house, appointed a teacher, and opened the +school in 1856, having sixteen scholars on the fore-noon of the first +day and more in the afternoon. He also built a chapel. In a few months +the school was so full that he could not admit any more children. Then +he opened evening classes and services on Sunday, which were attended by +150 persons, who seldom went to a place of worship. In answer to earnest +prayer Dr. Laseron received small and large, and even very large, gifts +of money for his work in a most remarkable manner, often from people who +were entire strangers to him, notably the brothers Samuel and John +Morley supported him very generously, so that he was enabled to +establish the Evangelical Protestant Deaconesses' Training Institution +at Tottenham, now called The Prince of Wales's General Hospital. Dr. +Laseron reached the age of 75, and before his departure he asked a +friend to write to his children in Australia--"I thank God that I am +surrounded by such as love me and Him." + +LASERON, Rev. David, came to Edinburgh from Germany, and maintained +himself there by giving lessons in German and in Hebrew. He had also +Christian pupils who visited him when he was sick and from whose young +lips he first heard of the great Physician of souls. After his baptism +in 1844 he was sent as a missionary to Cochin, where he established +schools for heathen and Jewish children. In 1852, these schools were +attended by 16 white Jewish boys, 112 black Jewish boys and 24 girls. +Laseron baptized one Jew there by the name of Jehil Benjamin, in 1849. +He was recalled home in 1855, owing to some disagreement with his +colleague. + +LASSON, Adolf, born in Alt Strelitz, 1859, embraced Christianity while +he was tutor of Philosophy in the University of Berlin. He wrote the +following works: "Fichte über das Verhältniss von Staat und Kirche," +Berlin, 1863; "Meister Eckhardt der Mystiker," 1878; "Das Cultur ideal +und der Krieg," 1868; "Principien der Zukunft des Volkesrechts," 1871. +In reference to religion, he belonged to the evangelical party in the +German Church. The year of his baptism is not known. + +LAUB, P. B., born in the Bukowina, Austria, and received a strictly +orthodox Jewish education. Receiving a New Testament from some one, he +became convinced of the truth of Christianity, and then went to London, +where he came in contact with the writer, who recommended him to the +Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, but he soon left for Stuttgart, +and was baptized by Gottheil there. He then studied at Basel, but +wishing to devote his life to the Jewish Mission, he went to the +Institutum Delitzschianum, in Leipzig, to prepare himself for future +work. In 1889, he went to assist Mr. Flad in Tunis, and then was called +by the French, and afterwards by the Swiss Missionary Society to be +their missionary in Alsace. + +LAURIA, Rabbi Elieser, was one of several Rabbis who became Christians +in Jerusalem in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was +baptized by Bishop Alexander in 1843, whereupon he was forced by the +Jewish authorities to divorce his wife, who was sent by them back to +Russia. She, however, returned to him in 1846, and in the next year she +too made a public confession of her faith in our Saviour. Henceforth she +assisted her husband in winning souls, and they laboured together at +Cairo, until her death of cholera in 1849. Lauria opened a mission +school there in 1850. He was much esteemed, even by the rabbis, and he +circulated the Scriptures as far as Arabia, and the mission was not +without results. + +LAZARUS, Joshua George, was baptized with his wife and two children in +Liverpool, under the ministry of Rev. H. S. Joseph. In 1842, he became +his assistant there and in Manchester. In 1851, Lazarus reported that +sixty-eight Jews had been baptized since he entered upon his labours in +the two cities. He retired on account of feeble health in 1853, and died +in 1869. + +LEBERT, Herman, M.D. (Levy), born 1813, died 1878. He as a Christian +doctor was very distinguished. Friedrich Wilhelm IV. bestowed upon him +the gold medal for Art and Science. He became Professor of Medicine in +Breslau, 1859. His literary works are: "Anatomie Pathologique générale +et speciale," 2 vols., 1854-62, for which the Parisian Academy gave him +the prize. "Handbuch der Practischen Medicin," 2 vols., 1859. + +LEBRECHT, Abraham (Herz), born at Gross-Glogau Germany, 1706. At the age +of seventeen both his parents died, and his relatives sent him to a +Jewish high school at Prague. In 1739, he was a teacher at Belgrade, and +when the Turks captured the city, they sold him and Newman, son of a +Lutheran pastor, with many others, as slaves. The master tempted Newman +to sin, but he resisted, and was cruelly beaten. The master then tried +to make him yield through the medium of Herz, but Newman said to him: "I +cannot offend my Lord Jesus, and would rather die than commit sin." This +made a strong impression upon the young Jew, and henceforth he became +very anxious about the state of his soul, and the other preached to him +the good tidings of salvation through Christ. Newman died from the +stripes he had received, and Herz was sold to Hadshi Mustapha, who +brought him to Smyrna in 1741. There the Jewish community bought his +release, presented him with sixteen ducats, and sent him to +Constantinople, whence he made his way back to Germany, where in various +ways he experienced the lovingkindness of God. Twice when he was in +great despair, and was about to commit suicide, he was providentially +saved and brought to his senses by Christians, who had come to him at +the right moment. In his wanderings he visited Friedrich Augusti, the +well-known convert, who had had similar trials. Finally, he was baptized +on Whitsunday, 1744, when he assumed the name of Lebrecht (Live right), +and refused to receive a present from his sponsors, which it was the +custom to give. He then lived as a consistent Christian to the age of +70, and died in 1776. This extract is taken by Pastor de le Roi from +Lebrecht's autobiography, which closes with a prayer for the conversion +of Israel. + +LEDERER, Gideon R., born in 1804. As the son of a rabbi he was educated +in strict rabbinical orthodoxy, and for a time was a rabbi himself. He +and his wife were converted under the ministry of the early Scotch +missionaries, and afterwards assisted them to spread the Gospel in +Hungary. In 1853, he came to London, but soon after went to New York, +where he laboured for the rest of his days, as a humble city missionary, +with much blessing. He edited a periodical entitled, "The Israelite +Indeed," and the writer knew him as such an one himself. + +LEENER, de Louis, a Dutch convert of the nineteenth century, was a +respected author. Among his works are these--(1) "Ben Onie, Tafereelen +uit het dagboek van een tot het Christendom bekeerden Israelit," (2) "De +waarde vrouw in Israel," (3) "De Nederlandsche jood," (4) "Ons Pascha," +Amsterdam, 1865-70. + +LEHRS, Karl, was born in Königsberg in 1802, and died 1878. It is +recorded that while studying in Berlin he became a Christian from +conviction, and was baptized in 1822. A number of his relatives were +influenced by him for Christianity. He was a classical teacher in +several schools, and then Professor at the University of Königsberg. He +published a book of considerable merit under the title, "De Aristarchi +Studiis Homericis," 1833; "Questiones Epicae," 1837; "Pindars-scholien," +1873. + +LEIBNISTH, Samuel, born 1823, was a Jewish teacher, and after his +conversion, about 1868, devoted his leisure to voluntary missionary work +among the Jews in Germany. In 1874, he was appointed missionary at +Elberfeld, where he died in 1882. + +LEITNER, H. C., was won for the Master by the Rev. C. A. Schönberger. He +laboured at Constantinople as a very able teacher in the Scotch mission +schools for many years. + +LEITNER, Dr. M., born at Pesth in 1800, studied medicine and settled as +a practitioner at Broussa in Turkey. Having come into possession of a +New Testament, he read it carefully, and was converted and baptized in +1844. He then gave up his lucrative position and devoted his life to +missionary work. He was the L.J.S. medical missionary at Constantinople +from 1853 to 1861, when he died of fever. + +LEO, Dr., a physician in Warsaw, after having had intercourse with the +L.J.S. missionaries for eight years, became fully convinced of the truth +of the Gospel, and was baptized with his family in 1831. + +LEONHARD, Friedrich Conrad, a convert in the latter half of the +eighteenth century, published a dialogue under the title, "Erweis dass +die Rabbinen Schnurstracks wider dass Gesetz Moses lehren, Aus den +Kirchengesetzbüchern der heutigen Juden geführt," with a preface by +Pastor Siegmund Mörl, Nürnberg, 1781. + +LESSMAN, Daniel, was born in Soldin (Brandenburg), 1794, studied +medicine in Berlin, was wounded in the war, baptized in 1824, he became +a great author, novelist, biographer and poet. + +LEVI, Jacob, a native of Smyrna, according to the report of Dr. +Buchanan, heard the Gospel from a C.M.S. missionary. He then bought a +New Testament and studied it with the intention of refuting the +arguments of the missionary, and for this purpose he translated it into +Hebrew, but the result was that he became a believer and preached Christ +to Jews, Mohammedans and Christians. + +LEVI, Jacob, baptized by the missionaries Lewis and Hartley at Athens, +about 1840-1. Was cast into prison by the Rabbis ten times. In the +prison at Casanegra, he was bastinadoed and kept six months, but he +declared if he was there a thousand years he would still confess that +Jesus was the true Messiah. + +LEVI, Dr. Leone, was born in Ancona, 1802, and settled in England. An +article of his in the "Liverpool Album," in 1849, occasioned the +establishment of the Chamber of Commerce, of which he became secretary. +He joined the Presbyterian Church, was author of "Commercial Laws, their +Principles and Administration," 1850-52; "Wages and Earnings of the +Working Classes," 1867; "History of British Commerce and of the Economic +Progress of the British Nation," 1863-70. He became professor of +political economy at King's College in 1862; barrister in Lincoln's Inn, +1859; D.L. of Tübingen, 1861: and died in 1888. + +LEVIEN, Edward, was born in 1818, of highly respectable Jewish parents, +nearly related to the distinguished Goldsmids. His parents returned to +the true faith, and were baptized and admitted into the Church of +England, with their children, when the latter were yet of tender age. He +was educated at Shrewsbury Grammar School, under Drs. Butler and +Kennedy, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took honours in +classics. In that department he filled a professor's chair at Glasgow. +His great skill in ancient manuscripts, and intimate acquaintance with +historical lore commended him, in 1850, to an important post in the MSS. +department of the British Museum. This post he held for nearly a quarter +of a century, with advantage to the public and credit to himself. He was +also honorary secretary of the British Archæological Association, to +which he rendered essential service in promoting its prosperity, in +various ways, literary and otherwise. His loss to that Association was +as keenly felt by their Committee as by his most intimate friends. The +catalogue of the British Museum has several pages devoted to his +literary productions. + +LEVINSOHN, Hessel, a brother of the next named, who together with his +parents had anathematized Isaac on account of his supposed apostasy, was +in the first place influenced by him through correspondence, not to pass +such a harsh judgment upon himself. Then, when he came to England, he +was gradually won by him and other Hebrew Christians to read the New +Testament, and to search the Scriptures earnestly, until he too could +publicly confess that Jesus was his own Redeemer. He afterward became a +missionary of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel +amongst the Jews. + +LEVINSON, Rev. Isaac, was born in Kovno (Russia), in 1855. His father +was a pious man, and used to fast every Monday and Thursday. When Isaac +was five years old, his father himself taught him Hebrew, and then sent +him to school, where he made rapid progress in learning, so that at the +age of eight he could read the Pentateuch with the Targum and Rashi's +commentary. Henceforth he studied mostly the Talmud, in which he felt no +delight nor even satisfaction, especially when at thirteen years of age +he became bar mitsvah (confirmed), and began to realize responsibility +for his sins. This caused him to lay aside the doctrines of men, and to +study more diligently the Word of God. In 1871 he took leave of his +parents, and after much hardship and God's loving care on the journey, +arrived in London, September 19th, with the intention to go from there +to America or Australia. But just as he landed he was robbed of the +little baggage he possessed, and a kind Jew took him to his house, with +whom he spent the Day of Atonement. Subsequently he once passed by the +L.J.S. Chapel at Palestine Place, and noticed a Hebrew inscription on +the front. Thinking it was a synagogue he entered, and was surprised to +find that it was a Christian place of worship, where the prayers were +said in Hebrew. He listened to the service, and after it was over, a +Hebrew Christian spoke to him, and told him that he had found peace in +believing in Jesus as the Messiah. This was exactly what Isaac was +searching for. He then made the acquaintance of Dr. Stern, was +instructed and baptized by him, and entered the Operative Jewish +Converts' Institution. After a time Levinson was for some years a clerk +in the R.T.S., where he made good use of his time in preparing himself +for studying in Spurgeon's College. He was then ordained to the Baptist +ministry, and was engaged by the British Society as deputational +secretary, in which capacity he laboured zealously and ably for some +years, until he was called to succeed the late Rev. John Dunlop, as +chief secretary of the same Society. + +LEVY, Benjamin, was the son of Moses Levy, one of a well-known firm of +shipowners in London. When he was quite a young man he set up in +business as a clothier and draper in Holborn. Subsequently he removed to +Sunderland, where he spent the last forty-two years of his life; and so +greatly did he prosper that he opened branches of his business in +Shields, Stockton, Middlesborough, West Hartlepool and Barrow in +Furness. His admission by baptism into the Church of Christ took place +when he was twenty-six years old. Before then he had drifted away from +the moorings of the synagogue, and then soon followed his total neglect +of all religious observance, and all belief in the Bible. It was at this +crisis in his religious life that he was brought under decidedly +Christian influences. He came in contact with a clergyman of the Church +of England, who led him to accept Christ and Him crucified; after which +he ever remained a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus, and a promoter +of Christian work. He became Warden of St. Thomas', Sunderland, for +which Church he did a great deal. He was elected member of the Town +Council of Bishopwearmouth in 1861, and in 1871 he was made Alderman of +the Sunderland Ward; had he lived longer, he would have attained the +chief civil dignity there. His funeral was attended by the whole Town +Council in its official capacity. He left a family of four sons and five +daughters, all of whom were doing well at that time. + +LEVY, Philip, was converted in England, at the beginning of the +eighteenth century. He published an English, Hebrew, and Chaldee Grammar +in 1705, at Oxford. + +LEWALD, Fanny, daughter of a Jewish banker at Königsberg, and born 1811, +became a member of the Evangelical Church by baptism in 1828. She is +distinguished as a great authoress. Her works comprise twelve vols., six +of them under the title, "Meine Lebens Geschichte" (Autobiography), +Berlin, 1871-75. She died at the age of 78, in 1889. + +LEWIS, Dr. de Leno, was editor of "Israel's Watchman," at Baltimore, +1888. + +LICHTENSTEIN, George Philipp (Susskind Mayer), was born at Frankfort in +1606, and became a Christian through intercourse with pious Christians, +and through hearing Christian hymns. + +LICHTENSTEIN, Jacob, the brother of the above, born in 1826, became a +more famous pastor and theologian. He published "Das Leben unsers +Herrn," Erlangen, 1855; "Prüfet alles und das Gute behaltet," 1870. He +died in 1875. + +LICHTENSTEIN, Jehiel Zebi (Hershensohn), was born at Jassy, in 1831, and +brought up in Bessarabia, among the Chassidim and Kabbalists. Having +received a New Testament at Jassy, he studied it diligently, and being +convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, he baptized himself in a river in +1855. In 1868, he published a Kabbalistic book, entitled, "Limude +hanebiim," in which he tried to show that the teaching of the Kabbalah +and of the New Testament are identical. In 1872, he came to London and +was baptized by Dr. Stern. He then assisted for a short time Mr. +Dworkowicz in Warsaw and Pastor Weber in Neudeklslau. From 1874 to 1879 +he laboured as a missionary of the Berlin Society in Berlin. He then was +for a time in Russia, whence he went to Leipzig in 1885, where he was +afterwards appointed to be one of the tutors at the Institutum +Delitzschianum. He is the author, besides the above-mentioned, of the +following Hebrew works:--"Chizzuk Emunah Emeth" (A defence of +Christianity against the Jewish book "Chizzuk Emunah,") 1879; "Toldoth +Jeshua," a refutation of the book under that name, 1883; "A Short +Rabbinic Commentary on the whole of the New Testament," published +gradually. Lichtenstein also translated the whole of the Old Testament +into Yiddish for the British and Foreign Bible Society, of which parts +have appeared. + +LICHTENSTEIN, Johann Daniel, son of the above, who was baptized in his +youth, became afterwards a very devoted Pastor in Frankfort. It is +recorded that he displayed self-sacrificing activity, especially among +the sick and the prisoners. He died in 1862, and in allusion to his name +"Lightstone," the people said of him that "he was a light which consumed +itself." + +LICHTENSTEIN, Moritz, born 1824, embraced Christianity in 1842 together +with his mother and brothers and sisters. Moritz became a preacher of +the Gospel in 1855, and died 1876. + +LICHTENSTEIN, Rabbi J., is one of the most remarkable converts to +Christianity in the nineteenth century. The story is briefly this: +Finding one day a New Testament in the school under his charge, he took +it away, and hid it in his library. Then during an anti-Semitic +agitation in Hungary he, thinking that there must be something in the +teaching of the New Testament, which excited enmity against the Jews, +examined it carefully, and was convinced of the contrary, and more, he +began to admire and to love the Lord Jesus, and gradually to quote +passages from the New Testament in his sermons in the synagogue of Tapio +Szele, of which he had been minister for forty years. He also wrote +three pamphlets--"Der Talmud auf der Anklage Bank," Budapesth, 1866; +"Mein Zeugniss," 1886; "Die Liebe und die Bekehrung, ein sehr ernstes +wort zu sehr ernster Zeit." At last some of his congregation accused him +to the chief rabbi of Budapest of heterodoxy. Rabbi Lichtenstein then +confessed his faith in Jesus Christ crucified. The result was that he +had to resign his office, and to the end of his life he lived as a +Christian, constantly preaching the Gospel in Pesth though not +baptized. He died in the Lord in 1908. + +LIPSCHITZ, Benjamin, a convert to Christianity, died 1876, in Vienna, +leaving to the inhabitants of his birthplace, Kriegshaber, near +Augsburg, 70,000 gulden, to be equally divided between Jews and +Christians. Besides this he bequeathed 35,000 gulden to the Jewish +Congregation of Augsburg, 100,000 gulden for the Jewish Home at Munich, +and 100,000 gulden for the Jewish Home at Vienna. + +LIPSHYTZ, Christlieb T., Director of the Barbican Mission to the Jews, +London. Born in 1858 at Warsaw, the capital of Poland, he was brought up +in strict Judaism, according to the principles of his orthodox Jewish +parents. It was essential that he should undergo a Talmudical Jewish +training, and in addition he was given a thorough secular education. +When he was five years of age, his eldest sister became a Christian, and +for this she endured severe persecution. Her testimony made a deep +impression on the mind of her brother, and awakened a desire in his +heart to know what it was that Christianity really taught. So strong was +this desire that while at the secular high school in his native city, he +embraced every possible opportunity of listening to the religious +instruction given to the Gentile pupils. For this he was chastised by +his father, but the severe punishment inflicted was of no avail, for the +Spirit of God had directed the message of the Gospel home to his heart, +and within a short time he surrendered to the Lord. The bitter +persecution through which his sister had passed was a vivid and painful +memory, and it is not surprising that Lipshytz hesitated to incur the +same suffering by making a public confession in his native place. +Eventually he went away to Königsberg. Here, after a course of +instruction by a missionary of the London Jews' Society (Mr. Skolkowski) +and the Rev. Konsistorialrath Dr. Kahle, he was baptized on the 19th +October, 1878. After further study and preparation he worked under the +auspices of the home mission in the North of Germany, and afterwards in +connexion with the mission among Jews in the West of Germany. Coming to +England, Mr. Lipshytz was for some time superintendent of the Wanderers' +Home, under the direction of the late Rev. J. M. Eppstein. At the close +of 1887 he became assistant missionary to the Rev. Paul Warschawski. +When the latter relinquished the mission on account of failing health, +the work was in danger of coming to an untimely end. At this crisis +Prebendary Gordon Calthrop, who became the first President, called +together a number of friends, with the result that Mr. Lipshytz was +asked to undertake the re-organization of the work. After prayerful +consideration, the invitation was accepted. For two years and a-half the +mission was housed in London Wall, thence a removal was made to larger +premises in Finsbury Square, which were occupied for seven years. From +the first, Mr. Lipshytz exercised remarkable tact and ability, and it +became increasingly evident that under his able direction the mission +was destined to become a powerful agency in proclaiming the Gospel to +the Jews and winning their allegiance to Christ. Prebendary Gordon +Calthrop had now passed to his rest, and Archdeacon Sinclair succeeded +as President, to be followed after a time by Prebendary H. W. +Webb-Peploe, a life-long friend of Israel. With his unfailing energy and +enthusiasm, Mr. Lipshytz set about raising a memorial to the memory of +the first President of the mission, and in this he had from the first +the hearty co-operation of the devoted men who formed his council. The +outcome was the erection of the perfectly equipped and commodious +headquarters of the Barbican Mission situated on the main thoroughfare +of Whitechapel, and known as "The Gordon Calthrop Memorial," which was +dedicated and opened in the spring of 1901. Besides the mission house +and church, the property includes a spacious open-air preaching ground, +with a stone pulpit. The entire scheme involved an outlay of £13,000, +the whole of which sum was soon raised. Having succeeded in this matter, +Mr. Lipshytz realized the necessity for providing a Home for Converts +and Enquirers, and a permanent residence for the head of the mission. +This he was also able to accomplish, and the Home at Mitcham, which cost +£3,500, was soon freed from debt. With all his undertakings Mr. Lipshytz +was careful to see that the spiritual work of the mission was not +neglected. "First things" were given first place: hence the mission +abundantly prospered in his hands. + +LÖBEL, Carl Friedrich Raphael, a native of Lissa, in Prussian Poland, +was baptized by Pastor Hasselman in Soran, in 1825. He studied +Pedagogy, became a very effective schoolmaster, and wrote:--"Gebete für +die Schule," 1836; "Erklärungen der Episteln," 1859. He founded a Rescue +Home, and died in 1869. + +LOBGOTT, Abraham Meyer (sometimes called Gottlob), a native of Posen, +was instructed and baptized by Pastor Schultz in Berlin in 1769. He +studied theology in Halle. He translated Elias Levita's "Massoreth ha +Massorah," which Dr. Semler published in 1773. He also translated the +first three chapters of Mendelssohn's Judæo-German Pentateuch into +German, Erlangen, 1786. He published in 1775, during the time of his +studies, "Sententiae Rabb. de successione ab intestato et testimentaria +collectae a R. Joseph Karo" (Schulchan Aruch). + +LOPES, Sir Manasseh Massey, Bart., was born in Jamaica in 1755, and died +1838. He belonged to the Sephardim Jews. Both he and his father Mordecai +Rodriguez Lopes embraced Christianity in 1802. In that year Manasseh was +returned to Parliament as member for New Romney and was created a +baronet in 1805. At the next election, he was returned as member for +Barnstaple, and lastly, for Westbury, where he held also the office of +Recorder, in addition to being a magistrate for two counties. + +LOTKA, Rev. J., a native of Russian Poland, where he was brought up by +his parents in strict orthodoxy, but as he arrived at the age of +discretion, he somehow managed to study, besides Hebrew and the Talmud, +the Polish and the German languages. Becoming acquainted with much +Christian literature he had a great desire to read the New Testament, +and this led him to give up the position of a Jewish teacher and to come +to London for the purpose of receiving further Christian instruction by +Dr. Ewald, who baptized him on November 22, 1863. About two years later +he went from the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution to Basel, +studied theology, and was sent out to labour as a Pastor among the +Germans in Illinois, U.S.A. In 1879 he was appointed Professor of Hebrew +in an Episcopal Seminary near Chicago, where he did also missionary work +among the Jews. In 1872, he joined the L.J.S. and was sent to Lemberg, +where he laboured for ten years, and visited many towns in Galicia. In +1881, after he had been on a tour of enquiry with the Rev. Frederick +Smith in the Crimea, he was sent to Persia, where he remained from two +to three years, and laid, so to speak, a solid foundation for the +revived mission there. He subsequently laboured for a few years at Posen +and Bucharest, and much longer in Birmingham, and then succeeded the +Rev. J. C. S. Kroenig at Hull. He was the author of several tracts. + +LÖWE, H. G. F., a Hebrew Christian living in Hamburg. With a view to +make known, both to Jews, and Christians, the nature of rabbinic +Judaism, he wrote the following works:--1. A translation of the first +chapter of Berachoth (Benedictions), with preface, introduction, and +three appendices, 1836. 2. A translation of four parts of the Shulchan +Aruch Aben Ezra, Hoshen Hamishpat, Orach Hayim and Yoreh Deah, +1836-1840. + +LÖWEN, Moses Gotthold (Pseudon, Hananiah Berliner), was born August 8, +1859, just at the time when his father, dressed in mourning, was sitting +on the floor in the synagogue, bewailing the destruction of Jerusalem. +When the father returned home, a near relative presented him with his +firstborn son. His parents educated him after the manner of orthodox +Jews, and he studied diligently the Talmud and the "Shulchan Aruch," but +very little the Old Testament. When the boy was fifteen years of age, he +was employed by the rabbi of Sombar, in Galicia, as a copyist, and for +this he received from him instruction in rabbinical writings, in the +Bible, and in religious philological literature. This distinguished +savant, Joshua Hullas by name, was liberal-minded and exercised a +salutary influence upon the boy. Later on he perceived the untenableness +of the rabbinic views of the world, and gave up the idea of becoming a +rabbi as his parents wished. He then devoted himself to commerce, but +found no pleasure in it. Then he met the Rev. J. Lotka, missionary of +the L.J.S. at Lemberg, and for the first time learned to know the New +Testament and other Christian literature; and after an inward struggle, +lasting ten years, in which the late Professor Franz Delitzsch +encouraged him to persevere, he threw himself at the feet of Jesus, and +became His faithful disciple. He was admitted into the Church of Christ +by baptism, by the Rev. P. E. Gottheil, in Stuttgart, in 1886. Two +years later he entered the service of the Berlin Society for Promoting +Christianity among the Jews, under whom for years he laboured with great +blessing upon his efforts. Löwen's work was mostly of a literary +character. In 1888, he wrote a useful booklet in Yiddish, entitled +"Siach l'Elohim," through which he introduced the jargon of the Eastern +Jews into Christian literature. A year later he joined Chr. Theophilus +Lucky, in editing the Hebrew monthly periodical, "Eduth l'Israel." This +was and remained the first Jewish Christian periodical in the sacred +language. He worked at this difficult post for only two years, but +continued in co-operation with Professor Dalman for fifteen years in the +publication of his monthly Yiddish periodical, "Berith Am." He also +contributed numerous articles, poems, narratives, etc., to "Nathanael" +and to "Messiasbote," publications of the Berlin Society. On Löwen's +suggestion, the International Jewish Missionary Conference at Leipzig in +1897, resolved to offer a prize for a life of Christ in Yiddish. Amongst +the competitors was the well-known Joseph Rabinowitz, but the umpires, +Professor Strack and the Rev. A. Bernstein, adjudged the prize to +Löwen's work, which is entitled "Podeh Umazil," which has found great +acceptance among the Jews. In 1901 a collection of essays appeared from +his pen, under the title, "Brod und Salz" (bread and salt), which was +gladly read. He also brought out a series of booklets entitled "Orchim," +which was of the greatest missionary value. Löwen was stationed in +Berlin, Lemberg, Posen, and Vienna, where he continued to testify to +the Jews of the unsearchable riches of Christ, and the Lord crowned his +work with success, in that he was permitted to witness a spirit of +enquiry among the Jews, not a few of whom acknowledged Him as their Lord +and Saviour through his labours. + +LÖWENTHAL, Rev. Isidor, a native of Posen, where he received a liberal +education, finishing his studies at the Gymnasium at the age of +seventeen. His father wished him to enter into business, but he had no +taste for such a life. With companions of the same age, he founded a +liberal political union, and owing to a poem of a radical character, +which he recited in public, he was arrested by the police. For this +reason he emigrated to New York in 1846. On his arrival he tried to get +employment, but failed. He was then obliged to become a pedlar. One cold +November day he offered his goods to the Rev. S. M. Gayley, of +Wilmington, Delaware, who, noticing his poor plight, invited him to his +house, where in conversation he soon learned that Löwenthal was well +educated. He then offered him hospitality until he should find a +situation as teacher of German and French. This he procured for him in +Fayette College at Easton, Pa., in 1847. There Löwenthal was +indefatigable in his studies of the English language and literature. His +iron will and his excellent memory enabled him soon to overcome all +difficulties. Hitherto he had not revealed to Mr. Gayley his Jewish +nationality, but now he not only did this but also told him that the +family prayers and the services which he had attended had led him to +study the Scriptures, and that he was convinced of the truth of +Christianity. He was then baptized by Mr. Gayley in the Presbyterian +Church. In 1848 he became teacher of languages at Mount Holly Collegiate +School, where he remained several years. Mr. Philipps, of the First +Presbyterian Church, New York, advised him to study for the ministry, +and he entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey in +1852. During his course there he contributed articles to the "Biblical +Repository." When about to leave the Seminary, he gave a lecture on +Indian missions and then offered his services to the Board of Foreign +Missions. The Board sent him in 1856 to Afghanistan. He acquired the +language in one year, so that he could preach in it fluently; but he was +only permitted to labour there seven years. During this short time he +translated the whole of the New Testament in Pushtu and printed it, and +compiled a dictionary of that language which he left in manuscript. He +preached easily in five languages, and none knew the East better than he +did. He possessed the largest collection of Asiatic MSS. and rare books +that ever was the lot of a European. He was beloved by the natives and +Europeans alike. Sir John Lawrence, especially during the mutiny, +consulted him as a friend. He preached uninterruptedly in Afghanistan +and in the Khyber Pass. At the last, he was shot dead by his own +servant, it is said through a mistake, who, seeing him walking on the +roof at night, took him for a thief. This was in 1864, when he was only +thirty-eight. + +LOWITZ, Rev. J., laboured for years as a missionary of the British +Society at Algiers, where he also acted as agent for the British and +Foreign Bible Society. In 1872 he succeeded Davidsohn as principal of +the British Society's Home for Converts and Enquirers, at 28, Alfred +Place, Bedford Square, London. + +LUCKY, Rev. C. Theophilus, a native of Tisminitz, in Galicia, and a most +remarkable convert to Christianity in the nineteenth century. He was +known not only as a great Hebrew scholar, writing Hebrew in classical +style as a living language, and as thoroughly conversant with the whole +range of Jewish literature, but also as possessing a wide knowledge of +Christian literature. Having studied at the Berlin University and High +School for the knowledge of Judaism, and making researches in +philosophical and religious subjects, he was led to become a believer. +Lucky received Evangelical ordination in New York. In 1887 he first +published a Hebrew periodical, "Eduth le Israel," which he continued for +some years, when he returned to Galicia and took up his residence in +Stanislau. There he lived and laboured among his brethren, preaching by +the written and spoken word, but above all by his example, scarcely +receiving any help from men. He was a living illustration of a Hebrew +Christian of the first century; though thoroughly Orthodox as to the +cardinal doctrines of Christianity, yet he believed that it was +incumbent upon him to observe the Jewish Sabbath and all other Jewish +festivals and the dietary laws, not for the sake of being justified by +the works of the law, but for the sake of satisfying his own conscience, +and that he might be more useful as an evangelist amongst his brethren +in Galicia. + +MAAS, Dr. M., was a teacher at Breslau in the nineteenth century, and +wrote the following works, advocating amalgamation of the Jews with +Christians: "Die Sociale Stellung der Juden in Deutschland und das +Ceremonial Gesetz," Löbau, 1876; "Die Mischehe das Einzig wirksame +mittel einer dauernden Vereinigung zwischen der jüdischen und +christlichen Bevölkerung Deutschland's," ib. + +MACKHAN, Beatus Christian (Nehemiah Cohen), after having travelled in +three continents, and held the office of Rabbi at Avignon embraced +Christianity, in the Baltic Provinces in 1672. In 1690 he published in +the German language: "Schriftmässiger Jesus--Palmbaum oder Klarer +Beweissthum wider die Juden, dass Jesus der wahre Messias sei" (Riga), +Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraica 3. N., 1648. + +MAGATH, Rev. Julius, some time after his baptism became Professor in the +Wesleyan College in Oxford (Georgia, U.S.A.) Later on he was requested +by the Conference to do missionary work among the Jews. In 1886 he +published a periodical entitled, "The Hebrew Missionary," and this was +changed in 1888 to "The Hebrew Messenger." He also translated a +treatise, written by the Roman Catholic Jewish convert M. M. Leman, +entitled, "Jesus before the Sanhedrin," 1887. + +MAIMUNY, Rabbi Mordecai, was born at Bona, Algeria, in 1817. His father +was a well-to-do goldsmith, who had settled in Tunis in 1823, where +Maimuny received a strict rabbinical education. When Dr. Ewald was +stationed at Tunis, Maimuny was his great opponent and used to blaspheme +the name of Jesus. Later on he went to Jerusalem, where his fanaticism +became more excited when he observed the activity of Bishop Alexander. +However, the bishop's calm and gentle disposition made a great +impression upon him, and he received a Hebrew New Testament, which he +studied diligently and became a changed man. His wife seeing that he +visited Nicolayson and the other missionaries was very angry with him. +To pacify her, and in the hope that she would change her mind, he left +Jerusalem with her, and they wandered through Asia, North Africa, and +Europe, and then returned to Jerusalem, where he had to undergo great +persecution, and was obliged to return to his native place. Finally, in +1853, he was baptized by the Scotch missionary, the Rev. Benjamin Weiss. + +MAMLOCK, L. C, a native of Kalisch, was instructed and baptized by Dr. +Ewald in 1863. After being in the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution +for some considerable time, Dr. Ewald employed him as his assistant, and +he became a parochial lay reader. Subsequently he was appointed by the +L.J.S. as missionary in Manchester, and was transferred to Paris after +the Franco-German war. There he laboured faithfully the rest of his +life, spreading the Gospel far and wide during several exhibitions, and +had the privilege to see many sons and daughters trusting in the Lord +Jesus Christ for their salvation. + +MARCUS, Moses, born in London, 1701, was sent by his father to Hamburg +for his education. There he had intercourse with Christians, read the +New Testament, and came to a saving knowledge of the truth. In 1721 his +father returned to England from India, where he had amassed a fortune, +and summoned him to come home. Marcus then told his father of his +religious convictions, when the latter was shocked, and threatened to +disinherit him if he should be baptized; he once even threw a long knife +at him. Marcus, however, persevered and was baptized in 1723. In 1724 he +wrote a pamphlet entitled, "Principal Motives to leave the Jewish +Faith." In defence of Christianity, against the then prevalent +rationalism, he translated into English the second part of Dr. J. +Gottlob Carpzov's "Critica Sacra," adding his own notes (London, 1729). + +MARCUSOHN, Rev. J. W., was sent by the Scotch Church as a missionary to +Constantinople, at the request of the American Board of Missions, in +1859. He subsequently preached the Gospel to the Jews in the United +States of America. + +MARGOLIOUTH, Ezekiel, was a very remarkable man, a typical Jew, and a +typical convert to Christianity. As an Hebraist he was equal to any of +his day. He had a profound knowledge of the Talmud, rare even amongst +Talmudists. It was, however, in the composition of modern Hebrew that +his chief talent lay, and competent scholars often spoke +enthusiastically of the elegance of his rabbinic writings. Like his +namesake, Dr. Moses Margoliouth, he was a native of Suwalki in Poland, +where he was born in November 1816. His father, Abraham, had been +thirty-three years chief rabbi of the town, and his mother could trace +twelve rabbis amongst her ancestors. It was natural that Ezekiel should +study the Talmud and practise all the precepts of the rabbis with the +utmost vigour. After he had become bar mitzvah, he studied with his +father, and later on went to Brody, in order to perfect himself in +rabbinic lore. There he met enlightened Jews, and often disputed with R. +Solomon Kluger. He began to study the Bible, and philosophical works in +Hebrew, like those of Maimonides; his desire for knowledge being +fostered under Michael Perl of Tarnopol, the first Jewish reformer in +Galicia. Later on he went to the rabbinical seminary at Warsaw, where he +first met missionaries of the L.J. Society, through whom he was +irresistibly drawn to Christ, His Person, and His teachings. At the age +of twenty-seven he confessed faith in Christ as his Saviour, though his +wife, whom he had married the previous year, for a long time refused to +become a Christian. He then came over to England, where she afterwards +joined him, and in 1848, also became a Christian. In the same year he +entered the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution to learn bookbinding. +In 1852 he was appointed a missionary of the L.J.S. in London, and +worked as such almost to the end of his life. It was not as a popular +preacher that he excelled, though his faith in, and knowledge of, the +Word of God always profoundly attracted his audiences. His chief labours +were literary, and in these he had no rival. His "Derech Emunah" and +"Nethivoth Olam," in Hebrew, are masterpieces. His greatest work was the +revision of the New Testament in Hebrew in 1865. On May 2, 1894, he +passed away in a gentle and peaceful death, greatly mourned both for +himself and for the loss of his learning and piety. His son is the Rev. +Professor David S. Margoliouth, D.Lit., Laudian Professor of Arabic at +Oxford University, and examining chaplain to the Bishop of Liverpool. + +MARGOLIOUTH, Rev. George, a nephew of Dr. Moses Margoliouth, was +converted to Christianity at Strassburg. He studied philology at the +University of Bonn, and theology at Cuddesdon College, was ordained in +1881-1883, held the curacy of St. Thomas', Leeds, when he was also +missionary of the Parochial Missions to the Jews; then at Carleton, +Yorks., 1883-84; then again missionary curate of Holy Trinity, Stepney, +1884-87; then at St. Mary the Less, Cambridge, 1887-89; St. Botolph, +Cambridge, 1889-91, when he took his degree in Semitic languages, at +Queen's College. He is the author of "Descriptive List of the Hebrew and +Samaritan MSS. in the British Museum," 1893; "The Superlinear +Punctuation," 1893; "The Liturgy of the Nile, Palestinian, Syriac and +English," 1896; "The Palestinian Syriac Version of Holy Scripture, four +recently Discovered Portions," 1896. He also contributed valuable +articles to the "Jewish Quarterly Review." + +MARGOLIOUTH, Rev. Dr. Moses, was born at Suwalki in 1820, and died in +London, 1881. He was no relation to Ezekiel Margoliouth, though from the +same town. Coming to Liverpool in 1837 he met the missionaries of the +L.J.S., Lazarus and Rev. H. S. Joseph, and as a result of intercourse +with them he was baptized in 1838. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, +in 1840, and became curate of St. Augustine, Liverpool, January 30, +1844. Much later he was curate of St. Paul's, Onslow Square, London, and +lastly, Vicar of Little Limford, Buckinghamshire. He took the degree of +Ph.D. at Erlangen in 1857. In 1847 he started a Hebrew Christian monthly +magazine entitled, "The Star of Jacob." In the seventies he was editor +of "The Hebrew Christian Witness." He also wrote the following works, +all published in London: "Modern Judaism" (1843), "The History of the +Jews of Great Britain" (1851), "A Pilgrimage to the Land of my Fathers" +(1855), "The Curates of Riverdale"(1860), "The Spirit of Prophecy" +(1864), "The Poetry of the Hebrew Pentateuch" (1871). Margoliouth was +one of the revisers of the English version of the Old Testament. He +wrote also a considerable number of minor works. + +MARGOLIOUTH, Naphtali, baptized in 1603 under the name of Konrad Otto, +became professor of Hebrew in Altorf. He wrote "Grammatica Hebraica" +(Nurnberg, 1605), a part of a "Dictionarium radicale" of rabbinic and +Talmudic words, "Gale Razia or Revelatio arcanorum ex Daniel ii. 29," in +Latin and German. + +MARKHEIM, H. A., was one of the most gifted missionaries of the L.J.S. +in the nineteenth century. As a great linguist he suitably occupied the +following stations: In 1840, he succeeded Lewis at Smyrna; in 1850, he +laboured at Oran and Tangier; in 1860, at Gibraltar; in 1863, at Turin; +from 1861-63, at Marseilles, and then until the siege of Paris by the +Germans, he laboured there. He died in 1889. + +MARIA was born of English Jewish parents, in affluent circumstances. +When yet a child she fell down a steep flight of stairs and seriously +injured her spine, so that she became a permanent invalid. A Christian +lady used to visit her, and got permission to read to her the Psalms. +She asked her father to buy her a Bible, who instead of doing so bought +her some narratives, but seeing her disappointment, complied with her +request. From this Bible, which contained the New Testament, she learned +to know and to love the Saviour, believing that Jesus made a perfect +atonement for her sins. Becoming gradually feebler and losing her sight, +she said to Miss P. that she enjoyed great tranquillity of mind, and had +learned to understand Isaiah xxvi. 3, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect +peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee." Prayer was never a weariness to +her. She influenced her sister to read to her the Bible. She then bore +witness from her sick bed to the faith which was the source of her calm +resignation and happiness before those friends, both Jews and Gentiles, +who visited her. When her life drew to a close, she said to her father: +"Dear father, I have one request to make; remember! it is my dying +request, the last favour I shall ever ask you, father." With much +kindness he enquired, "What is it, my dear?" "It is, father, that you +will consent to my baptism." "No, Maria, I cannot do that, you were born +a Jewess and you must die one." "Father! that is impossible, for I am a +Christian. I believe that Jesus is the Saviour and without Him we should +perish everlastingly." She then explained that by being a Christian she +had not ceased to be a Jewess. She was then permitted to receive both +sacraments from the curate of the parish. Before her death she said to +her brother: "My dear brother, be good, and never, never despise the +Messiah Jesus Christ. I am going to heaven, and may I not hope to meet +you there? I have prayed for you and all my family, and it is my belief +the Lord will answer my prayers, and shew His salvation to you all." +(_Jewish Intelligence_, October, 1841). + +MARKS, J. D., a convert was at first in 1819. It was owing to his +influence that a missionary society in Switzerland was founded. This is +emphasized in a letter from Basel to the L.J.S. in 1820, whose +missionary he then was. At that time there seems to have been an +important movement among the Jews of Frankfort and its neighbourhood +towards Christianity, in which he was to some extent instrumental, and +the result was that in three years ninety Jews embraced Christianity. He +died as missionary at Offenbach in 1841. + +MARKS, Rev. John Ebenezer, D.D., of Canterbury, 1879, laboured as a +missionary at Moulmein, India, 1863-67; as Chaplain at Rangoon, +1867-68; Irrawaddy, 1869 and 1876-83; Mandalay, 1869-76; Tavoy and +Mergui, 1883; as missionary of the S.P.G. and Principal of St. John's +College, Rangoon, from 1876-96. + +MARX, Adolf Bernard, was born in Halle in 1779. From his youth he was +very fond of music, and Handel's "Messiah" led him to become a +Christian. His father, though indifferent to religion, was very angry +with him, and he was obliged to prosecute his studies of law and music +under great deprivations. He finally became a judge at Wittemberg, but +he had more taste for music than for the law. He then relinquished his +office and went to Berlin, and devoted himself entirely to the study of +music. He made there the acquaintance of the English musician Logier, +and got from him some new ideas, which he was not slow to put into +practice. In 1837, he published a work on the principles of harmony. He +did much for the proper understanding of Beethoven, Sebastian Bach, and +Glück. He is said to have been the founder of modern musical literature. +He died in 1866. + +MARX, Karl, born at Treves, in 1818. He was baptized with his father, +his brother, and five sisters in 1824. In 1842, he became editor of +"Reinische Zeitung für Politik, Handel, und Gewerbe." In 1843, he +published at Paris, "Zür Kritik der Hegelschen Rechts Philosophie." In +1848 he edited the "Neue Rheinische Zeitung." He is known as the founder +of the political theory called Socialism, and on account of that he came +in conflict with several governments, and he sought refuge in England. +He married the sister of the minister, von Westphal. She died in 1881, +and he also passed away in 1883, in London. + +MASSENA. All that is known about him is a tract, published at +Strassburg, in 1859, entitled "Massena ein Wahrer Israelite oder die +Kraft Gottes." + +MASSIAH, Rev. J. P., was curate of Holy Trinity, Stepney, in 1883, when +he received some Jews into the Church. + +MATHAI (Shimon), Adam Rudolf George Christoph, was born at Fürth, +Germany in 1715, and was instructed in the Talmud by his father Jaidel, +a teacher in the Beth-hamedrash there. At the age of sixteen, he went to +Prague to continue his studies, and on returning home he, too, became a +Talmudic teacher. Just then he narrates, in the preface of his +"Description of the Jewish Sabbath": "When I considered the corruption +among my people, doubts arose in my mind about the rabbinic system of +religion, and I began to study its doctrines, rites and ceremonies, and +found that they did not agree with the Word of God." The name Jeshua sar +happanim, in the service for the New Year, struck him as very +mysterious, and he began to enquire as to which of the angels this name +referred. At last, after long enquiry, he became convinced of the divine +origin of Christianity and applied to a pastor in Fürth for baptism in +1748. However, on account of the commotion created among the Jews, he +went to Nürnberg, where he was baptized the same year. + +MATTHEWS, Rev. Aaron, after embracing Christianity with his wife, was +appointed a missionary of the British Society in London in 1867, where +he laboured successfully for some years. Then he accepted a call to be +minister of a Baptist Chapel in Liverpool, which position he only held +for a few years. Then he opened a mission to the Jews at +Newcastle-on-Tyne, and afterwards laboured amongst them in Glasgow with +considerable blessing on his labours, attracting the Jews by his fervent +and devotional spirit as well as his Hebrew learning. + +MAYER, Samuel Morum, was born in 1797 at Friedenthal; and died in 1862. +His father was a rabbi, his grandfather was appointed by King Friedrich +grand rabbi, who gave the grandson a good Jewish education, so that at +the age of ten he could repeat the Psalter in Hebrew with Mendelssohn's +translation. A pastor also privately taught him classics. He was then +sent to a Talmud School, but the Talmud did not satisfy his thirst for +useful, solid knowledge, so he sent a petition to the King asking for +permission to enter the Gymnasium. This was granted in 1815. He studied +there and subsequently became a celebrated lawyer. Government offices +were offered him on condition of his embracing Christianity, which he +repeatedly refused, but held a professorship unconditionally. However, +he investigated the doctrines of Christianity himself, and was baptized +in 1834. He was then persecuted by his relations, but he rendered them +good for evil. The following is a list of his works in their +chronological order; with one exception they were published at Nürnberg. +"Beschreibung des Jüdischen Sabbath," + +1750; "Die Verderbniss des heutigen Judenthums," 1752; "Beschreibung des +Jüdischen Neujahrfestes," 1755; "Beschreibung des Jüdischen +Purimfestes," 1758; "Beschreibung des Jüdischen Yom Kippur," 1760; +"Sammlung Talmudisches Lehrsätze," Schwabach, 1763; "Abhandlung von der +Verleumdung," 1765; "Sendschreiben an Rabbi Peloni aus der Stadt +Lo-Theda," 1766; "Kurzgefaste Talmudische Lehrsätze von der +Nothwendigkeit sich in den Ehestand zu begeben," no date; "Beweis von +der Uebereinstimmung der alten Israelitischen Kabbalah mit der Lehre des +Apostel Paulus," no date; "Beweisgrunde von der Uebereinstimmung der +Altjüdischen Lehre mit der Lehre der Christen," 1770; "Kristliche +gesinnte Erklärung der Kabbalisten über das Hohelied," 1776. + +MAYER, Rev. W., was educated both in the school and college of the +L.J.S. in London. In 1855, he succeeded his brother-in-law, the Rev. A. +I. Behrens, at Jassy, where he was assistant missionary for some time +previously. He had there a most flourishing school, containing about 300 +scholars. Mayer, who was a very intellectual man, was somewhat affected +by the criticism on the Bible by Bishop Colenso, and he also was of the +opinion that the Jews ought to have their own Christian Church. This led +to his severance from the Society. He, however, remained in Jassy all +his life, and revised the Roumanian Bible for the British and Foreign +Bible Society. + +MENDELSSOHN, Abraham, second son of Moses Mendelssohn the philosopher, +was born in Berlin in 1779. In 1804, he married Leah, a sister of Jacob +Levi Solomon Bartholdi. The latter having become a Protestant Christian +in 1805, influenced his sister and brother-in-law to follow his example. +Whilst his father had resisted the arguments and persuasion of Lavater +to take this step, he declared:--"Formerly I was the son of my father, +now I am the father of my son." Accordingly, he had his children--Felix, +Fanny, Rebecca, and Paul--baptized in the Evangelical Church, under the +additional name of Bartholdi. + +MENDELSSOHN, Dorothea, a daughter of the philosopher Felix, became a +Protestant in Paris in 1802. + +MENDELSSOHN, Felix Bartholdi, was born at Hamburg, February 3, 1809, and +died 1857. When he was four years old his parents removed to Berlin. His +father at once procured teachers in music for him, as he had begun thus +early to show great talent in that direction. His teachers on the piano +were Louis Bezer, and Zelter, the friend of Goethe. The chapel +choirmaster, Mr. Hennings, gave him instruction on the violin. The +father of the poet, Paul Heyse, who later became the celebrated +philologist, was his private tutor in the home of the Mendelssohns, +where the intellectual aristocracy of Berlin frequently assembled. When +Felix was nine years old he appeared for the first time at a public +concert, where his remarkable performances won him great applause. Two +years later, we find him in a Berlin Musical Academy, where he studied +church music under Zelter's direction. When he was twelve years old, +Zelter placed him in the Olympic in Weimar, where he made remarkable +progress. When he was fourteen, we find him a guest at Goethe's house, +and his host wrote thus to Zelter:--"Felix's productions astonish +everybody." No one was more delighted at the boy's success than his +father, who took pride in gratifying his son's every wish regarding his +musical education, and the latter's diligence amply rewarded any outlay. +Before Felix was out of his teens he had written four operas. His father +accompanied him to Paris, where he had the education of the best +teachers of the time. Soon after he went to London, where he wrote an +original overture founded upon Shakespere's "Midsummer Night's Dream," +which attracted the attention of the celebrated singer, Henrietta +Sonntag, and won a great triumph for its composer--he was then twenty +years old. He became a member of a Philharmonic Society. He spent some +time in Rome, where he composed "Die Walpinges nacht," and arranged the +one hundred and fifteenth psalm to music. He also visited Naples. This +Italian town made a lasting impression upon his mind. He played before +many of the crowned heads of Europe. King Frederick William IV. of +Prussia was greatly interested in the young composer, and employed him +to write the music for the "Tragedy of Sophocles." His success greatly +excited the jealousy of the older musicians, but the King became his +dearest friend. Mendelssohn played in 1841 before Queen Victoria. He +thus described the occasion in a letter to his "dear little mother." "I +asked Prince Albert, the Queen's husband, to play something on the organ +for me. He complied. His playing--so beautiful and perfect--many an +organist might have envied him. Then I played and sang my chorus from +"St. Paul," "How beautiful are the messengers." When I had finished the +first stanza, the Queen and Prince Albert joined in the singing. The +Queen asked if I had any new compositions; if so, she would gladly have +them printed. We went into her salon, where there was a piano. I played +and sang again. She praised my playing and singing, and when I bade them +adieu said: 'I hope you will soon visit us in England again.'" This +brilliant career was speedily cut short. The death of his dearly beloved +sister Fanny, in the spring of 1847, affected him seriously. All his +compositions thereafter were melancholy. He became nervous and +irritable. He could not apply himself to his work, but would sit for +hours with his hands folded. After a brief illness he died on November +4, 1857, when he was only thirty-six. Three days after, he was carried +to his grave by the side of his sister Fanny Hensel, in Trinity +Cemetery, Berlin. Felix Mendelssohn was a favourite of the German +people--a musical genius like Weber and Schubert. He put his whole life +and soul into his work. His early death confirms Neander's words--also a +Hebrew Christian--"Whom the gods love die young." God gave him a musical +gift, which he delighted to use for His glory. + +MENDELSSOHN, Henrietta, daughter of the banker, Alexander Mendelssohn, +was baptized in Berlin in 1822. + +MENDELSSOHN, Nathan, the third son of Moses Mendelssohn, was born in +1782. In 1809, he was baptized by the Reformed Pastor Petiscus, +assuming the name of Carl Theodor Nathanael Mendelssohn. He became a +mechanic by profession, and was at the head of a large industry in +Silesia. He was a sincere Christian, and took an interest in missionary +work among the Jews. He requested the missionaries of the L.J.S. in 1826 +to supply him with Bibles for distribution among his workmen. He died in +Berlin in 1852. + +MENSOR, Rev. Dr. Meyer, studied theology in Berlin, where he received +the degree of D.D. in 1846. He was subsequently chief rabbi of Chicago. +After embracing Christianity, he was ordained by the Archbishop of York +in 1861-2. After holding several curacies in the North of England, he +was appointed Vicar of Stoke Mandeville in 1879, where he preached the +Gospel for many years, and took a great interest in missions to the +Jews. + +MEYER, Friedrich Christian, born in Hamburg in the second half of the +seventeenth century, died in Belgium about 1738. After having been +baptized at Bremen, he became a missionary and travelled for thirty +years. He was the author of the following works: (1) "Licht zu +Erleuchten die Juden," exalting the glory of Christ (Leipzig, 1711). (2) +"Meirath Enayim," a pamphlet written in German, in which the author drew +a parallel between Moses and Christ, shewing the supremacy of the latter +(Amsterdam, 1713). (3) "Der Abscheuliche Mord Christi," in which he +endeavoured to demonstrate that the duration of the exile of the Jews +can be attributed only to the Crucifixion of our Lord, Hamburg, 1719. +(4) "Vera Immanuelis Generatio," written in Hebrew, and demonstrating +the Deity of Jesus from the prophets, especially from Isaiah vii. 14. + +MEYER, Hermann Edward, was born in Gross Glogau in Germany, 1796, and +converted in 1817; he studied in Halle, and became professor of law and +philology in Greifswald and in Halle. He wrote mostly about Greek laws, +"Attischen Process," Halle, 1824. In 1828 he became editor of the +"Allgemeine Literatur Zeitung," and especially contributed to the +"Allgemeine Encyklopædie" of Ersch and Grüber. He died in 1855. + +MEYER, Rev. Jonas Theodor, was born in Crivitz, a small town in +Mecklenberg, January 30, 1819, and died in New Jersey, March 14, 1896. +His early Hebrew education he received from a Polish Jew in the Cheder, +and then he was sent to relatives in Schwerin, where he studied in the +Gymnasium, so that at the age of fifteen he was in the first class. As +far as religion is concerned, he was taught to fear God, but he knew +very little of the love of God, so that he only lived to appease the +divine wrath by ascetic practices and good works. This did not satisfy +his soul, and he resorted to worldly pleasures, but neither did he find +satisfaction in them. At this juncture he met with the writings of R. S. +Hirsch, the then leader of orthodoxy, and with those of mystic Plessner, +which awakened him somewhat from his spiritual slumber. He then began to +study the Scriptures, and trusted to God's grace and mercy for the +pardon of his sins, yet he found no peace. Thereupon he came in contact +with Dr. Holdheimer, the leader of the Reformed Jews, and by him was +appointed teacher in Schwerin, in 1841, and subsequently recommended as +Reformed rabbi to a congregation in Butzow. But the Reform movement at +that time went to extremes. The rabbis denied the belief in the Messiah +at a congress, from which Meyer dissented. He was placed in a +predicament between the extremes of Orthodoxy and Reform, in neither of +which he could observe vital religion, so he began to study the New +Testament. At first only its sublime ethics attracted him, but by and by +it was the Person and life of Christ which drew him by the Holy Spirit +to Himself. Then he met the missionary Dr. Schwarz, and from him he +heard the Gospel, and attended the lectures of Neander on Galatians, and +those of Hengstenberg, on the history of the kingdom of God, on the Old +Testament, and on its Christology, and was baptized by Dr. Schwarz, July +18, 1847. In 1848 he left the University of Berlin and went to Scotland, +and studied theology at the College of the Free Church at Aberdeen. +Afterwards he became assistant Professor of Hebrew to Dr. Duncan in New +College, Edinburgh. In 1857 he was ordained by Dr. Candish to do +ministerial work among the Germans in Edinburgh. In 1858 he was sent as +a missionary to the Jews in Galatz, Roumania, whence he was transferred +in 1862 to Ancona, Italy. From there he was sent in 1867 to Amsterdam, +to succeed Dr. Schwarz, who went to London. In 1871 he was requested by +the English Presbyterians to take charge of their mission in London, in +which he laboured ardently and successfully until his retirement in +1894. + +MOLLIS, Rev. M. L., thus writes of himself:--"I was born in Russia of +Jewish parents, and in the heart of Talmudical study, zeal for +traditional observances, and great orthodoxy. My education was therefore +thoroughly Jewish, and I sincerely and firmly believed in all I was +taught, both at home and in school, as being the commandments of God, +and that in the keeping of them there was great reward. + +"Thus far a good foundation was laid, in which I gloried and thanked God +that I was born a Jew and well brought up and instructed in the holy law +of God and the prophets, and, moreover, in the Oral Law and the teaching +of the wise men in Israel. + +"I may also add here that I was likewise taught several modern +languages, and received a fair secular education. For this I have to +thank several members of my family at home, who cherished some higher +plans in reference to my future career. My father and mother were dead, +and it had been their desire that I should learn the banking business +when I was old enough. This was not to my taste, and after trying it for +awhile, I left home, and went first to Odessa and then to Roumania to +visit my uncle. I did not stop very long with him, but left the country +and went eastward. + +"It was during my travels abroad that I first came into contact with +Jewish missionaries, and heard of Jesus Christ. I had not read the New +Testament before, or even heard of such a book, as far as I can now +remember. I was therefore perfectly ignorant of Christianity, and knew +nothing of the Gospel. Of course, I heard at home of Russian and Roman +Catholic Christianity, but I was a Jew and forbidden to enquire into +their religion, or to read their books. One thing, however, I remember, +made some impression upon me, and that occurred when I was in Odessa. I +saw there some Germans who were Lutherans, and noticed how different +they were in their lives and manners from other people around them, but +I never enquired where the change came from. And so it was at first when +I heard of the missionaries, for I really did not quite know their +religion and what they were teaching. I went one day out of curiosity to +hear one of them read and expound some chapters on Isaiah the prophet. +But when the reader asserted that Jesus Christ was the true Messiah, I +felt indignant and strongly opposed him. It was an insult, I thought, to +suppose that the Jews were in error in regard to Jesus of Nazareth, that +the Christians were right, and that our holy religion was inferior to +Christianity. I visited, however, the missionary several times +afterwards, and argued with him. In the meantime the New Testament was +put into my hands, and I was requested to read it. I did so, but I did +not relish it, because of the Deity ascribed therein to Jesus Christ. +This was the crucial point with me at the time. Still, I continued to +read the New Testament; but, I confess it with shame, I often threw the +book away from me, or dropped it down on the ground. + +"Thus for two years the struggle went on, but I searched the Scriptures +earnestly and diligently, and besought the Lord to help me, until, by +the grace of God, I found the truth, and Jesus Christ was revealed unto +me as the suffering, despised and crucified Messiah, who endured all for +my sins, for the sins of my nation and of the whole world. The change +that came upon me was indeed great; my pride vanished, my dislike of +Christ disappeared, all opposition to the truth ceased, and I felt a +wonderful love to Him who first loved me, and who gave Himself for me. + +"I can only speak of it now as a new creation. But it was the view of +Jesus Christ upon the Cross which melted my heart. I cannot explain it +in words, but it was a reality, and held me fast and absorbed all my +thoughts until I could almost realize the words of the prophet +Zechariah, 'And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced and +mourn.' And I did mourn too! + +"This was no doubt the most remarkable incident in my conversion, and, +like Paul of old, I 'determined not to know anything among men, save +Jesus Christ and Him crucified.' + +"After my baptism, I wrote home and told them of my conversion, and my +faith in Jesus Christ. There was no answer for some time, but it came at +length couched in rather mild terms, and expressing a hope that I knew +best what I had done, and had taken the step after being fully convinced +that it was the right one. But I could read between the lines that they +were grieved at home in that I had left Judaism and embraced +Christianity, and thus, according to their notion, had become 'a +Meshumed.' Still, my joy in the Lord increased daily, for I knew in whom +I had believed. + +"As to my future calling, I was uncertain for some time, although it was +in my heart to preach the Gospel to my brethren, but the Lord opened a +door for me, and I was thankful to realize that it was His doing and not +mine. + +"After three years' training in a college, I was appointed to labour +first in England among the Jews, and then I went abroad and preached the +Gospel to Jews and Gentiles in lands beyond the seas. Whilst abroad I +was greatly blessed in my labours, and in one place I officiated in a +church and dispensed the Word of Life to Jews and Gentiles for several +years. + +"Since my return to England, I have spent all my time in missionary +operations among my Jewish brethren in various towns of this realm, and +have sought, by the grace of God, to lead them to Jesus Christ, the true +Messiah and Redeemer. + +"It has been my privilege to preach the Gospel to a very large number of +Jews and Jewesses during my missionary career, and the good Lord has +been pleased to grant me tokens of His favour and approbation in souls +of the House of Israel, whom I have led to the Good Shepherd, the Lord +Jesus Christ. I rejoice to know that I have spiritual children who are +walking worthy of their high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Some of +them are in the ministry, and others following honest callings and +leading quiet Christian and useful lives to the honour and praise of +God. And I may be permitted to add that many others perhaps, though +unknown to me at present, have been led to believe in Jesus Christ +through my humble instrumentality, and who are known of God." + +MONTEFIORE, Lydia, was born a Jewess, and was the aunt of Sir Moses +Montefiore, Bart. Her parents were orthodox Jews, and she was taught +strictly to observe the Sabbath as a sacred day, as well as the feasts +and fasts, and other ceremonies prescribed by the law of Moses. Early in +life she was instructed in the duties enjoined by the rabbis on Jewish +women. At the same time she had instilled into her youthful mind the +lofty idea of the Unity of God, and the pre-eminence of the Jews. + +After the death of her parents she visited America, and some of the +countries of Europe, but finally took up her abode in Marseilles, where +she remained until her death. "In March 1854," writes Mr. J. P. Cohen, +"I arrived in Marseilles as missionary under the auspices of the British +Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, and in the +following month I was introduced to Miss Montefiore by a lady who felt a +deep interest in her spiritual welfare, but before doing so she said, +'You will find her an out-and-out Jewess, and a great bigot.' + +"On entering her house the lady said, 'I have brought an Israelite, Mr. +Cohen, and his wife to see you.' She received us very kindly, and after +the ladies had had some conversation, observing the Bible on a small +table by her side, I said, 'You read your Bible, I see.' 'Yes,' she +replied, 'it is my greatest comfort.' I took the sacred volume and read +Isaiah liii., and at the close asked her what she thought of that +wondrous chapter. 'I should like to hear your opinion upon it,' replied +Miss Montefiore. I told her I could unhesitatingly say that it referred +to the life and death of the Messiah; and that it had been literally +accomplished in the person of Jesus, whom I believed to be the promised +Messiah. 'Then you are a Christian,' she said. 'I am happy to say I am,' +was my reply. 'God has graciously opened my eyes to behold in Jesus my +promised Redeemer.' Turning to the lady who had introduced us, she +angrily said, 'I thought you told me they were Israelites?' 'So they +are, true Israelites,' replied the lady. A short pause ensued, and from +the quivering of Miss Montefiore's lips and flushed cheeks, I could +plainly see that her Jewish pride was roused, and with much vehemence +she said, 'I think it is most insulting to call on people, and try to +convert them from the faith of their fathers. Why not let every one +remain in the religion in which they were born? I must tell you I am a +thorough Jewess: I was born a Jewess, and I have lived eighty-three +years as a Jewess, and hope I shall die a Jewess.' But quickly +recovering her composure she said, 'I repeatedly hear Christians say +that they love the God of Abraham. I cannot conceive how they can do +that, and not keep the law which He gave to His servant Moses. If Christ +has done away with the law of Moses, how can He be the Messiah?' I +replied that this was one of the many erroneous ideas the Jews have of +Christ. He did not come to destroy the law, or the prophets, as the Jews +seemed to think, but to fulfil all that the law and the prophets wrote +concerning Him. It was He who made known the true meaning of all the +Mosaic ordinances and institutions. He explained their righteous +precepts, the latter of which at the time of His coming the scribes and +Pharisees had rendered of none effect through their traditions. Besides, +I told her that God had promised to make a new covenant with us, and to +write His law in our hearts. Here she rather abruptly interrupted, and +asked where that new covenant was to be found. 'It is not in my Bible,' +she said. 'Pardon me, it is in your Bible,' and I shewed her Jer. xxxi. +31-33, which she read with evident surprise. + +"We conversed for a long time; Miss Montefiore shewing great interest in +all I said, and as we were about to leave she pleasantly remarked, 'I +cannot understand how a Jew who believes in Jesus can still be an +Israelite.' I told her not to think I ceased to be a Jew because I +believed in the Lord Jesus, far from it; He was a Jew Himself; all His +first disciples were Jews; He personally preached only to Jews; and it +was not till the Jews refused to listen that His apostles were sent to +the Gentiles. She seemed much pleased with this piece of Scriptural +truth, and on bidding her adieu, she asked us to call again, and said, +'I shall be pleased to see you at any time, except on the Saturday, +which day I set apart for prayer and Bible reading.' + +"I soon paid her another visit, and after a little talk about passing +events our conversation turned on repentance, which appeared to be her +favourite topic. I said, 'What we want most is to have our sins +forgiven; not always to be repenting of them, but to forsake them +altogether. God did not say to our fathers when in Egypt, "When I hear +you repenting I will save you," but He says, "When I see the blood I +will pass over you" (Exod. xii. 13). The blood was Israel's security +then, and it is the blood now that makes atonement for the soul (Lev. +xvii. 11). 'And without shedding of _blood_ there is no remission.' + +"After a little hesitation she said: 'We have no priest, no temple; the +place appointed where alone it was lawful to offer sacrifice is +inaccessible to us (Jews). Surely the Almighty will not require of us +that which we cannot perform; He will mercifully accept our prayers, our +fastings, our observance of the Sabbath, and the reading of the law, as +I do daily, as a substitute for performing the law.' 'Dear madam,' I +said, 'let me beg of you not to rely on such bruised reeds, nor build +your soul's salvation on such sinking sand; they are but vain excuses; +they may quiet your conscience, calm your fears, and lull you into a +false security, which you may only discover when too late.' + +"The following will shew her idea of repentance. In writing to a friend +in March 1853 on this subject, she said: 'You say repentance is not +sufficient for forgiveness of sins. Then why did King David say to God, +"Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; Thou delightest not +in burnt offerings; the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken +and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise!" Let us follow God's +commandments, and do unto others as we would they should do unto us, and +be patient under all adversities. But the last, I fear, I am deficient +in, for I am often very irritable and impatient.' + +"It was wonderful to see how her views of the Messiahship of Jesus +became daily more distinct. + +"I have just returned from a visit to our aged friend, Miss Montefiore, +after having had a most interesting conversation, or rather, I might +say, a Bible reading with her. I was greatly pleased to observe that her +tone, when speaking of the Saviour, was much milder than in any of my +former visits; and her anxiety for the truth was so great that it gave +me real pleasure to be with her. She said: 'All I want to know is the +truth. I shall receive nothing, unless I see it plainly revealed in my +Bible.' She expressed a wish to read the New Testament, and asked where +she could procure one. I told her I daily expected some Bibles and +Testaments from London, and that as soon as they arrived I should be +most happy to supply her with one. + +"About this time the cholera was raging in Marseilles, and hundreds were +daily cut down by this most painful epidemic; and not feeling well +myself, our friends strongly advised us to leave the town for a few +weeks. During our absence the Spirit of God worked mightily in this +lady's soul. + +"On our return we heard she had frequently enquired after us, and often +said, 'I miss them much, I hope they will soon return.' Accordingly +Mrs. Cohen did not lose any time, but called upon her at once, and was +received by Miss Montefiore with great affection. Having been reminded +of the near approach of the Day of Atonement, and 'without shedding of +blood there is no remission of sin,' she said, 'Yes, I know it, and feel +it more than ever. I once kept the Day of Atonement with fasting and +prayer, in the vain hope of making propitiation for my sins, but I am +beginning to feel I want something better than the blood of bulls and +goats to atone for them. I often repeat those words, "Lord, I believe, +help Thou mine unbelief." 'Unbelief,' she said, 'has been, and still is, +our sin; the veil is still over our people's eyes; but it shall be +removed, for God has promised it. They will not search the Scriptures as +I do.' With clasped hands and uplifted eyes she said, 'I'll tell you +what I say to the Anointed One (Jesus, I mean), "If I have done or said +anything against Thee, pardon, oh pardon me, for I did it in +ignorance."' This was indeed good news to us, and we earnestly prayed +God to deepen these convictions, to teach her by His Spirit, and give +her much grace to impart them to her Jewish friends and relatives. The +New Testament which I promised, but was unable to give her on account of +our sudden and unexpected departure, was supplied her by a friend during +our absence, the reading of which proved a great blessing to her. + +"A few days before _Yom Kippur_ she said, 'The more I read my Bible, the +more I am beginning to feel my being born a Jewess can never save me; I +must have something better than my fastings and prayers.' Every visit I +paid her I could see a considerable change in her sentiments respecting +the Lord Jesus. It was pleasing to me, who had prayerfully watched her +for so many months, to observe how gradually her Jewish prejudices +disappeared, her views of the Gospel becoming more and more clear, and +her love for Jesus increasing daily. It was in the beginning of October +1854, she expressed a wish to be baptized, provided it could be done +very secretly, on account of her position. She said, 'I should not even +like my servant to know of it' (who had lived in her service four +years). I told her to remember that 'the fear of man bringeth a snare,' +and that Jesus Christ tells us that, 'Whosoever shall deny Me before +men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in Heaven'; I also +advised her to read the tenth chapter of St. Matthew, at the same time +to make it a matter of serious prayer before God, and I would do the +same, and that we would converse more on this subject at another time. + +"Let me here remark that Miss Montefiore had a niece in England, who had +already embraced Christianity, and her heart's desire and prayer to God +for her aunt was, that she might be saved. Every letter she sent her +aunt contained some exhortation to search the Scriptures; she also +forwarded her religious books; but the contents of the letters were soon +forgotten; nevertheless, I believe that the first link in the chain of +human agency in Miss Montefiore's conversion was to be found in this +niece's persevering prayers for her aged relative. Not having heard from +her aunt for a year, and knowing nothing of our Christian intercourse, +the lady was surprised and thankful to receive the following letter:-- + + "'_October_, 1854. + + "'DEAR L.,--I have at last taken courage to reply to some of your + letters, dates _n'importe_. I have read "The Book and its Story," + the missionary's aid for converting the blind and the stupid. I read + it with much interest, and I pray ardently it may bring the whole + world to believe, as I now do, that Jesus Christ, God's only + begotten Son, was ordained to be crucified to take away all our + sins; and that by believing in Him we shall be saved. Madame R. lent + me the Old and New Testament bound together. The Old Testament I + almost knew by heart, but the New I had never before read. I have + studied it closely during many evenings, which has sorely pained my + eyes; but, oh, how plainly and typically the Bible shews the coming + of Messiah! I have thought so long since, before you endeavoured to + bring me to believe. Oh, my dear L., had God so ordered your abode + close to me, I should have listened better than by your letters, and + perhaps been baptized ere now. Pray keep _very secret_ the words of + this letter. I cannot say more. My heart is too full. + + "'My country residence of ten weeks did not improve my health. The + fatigue was too much for me at my time of life. I continue very + feeble. The Lord's will be done! If He heals me, I shall be healed; + if He saves me, I shall be saved. Thanks to our Heavenly Father the + cholera is over at Marseilles. I have lost my poor landlady, she + died in the country, leaving Marseilles to escape the cholera. I + went with regret, as I was not afraid. I completed last week my + eighty-first year, so excuse the defects, for my age's sake. "He is + in the Father, and the Father is in Him." Amen.--Your truly + affectionate, + + "'LYDIA MONTEFIORE.'" + +"'What word can express my surprise,' writes that lady, 'at the +declaration contained in the former part of this letter! An actual +declaration in the belief of a crucified Redeemer! Over and over again +did I read the words, "And I pray ardently that the whole world may +believe, as I do now, that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, was +ordained to be crucified to take away all our sins, and that by +believing in Him we shall be saved." Could this be from one of whom it +was said only two years before, "She is an out-and-out Jewess?" The Lord +did at last convince her that Jesus was the Messiah of whom Isaiah spoke +in his liii. chapter, as he writes: "He was wounded for our +transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of +our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed. He was cut off +out of the land of the living."' Her desire for immediate baptism daily +increased; and she frequently made it a subject of conversation with her +Christian friends. At a subsequent visit she said to me, 'The Lord has +given me a deep sense of my former sins, but I have rolled them all on +Jesus for pardon, and now I shall not be happy until I am baptized.' I +again told her seriously to consider the step she was about to take, in +declaring she was not ashamed of Jesus; and asked her whether she had +made up her mind to endure persecution for Christ's sake. She said, 'My +confidence is in God; He will not lay more upon me than I am able to +bear.' The conversation that day was more about faith in God, and less +of man, which I was very glad to hear. At another visit, when speaking +about baptism, I said, 'Now, suppose you are baptized, and your friends +should ask you whether it was true,--what would you say?' She said, 'I +would tell them it was quite true, and that I felt assured, if they +searched the Scriptures prayerfully, as I had done, God would remove the +veil from their eyes, as it has pleased Him to remove it from mine; and +then they would also believe in Jesus, the true Messiah, and in the +power of His resurrection, as I have done.' It was truly delightful to +see how gradually the fear of man subsided, and her confidence in God +daily grew stronger. I accordingly introduced the Rev. J. Monod, who +very kindly visited her several times; his visits were much blessed to +her; and having been satisfied with her faith in Christ, he baptized her +on Thursday, January 18th, 1855. + +"We spent the previous evening with her, and I read St. Paul's +conversion, and the sufferings of our Saviour, which affected her much, +and I earnestly asked God to be with us on the following day. She said: +'How thankful do I feel that the fear of man is entirely removed from my +mind, so much so that I have not only told my intentions to my servant, +but have given her leave to publish it abroad, and told her, should she +meet my relations, how to tell them of it; in fact, I wish all my +relations to know it, and I pray God they may be brought to the +knowledge of truth ere they die." + +MORITZ, (Moses) Johann Christian, was one of the most distinguished of +the early missionaries of the L.J.S. He was born at Bernstein +(Pomerania) in 1786. His mother died when he was only four years of age. +Before she expired she blessed him, and said, "You will live to see the +advent of the Messiah. Remain steadfastly in the faith of your fathers, +that you may have a rich share in their Kingdom." These words made a +strong impression upon the child and were realized by him in a different +manner than the mother expected. Moritz received a Talmudic education +from private teachers, but modern literature attracted him most. His +father and his teacher warned him against it, and indeed they had reason +for doing so, for he began to express his doubts about the divine origin +of the Talmud, and one rabbi declared that his mind was deranged and +that he would eventually become a Meshummad. On account of his +disagreement with his stepmother, Moritz left his home at the age of 16 +and went to Berlin to an uncle. At that time Prussia had suffered much +from the war with Napoleon, and Moritz went to London in 1807, and +brought a recommendation to the rabbi Dr. Herschell. The rabbi received +him in a friendly manner, and warned him to beware of the missionary +Frey, yet he did not regard it. The quiet Sunday in England impressed +him, and enquiring of Jews for the cause of it, they said, "If we Jews +should keep the Sabbath holy, as the Christians here do their Sunday, +the Messiah would soon come." This utterance he considered as a hint to +him for seeking to become acquainted with Christianity. He then got a +New Testament and read day and night, comparing it with the Old. He felt +his sins and took refuge in Jesus by faith, which he at once confessed +before the Jews. His father was informed of his son's intention to +become a Christian, and he came to London and tried his best to win him +back to Judaism, but had at last to leave him with imprecations and the +assurance that he would never get anything of his property. Moritz went +then to the German Pastor, Dr. Steinkopf, by whom he was instructed and +baptized. In 1811, he went to Gottenburg, Sweden, where he maintained +himself by giving lessons and selling books. In 1817 he was introduced +by Lewis Way to the mission, and having received a special call from the +Czar Alexander he went to Russia that year and laboured till 1825. At +that time he wrote two letters to the Jews, based on Jer. xxxi. 31-34. +(Elberfeld, 1820.) In 1825, after being in the Missionary College, he +entered the service of the L.J.S., and was sent to Hamburg, where he at +once formed a Prayer Union. From Hamburg he itinerated to Sweden, +Denmark, Russia, Bavaria, Würtemberg, receiving God's smile and blessing +upon his efforts wherever he went. In 1843, he returned to Gottenburg +where he testified to his brethren of the truth of the Gospel till 1868, +when he died in the Lord, after 42 years service under the L.J.S. It may +be mentioned that his wife, a Swedish lady, who shared his toils and +hopes with him for fifty years, died in 1864, and after her death he +gave all her savings to the L.J.S. + +MOSSA, Nathaniel Immanuel, gives the following particulars of +himself:--"I was born on October 29th, 1833, at Friedland, near Beskow. +My father was a Jewish merchant, first in that town, and later in +Spandau, where I passed my boyhood. When I had completed my studies at +the Werder Gymnasium in Berlin I entered the University in order to +study medicine. I graduated in 1858, and the next year passed the State +Examination. I then entered the army for one year as a volunteer doctor, +and was sent to Spandau, and then to Jüterberg. Here, in the hospitable +house of Dr. Gross (later in Barmen), I learned Hahnemann's method of +treatment. After having finished my military year's practice, I settled +in Bromberg, and soon found a promising sphere of activity. This, +however, was interrupted by my participating in the military expeditions +of 1864 and 1866. Also in 1870 I was called to serve in the army as +physician, and took part in the siege of Strassburg, and likewise of +Belfort, and returned home with the decoration of the Iron Cross. I then +renewed my medical work at Bromberg, and continued it for twenty years, +and was also a contributor to the 'General Homoeopathic Periodical.' +Owing to the precarious health of my only child, I was at length +obliged to exchange the northern cold climate for that of the south, and +hence settled in 1883 at Stuttgart. In 1894, in addition to my medical +work, I undertook in 1894 the editorship of the above-named journal. I +have also for some years acted as President of the Committee of the +Society of Homoeopathic Physicians at Würtemberg. + +"As for the story of my spiritual life, I may say, with all humility, +that our gracious Lord favoured me early in my youth. Already as a +school-boy I had the opportunity of learning the Gospel, since the Bible +was our book for reading in my first Christian school. I was at that +time much attracted by the works and utterances of Jesus, and deeply +touched by His death, and impressions perseveringly strong were made +upon my mind. The instruction and earnest converse I had with two +fellow-workers of the British Society, Dr. Koppel and Dr. Fürst, helped +me." + +This short extract from Dr. Nathaniel Immanuel Mossa's autobiography is +supplemented by the information supplied by Pastor de le Roi concerning +him:-- + +"One day a Jewish Rabbi of his town asked him to give an address to +Jewish prisoners, and he took for his text: 'Seek ye the Lord while He +is to be found, call ye upon Him while He is near,' and he illustrated +the text by the example of the prodigal son. This was the turning point +in his life. He himself began to seek Him until He found Him or was +found by Him. He afterwards went to Bromberg, where he heard Koppel +giving an exposition on Isa. liii. and he joined in his labours as a +doctor in the Institution at Salem. Koppel recommended him for baptism +to the L.J.S. missionary Bellson, in Berlin. Later in life he settled in +Stuttgart, where he was a great comfort and support to Gottheil, and +after his death, he himself acted as missionary of the British Society +there till he was called home." + +MYERS, Rev. Dr. Alfred Moritz, was born in Breslau, of strict orthodox +parents. At the age of twelve his teacher was a famous Talmud rabbi, and +he lived and moved and had his being in the Talmud and in nothing else. +Consequently he became disgusted with it, and when he heard that two +missionaries had arrived in Breslau, he visited them and received tracts +from them. For this he was punished, and when his mother died, he left +his home for London in 1830, and then went to Liverpool, where he heard +the Gospel from the Rev. H. S. Joseph, and after many inward struggles +was baptized in 1839. He studied theology, and became a clergyman of the +Church of England, and a famous preacher. He was Vicar at Barnet, and +afterward of All Saints, Dalston. He wrote an autobiography, "Both one +in Christ," London and Liverpool, 1839, "The History of a young Jew," +Chester, 1840. "The Jew" translated into German, 1856. He wrote also for +children--"The Peep of Day," "The Night of Trial," upon the first +missionary at Southsea, "Line upon Line," "Reading Disentangled." He +died in 1880. + +NACHIM, Rev. M., born in the town of Odessa in 1836. He writes:-- + +"I was initiated into the covenant on the eighth day (according to the +Jewish rite), and I received the name of Reuben, after my grandfather, +who had been chief rabbi. I do not know the time when I began to learn +Hebrew, but I do remember I was not quite eight years old when I +commenced to study the Talmud. + +"In the year 1854, I started on a journey to Palestine. When in +Constantinople I met a Hebrew Christian colporteur named Solomon, who +offered me a New Testament. + +"Up to this period of my life I had never heard there was such a book in +existence! That dear Christian man induced me to visit the London Jews' +Society's missionary (the Rev. Dr. Stern). Space does not permit me to +go into detail, but that memorable visit, which lasted several hours, +thanks be to our Heavenly Father, changed my future life. It was then +for the first time I heard that Christianity was not, as I had been led +to believe, a system of idolatry, but based on Moses and the Prophets, +and I left Dr. Stern's house with a burning desire to hear more, and +learn more about it. For two years I visited Dr. Stern constantly, and +the more I learned of the saving truth as it is in Jesus, the more +agonized was my struggle; but at last, though my pillow was oft bedewed +with tears, as I realized fully what decision for Christ would involve, +I was enabled by Divine grace to say, 'I count all things but loss, for +the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have +suffered the loss of all things;' and on September 16, 1856, I was +baptized in Constantinople by my beloved spiritual father, Dr. Stern, +and I then received the name of Michael (who is like unto God). From +that time I had an earnest desire to witness for Christ amongst my +brethren; and in 1860 I entered the mission field in connexion with the +London Jews' Society, with whom I remained till November, 1869, and then +I commenced my missionary labours with the British Society. + +"In closing this brief outline of my life, I desire to express my deep +gratitude to our gracious Lord, who has permitted me to preach the +Gospel of Jesus Christ in Russia, Roumania, Austria, Germany, France, +Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and Bulgaria, and has blessed the +message to many a Jewish heart, and to the salvation of many souls. I +have also been privileged to preach the Gospel to many members of my own +family, holding influential positions in Russia, and I am thankful so +say that nine of my cousins have been baptized. + +"My future is in God's hands, and my earnest prayer is, that the +remainder of my life may be more fully dedicated to His service and for +His glory." + +NAPHTHALI, Israel, was one of the earliest missionaries of the British +Society. He was appointed in 1842, and laboured mostly in Manchester. In +1851 he could report twenty-three converts as the fruit of his labours. +In 1870, it was recorded that through his instrumentality fifty Jews +acknowledged Jesus as their Saviour, amongst whom was Aaron Sternberg, +who afterwards became an earnest missionary of the same Society. +Naphthali was an earnest, spiritually-minded Christian; who reached the +age of 86, and died in the Home for Aged Israelites in 1886. + +NATHANIEL, (Julla), a North African Jew, was one of the earliest Jewish +converts in England after the Reformation. He was baptized in the parish +church of All Hallows, Lombard Street, London on April 1, 1577, by the +Rev. John Fox, who preached a sermon on that occasion on Rom. xi. in +Latin. That sermon was published in English by James Bell in 1587. +Nathaniel, too, gave an address to the congregation after his baptism. +("Jewish Intelligence," 1827, pp. 28, 321, 406, 445.) + +NAVORSKY, son of Moses bar Hayim, who lived in the Archduchy of Posen in +the seventeenth century. His father was a tenant farmer, and when he +died the Polish nobleman, to whom the farm belonged, after demanding +from the widow the payment of false debts, which she refused to pay, +drove her away from the farm, seized her son and had him forcibly +baptized in the Roman Catholic Church. When the Saxons invaded Poland, +one of their officers gave the nobleman a dog for him in exchange. This +officer, being a Christian man and a member of the Moravian brethren, +treated him kindly and instructed him in the truth of the Gospel, of +which he had hitherto been in total ignorance. Later he joined the +Lutheran Church and lived a pious Christian life. He died in 1750. + +NEANDER, Auguste. [16] On the 17th of July in the year 1850, an imposing +funeral _cortège_ slowly wended its way through the streets of Berlin, +attended by a Royal carriage and by numerous Government officials, +clergymen, professors and students of the Universities of Berlin and +Halle, assembled to pay their last tokens of respect and esteem to the +distinguished man who was being carried to his final resting-place. +Along the whole route from the residence of the deceased to the +cemetery, a distance of two miles, immense crowds of people thronged the +streets, filling all windows, doors, and available places of +observation. Before the hearse were carried the Bible and Greek +Testament of the man who had done more than any of his contemporaries to +keep alight in Germany the torch of pure and undiluted Christianity. The +whole scene was a striking tribute to the worth and work of the eminent +professor and Church historian, Auguste Neander, who for thirty-eight +years had exercised unbounded influence in the domain of theology, not +only in the University of which he was a distinguished ornament, but +also throughout Europe. And this man was a Christian Jew, whose +conversion and devotion to Christianity were destined to be fruitful in +great results, the end of which we have hardly seen to-day. + + +[16] Biographies of Eminent Hebrew Christians, by the Rev. W. T. Gidney. + + +David Mendel, to give him his original name, was born at Göttingen of +poor Jewish parents on January 10th, 1789. He was a scion of the famous +Mendel family, connected by descent with the great Jewish reformer +Moses Mendelssohn, whose successful efforts to elevate and uplift his +then degraded race ended in all his descendants eventually embracing the +Christian faith. In the words of a modern Jewish historian, whose love +of truth led her to place on record what must have cost many a regret to +avow:--"As we read the story of the wise and liberal philosopher, who +broke through the barriers and let in the light of learning and of +social countenance on mediæval benighted Judaism, we shall see that the +very children of the emancipator were dazzled by the unaccustomed rays, +that his sons wavered and his daughters apostatized, and that in the +third generation--only the third--the fetters which degraded were called +degrading, and the grandchildren of Moses Mendelssohn, the typical Jew, +were Jews no longer."[17] + + +[17] Lady Magnus, "Outlines of Jewish History," ch. xxxvi. p. 284. + + +Young David Mendel received his early education at the gymnasium or +public school at Hamburg, it being his parents' intention to bring him +up in the legal profession, in which, there is very little doubt, he +would have become distinguished. In 1806, however, having, through the +influence of two fellow-students, Chamisso the poet and another named +Neumann, embraced the Christian faith, he determined to devote himself +to the study of theology, and thenceforth the whole course of his life +was altered. At his baptism he had taken the Christian names of Johann +Auguste Wilhelm, after those of his two friends, to which he added a +new surname, Neander, or the "new man," and the new aims of his life +were thus expressed in a letter which he wrote to the pastor who had +baptized him: "My reception into the holy covenant of the higher life is +to me the greatest thing for which I have to thank you, and I can only +prove my gratitude by striving to let the outward sign of baptism unto a +new life become, indeed, the mark of the new life proclaiming the +reality of the new birth." + +Auguste Neander, as he was thereafter known, now entered the University +of Halle, where he studied Christian dogmatics under the celebrated +Professor Schleiermacher, whose speculations in doctrinal theology +verged very closely upon heterodoxy, and who is pronounced by an +authority to have been "the greatest theological writer that Germany has +produced since Luther, and, indeed, he may be called the founder of +modern rationalism on its better side."[18] Intercourse with this +erratic and brilliant genius produced no perceptible taint of +rationalism in the mind or scholarship of the scarcely less brilliant +pupil, whose public teaching contrasted so powerfully with that of his +erstwhile master. "It was a sad and singular sight," wrote the +biographer of Neander, "to behold his former teacher, Schleiermacher, a +Christian by birth, inculcating in one lecture-room, with all the power +of his mighty genius, those doctrines which lead to the denial of the +Evangelical attributes of Jesus Christ, whilst in another his pupil +Neander, by birth a Jew, preached and taught salvation through faith in +Christ the Son of God alone."[19] + + +[18] Peter Lombard, in "Church Times" of Nov. 21, 1902. + + +[19] "Memoir of the Life and Writings of Dr. Neander," prefixed to the +English translation of his "General History of the Christian Religion +and Church." + + +When Neander left Halle he repaired to his birthplace, Göttingen, to +pursue his theological studies in the university of which Planck was at +that time the leading spirit. It was there that Neander acquired the +practice, so conspicuous in his writings, of taking nothing for granted +and digging deep to the very _origines_ of things. It was this +invariable reliance solely on first hand and primitive information which +makes his literary work so valuable. In 1811 Neander became a private +"coach" at Heidelberg, in the university of which he was appointed a +professor of theology in the following year. Youthful as he still was, +his fame had by this time spread far and wide, and within a few months +he was elected to a similar position in the recently founded University +of Berlin, which the King of Prussia desired to elevate to the foremost +rank among the sister universities of his kingdom, and to make a great +centre for the teaching of theology. There Neander remained till the day +of his death, fully justifying his selection as one of the leading +lecturers in that seat of learning. + +The foregoing are the chief events in an otherwise uneventful career, +entirely passed as scholar and tutor within the sheltered seclusion of +university life. It has been said that such an atmosphere makes for +self-indulgence. Of course, it may easily degenerate into this state. +And yet how many university dons could we name, whose saintly and +scholarly lives, long hours spent in teaching, and nightly burnings of +the midnight oil give the lie to such a sweeping assertion! That it was +far from being the case with Neander the following slight sketch of the +man himself, his labours and his writings, will abundantly demonstrate. + +Neander was of an exceedingly lovable disposition, humble-minded, +retiring, pious and zealous. He was as simple as a child in the ordinary +and every-day concerns of life, eccentric and singular beyond +description, absent-minded to the last degree, and generous to a fault. +His charity was unbounded. His wants being few, he could give the bulk +of his income to others. The proceeds from the sale of his numerous +works were devoted to philanthropic and missionary purposes. He could +never keep any loose cash in his pocket, or turn away his face from any +poor man. If he did not part with the well-worn coat off his back it was +because he preferred to bestow the new one hanging in his wardrobe. + +His industry was prodigious. Being a single man, for he never married, +he could devote all his time and energies to his calling--which was that +of scholar, writer, and lecturer. He was never ordained, and so never +preached in the ministerial sense of the word; but he never lectured +without teaching Christianity in its practical as well as doctrinal and +historical aspect. Religion was never obscured by theology. His lectures +were attended not merely by under-graduates and students, but also by +leading professors of his own and other universities--Protestants and +Romanists alike sitting at his feet. Three lectures a day he invariably +gave, and those on different subjects. To the students he was a father +and a counsellor, ever ready to bestow, though never eager to thrust, +his advice upon all who sought it. He was universally beloved for his +kindness of heart and his gentleness, and respected and admired for his +talents, scholarship, and teaching powers. + +The supreme object of Neander's life, studies, and labours, is thus +concisely stated by himself in the preface of the first edition of his +_magnum opus_:[20] "To exhibit the history of the Church of Christ as a +living witness of the Divine power of Christianity, as a school of +Christian experience, a voice sounding through the ages, of instruction, +of doctrine and of reproof, for all who are disposed to listen." Neander +was not merely the historian of the dead past or _laudator temporis +acti_. To him the past was indeed great, eloquent, and glorious, but he +regarded it chiefly as the beginning of a greater present and a more +glorious future, and as the foundation of the stately building of the +Church that is being reared throughout the ages. He had unquenchable +faith in the abiding presence of Christ in His Church, and of its +consequent power to mould and transform the world. The parables of the +leaven and of the mustard seed were pregnant with meaning to him, and in +his history he elaborately traced the process of development in the +past centuries--a process which amounted to a steady and ever forward +progress, even furthered by all attempts to hinder it. And this, because +Christianity is a Divine power which descended from heaven at the +Incarnation of Christ, and gave a new character to the life of the human +race. + + +[20] "General History of the Christian Religion and Church." + + +We can well understand how exhilarating and energising such teaching as +this must have been when directed, as it was of set purpose, to +counteract the then new-fangled doctrines of Schleiermacher, and more +especially of Strauss, who in his "Life of Christ" had sought to +eliminate from Christianity all that was Divine, and therefore to +destroy its regenerative power on the hearts and lives of mankind. + +To Neander, then, a Christian Jew, an immense debt of gratitude is due +from all who hold the Catholic faith undefiled. He stemmed for a time +the tide of Rationalism which threatened to engulf in its turbid waters +not only Germany, but the whole of Christendom. His aid was expressly +chartered to undo the harm caused by the speculative teaching of +Strauss. When others would have suppressed the latter's work by force, +Neander, discountenancing such carnal weapons, boldly and mercilessly +met his heresies by the issue of his own "Life of Christ." + +We have already dwelt upon his two greatest works. We can only barely +mention the others. They were, to give them their titles in +English--"The History of the Planting and Training of the Christian +Church by the Apostles," "Biographies of Julian the Apostate, St. +Bernard and St. Chrysostom," "Anti-Gnostikus, Development of the Gnostic +System," "Memorabilia from the History of the Christian Life," "Unity +and Variety of the Christian Life," numerous essays contributed to +religious periodicals, and "Memoirs of the Proceedings of the Berlin +Royal Academy of Sciences." + +Neander's restless activity doubtless shortened his life, and death +overtook him before the work which he had set himself to do was done. He +had completed his "General History" only to the middle of the fourteenth +century. He died whilst dictating a page of this unfinished history, +with the words, "I am weary; I must sleep; good night;" upon his lips. +To another famous historian, Bede, it was granted to see, but only just +to see, the completion of his labours. When dying, the amanuensis who +wrote for him his translation into Saxon of the Gospel according to St. +John, said: "Master, there is but one sentence wanting." Bede answered: +"Write quickly!" and when the sentence was written, he replied: "Thou +hast the truth--_consummatum est_," and with the _Gloria Patri_ upon his +lips, he breathed his last. Neander's work is like a broken column, and +yet who shall say it had been better otherwise? Surely not those who +believe that "man is immortal, until his work is done." + +NEANDER, Rev. John, thus wrote of his conversion to a sincere +acquaintance:--"My dear friend,--Cheerfully do I respond to your call, +and as briefly as possible will I relate to you, how wonderfully God +has dealt with me; how He, the Almighty God, looked down upon me while I +was yet deeply sunk; how He called me, and lifted me up from the dust; +and how He brought me out of darkness into His marvellous light; praised +be His name. Amen. + +"I was born in the year 1811 at Neubrûck, in the province of Posen. My +parents were strict Talmudical Jews, my father especially, a zealous, +learned Talmudist. They had consecrated me to the office of a rabbi, +even while I was at my mother's breast; which office being considered +then, as it still is, a most holy vocation. On my having attained my +eighth year, and being able to read Hebrew, my father engaged for me a +teacher of the Talmud, who resided in the house, and from early in the +morning until late at night he laboured with me in the Talmud; now and +then he also read the Pentateuch and Jarchi's Commentary with me. + +"Until I was twenty-three years old, I studied at different Talmudical +schools in Posen, and having attained to that degree which qualified me +for the office of a rabbi, I returned to my father's house, where I +devoted myself entirely to the study of the Talmud. You are well +acquainted with the course of life led at rabbinical schools; I have +therefore no occasion to give you here an account thereof. I lived +earnestly engaged in this study, because it was my parents' warmest +wish; and I moreover hoped thereby to attain to a high position amongst +my nation, and flattered myself that I should hereby be qualified for +the community of the Chassidim, and consequently to reach the presence +of God. + +"I plunged myself into the deep labyrinth of rabbinical subtleties and +sophistry; entangled myself in a chain, composed of thousands of links +of trivialities; exhausted myself in endeavouring to be enlightened on +this, or on that matter; but I only got deeper and deeper into the +labyrinth; not a ray of light penetrated its dark recesses. At length +the employment became exceedingly disagreeable to me; the zeal which was +so ardent in my youth (alas! it was a blind zeal), cooled more and more +in proportion as it became clearer to me that the words of the different +rabbis, the former and latter, are truly not agreeable to God's most +Holy Word; and I discovered, that the persuasion that their ways lead to +the truth is a vain persuasion. + +"I was about twenty-five when with a painful heart I perceived this. I +had no firm foundation to rest upon; nothing on which to lay hold. I +stood as on broken ground; my heart torn, and nigh to perish with +anguish. About this time I was teacher in a town in Germany, where I had +above twenty pupils, whom I had to educate, and bring up as men and +Israelites; and every Saturday I had to deliver a public lecture on +portions of the Old Testament. All this placed me in a terrible +condition; I had to preach up and defend that, against which my heart +revolted; dissemble I would not, yea, I could not. + +"In the early period of my life as a teacher, I was zealous for the +rabbinical Judaism of the present day. I tormented and exhausted myself +endeavouring, by the works of the law, to lead a life pure and holy +before my God; for even when a child I conceived sin to be an abhorrence +to God; the thunders of Sinai sounded and resounded in my heart; the +mighty word proceeding out of the mouth of the Almighty God, 'cursed is +he who does not keep my law,' pressed me down to the ground at that +early period of my life; as with flaming letters it was written in my +heart, 'God is a holy God! God is a righteous God! who abhors sin; in +whose presence, none but those who are pure, and free from sin, and who +live for him only, can abide.' From all my toil, however, I found no +peace; far, far from me was the rest for which I so much longed. + +"I had intercourse with a few individuals who called themselves +Christians. I sought them out for the purpose of discussing with them +scientific subjects, and now and then to study the Old Testament with +them; of these some were students in theology, and others teachers; they +used to assail the revealed word of God most terribly. Through them I +became acquainted with the criticisms of de Wette, Eichhorn, Dinter, and +others, and it was not long that I stood up a zealous defender of modern +Judaism; I became a rationalist. We are deceived! exclaimed I to my +community, terribly deceived! the Talmud and the Psakim are a tissue of +errors, and so forth. Still the storm in my heart did not subside; it +continued to roar and to rage; I was not free; before it was chains of +superstition that shackled my heart, now those of unbelief; chains +forged by profane hands, by such fools as say, 'There is no God.' + +"As I looked on these contradictions, and on this work of ungodly men, I +trembled, and entered the field against these impudent deniers of God; +but with weapons, alas! I knew not at that time, and so I was in a +terrible condition. I felt as if closed in by a wall; I panted after the +breath of life; I longed after liberty, and hoped that the enigma would +solve itself; but far off appeared to me the hand which should lead me +into the haven of peace; and the light which I searched after in all the +writings of men, proved but darkness; they were broken cisterns, and my +soul, which was languishing and nigh to perishing, did not find the +water of life. I lay at times the whole night on the hard floor, +chastised my body, yearned and cried aloud. The old Jews, to whose +knowledge these austerities came, held me for a saint; and the modern +Jews said to me: 'Don't be a fool.' Oh! these were years of anguish and +terror; I was often nigh to despair. The compassion and grace of God, +whom I did not know at that time, alone held me up; the hand of the +mighty covenanted God of my forefathers covered me, and it was His +eternal love that preserved me from sinking. + +"I tore myself with force from the circle of those who surrounded me, +and I was chiefly alone and secluded. I betook myself, as it were, to a +desert of books. Alas! the speculations of men only filled my head, +while my heart remained empty. My thirst after the truth, after God's +truth, was not quenched; I read now and then in the Pentateuch; but the +books of the Old Testament were locked up to me, and the old and new +commentaries of the rabbis did not satisfy me. That the New Testament is +a key to the Old I had not the least conception at that time; and, as I +was then an enemy to Christianity, I never read the New Testament. + +"At this time of severe struggle, I received a visit from my father, to +whom I communicated my distress of mind; it pained him deeply, and he +pressed me to return home with him immediately. To my question, 'What +shall I do then?' he replied, 'You shall do nothing else but learn the +Torah, you have no occasion to trouble yourself about earthly things, +and as soon as you shall be seated in the circle of the Chassidim and +students of the law, it will be well with you.' Family matters obliged +my father to return quickly, and I begged him to allow me to remain for +a short time longer in Germany, until I should be enlightened on that +which distressed me so much. Shortly after that I was sent for by a +Jewish community, in the north of Germany. I hurried thither with joy, +where I took possession of a very pleasant post. + +"My heart, however, remained wounded, and peace was far from me. The +Jews of that place were very indifferent about religion, and it was not +required that I should deliver a public lecture on the Sabbath. I looked +for religious men, but amongst the Jews there was not one in whom there +was a striving after the only good; my exhortation to them to elevate +themselves to the fulness which cometh from God, and my admonitions, +were all in vain; nevertheless, the pupils clung to me with much love; +and they listened to me attentively when I related to them the history +of the kingdom of God in the time of the Old Testament dispensation. + +"But my heart continued cold even here; the great deeds of God filled me +with awe, and the history of our people, as well as my own course of +life, only opened more the wounds of my heart. 'The Balm of Gilead' I +knew not, and the instruction I imparted was only mechanical, without +life, and without warmth. + +"I visited the clergymen of this town, and I found some of them +different from any I had seen before; they talked of the revealed word +of the Old Testament, with warmth of heart and enthusiasm, and I heard +for the first time a powerful testimony to the Christian doctrine; my +whole heart was stirred up against it, the ground burned under my feet, +and I hurried away purposing never to return again. + +"Still there remained a thorn in my heart. The fifty-third chapter of +Isaiah as well others in the Old Testament, to which my attention was +drawn, were too strong for me; doubt raged in me, and the questions, +What if it be really true? What if the Christians are right? left me no +peace. + +"A few weeks elapsed, and I could no longer endure my trouble; I greatly +desired to be enlightened, and that, by means of the common medium of +all truth, Holy Writ alone. + +"I began to read the New Testament, and to compare it with the Old, and +it wonderfully unfolded itself to me; more and more I discovered the +great mystery of redemption. In the Old Testament, in all God's +contrivances, a voice called to me, and I heard the voice of God, +through Moses and the prophets, saying: Jesus Christ the crucified, is +the true Messiah, the true Saviour, whose name is Jehovah Tsidkenu, the +Lord our Righteousness. I was roused especially by the ninth chapter of +the Acts; I was made acquainted, after much wrestling and fervent +prayer, that Jesus is the source of salvation, and of eternal life to +all, who, by the efficacy of His blood, are cleansed from the guilt and +pollution of sin, and through Him can call God, Abba, Father. I +perceived that faith in the triune God is the victory which vanquishes +the world. + +"I could not remain silent about this; my heart was filled with it; I +tasted the friendship of God, I rejoiced and was constrained to exclaim, +'My Redeemer liveth;' and this I announced to my pupils, talked of it in +the circles of Jewish families, and publicly and aloud gloried in the +ground of my hope in the rich promise vouchsafed to me, by the mouth of +a mighty covenant God: Be comforted, all thy sins are forgiven thee, thy +debt is paid and annulled, through the great and only atoning sacrifice, +through 'the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.' + +"There was a tremendous tumult among the Jews; some of them came to me, +and gave themselves much trouble by various means to turn me away from +the Lord, mine and my father's God. The community wrote all about it to +my father, from whom I received a letter which placed me in a most +painful position. He prayed and cried, 'Come to us, and remain a Jew.' +My mother received from this news a severe blow, and she was laid on a +bed of sickness, and great were her sufferings; my sisters, brothers, +and relatives mourned in secret. It was a hard struggle--life and death +depended on my decision. + +"I cried and wept bitterly, and riveted myself firmly to the word of +life, that alone should be my guide, my stay, and my staff; and praised +be God, the Sun of Righteousness lighted me, and His beams fell warm and +full of life on my heart. + +"'Whoso loveth father and mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me.' +This was spoken by Him who has power to save and to condemn. I could not +do otherwise than obey Him, who once said to the patriarch Abraham, 'Get +thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's +house, unto a land that I will show thee.' I was obliged to tear asunder +the ties which bound me to my beloved relatives, who still remain dear +to me; painful as it is to flesh and blood, I was constrained to do so +for the Lord's sake; and I exclaimed aloud in the presence of the Jews +who at this time surrounded me, and who, not knowing what they did, +endeavoured to hurl me down to the abyss of destruction: 'I cannot do +otherwise, I must acknowledge Him, I must believe on Him, who is my +Redeemer and Saviour; His name is Jesus Jehovah; I cannot do otherwise, +should they on account of it cut me in pieces. Woe unto me, if I deny +Him, the Lord Jesus; therefore it is well with me, that I perceived +through the grace of God, that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and +the life, praised be His name. Amen.' + +"Now was I able to rejoice, and with David to exclaim, 'Bless the Lord, +O my soul, and forget not all His benefits' (Psalm ciii. 2). + +"After I had been duly instructed in the saving truth of the Gospel, I +was publicly baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, on +December 9th, 1839, by the Rev. Mr. Müller." + +NEUMAN, Rabbi, was converted through his intercourse with a Christian +merchant in Leeuwarden, Holland. He afterwards translated the tract, +"Light at Eventide," into Dutch. ("Jewish Intelligence," 1855.) + +NEUMAN, Dr. R., was born at Brody in 1788. His father was a rabbi and +gave him a Talmudical education. In 1807 he came to Dessau in Germany, +where he wrote a Commentary on Amos, Nahum and Malachi, and became a +director of a free school for poor children at Breslau. Through his +intercourse with two Christian professors, and especially with the +L.J.S. missionaries McCaul and Becker in 1823, he learned to know Jesus +as his Saviour, and was baptized there, together with his wife and three +sons, by Professor Scheibel, in the Elizabeth Church. A Dr. Cohen, who +was a teacher under him, followed his example. Subsequently he rendered +service to the L.J.S. by revising the text of the Hebrew New Testament. +He died in 1865. + +NEUMANN, Karl Friedrich, was born in Reichmansdorf in 1793, studied at +Heidelberg and Munich, and was baptized at Munich in the Evangelical +Church in 1818. Subsequently he went to Venice and studied Armenian. In +1828 he went to Paris, and in 1829 to London, and from there to China. +There he collected several thousand volumes of all branches of +literature, which are now in the library of the Munich University. He +became professor in 1833, M.P. in 1848. In 1863 he retired to Berlin, +when he died in 1870. Some of his works are the following:--"Die Völker +des südlichen Russlands" (Leipzig, 1847.) "Geschichte des Englischen +Reiches in Asien"; "Geschichte der Afghanen"; "Geschichte Oestreichs"; +"Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten." A translation of Gützlaff's +"History of the Chinese Empire"; "Geschichte der Armenischen +Literature," Leipzig, 1834, and English translations of Armenian +Chronicles. + +NEWMAN, Rev. C. S., was first in the service of the Scotch Church and +laboured at Jassy and at Constantinople. In 1855 he resigned, and after +joining the Church of England was sent by the L.J.S. to Constantinople, +where he laboured successfully until he was called to higher service. + +NEWMAN, Rev. Louis, a convert and student of the L.J.S., was ordained in +the American Episcopal Church, and laboured among the Jews in +Philadelphia with blessed results all his life. He was a great Hebrew +scholar. + +NURNBERG, Rev. Nahum, was born in Russia, his father dying very early. +His mother and her children then went to live with her father, who was a +strict Jew, and as such Nahum was brought up. When about nine years old +an uncle adopted him and took him to Breslau to be educated. He became a +favourite with the proctor of the University there and at Berlin, and +through them he obtained a good deal of tuition. He also did +journalistic work, and in 1851 he came over to England to report on the +Great Exhibition. He stayed on in Hull as a correspondent. Whilst there +he came under the influence of the Rev. John Deck, by whom he was +eventually baptized. Later on he was, after finishing his course at the +L.J.S. missionary college, appointed a missionary of that Society, first +in England, and then in Roumania, but returned to this country as his +real home after a year's work, owing to the death of his wife. Soon +after he took orders, and engaged in parochial work, until 1879, after +which he retired, until his much lamented death on January 30th, 1904. + +OCZERET, Rev. Leo, a native of Tarnopol, Galicia, was converted in +Jerusalem, and studied afterwards at the college of the L.J.S. in +London. His Jewish _fiancée_ also became a Christian. After being +stationed in Paris for about two years he was sent to Jerusalem and was +ordained by Bishop Hannington. In 1884 he was sent to reopen the mission +at Safed, and at first he had trouble with the spirit of fanaticism +which had ever existed among the Jews there; but gradually, by patience +and love, he won the hearts of many, so that when he became ill they +came to visit and console him. One old man even assured him that during +a whole fortnight he recited fifty Psalms (according to the custom of +pious Jews during illness) for his recovery. Oczeret went at last to a +hospital in Vienna, whence he wrote to the Committee, "Let the Lord's +will be done! Pray for us all. I do not give up every hope yet to work +for my Lord and Master, and to serve faithfully the Committee, to whom I +am wont to look as to a father." But though still young, he had finished +his course, and went to receive the crown of glory. + +PALGRAVE (Cohen), Sir Francis, born in London, July 1788, died there +July 6th, 1861, son of Mayer Cohen, a member of the London Stock +Exchange. He was an infant prodigy. At the age of eight he made a +translation of Homer's "Battle of the Frogs" into French, which was +published by his father (London, 1796). He embraced Christianity, and +married a daughter of Dawson Turner, the historian. He was called to the +bar in 1827, devoting himself to pedigree cases. In 1832 he published +"The Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth," which is generally +regarded as the earliest important study of English constitutional +history founded on the records. He was knighted in that year, and became +deputy-keeper of Her Majesty's records, in which capacity he issued +twenty-two annual reports of great historic value. His most important +work is "A History of Normandy and England," 4 vols., London, 1851-63. +Palgrave had four sons each of whom attained distinction of various +kinds. + +PALGRAVE, Francis Turner (1824-1902), editor of the "Golden Treasury of +English Songs and Lyrics," Professor at Oxford. + +PALGRAVE, Robert Harry Inglis (born 1827), editor of "The Dictionary of +Political Economy." + +PALGRAVE, Sir Reginald Francis Dunce (1829-1903), Clerk of the House of +Commons. + +PALGRAVE, William Gifford (1826-88), Eastern traveller and author of "A +Year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia" (London, 1865) and +other works. + +PALOTTA, Professor C. W., a native of Hungary, by birth and education a +gentleman. Coming to England early in the sixties of the nineteenth +century he was induced by a friend to attend the lectures and classes of +Dr. Ewald, and after due instruction was baptized in the Jews' Chapel, +Palestine Place. Not long after, he was sent by L.J.S. as missionary +assistant to the Rev. F. G. Kleinhenn, at Bucharest, whose daughter he +married. From 1866 he laboured for two years itinerating through Servia +and Bosnia. He was the first missionary who took the Gospel to the Jews +in those countries. In 1868 he was stationed at Jassy, where he laboured +until 1871, when he settled at Vienna as a professor of languages. +Palotta was a gifted man and zealous missionary, and throughout his +Christian life he took a great interest in the mission to the Jews, and +voluntarily helped them in Vienna and also in Paris during the +exhibition in 1879. + +PAULI, Rev. C. W. H., was born in Breslau in 1800 and was named Zebi +Nasi Hirsch Prince. His father who was a rabbi, gave him a thorough +rabbinic education. Already at the age of 21, being then a religious +teacher, he published "Sermons for Pious Israelites," in which he +emphasized the teaching of the Bible rather than that of the Talmud. +Whilst thus endeavouring to teach pure Mosaism he came in contact with +the L.J.S. missionary, C. G. Petri of Detmold, and received from him a +New Testament, of which he began to make use in his teaching. The Jews +then declared him crazy, and he resigned his office and went to Detmold. +From there he was sent to Minden, where he was baptized December 21st, +1823. His sponsors were Baron Blomberg and Major Grabowski. The former, +who through the influence of the L.J.S. founded the mission at Detmold, +then recommended Pauli as a missionary to the Posen Society. A year +later he went with Petri to England and studied at Cambridge. From there +he was called to be Lecturer of Hebrew at Oxford. In this capacity he +laboured there for thirteen years, during which time he wrote various +books, his "Analecta Hebraica" deserving special mention. In 1840 he +received a call from the L.J.S. to go as a missionary to Berlin, where, +by his learning and piety and loving disposition, he made a salutary +impression upon the Jews. In 1844 he was transferred to Amsterdam, and +laboured there till 1874. The results of his activity there appeared +from time to time in the "Jewish Intelligence." He then retired to +Luton, where he died in 1877, with the words upon his lips: "Into Thy +hands, O God, I commend my spirit. My Saviour is near." + +PAULY, a Jewish savant, was baptized at Hamburg in 1810. He lived with +an unbelieving brother in Berlin, at the time when Pauli was stationed +there, who had the privilege of administering the Sacrament of the +Lord's Supper to him on his dying bed when he was eighty years of age +(Annual Report, 1843, p. 60). + +PHILIPPI, Dr. Friedrich Adolf, was born in Berlin in 1809. His father +was a banker and belonged to the circle of the Mendelssohns. Philippi +received Christian impressions at school, and in riper years he received +from a fellow student a treatise entitled "Glocktöne," by Court Chaplain +Strauss, which caused him to attend his sermons. His uncle Jakobi, the +mathematician, had at that time become an Evangelical Christian. This +event, too, caused him to seek for the truth until he found it for +himself and was then baptized by Pastor Zehme in Grossstädtel, near +Leipzig, in 1829. Later on he studied theology under Hengstenberg, and +became professor at Dorpat and later at Rostock. He was the author of +the following works:--"Die Lehre von dem thätigen Gehorsam Christi," +1841; "Glauben's Lehre," 1853; a posthumous work, published by his son, +"On the Epistle to the Galatians and the Synoptics." He died on August +29, 1882. + +PICK, Aaron, Biblical scholar, was born at Prague, where he was +converted to Christianity and lectured on Hebrew at the University. He +lived in England during the first half of the nineteenth century, and +was the author of translations and commentaries of various books of the +Bible. His works comprised a literal translation from the Hebrew of the +twelve Minor Prophets (1833), of Obadiah (1834), and of the seventh +chapter of Amos, with a commentary. In 1837 he produced a treatise on +the Hebrew accents, and in 1845 he published, "The Bible Student's +Concordance." He was besides the author of a work entitled, "The +Gathering of Israel or the Patriarchal Blessing as contained in the +Forty-ninth chapter of Genesis. Being the Revelation of God concerning +the twelve Tribes of Israel, and their ultimate Restoration." + +PICK, Abraham, a native of Senftenberg, Bohemia, was influenced by his +brother Israel to examine the evidences of Christianity, and then had +intercourse with a Scotch missionary, the Rev. Daniel Edward, in 1866, +and at last was brought to the Lord by the Rev. Abraham Herschell, who +also baptized him in 1869 at Stuttgart together with his wife. His +daughter Catharine was already baptized through Edward, at Breslau in +1857. His daughters, Rosie and Philippine, were baptized at Kaiserswerth +by the Scotch Free Church missionary, Van Andel, and his daughter Regina +and his son Joseph were baptized at Kornthal in 1878. His daughters +Charlotte and Therese were baptized in Switzerland by Pastor Bernoulli, +and Elizabeth was baptized by Pastor Axenfeld in Cologne. The whole +family became in various ways useful workers in the service of the +Master, and in 1879 they had the joy of knowing that seven of their +relatives had confessed Christ in baptism. Abraham Pick became +afterwards the agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society at +Lemberg, where he laboured for many years in spreading the Word of God +in Galicia and in the Bukowina, where he and his family were almost the +only sympathizing friends of the L.J.S. missionaries. + +PICK, Israel, a brother of the above, had received a strict Talmudical +education. When he came to the age of discretion he began to waver +between rabbinic orthodoxy and freethought, but he felt an inward call +to do something great for the emancipation of his brethren and for +restoring the Jewish kingdom. At first he was engaged in journalistic +work at Vienna, and then he became a preacher and teacher in a synagogue +at Bucharest, where he endeavoured to infuse vital religion into the +congregation, but had to leave them disappointed. His enthusiasm for the +temporal and spiritual welfare of his people caused him to correspond +with missionaries and to lay before them a plan for the establishment of +a Hebrew Christian National Church. He also addressed a letter to that +effect to the Jews in Amsterdam in 1853, but received no encouragement +anywhere. At last he embraced Christianity and was baptized by Daniel +Edward at Breslau in 1854. On this occasion he wrote: "A Word to my +People," afterwards "The Star of Jacob," "Kol nidre night," "Is there no +Physician there?" In all these writings he displayed almost a +prophetical spirit, speaking from the fulness of a heart inflamed with +love to his people, and no less to his Saviour. This enthusiasm led him +eventually in 1859 to Jerusalem, and then he was heard of no more. The +probability is that he was killed somewhere in Palestine. + +PICK, Joseph, after studying in Basel and in the L.J.S. College, was +appointed missionary at Strassburg in 1877, and in 1888 he was +transferred to Cracow. He was a gifted and an energetic man and laboured +in both places under peculiar difficulties. In 1897 he visited London, +and on his return died rather suddenly, his loss being deeply felt by +all who knew him. + +PICK, Rev. Dr. Bernard, was baptized in Berlin in 1861. Later he went to +the United States, where he studied theology and was appointed to a +church at Rochester, New York. He was a prolific writer. The following +were from his pen: "The Mission among the Jews," in the Encyclopædia of +Biblical, theological and ecclesiastical literature (New York, 1881, pp. +166-177). "The Talmud, what it is and what it knows about Jesus and His +followers" (New York, 1887). "Luther as a Hymnist," 1888. "Historical +Sketch of the Jews since the destruction of Jerusalem," 1887. + +PIERITZ, G. Wildon, born at Klecko in Posen, in 1808, baptized 1835, +laboured as a missionary of the L.J.S. in the forties of the nineteenth +century at Jerusalem, in Damascus, and subsequently settled at Oxford, +where he was engaged in teaching. He was a learned and spiritually-minded +man, as his articles in the "Hebrew Christian Witness, 1874-5," testify. +He was the author of "The Gospels from the Rabbinical Point of View," +London and Oxford, 1873. + +PIERITZ, Rev. Joseph Abraham, was a missionary of the L.J.S., stationed +at Bristol in 1844, and laboured amongst the Jews generally in the West +of England, also in Dublin and other places. He afterwards went out to +British Guiana, and became rector of the parish of St. Patrick, Berbice, +where he died in 1869, aged sixty-five, as the result of a carriage +accident. His funeral was taken by the Bishop, and was attended by over +2,000 persons. + +POLAN, Rev. Mark, was born at Wilna, a town known as the "Jerusalem of +Lithuania," where a high type of Judaism prevailed and where Rabbinical +learning flourished, and where also the Greek churches mostly +represented a sensuous and ritualistic Christianity. At Wilna there is a +flourishing trade in cereal products, and Mark's father was a corn +merchant. His parents gave him a rigorous religious training. His mother +could speak Hebrew well, and the boy was instructed in the Talmud and +other Rabbinical writings. As an illustration of the sectarian rigour of +the Jews at Wilna, it may be mentioned that a law having been passed +compelling education in the Russian language, the Jews proclaimed a Fast +and made provision for the private tuition of their children. + +Young Polan left his native place in 1872 intending to proceed to +Australia and join a relative there. A change of plan, under pressure +from home, led him to linger first at Königsberg and then in London. In +London he soon came in contact with missionaries. His aim, however, was +not enquiry but opposition. Rumours then reached his friends that he had +become a Meshummad, but careful enquiries satisfied them that their +suspicions were mistaken and he was left unmolested. + +But the living God was also watching and guiding. Gradually his attitude +to Christianity began to change. For one thing, the absence of images in +the English churches made an impression upon him. The first Christian +book that he read was the "Pilgrim's Progress" in Hebrew. Then there +came eager readings of Commentaries written on St. Luke, Acts, Romans +and Hebrews by Dr. Biesenthal, once a rabbinical Jew; he was thus led to +a careful study of the New Testament. In the Rev. Theodore Meyer the +enquirer at last found a wise and loving instructor and friend. From the +first, Mr. Meyer's erudition and sincerity drew forth the confidence and +interest of the young Jew. + +After four years' instruction, Mr. Polan came forward for baptism, and +it was arranged to take place in Park Church, Highbury. An incident, +however, happened which led to its postponement. On the eve of his +proposed baptism he had a dream which led him to withdraw, and was the +cause of severe and protracted mental struggles. It is said by the +rabbins, and believed by the Jews, that in Paradise a dark veil is made +to hang before the parent whose child has become an "apostate." In his +dream Polan saw his mother in Paradise behind the dark curtain. The +effect upon his mind was such that he could not face baptism; nor did +he, until nearly a year afterwards. It may have been that the first +decision was resting mainly upon mental conviction of the truth. At any +rate, there followed more serious consideration and prayerful searching +of the Scriptures, with the result that a certain word of the Lord +reached his heart and touched it with signal power. The word was: "Let +not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me." + +Under the power of this word this earnest seeker emerged into the light. +Ultimately, in 1878, he openly confessed Christ by baptism, the +ordinance being administered by Mr. Meyer in Park Church, Highbury. + +The inevitable ostracism and persecution, with their attendant +sufferings, followed. It was a welcome mitigation to the new convert's +trials that his father did not entirely cast him off. And the spirit in +which he suffered may be gathered from the reply he sent to his brothers +and sisters, when, at his father's death, they hurled over him their +anathemas, telling him that his name had been expunged from the family +register. "It has caused me great pain," he wrote to a friend, "but +though my name is not now in the family tree, it can be found in the +Lamb's Book of Life." + +In those days Mr. Polan was a member of Park Church, Highbury. The +pastor at the time was Dr. Edmond, who, with Mr. Meyer, proved a +spiritual father to the young Hebrew Christian. There he was surrounded +by strong missionary influences, and through the Fellowship Association +which supported two foreign missionaries, a desire in him was awakened +to become a messenger of the Cross in the foreign field. + +In 1878 Mr. Meyer wanted a helper in his mission to the Jews, and Mr. +Polan was invited to take up the work. In this opening he recognised a +call of God to give his life to testifying for Christ to his Jewish +brethren. For twelve years he served as a valued helper of Mr. Meyer, +like a son with a father, busily engaged in district visitation and +taking part in the services. Personal studies also occupied his +attention, and he found time to his great joy and profit to attend the +course of lectures on "Systematic Theology" delivered at Queen's Square +by the Rev. Principal Dykes. + +On the retirement of Mr. Meyer, Mr. Mark Polan succeeded to the headship +of the Mission to the Jews in East London. In 1888 he became an elder in +the John Knox Church, Stepney. + +POPER, Rev. Heinrich, D.D., was born at Breidenbach, Germany, in 1813. +His father died before his birth, and his mother went back to her home +at Hildesheim. There he prepared himself to be a teacher, and began to +give lessons to Jewish and Christian children at the age of fourteen. +Later he came to the conviction that the Talmud was not in accord with +the Bible, and after three years inward struggle, he came to England and +was baptized by Reichardt in 1839. He was for a time in the Operative +Jewish Converts' Institution, and then in the Hebrew Missionary College, +and in 1844 he was sent as missionary to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where +he laboured with great efficiency until his departure in 1870. In 1859 +Dr. Poper reported that there probably were from five hundred to a +thousand proselytes in the district. (See "At Home and Abroad," by the +Rev. W. T. Gidney, 1900.) + +POSNER, Sigismund August (Löbel), was born in 1804, of wealthy parents +at Auras in Silesia who gave their children a strict orthodox education; +he was well instructed in the Bible. When studying at Berlin, Mr. Lachs, +Director of the Deaf and Dumb Institution, sowed in his heart the seed +of the Gospel, which took root and led eventually to his conversion, and +he was baptized by Pastor Schultze in 1828. His father was at first +grieved, but became afterward friendly to him. He studied theology and +became a very earnest preacher of the Gospel, so that only decided +Christians liked to hear him. He died in 1849. His biography was +published by Professor Tholuck for Sunday reading. + +RABINOWITZ, Joseph, was born at Resina on the Dniester, September 23, +1837, and died at Kischineff, 1899. He was the son of David ben Ephraim, +and belonged to a rabbinic family. On the early death of his mother, her +father Nathan Neta took him to be educated at his house. When he was six +years of age he could repeat the Song of Solomon by heart. He remained +with his grandfather till 1848, when he went to other relations. At the +age of thirteen they betrothed him. Being compelled by an imperial ukase +to acquire the Russian language, his eyes were opened to a new world of +literature, and he began to think for himself. In 1855 Jehiel +Hershensohn (Lichtenstein), his future brother-in-law, gave him a L.J.S. +New Testament in Hebrew, declaring at the same time that possibly Jesus +of Nazareth might be the true Messiah, at which news he was very much +surprised. However, the immediate effect was that he left the Chassidim +and went back to Orgeyev to his grandfather, and studied the Bible more +and Russian law, so that he could act as a solicitor among his people. +In 1856, he was married, and was then regarded as an influential citizen +of the town, especially when it was seen that he took an active interest +in the education of children and that he contributed important articles +to the Jewish newspapers, and gave lectures at Kischineff, in which he +advocated the principles of reform and progress. In 1878 he wrote an +article in the Hebrew paper, "Haboker Or," in which he requested the +Rabbis to work for the improvement of the condition of the Russian Jews +by teaching them the necessity of becoming gradually an agricultural +people, and he showed this by his own example in cultivating his garden +himself. Not long afterward persecutions broke out in Russia, and he +went to Palestine on a mission of enquiry with a view of establishing a +Jewish colony there. But when he arrived in Jerusalem and became +acquainted with the sad temporal and spiritual condition of the Jews +there, his heart sank within him, and he was about to leave the Holy +City in despair, but before doing so he went to the Mount of Olives. +There he sat down in deep meditation, and reviewing the sad history of +his unfortunate people, the thought came to him as an inspiration: "The +key to the Holy Land is in the hands of our brother Jesus." This thought +he made then the matter and basis of his future work. Returning to +Kischineff, he drew up thirteen theses, the substance of which was that +Jesus is the only Saviour of Israel as well as of the whole world. With +great courage and enthusiasm he then endeavoured by word and pen to +propagate his conviction, and gained in a short time many adherents both +at Kischineff and in other towns of Bessarabia. Having in 1885 published +his "Symbol of the Israelites of the New Covenant" in seven articles, +Professor F. Delitzsch and the Rev. John Wilkinson encouraged him, and +in Glasgow an association was formed in 1887 for the support of his +movement. Rabinowitz was baptized in Berlin by Professor Mead, of +Andover U.S.A., in 1885, and henceforth his mission work took a more +decisive but also perhaps a more restrictive character. He was asked by +Provost Faltin, pastor of the Lutheran Church at Kischineff, to join +that Church, but for good reasons he declined to do so, as neither he +nor his adherents who had just come out from the synagogue could worship +in a church where there was a crucifix. For still stronger reasons he +could not join the Russian Church as he was asked to do by the highest +authorities. Consequently he had to build a hall, in which he preached +the pure Gospel as long as he lived. The result of this movement was +that not only Rabinowitz, and his wife and seven children with his +brother and family, and other individual Jews who heard the Gospel from +his lips publicly confessed Christ as their Saviour, but also that the +attitude of the Jews in general toward the person of our Lord has since +then changed for the better. + +RAGSTATT, Friedrich de Weile, was born at Metz in 1648. His father David +was a teacher in several congregations, and naturally gave him a good +Jewish education. At the Jewish school, he learned from the Talmud the +old tradition that the Messiah was to come after 4,000 years had elapsed +since the Creation. This led him to enquire, and eventually he was +instructed by Dr. J. Alex. Neuspitzer, pastor of the Reformed Church at +Cleves, in 1671. In 1672 he entered the University of Leyden, and in +1677 he became pastor at Assenen; and then in 1680 at Spyk, in South +Holland, where he officiated till he died. Ragstatt was the author of +the following works:--(1) "Jefeh Maréh" (Amsterdam, 1671), written in +Latin, in which he endeavoured to prove, as against the Jewish +controversialists, especially Lipman of Mülhausen, the Messianic mission +of Jesus. A Dutch translation of this work, which contains also an +account of Shabbathai Zebi, was published at Amsterdam, in 1683. (2) +"Viytmunden--de Liefde Jesu tot de zeelen," _ib._ 1678. (3) "Van het +gnaden Verbond," _ib._ 1613. (4) "Two homilies on Gen. xlix. 10, and +Mal. iii.," The Hague, 1684. (5) "Noach's prophetie van Bekeering der +Heyden," Amsterdam, 1688. (6) "An Address delivered on the occasion of +the baptism of the Portuguese Jew, Abraham Gabai Faro," _ib._ 1688. (7) +"Brostwepen des Geloofs," _ib._ 1689. (8) "Jesus Nazerenus Sions König +on Ps. ii. 6," Amsterdam, 1688. + +RAPOPORT, the well-known banker in Paris, was baptized with his wife, +two sons and four daughters, by Pastor Abric at Passy in 1879. + +RICARDO, David, was born in London 1772, of a Portuguese family, and +died in 1823, at Gatcomb Park, Gloucestershire. He embraced Christianity +in his youth (see Brockhaus, 12, 523) and was therefore forsaken by his +father. He entered the Stock Exchange with little means and amassed a +fortune. He was the author of "Principles of Political Economy and +Taxation," 1817. In 1819 Ricardo entered the House of Commons for +Portarlington. Nearly all his brothers became Christians. To his memory +there is a professorship at the London University by the name of +Ricardo. + +RICIO, Peter, son of a Jewish jeweller, was born at Berlin in 1809, and +died in 1879; he distinguished himself as a Christian in his +investigations in physical science. Amongst other works, his "Lehre von +der Rechnungs elementale," became epoch-making and secured for him the +membership of the academies at Petersburg, Göttingen and Munich, and the +degree of Doctor from Paris. + +ROHOLD, S. B. The story of his conversion is thus told by himself:-- + +"It was in the well-beloved city of Jerusalem that I was born, and there +also my early days were spent. More than half the inhabitants of +Jerusalem are Jews, and mostly very pious, having come from all parts +of the world to be buried in the Holy City when they die. The belief +amongst these Jews is that when Messiah comes there will be the +resurrection, and the bodies of those who were buried beyond Jerusalem +will have to suffer much rolling until they reach the city. Thus to +prevent this they have their burying place in the ancient city, being +zealous for their religion, without enquiring as to whether they are +really right in doing so. My father's family was very well known, +belonging to one of the most pious sects of Jews in Jerusalem. It was +the great delight of my father to speak of his ancestors, who were great +rabbis; and for half a century he occupied an honoured rabbinical +position himself in Jerusalem (Rosh Hashochatim). My dear mother also, +whose ancestors were leading Jews amongst the rabbis, was fond of +telling us wonderful stories of her grandfather, who was a famous +disciple of the great Geonim of Wilna. Needless to say, both my parents +were careful to train their children in the religion of their +forefathers. Being the youngest son of the family, I was much petted, +and they did their utmost to bring me up in the fear of God, and in all +the customs, rites, and rabbinical traditions, whilst they taught me to +look upon Christianity as idolatry. Truly my parents loved me very much, +and did all in their power to educate me in what they believed to be +right, and their one desire was that I might occupy the seat of my dear +father, to which all my teachers gave them full hope. Thus the early +part of my life was spent in study within the home circle. It was in +the year 1893 that I had conversation for the first time with +Christians. + +"In that beautiful spot, the so-called Garden of Gethsemane, I one +evening met two servants of God, who began speaking to me. At the time +it seemed that I had gone into the Garden merely by accident, but now, +as one looks back over the past, it can be clearly seen that a loving +unseen hand was guiding me. These two Christians explained to me from +the Scriptures how that Jesus of Nazareth is in very deed the promised +Messiah, Israel's greatest hope. As they reasoned with me, there was one +passage of Scripture which I could not get over, that 'the sceptre shall +not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until +Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.' + +"With this new light upon the Word of God I was given to understand that +the promises regarding the coming One told not only of His glory and +majesty, but also of His suffering and death (Isaiah liii. and Psalm +xxii.). + +"Slowly I began to see how great and true Jehovah is, and how that His +divine word regarding the Messiah has been literally fulfilled in Jesus +Christ. I saw my helpless condition, and realized as never before that +my own righteousness was as filthy rags. And oh, what joy came to me, +when the gracious promise of God was fulfilled, a promise which came to +me now with such a new meaning. 'A new heart also will I give you, and a +new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart +out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put +My spirit within you.' (Ezekiel xxxvi. 26, 27). + +"Having then accepted Jesus Christ as my own personal Saviour, I began +to wish that my own loved ones might know Him, whom to know is life +eternal. But I feared to tell them of my new-found treasure, and it is +impossible for me to describe the unrest and agony of soul that I passed +through in consequence. It was only at the Throne of Grace that comfort +could be found, and there I sought the strength and help I so much +needed. After this it seemed very clear that the Lord was speaking to me +through His Word, and was thus answering my prayer for guidance. The +word which came to me was that given to Abram of old--'Get thee out of +thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father's house, unto the +land that I will shew thee.' (Genesis xii. 1). + +"To leave those who are dear to one, the relations and friends, yes, +even to leave all for Christ's sake, is not easy; yet I knew it would be +best to do what appeared to be the only right thing. It was a hard +command to obey, but still I had the Lord's promises to take with +me,--'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world' (St. +Matthew xxviii. 20). 'If ye shall ask anything of the Father in My name, +He will give it you' (St. John xvi. 23). Trusting therefore in God +alone, and persuading myself that He would be faithful in fulfilling His +promises, I started on my journey. And by the help of Almighty God I +came to England, arriving here as a perfect stranger, not knowing the +language, and without an earthly friend. It was a time of great +temptation, but the God of my fathers kept me. Letters came from my +friends and relations in Jerusalem, trying to persuade me to go back, +and my dear father said it would bring down his grey hairs in sorrow to +the grave if I did not return. Truly I felt the presence of my Redeemer, +and realized that He had called me. This joy filled my heart, and the +peace which passeth understanding was my portion. I praise God for those +Christians who have learned to sympathize with His ancient people. The +Lord raised up kind friends who helped me through my difficulties, and +daily I learned more of my Saviour's love, and found that 'His goodness +faileth never.' His word says, 'They who put their trust in Him will +never be put to shame,' and as I trusted, so I proved the truth of it. +After spending some time in England, the way opened for me to enter the +Bible Training Institute, Glasgow. + +"Here I had opportunity of studying the Word of God, for which I was +very thankful. At length a call came for me to enter active service in +the vineyard of the Lord at the Bonar Memorial Mission to the Jews of +Glasgow. On this work the Lord was pleased to set His seal, sending +friends to encourage me, and in other ways blessing me abundantly." + +ROMANN, Nathaniel, was born at Kobylin, Posen, in 1819, and was educated +in the rabbinic schools of Lissa and Breslau, attending also at the +latter place lectures at the University. From the reformed rabbi, Dr. +Geiger, he learned to reject the Talmud, and from the missionaries +Teichler, Caro, and Cerf, he learned to accept the Gospel, and to become +a whole-hearted Christian. He then became a teacher in a Christian +school at Zieginhals. In 1851 he was accepted by the L.J.S. as a +candidate for missionary work, and after preparing himself in their +college, he was sent to labour in Breslau and Berlin, where he +discharged his duties faithfully, becoming a blessing to many Jews, till +his death in Berlin in 1871. + +RONKEL, Philipp Samuel Van, was born at Groningen, Holland, in 1819. His +father was a teacher in a Jewish school, and when Pauli visited him, he +shewed him a New Testament, which he often read, but concealed it from +his son. Pauli said to him, "You may hide the New Testament from your +son, but you cannot thereby frustrate the counsel of God." Philipp was +well educated in rabbinic law, but he found no pleasure therein, nor did +the services in the synagogue attract him. He was brooding upon +something which his parents could not find out. At the age of nineteen +he entered the academy of Groningen, and studied classics. A professor +there drew his attention to the influence which Jesus exercises upon +thinking humanity. From that time the personality of the Saviour +occupied his mind, and he began to read with delight the poems of Da +Costa. Just then he was requested by the Jewish congregation at Leerdam +to deliver a sermon at the dedication of a new synagogue, and he took +for his text Haggai ii. 10, and manifested in his sermon that he was +inclined towards Christianity. It then happened that a Christian pastor +visited a poor sick woman, but she refused to have his services. Ronkel +then tried to see what he could do with her, and succeeded in getting an +attentive hearing from her to his stories about good women of the Old +Testament. She then asked him to read the Bible, but he had not one with +him, and her own Bible she had torn to pieces when the pastor visited +her. Then she asked him to pray, but he had never offered up an +extempore prayer. In this perplexity he thought he could repeat the +Lord's prayer in Dutch, which he had learned in Greek. He then repeated +it with such fervour that the woman shed tears. This was the turning +point in Ronkel's life. He took now the decisive step, and was baptized +on Christmas Day, 1856, Da Costa being one of the witnesses. He became a +true Christian, according to the testimony of his own father. Later he +became one of the most eloquent preachers in Holland, and the Lord +prospered the work which He had committed to his hands. + +ROSENBERG, Rev. L., wrote the following brief sketch of himself shortly +before he died:--"My parents were by birth Austrian Jews. By occupation +my father was a landed proprietor and my mother carried on a drapery +business. There were four children of the marriage, three boys and one +girl. I was born on April 5th, 1828. My mother and three children died +at a time when I was too young to remember them. My father was baptized +into the Christian Church. I received a good secular and religious +education, enough to lead me to avoid bad company; not so much to honour +God as to honour myself in order to be respected and esteemed so as to +mix with the best society. + +"Ignorant of and prejudiced against Christianity, how wonderful were the +dealings of the Lord with me will be seen from the following +record:--About 1841 I visited Constantinople. Here a young Jewish friend +persuaded me, after much effort, to go with him to a Mission House, +where we heard a godly sermon preached before a gathering of young +Israelites, by the Rev. Dr. Schwartz, who, later on, was Pastor of +Trinity Chapel, Edgware Road, West London, and also a member of the +Committee of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among +the Jews. His Scriptural discourse awakened in me a desire to know more +about Christianity, and I often went to hear him preach at the Chapel of +the Prussian Embassy on the fore-noons of the Lord's Day. + +"Having for a few years been convinced of the truth of Christianity, I +studied the Old and New Testament together, praying morning and evening +for light. + +"About 1844 I again visited Constantinople on my way to Asia Minor for +hunting, with a view to becoming a naturalist by profession, collecting +wild animals, birds, and insects of all sorts for the museum. It was +whilst hunting on the top of Mount Olympus that the glorious scenery and +the power of God's Word, created as it were, a voice within me, ordering +me to leave all things, and I returned to Constantinople, and was +baptized by Mr. Allen, son-in-law of Dr. Duncan, the well-known 'rabbi +Duncan' of Edinburgh. + +"Again I returned to Broussa, and on my own account I preached the +Gospel for a whole year to Jews, Armenians, and Greeks, from among whom +many, through Divine grace, were converted. + +"Thus encouraged I went to Malta, where for about six years I studied +literature and theology in the Protestant College there, and in return I +gave lessons to boys in different classes, four hours a day. To complete +my preparations for the ministry of the Church I studied both in London +and Edinburgh. + +"The Jewish Committee of the Established Church of Scotland engaged me +for about seven years, during which time I laboured as one of their +missionaries at the stations of Salonica and Smyrna, with encouraging +results, through the Divine blessing resting upon the Jews, Armenians +and Greeks. After this, on my resignation, I returned to Edinburgh and +London. + +"Whilst in London the Committee of the Malta Protestant College, to whom +I was well known, and amongst whom were the late Lords Shaftesbury, +Calthorpe and Kinnaird, engaged me, and I went to the East to establish +British Schools for boys in all the principal towns bordering on the +Mediterranean and Black Seas. I established in Cairo a large boarding +and day school, and for over two years I worked on until my health +completely broke down, and, acting upon medical advice, I resigned and +came to London. + +"On August 21st, 1865, I was engaged by the Committee of the British +Society, and ever since then I have been labouring, in Adrianople, +chiefly among the Jews, but also among the Armenians and the Greeks. +During the first ten years I baptized forty Jews, whilst other enquirers +of mine have been baptized in Constantinople, Smyrna, Jerusalem and +London. Many unbaptized Jews, Armenians and Greeks, have also been led +to believe in Jesus as the Saviour of their souls." He died in 1905 +after more than forty years missionary work in Adrianople. + +ROSENBERG, Samuel, M.D., was baptized at Constantinople about 1873. He +accompanied General Hicks on his compaign in the Soudan, where he lost +his life with the rest of the expedition. + +ROSENBOHM, a Jewish convert in Sweden, was tutor of Hebrew at the +University of Upsala, in 1720. At the Coronation of King Friedrich, he +delivered a rabbinic oration, and likewise at the conclusion of peace +between the Kings of England, Denmark, and Prussia. (Wolff Bib. Heb. 3 +N, 2138 a). + +ROSENFELD, J. F. (Asriel), was born in 1807. His parents brought him up +piously, and married him at the age of fourteen. Coming in contact in +Berditsheff with a Scotchman, he received from him a New Testament. He +then went to Warsaw, became an inmate in the House of Industry, and +learned the trade of bookbinding, was baptized in 1828, and afterwards +laboured zealously as a missionary in Poland until his death in 1853. + +ROSENSTRAUCH, Max, was born at Lemberg, on September 1, 1837. His +parents Moses and Scheindell, were strictly orthodox, and brought him up +in the straitest customs of strict Judaism. As he grew up, they were +proud of his Talmudical knowledge, their intention being that he should +become a rabbi. When seventeen years old, family circumstances compelled +him, however, to go into business, and he was apprenticed to a merchant, +with whom he remained ten years. In 1865, he accepted the post of a +schoolmaster in Jassy. Whilst there he heard of the Hebrew learning of +the Rev. W. Mayer, one of the L.J.S. missionaries, and formerly a +scholar in their mission schools in London. From him he received a New +Testament, which he read with eagerness, leading him to take Christian +instruction for eighteen months. Soon after this a strange event took +place in his life. He had left Jassy, and was on a steamer going to +Odessa, when the engine broke down. There being danger, the Captain +called upon all the passengers to pray. This Max Rosenstrauch felt he +could not do in the Name of Jesus Christ; all he could say was--"Lord, +teach us to pray." Later on the captain gave an earnest address to the +passengers on St. John iii. 14, 15; this he did not fully understand, but +what he did made a lasting impression upon him. In 1867 he was in +Kischineff, and of this period he says, "It only awakens in me painful +reminiscences. My Talmudical supports had been broken by the instruction +received at Jassy, and I fell altogether into unbelief. I could perform +neither Jewish nor Christian prayers. I did not even believe in the +existence of God. I sometimes disputed with the Scotch missionary, Mr. +Tomory, and Mr. Daniel Landsmann, and they knew me as a thorough +infidel Jew. At Odessa I lived as an atheist, and I had no intercourse +with any Christian. I was busy the whole day at a boarding-school, under +Mr. Trübitsch. At Kischineff my slumbering conscience was aroused, and +an unspeakable struggle agitated my heart, until the Lord opened my +eyes, and in every page of the Bible I saw the glory of Him who said, 'I +am the Light of the World.' In His Name I was baptized on Easter Day, +1868." After some years of missionary work with continental societies, +he joined the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the +Jews, in which he remained till his death, November 3, 1900. The +"Prayer-book for Jewesses" and his "Catechism for Jews," which he wrote, +have been most useful in his work, and in that of the above Society +generally. + +ROSENTHAL, Rev. Michael, Vicar of St. Mark's, Whitechapel, who died at +the age of 63, was a converted Jewish rabbi, who for thirty years +carried on an earnest missionary work among the Jews of East London. The +story of his conversion is a remarkable one. Young rabbi Rosenthal, a +Hebrew of German extraction, was a profound Talmudist, and as strict and +zealous a Jew as was Saul of Tarsus before the journey to Damascus. +Rosenthal was sent on missions in connexion with the faith of his +fathers to Asia Minor, to North Africa and other countries, and finally +to England. On a steamboat he met a very learned and able man, who he +believed was a Jesuit. The man was certainly a Roman Catholic, and he +possessed a good deal of rabbinical lore. Rosenthal, as a strict Jew, +observed all the dietary and other laws of his people, and took his +meals separately. The supposed Jesuit ridiculed his scruples, and one +day, when the young rabbi was dining alone, touched his bottle of +claret, thereby, of course, rendering it defiled. Rosenthal was angry, +and the man saw this and taxed him with over-niceness in ceremonial +observance. "Do you really think," he asked, "that God is pleased by +your rejecting things that are good enough for the captain and other +people on the ship, and that you really serve Him by making yourself so +different from anybody else?" They had some conversation, which left a +great impression on the young rabbi's mind. One argument used by the +supposed priest had considerable effect. The Jews in the course of their +history during the last nineteen hundred years have acknowledged no +fewer than twenty-four Messiahs, all of whom have turned out to be +false, either impostors or self-deluded fanatics. Can a nation that has +made the gigantic mistake of accepting twenty-four false Messiahs claim +to be infallible in rejecting a twenty-fifth? All these false Messiahs +have appeared and been accepted since our Lord lived on earth except +"Judas of Galilee," who was a contemporary of Jesus Christ. Some time +after his arrival in England Rosenthal became acquainted with Dr. +Wilkinson, then rector of St. Peter's, Eaton Square. The young rabbi was +tremendously impressed by Dr. Wilkinson's great abilities and spiritual +earnestness. "Here is a Christian," he said to himself, "who is +absolutely sincere and of great intellectual power. Can Christianity be +merely a modern form of Paganism when such noble souls as these profess +it?" He listened to Dr. Wilkinson, and was on the way to conversion when +the good rector advised him to have recourse to the learned Dr. Ewald, a +celebrated Jewish missionary of the L.J.S., for the solution of +difficulties which only a Hebraist could deal with successfully. +Rosenthal was eventually baptized by Ewald. He took orders in the +English Church, being ordained deacon by Dr. Jackson, Bishop of London, +in 1877. Four years later he was admitted to the priesthood, and he +served for thirteen years as curate to the Rev. S. J. Stone, author of +"The Church's One Foundation," at St. Paul's, Haggerston, devoting +himself chiefly to mission work among the East-end Jews. He organized +the East London Mission to the Jews, which first came under regular +diocesan management when the present Bishop of London was Bishop of +Stepney. In 1899 Bishop Creighton presented Mr. Rosenthal to St. Mark's, +Whitechapel, a parish which is inhabited almost entirely by Jews. He met +with a good deal of hostility from the Jews in the first years, but he +talked straight to them and gradually the opposition died down, and he +steadily pursued his mission work among them. His labours were attended +with considerable success. He said that he had himself baptized over six +hundred Jews and Jewesses. + +ROSENTHAL, Wildan Charles (Simeon), a learned Jew in Jerusalem, was +baptized with his wife, son and daughter by Nicolayson in 1839. This +family were the firstfruits of the L.J.S. mission in the Holy City. His +daughter became the wife of Mr. Bergheim, the banker, a Jewish convert. + +ROSSVALLY, Dr. Max L., an American Jewish convert in the latter half of +the nineteenth century. He had been an actor, and after his conversion +became well-known as a lecturer in America and in England. He displayed +great zeal in his endeavours to form a Hebrew Christian Union, and in +1877 it is recorded that two hundred converts were united together and +held monthly meetings in New York and in Brooklyn. Rossvally wrote "The +Dying Trumpeter and his Experience," a German version of which appeared +in Hamburg, in 1891. + +RUBEN, Maurice, was born in Prussia, in 1856. His people were typical +Jews, strict in their customs and in the observance of Jewish laws and +traditions. He came to the United States when he was sixteen years of +age. In 1895 he had the position of department manager in one of +Pittsburg's largest stores. His brother was half owner of this +enterprise. Plans were under way to admit him into a partnership in the +firm, which would have made him to-day--had he chosen "the way of the +world"--a man of wealth, with an annual income of 15,000 dollars. + +Just prior to this he had married a charming and accomplished Jewess. In +the matter of religion he had wandered from Judaism to infidelity. Being +dissatisfied with unbelief, he began to "search the Scriptures"--both +the Old and New Testament--which resulted in the opening of his eyes; +he began to appreciate his own sinfulness, and was thoroughly convicted +of sin, the need of repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. His +conversion took place on March 19th, 1895, and resulted in a most +striking change of both conduct and thought. + +He continued to engage in earnest studies and to make it known to his +friends and acquaintances that he had found Him of whom Moses and the +prophets wrote, even the Messiah. Some months later he felt called upon +to announce his determination to forsake business and become a servant +of the Lord among his own people, believing he was being led by God even +as his forefathers Abraham and Moses. + +As a result of his decision he was baptized, and set out to illumine the +spiritual darkness of "his brethren according to the flesh." + +The Jews were very greatly disturbed at this conduct of one of their +prominent young men, and here the trials and troubles of Maurice Ruben +began. They made repeated efforts to induce him to forsake his "change +of life," but their efforts were futile. His wife ostensibly left their +comfortable home with her mother to visit friends in the West. + +On a Sunday evening in August, subsequent to his conversion, he was +awakened from his slumber by the ringing of the door-bell. Responding +thereto he found himself face to face with two policemen. He was placed +under arrest and taken to the police station without a warrant of law. + +He was given no explanation as to the charge which had been preferred +against him, and neither on Sunday nor Monday did a magistrate appear to +give him a hearing. He was, however, visited twice by two physicians, +who conversed with him in a mysterious manner. They introduced +themselves as insanity experts. Two days and two nights in a felon's +cell, with worse than a criminal's treatment, was a most trying +circumstance. Yet God was there to minister strength unto him. (St. Luke +x. 19.) He was visited on the second day by his wealthy brother, who +kindly informed him that he had been crazed by religion and was to be +sent for treatment to a sanatorium. He was taken that evening by +officers of the law to an asylum for the insane. + +In the course of a few days he was pronounced by the superintendent of +the institution to be a perfectly sane man, but he was unable to release +him. His Christian friends endeavoured to intercede for him, but without +avail, and consequently this tried child of God was called upon to +endure the humiliation of five weeks' confinement in a mad-house, and +given the same treatment accorded to hundreds of demented folk in the +institution. + +He was visited several times by his wealthy brother who offered him his +liberty if he would leave Pittsburg and go West, but he took a firm +stand and gladly refused to do anything except to remain in the city and +preach the Gospel of the Son of God to his brethren. A man of +considerable business interests in the city, Mr. J. B. Corey, finally +heard of him through the daily papers, and was led to call upon him in +company with a number of the officials of the institution. Mr. Corey and +the gentlemen found Mr. Ruben in his little room reading the Bible. A +short conversation satisfied the visitors that steps must be taken to +obtain the freedom of this man. Mr. Corey then instituted _habeas +corpus_ proceedings before the late Judge White. + +At the close the judge frankly informed the wealthy brother and the +insanity experts that they and all connected with this outrageous infamy +ought to be sent to prison, and that the alleged demented man was saner +than those who had pronounced him insane. + +Mr. Ruben at once began to prepare himself for his missionary work, and +sometime later opened up headquarters in Congress Street--the centre of +the Jewish Ghetto--and suffered much persecution. For the first few +years he was interfered with and maligned in every way imaginable. His +street meetings were frequently broken up, and he was hooted and stoned +by the Jewish element. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall +suffer persecution." God, however, led him safely through all his +difficulties and trials, and enabled him to found the New Covenant +Mission, Pittsburg, Pa.[21] + + +[21] "The People, the Land and the Book," New York, January, 1906. + + +RUBINO, Dr. Joseph Karl Friedrich, was born at Wetzlar in 1799. He +became professor at Marberg in 1831. His intercourse with earnest +Christians at Cassel, and especially with a converted Jewess, known in +Germany as Mother Jolberg, led him to investigate the question at issue +between Judaism and Christianity for himself, and being convinced of the +truth of the latter, he made a public confession of it by baptism at +Cassel in 1842, and lived a consistent life. On the evening before his +death he said to friends, "No other foundation can any man lay than that +is laid, even Jesus Christ." + +RUNHOLD, Karl Wilhelm (Zacharia Lehman), Ph.D., was born at Hamburg in +1777. His father was a silk merchant there. At the age of twenty-two he +became an evangelical Christian, graduated at Rostok in 1812, and +distinguished himself afterwards as a writer. He edited the +"Gemein-nützigen Unterhaltungs blätter," the "Allgemeine Theater +Zeitung," and the "Archive für Theater und Literatur" in Hamburg. He +died in 1841. + +SACHS, Marcus, was born of wealthy parents in 1812, at Inowrallan in +Posen. His father sent him to an uncle to study at the Gymnasium and +afterwards at the University there. During his studies he lost his faith +in Judaism and became a follower of Voltaire. In 1842 he went to +Edinburgh and became acquainted with the professor of theology, Dr. John +Brown, who made an effort to win him for Christianity, and gave him to +read the well-known book of Abbot Guenée "Lettres de quelques Juifs +Portugais, Allemands et Polonais à M. Voltaire." After he returned it +Dr. Brown asked him whether he would like to read a book which defended +the Christian religion? and on his affirmative reply he gave him +Limbroch's "Amica Collatio cum erudito Judæo." These two books removed +his prejudices, and he then began to read the New Testament, and after +months of enquiry, deliberation and prayer he decided to accept +Christianity by faith, and was baptized by Dr. Brown, April 5th, 1843. +He then studied under Dr. Chalmers, and was licensed to preach, and +became tutor of Hebrew in the Seminary of the Free Church at Aberdeen. +He is described as a most humble and loving Christian man by Dr. Saphir +and others who knew him. He died there on September 29th, 1869, passing +away with the leaves of autumn, a ripe sheaf into the garner of God. + +SALKINSON, Isaac Edward, was born at Wilna, and died at Vienna, June +5th, 1883. According to some, his father's name was Solomon Salkind. As +a youth he set out for America with the intention of entering a +rabbinical seminary there; but whilst in London he was met by agents of +the L.J.S., from whom he heard the Gospel and was converted and +baptized. His first appointment as a missionary to the Jews was at +Edinburgh, where he became a student in the Divinity Hall. He was +ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church at Glasgow, in 1859. He +was then a missionary of the British Society in various towns, including +Pressburg, and finally settled in Vienna (1876). Salkinson translated +"Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation" under the title "Sod ha-Jeshu'ah" +(Altona, 1858); "Milton's Paradise Lost," under the title "Wa Yegaresh +et haadam" (Vienna, 1871); Shakespeare's "Othello" and "Romeo and +Juliet," under the titles "Itiel ha kushi" (_ib._, 1874; preface by P. +Smolensky); and "Ram we-Yael" (_ib._, 1878); Tiedge's "Urania," under +the title "Ben Koheleth" (_ib._, 1876, revised); and the New Testament +under the title "Haberith Hahadasha." The last mentioned translation was +undertaken for the British Society in 1887; it was published +posthumously under the supervision of Dr. C. D. Ginsburg at Vienna in +1886. + +SALVADOR, Yonkheer Moses, flourished at Amsterdam in the middle of the +nineteenth century. One of his ancestors built the Salvador house near +the Bank of England. It is said that the Salvadors were direct +descendants of the Maccabees, the Saviours of Israel, hence the name +Salvador, meaning Saviour. Moses Salvador was intimately acquainted with +Pauli and welcomed him to his house, where they discussed the subject of +Christianity. The result was that he joined the French Reformed Church, +at Haarlem in 1852. For a long time after his conversion he used to give +Thursday evening lectures on Christianity, which were attended by +Christians and Jews. + +SAMANY, a native of Assesso in Abyssinia, was one of Flad's early +converts there. He had to undergo bitter reproaches from his mother and +relations on account of his becoming a Christian, but his reply to his +mother was that he loved her now better than before, and that he would +take care of her. Working on his weaver's stool he at the same time used +to speak to his two sisters of the "pearl of great price" that he had +found, and they too became Christians. During the imprisonment of the +missionaries, he attached himself to Waldemayer, who was free. After +the arrival of the English expedition he went to the coast, where he and +his companion Petrus were met by the Jewish traveller Halevy, who gave +them some money and promised to take them to Paris. Not perceiving at +once his intention, they accepted the money, but they brought it back to +him the next morning, and as he refused to take it back, they threw it +into the sea, although they suffered hunger at the time. Then they went +to Magdala, and afterwards with Flad to Europe, and were placed in the +training school at St. Chrischona, near Basle. But as Samany could not +stand the climate there, Flad took him to his own house at Kornthal, and +was then obliged to send him back to Abyssinia. On his return he and +Agashe preached the Gospel earnestly to the Falashas. Samany continued +to do so even from his sick bed. Conscious that the time of his +departure had come, he asked that the coffin which he had before +prepared for himself should be placed before him, then saying, "Father, +into Thy hands I commend my spirit," he entered into rest. + +SAMSON, Lewis Paul, was an English Jew by birth, the son of a Dutch +"sopher" (writer of scrolls of the law and of phylacteries). When a boy +he used to hear Dr. McNeile at St. Jude's, Liverpool, and in other ways +came in contact with Christian influences. When he became forty years +old he was asked by his children to hear them repeat a portion of +Scripture which they had been taught at school. It happened to be Isaiah +liii., and it proved to be the turning point in his life. Like many +another Jew, he could not believe at first that it was a part of the Old +Testament, but it led eventually to his baptism by a Hebrew Christian, +who was one of the Society's missionaries. + +His public profession of Christianity made him an object of abhorrence +to his brothers and sisters, though later on they learned to respect him +for his simple, unswerving faith, and some of them, it is believed, +became Christians. He continued his occupation, but at the same time was +an active worker in St. Jude's parish, until his appointment under the +Society. He was a man of one book and that book the Bible, which he knew +almost by heart. Many a Jew was struck by his intimate knowledge of the +Word of God, and none ever doubted his being a true believer, however +much they disliked his invariably holding up Christ before them. Many of +the poor Jews, both converted and unconverted, missed him, after his +death, as a friend in need, who often used to minister to their +necessities out of his scanty earnings. At one time, he was known to +have lived for weeks on sixpence a day, to save up the money which he +had borrowed and advanced to a Jew who either could not, or would not, +repay. No wonder that so many Christians learned to love and respect him +as "an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." + +SAPHIR, Rev. Adolph, D.D. We learn from him the story of his conversion +in one short sentence: "I, at that time, a lad in my twelfth year, was +the first of our family to accept the Gospel." Mr. Wingate, who gives +an account of the event, says that the Jews testified to Adolph's being +born again from on high. "We heard that the Jews were saying that the +Holy Ghost had fallen on Saphir's son, and that he expounded the +Scripture as they had never heard it before." In the autumn of 1843, +Adolph went to Dr. Duncan in Edinburgh, that he might perfect his +knowledge of English, where he remained six months, and then went to +Berlin, and studied at the Gymnasium from 1844 to 1848, acquiring a +thorough knowledge not only of German literature, but also of German +philosophy. In 1848-49, he was tutor in the family of Mr. William Brown +in Aberdeen. In 1854, after finishing his theological studies, he was +ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, and licensed as a preacher in +Belfast. He then laboured as a missionary to the Jews in Hamburg for one +year. Then he had the charge of a church in South Shields, and in 1861 +he received a call to Greenwich, where people from various churches +flocked to hear him. In 1872 a church was purchased for him at Notting +Hill, where his ministry was always attended by all sorts of earnest +Christians, especially his Thursday morning lectures. This was also the +case wherever he went to preach. Saphir's love and devotion to his +people and to the cause of missions was boundless. He died April 4, +1891, a few days after his wife. His last sermon was on the text, "And +Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." The following +are some of Saphir's works: (1) "Who is a Jew?"; (2) "Who is an +Apostate?"; (3) "Expository Lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews"; +(4) "The Hidden Life"; (5) "Our Life Day"; (6) "Found by the Good +Shepherd"; (7) "Life of Faith"; (8) "The Compassion of Jesus"; (9) "The +Everlasting Nation"; (10) "Christian Perfection"; (11) "The Unity of the +Scriptures"; (12) "Christ and the Scriptures"; (13) "The Lord's Prayer"; +(14) "Israel's Present and Future"; and (15) "All Israel shall be +Saved." + +SAPHIR, Israel, brother of the famous satirist at Vienna, was living in +Pesth in the first half of the nineteenth century, where, owing to his +erudition and character, he exercised great influence upon the Jewish +community, and was regarded by them as another Gamaliel. Coming in +contact with the Scotch missionaries, Dr. Duncan, Mr. Wingate, Mr. Smith +and Dr. Schwartz, he heard the Gospel from them, and when convinced of +its truth he did not hesitate to embrace it. This is described by his +son in a few words: "Through the instrumentality of the Scotch +missionaries my father saw the truth as it is in Jesus, and was received +into the Christian Church in 1843 at the age of sixty-three years." + +SAPHIR, Philipp, an elder brother of Adolph, was rather inclined to +worldliness, but became serious when there was an inundation in Pesth, +and he had tried to save life. In 1842 Rev. Dr. Schwartz passed through +Pesth on his way to Constantinople, and Philipp heard his addresses to +Jews, and was impressed, becoming conscious of sin and the need of +pardon. He was baptized in the Calvinistic Church of Pesth, in 1843, by +Superintendent Paul Török. He wrote afterwards to Mr. Schwartz: "I was +admitted into the Church of Christ. I cannot describe my feelings to +you. Ah! the infinite love of God! He has given me much peace, nothing +will deprive me of it. I am happy, joyful; my soul is with God. I praise +Christ every hour." He then, being nineteen years of age, went to +Carlsruhe to be trained as a teacher, and on his return to Pesth in +1845, at once set to work and organized a Y.M.C.A. Becoming ill, he +taught poor Christian and Jewish children gratis from his sick bed "The +Evangelical doctrine as he found it in the Word of God." He died +September 27, 1849, whilst his father knelt by his side with two friends +engaged in prayer. The daughters of Israel Saphir all became devoted +Christians. One was married to Rev. Dr. Schwartz, and the other to Rev. +C. A. Schönberger, both well known in the Christian Church. + +SAUL, Aaron, was baptized by the L.J.S. missionaries in 1812. Lewis Way +took him to his Seminary. He however did not become at once a +missionary, but engaged in business and held the office of Clerk in +Palestine Place Chapel, and taught in the Sunday School for twenty-seven +years. He devoted himself especially to the care of enquirers and to the +circulation of the "Old Paths" and other missionary literature among the +Jews in London. From 1841 to 1843, he laboured as missionary at +Brussels, and died in London, Jews following his funeral. + +SARGON, Michael, was born of Jewish parents at Cochin in 1795, and died +about 1855. He was converted in 1818, through the preaching of J. +Jarrett of Madras, and became the first missionary of the L.J.S. to the +Jews in India. In 1820 Sargon visited his parents at Cochin, who +received him kindly, and for a time the Jews there seemed to have no +objection to discussing with him his new faith. A local committee was +found in Madras with Sargon as the representative missionary. Madras +became the centre of the Society's work in India. In 1822 Sargon had 116 +Jewish children under his charge at Cochin, but in 1824 he was +transferred to Bombay, where he opened, under the auspices of the +L.J.S., a school exclusively for Jews. In Cochin Sargon baptized a Jew +and two Jewesses in 1828. He and his brother Abraham continued their +educational activity for nearly thirty-nine years after the Society had +ceased to give a grant to the Bombay mission. (Report of L.J.S., 1821.) + +SCHAPIRO, B. A. M. One summer morning in the year 1890 there visited the +reading room of the Hebrew Christian Mission, 17, St. Mark's Place, New +York, a Hebrew lad of nineteen years, with bright eyes and curly black +hair. He had just arrived there from Germany, although he was a native +of Poland. The boy's keen, intelligent countenance attracted the +attention of the Rev. Jacob Freshman, Superintendent of the mission, and +as several Jewish men were having a lesson in English, that gentleman +suggested that the young Jew should become a member of the class. The +stranger knew no English, the teacher had no knowledge of Polish or +Russian, consequently their conversation was carried on mainly by +pantomime, and with the help of one of the scholars, who acted as +interpreter. Jews are naturally fine students, grasping knowledge with +avidity. The new arrival proved no exception to the rule, and so before +the forenoon ended he had learned the English names of the articles of +furniture in the room, the days of the week, the numerals from one to +ten, and also how to write his name, "Benjamin Aaron Moses Alexander +Schapiro", in English script. Long after, when he had learned to speak +English with ease, we asked: "Why did your parents burden you with such +a number of names?" "Because," was his answer, "they hoped and wished +that I might combine in my character, when I came to manhood, the +qualities of patriarch, priest, prophet and king." He was a fine Hebrew +scholar, and carefully followed in a Hebrew Bible the Psalms which the +other pupils read in English. We found at our next visit the new pupil +awaiting our coming. His countenance glowed with pleasure, as he +cordially grasped our hand and proceeded to dispose of our satchel and +umbrella. That morning he read several pages in an English primer. When +we went again we found that Benjamin had taken his departure, though +urged by the superintendent and his kind wife, for they both had become +greatly interested in him, to make their house his home for an unlimited +period. His proud, ambitious spirit chafed at the thought of becoming a +burden on the hands of strangers, so he started out to earn his own +living, an entirely new experience in his case. Hitherto he had never +been called upon to solve the three vital problems: "What to eat," +"What to drink," "Wherewithal to be clothed." His brief stay at the +mission proved, however, a very important epoch in this young life. The +seeds of Gospel truth were sown in his heart, and afterwards quickened +by the Holy Spirit, sprang up, budded, blossomed, and ultimately bore +the fruitage of earnest work for the Master. Two years had elapsed since +our first meeting. One evening, at the close of the service in a Hebrew +Christian Church, we were cordially greeted by a young man. The native +dress had been changed for American, the hair arranged in a different +style, etc. So great was the transformation that at the first glance we +failed to recognize our quondam pupil and friend. He then told us what +had befallen him since we last met. He had, soon after leaving the +mission, found employment with Mr. Benjamin Clayton, a butcher at +Jamaica, L. I. Imagine, if you can, what a trial it must have been to +one brought up to a strict observance of the tenets of orthodox Judaism +to have to handle "Gentile" meat, especially the abhorred pork. A +Christian man who dealt at the shop became interested in the young +stranger, seeing him to be the possessor of talents which ought to be +improved and developed. This kind friend placed him under Christian +tutors. + +Eventually Mr. Schapiro was converted, and publicly confessed Christ, +and united with a church in Brooklyn. Soon after taking this important +and decisive step he was convinced that it was his bounden duty and +glorious privilege to tell the story of a Redeemer's love to his own +people. Very visionary seemed the project. How could he, a youth who had +not yet attained his majority, a stranger, a foreigner, a "despised" +Jew, without means, with few friends, accomplish this mighty +undertaking? Faith laughs at impossibilities. Enthusiasm is ever +contagious. A few friends became interested, amongst others Mr. Horatio +S. Stewart, the gentleman who had previously provided him with a +scholarship at Pennington Seminary. The first Jewish mission work in +Brooklyn was inaugurated in that part of the Twenty-sixth Ward known +commonly as "Brownsville." Here a colony of Polish and Russian Jews had +taken up their abode. A small hall was hired and services held on +Saturday afternoon. Great was the excitement, tremendous the opposition. +Jews gathered in crowds, anxious to hear what the youth might have to +say concerning his apostasy from the faith of his fathers. Men thrice +his age plied him with questions regarding Christianity, quibbles +mostly; occasionally, perhaps, an enquirer might have been moved with a +genuine desire to know the truth. The young missionary, however, was +enabled to possess his soul in patience, and with quiet dignity to repel +their attacks. The following incidents will serve as representative +specimens of these interruptions: Once, when the missionary was giving a +brief exposition of the first chapter of St. John's Gospel--"In the +beginning was the Word," etc., "'Logos' as 'word' here is in the Greek +synonymous with 'Memrah' in the Rabbinical writings," he remarked. A Jew +sprang to his feet in a second. "You cunning Mr. Missionary!" he +shouted--"trying to prove your statements from the Talmud, which you +profess to disbelieve, because you cannot prove them from the Old +Testament!" Quick as a flash came the rejoinder: "David, in the +thirty-third Psalm, sixth verse, says: 'By the "word" of the Lord were +the heavens established.'" The assailant was effectually silenced, but +so angry was he at having been outwitted in public by one so much +younger than himself that whenever he chanced to see the missionary +approaching he would quickly cross to the other side of the street. + +On another occasion a Jew said: "You know perfectly well how wrong and +wicked it is for a man to desert the religion of his fathers. Why, even +the Gentiles despise those who are guilty of such an act!" "What do you +mean by the religion of our fathers?" was asked in return. "Why, of +course, I mean the religion of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," the Jew +answered. "But Abraham departed from the faith of his fathers. This +'apostasy' was imputed unto him for righteousness. You reproach me +because I have departed from the religion of my fathers, which you claim +to be the 'true religion.' Listen for a moment to the witness borne by +Moses and the prophets concerning the religion of our fathers. Moses, +our great lawgiver, says: 'Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God +giveth thee not the good land to possess for thy righteousness; for thou +art a stiffnecked people.' 'You have been rebellious against the Lord +from the day that I knew you.' Isaiah the evangelist, says of our +fathers: 'From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no +soundness in it, but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores.' 'Ah! +sinful nation!' and mark the expression: 'A seed of evil-doers, children +that are corrupters.' In another place the same prophet says: 'Woe is +me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in +the midst of a people of unclean lips.' Jeremiah says: 'Can the +Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do +good that are accustomed to do evil.' The weeping prophet declares: 'All +these nations are uncircumcised, and the house of Israel is +uncircumcised.' Jehovah himself says to Ezekiel: 'Son of man, I send +thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath +rebelled against me; they and their fathers have transgressed against me +to this very day. For they are impudent children and hard-hearted.' The +suffering prophet again says: 'Thou art not sent to a people of a +strange speech, and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; not +to many people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, whose words +thou canst not understand; surely had I sent thee to them, they would +have hearkened unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto +thee; for they will not hearken unto Me, for all the house of Israel are +impudent and hard-hearted.' Jesus the great teacher, said: 'Ye are of +your father, the devil.' Now, in view of all these assertions, can you +still insist upon my still adhering to the 'religion of my fathers.' +You say: 'The Gentiles despise those who have departed from the religion +of their ancestors.' That statement can be easily disproved from +history. Jesus, Paul and the other founders of the Christian Church all +apostasized from the faith of their fathers. Luther, a Roman Catholic, +became the leader of the Reformation. Neander, Edersheim, Saphir and a +host of other converted Jews have been indeed 'the glory of Israel, and +lights to lighten the Gentiles.'" + +These Saturday services were continued for more than two years. An +evening school, where Jewish people, employed during the day, could +receive gratuitous instruction in English, was carried on with a great +degree of success. A protracted strike among the tailors, cloak-makers +and operators on men's clothing, the principal industries of this +settlement, reduced the people to the direst poverty; hundreds were on +the verge of starvation. In this, the time of their need, Mr. Schapiro, +at his own expense, opened a soup-kitchen in his rooms, himself serving +the tables, and for more than two weeks scores were fed. That no offence +might be given to their prejudices, the meat was "Kosher," that is, +bought at a Jewish butcher's, and prepared by a Jewish cook. This kind, +thoughtful treatment did much to disarm their repugnance against him as +a Christian. The missionary also opened a similar mission in the +Sixteenth Ward, Eastern District, where there is a Jewish population of +50,000, and for nearly a year carried on the two stations, holding a +service at Brownsville on Saturday morning, and a second one in the new +mission in the afternoon. Finally his committee deemed it best to +confine his labours entirely to the Eastern District station, as they +considered it the more hopeful field, on account of the large number of +Jews in the vicinity. Meanwhile a denominational mission had been +established in Brownsville. The Brooklyn Christian Mission to the Jews +has from the outset been interdenominational. This work in the Eastern +District was not inaugurated without opposition. The missionary and the +men who assisted him in the distribution of the notices for the services +and tracts were targets for the stones of crowds of Jewish boys. The +older people greeted them with sneers, derision, offensive epithets, and +sometimes with curses. Among the Jewish boys, Samuel ----, acted as +leader and instigator in the attacks. After a while he ventured into the +mission, intending to create a disturbance, and, if possible, break up +the services, but the story of a Saviour's love fell upon his ears, and +as has many times happened in the history of missions, he who "came to +mock remained to pray." Samuel was convinced, converted, and for two +years has been a consistent member of a church in this city. + +After seven years of mission work, owing to the combined labour of +carrying on the service and collecting funds for the maintenance of the +mission, his health broke down and he gave up the work. + +In June, 1900, Mr. Schapiro published the first number of "The People, +the Land and the Book." He had a theory that much of the variance +existing between Jews and Christians had its foundation in mutual +ignorance and misapprehension of their different religious beliefs. He +designed to reach both parties in a spirit of love. + +Mr. Schapiro for eleven years had no home, no intercourse with his own +family. Having become an "apostate," he was worse than dead to them. All +his overtures for reconciliation were scornfully rejected. To be cut off +from all one's relatives, to have no home life, is ever a great +affliction, particularly to a Jew, for the Jewish attachment and +devotion to home and family are proverbial. A Jew who has embraced +Christianity can sing in all sincerity, "Jesus, I my cross have taken, +all to leave and follow Thee," for it is his veritable experience. + +One day he chanced to meet a fellow-townsman, who, to his great +surprise, told Mr. Schapiro of the latter's cousin, who lived in New +York. Of course he lost no time in hunting up this relative. At first he +was greeted with sharp, bitter reproach, for his change of faith, but +when it was manifest that his love for Christ had not obliterated, but +rather intensified, his love of kindred, speedy reconciliation followed. +Mr. Schapiro learned that his father had lost his property, and also +that his eldest son had died. Letters were exchanged, and complete +reconciliation ensued. + +The painful situation of the Jews in Russia made Mr. Schapiro anxious on +his family's behalf. Through the assistance of kind friends he was +enabled to bring over two of his sisters. They reached there one +Thursday, and a week later found employment. There were still eight +remaining at home, father, mother, brothers and sisters. Through the +efforts of the once deemed lost brother "Joseph" they were enabled to +go, and are now comfortably situated in their own home in New York. + +Mr. Schapiro's life is not lacking in romance. Some years ago, while he +was conducting the mission in Boerum Street, a pretty Jewish girl of +thirteen, whose parents lived opposite, frequently attended the +services. After a while the family moved and Mr. Schapiro lost sight of +his little friend. After he had left the mission, and was conducting the +magazine, they chanced to meet again. Their renewed acquaintance ripened +into love, and a year after they were married. Mrs. Schapiro is a +charming little woman, bright and attractive. Their union has been +blessed with a darling little daughter, Beatrice Sylvia, now nineteen +months old. The former homeless wanderer rejoices in a pleasant, +tastefully arranged home, and a wife who delights to minister to his +comfort, and is hospitable in the extreme, always welcoming his friends, +and leaving nothing undone which can minister to their comfort. + +This paper has already far exceeded the limits originally intended; +still it seems impossible to close it without some slight character +delineations. Mr. Schapiro, so the Jews who come from his native place +tell us, is of a good family; his father was a man of wealth and +position, and was noted for his rigid adherence to the tenets of +orthodox Judaism. One can easily understand how sore a trial it must +have been for such a Jewish father to have his son embrace Christianity, +and what in his opinion was still more disgraceful, to have that son +become a missionary of the Cross among his own people. Mr. Schapiro is +intensely fond of books, is a good student, ambitious to be thoroughly +educated, and is already quite a forcible speaker. Fearlessness forms +one of the strong points of his character. He is positive, liberal, +without being a radical, conservative, yet not bigoted. He has what is +an absolute requisite to all who undertake leadership of any kind--good +executive ability. Naturally sensitive, as a missionary among the Jews +he has had many a fiery ordeal to pass through and many hard reproofs to +bear. But to his credit, be it said, he has been enabled to retain his +patience and to exhibit a forgiving disposition. He had a very correct +idea of the propriety and reverence with which all religious services +should be conducted. Never using cant expressions, and although gifted +with a keen sense of the humorous, he never stooped to ridiculous +illustrations, which, though they create laughter, leave no lasting +impression for good. He has never sought notoriety. Mr. Schapiro is +still a young man, and like all young people, has much to learn, but if +health and strength are granted, he bids fair to become an able advocate +of the Messiah among his own brethren after the flesh, the Jews.[22] + + +[22] "The People, the Land and the Book," Miss Mary C. Sherburne. July, +1905. + + +SCHERESCHEWSKY, Dr. Samuel Isaac Joseph, from 1877 to 1883 missionary +bishop of the American Church in China. He was born at Tanroggen, in +Russian Lithuania, in the year 1831, and brought up in the religion and +learning of the Jews, graduating from the University of Breslau. The +reading of the New Testament in a Hebrew translation, which had fallen +into his hands, convinced him of the truth of Christianity. This must +have been the Society's version, as at that time Professor Delitzsch's +and Salkinson's versions were not in existence; and, therefore, the +Society was the first agent in the Bishop's conversion. Soon after his +confession of Christ he went to the United States. He acquired his +knowledge of Greek in the Theological Seminary at New York, which he +entered in 1857. The Christians with whom he first came into contact +belonged to the Baptist and the Presbyterian denominations; he was +baptized by a minister of the former, and studied theology in a seminary +of the latter body. But before he had finished his studies, he had +learned and acknowledged the position of the Episcopal Church, and was +admitted a candidate for holy orders under the Bishop of Maryland. In +1859 he was ordained deacon in St. George's Church, New York, and in the +following year was advanced to the priesthood in China, whither he had +accompanied the elder Bishop Boon on his return from a home visit. + +In the autumn of 1861, Schereschewsky made a translation of the Psalms +into the colloquial. This was his first work. In 1863 he moved to Pekin +and began, with Bishop Burdon of Hong Kong, the translation of the +first Mandarin Prayer Book. The main part of this book, viz., Morning +and Evening Prayer, the Collects, and the Psalter, were his work; Bishop +Burdon taking the remainder of the Book. This was completed in 1864. In +1865 a committee of five leading Chinese scholars, Dr. Edkins, Dr. +Martin, Dr. Blodgett, Bishop Burdon and himself, undertook the +translation of the New Testament into Mandarin. This is still in use +generally throughout the Empire. The only other Mandarin version in +existence at that time was Dr. Medhurst's "Mandarin," which was based on +the so-called "Delegates' Version" in Wen-li. The Bishop began the +translation of the Old Testament himself into Mandarin, in the autumn of +1865, and finished this colossal undertaking at the end of eight years. +This, with the Mandarin Testament mentioned above, forms the ordinary +Chinese Bible in general use by Christians in China, and is read at +every service from the lecterns in the China Mission of the American +Episcopal Church, as mentioned in the organ of the Domestic and Foreign +Missionary Society of the American Church. + +In 1875, Dr. Channing Moore Williams, the American Bishop for China and +Japan, having been assigned to the work in Japan alone, Dr. +Schereschewsky was elected Bishop of Shanghai. With great modesty and +self-distrust he declined the office; but being again chosen in 1877, he +was persuaded that it was his duty to undertake its labours and +responsibility. He returned as Bishop to Shanghai in the autumn of +1878, and, in the course of the year 1879, translated the whole Prayer +Book into Wen-li, or classic style, blending with it as much as possible +the English and American Prayer Books, with the hope that all missions +of the Anglican communion might use it in China. Although this hope was +not gratified, the book was for many years the only one in use in all +the American missions, and formed the basis of the colloquial versions +which have since superseded it. In 1879 the Bishop went up the river to +Wuchang, and began the translation of the Apocrypha. He had only +completed one book when he was smitten down during the intense heat of +the summer of 1881, and his physicians ordered his removal to Europe, +whither he went the following spring. He was under treatment from 1882 +to 1886, at Geneva in Switzerland. In 1883 Bishop Schereschewsky, +unwilling to retain an office whose duties he could not discharge, +resigned his Bishopric. + +With wonderful perseverance he now devoted all his energies of mind, +which remained unimpaired, to the work of bringing the Scriptures within +the reach of the Chinese nation. Fully acquainted with their language in +its different forms, and being not only a skilful Sinologist, but one of +the most learned Orientalists in the world--and that by the testimony of +Professor Max Müller--using a pen as long as he could hold a pen, and +then, owing to paralysis, working on a typewriter with the two fingers +which he could control, he translated the Old Testament from the +original Hebrew into the Mandarin dialect, leaving to a secretary only +the reduction of the typewritten words into the Chinese character. For +twenty years, day after day, in China, and for a while in Massachusetts, +and more recently in Japan, when he was near a printing-press which he +could use, he worked under disadvantages which would have put an end to +the courage and the labours of almost any other man. Not long before his +death he completed his greatest work, the translation of the whole +Bible, including the Apocrypha, into the Wen-li dialect. He also wrote +Chinese grammars and dictionaries, and translated the Gospels into +Mongolian, preparing also a dictionary of that language. He died at +Tokyo, on October 15th, 1906. + +We may add the following extract from the Bible Society's memoir of the +Bishop, written by the Rev. Crayden Edmunds, M.A.: + +"His early training, whereby he came to know Hebrew better than any +other language, specially fitted him to become a translator of the Old +Testament. This peculiar fitness was soon recognised by his missionary +colleagues, who about 1865 entrusted him with the translation of the Old +Testament into Northern Mandarin. He also worked on the Peking Committee +as a translator of the New Testament. His version of the Old Testament, +first published by the American Bible Society in 1875, has since been +repeatedly issued by both the A.B.S. and the B.F.B.S. A revised edition +appeared in 1899. But a still greater work was his translation of the +whole Bible into Easy Wenli; he added the New Testament in this case, +in order to secure uniformity; both Burdon and Blodgett's, and Griffith +John's versions of the New Testament being in a somewhat different +style. This Bible the A.B.S. published in 1902. + +"The significance of Bishop Schereschewsky's achievements, however, lies +not so much in their extent and scholarship as in their testimony to the +indomitable courage of the man and his devotion to his work. Six years +after his consecration as Bishop he became paralysed, and had to resign +his episcopal jurisdiction. His malady increased till it left him with +the use of only the middle finger of each hand. Fortunately his +intellect remained unimpaired, and with these two fingers he was able to +type out his MSS., which were afterwards rewritten in Chinese characters +by his secretary. + +"But the toil was well worth while. To this man alone has it been +granted to give to the two hundred and fifty million Mandarin-speaking +Chinese, as well as to the mass of readers in China, the Oracles of God +as found in the Old Testament. Reviewing, therefore, his life in the +light of these facts, we may surely trace the divine purpose in taking +him from one task, for which a successor would without difficulty be +found, and setting him free for another, for which his whole previous +life had been a unique preparation. As a translator his influence has +been far wider than it could have been as a Bishop, and Chinese +Christians will ever remember, with gratitude to God, the great scholar +who out of weakness was made strong--who laid so well and so truly the +foundations of the Bible in their greatest vernacular, and in the more +popular form of their written language." + +SCHLOCHOW, Rev. Emmanuel, was born at Wingiz in Silesia. His father +being indifferent to religion, he had no religious education, and became +only aware that he was a Jew when his fellow-Christian scholars +mockingly reminded him of it at school. This he could not endure, and +his father advised him to go to a Roman Catholic priest and be baptized. +However, he was then a thorough infidel, and at one time, on account of +some disappointment that he had met with, he bought a pistol and was +about to commit suicide, when the Scotch missionary Cerf knocked at the +door of his room, and not only rescued him from taking away his life, +but by God's help enabled him to devote that life to His service. He was +converted and baptized in 1848. In 1851 he became connected with the +L.J.S., and was sent as a missionary in 1853 to Jassy, where he remained +three years. In 1856 he was appointed to Alsace, and had his station at +Strassburg, whence he itinerated to France and the Rhine provinces, and +met everywhere acceptance among Jews and Christians. In 1874 he went +with the Rev. A. Bernstein on visits to several rabbis in Alsace and +Lorraine, when they were cordially received and had profitable +conversations. He then was transferred to Crefeld, but much suffering +from asthma obliged him to retire to Worthing, where he died in 1876, +and upon his tombstone in the churchyard there can be read the words in +Hebrew, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," so that he still preaches to +Jewish visitors. + +SCHÖNBERGER, Rev. C. A., after embracing Christianity, studied at Pesth +and Basle and Leipzig, laboured for some time as a Scotch Free Church +missionary at Pesth, where many Jews attended his lectures. He was +ordained in Stuttgart in 1867, laboured then at Prague till 1872, when +he entered the service of the British Society, and was sent back to +Prague, and from there he was transferred to Vienna, where he was very +efficient and realized the fulness of blessing upon his ministry. Some +of his converts became preachers of the Gospel among Jews and +Christians. About 1892 he returned to England, and on account of illness +resigned his office. After the death of his brother-in-law, Dr. Saphir, +he felt that he was called to supply in some measure his influence on +behalf of the Jews, and he connected himself with the work carried on by +Rabbi Lichtenstein at Pesth, and joining the Rev. David Baron, they both +founded a mission in East London, under the name of the "Hebrew +Christian Testimony to Israel," where a great work has been going on +ever since in their own mission-house in Whitechapel Road, whence the +Gospel has been carried by word and literature to Hungary, the Danubian +Principalities, and Russia. + +SCIALITTI, Rabbi Moses, an Italian Jew, was baptized on Trinity Sunday, +1663 by Dr. Warmestre, Dean of Worcester, at the Church of St. Margaret, +when the Bishop of Chester, Dr. Samuel Collins, the Countess Lucy of +Huntingdon, and other persons of high standing were sponsors by proxy. +Scialitti subsequently addressed a letter in Italian and English to the +Jews, stating the grounds for his embracing Christianity, and exhorting +them to go and do likewise. + +SCHUFFAMER, Rabbi Elisha, came from Salonica to Jerusalem, and was +through the preaching of Dr. Ewald converted to Christianity and +baptized in 1848. He then returned to Salonica to fetch his family, but +four of his children had died, yet his wife followed him to Jerusalem. +There he was employed for a time as layreader, and was afterwards +transferred to Cairo, where he had a Bible depôt. + +SCHULHOF, Dr. M., a Jewish convert, was a medical missionary of the +British Society. In 1854 he published: "Notes on Diseases in Turkey in +reference to European troops and Memoir of the remittant fever of the +Levant." + +SCHWARTZ, Rev. Dr. Karl (Solomon), was born at Meseritz in Posen in +1817. His father, Isaac Schwartz was a merchant, and gave him a strict +rabbinic education, cherishing the hope that he would one day become a +teacher in Israel. To this end he was sent to Berlin in 1832 to study at +the rabbinic Seminary there. In the lectures the professors occasionally +compared Judaism with Christianity, to the disadvantage, of course, of +the latter. This excited in Schwartz a desire to examine Christianity +for himself, so he took the first step by exchanging the Seminary for +the Gymnasium. During the course of his studies he was instructed in +Christianity and baptized October 18, 1837. He then studied theology for +a year at Halle, under Tholuck, and then under Neander, Hengstenberg, +and Twesten, for four years at Berlin. At that time he used to give +lessons in foreign languages to the inmates of the Berlin House for +foreign missions, when his landlady said to him once, "It is all very +nice for you to teach these young men foreign languages in order that +they may be qualified to preach the Gospel to the heathen. Have you at +all thought of your own brethren who live in your own neighbourhood +without the light of the Gospel?" This was a word in season. Thereupon +he entered into correspondence with the L.J.S., joined the Church of +England, and was ordained deacon by the Bishop of London on March 20, +1842, and was sent by the Society to Constantinople. On his way there he +sojourned for awhile at Pesth, where his lectures on Isaiah liii. bore +good fruit, and it seems that he then got engaged to Maria Dorothea, a +daughter of Israel Saphir. He did not remain very long in +Constantinople, because his connexion with the Scotch Mission at Pesth +caused him to join the Free Church of Scotland, and he was sent by that +Church to Berlin, where he was stationed from 1844 to 1849, and he went +then to Prague, but settled in the same year at Amsterdam. There he +found that the Dutch Jews were not so accessible as the Jews in Hungary, +Turkey, and Germany, so he adopted the method of preaching special +sermons in churches and inviting the Jews through advertisements to +attend them. In 1850 he issued a Dutch paper, giving expositions of +Messianic prophecy and the like, for circulation among the Jews. This he +edited for several years. In 1856 a mission church was built for him, +and his first sermon then was on Zech. iv. 6. In that church he baptized +quite a number of Jews. On Sunday, August 1, 1858, Schwartz ascended the +pulpit to preach to a congregation of 1,200, on St. John xii. 26, and +while bowing down to offer up prayer, a young Jew quietly crept up the +steps and stabbed him with a dagger in the left shoulder so that he was +saturated with blood, and had to be carried home in a fainting +condition. The attempted assassin was put into prison, where Schwartz, +after his recovery, visited him but did not succeed in bringing him to a +better mind. However, a near relation of his became a Christian after +that event; and a Jewess, too, was thereby induced to come to Schwartz +for instruction and baptism. After fifteen years' arduous labours in +Holland, Schwartz accepted a call in 1864 from the congregation of +Trinity Chapel, Newnham Street, London, to succeed Ridley Herschell. In +London he founded a home for enquirers; and edited a periodical +entitled, "The Scattered Nation." In 1866 he founded "The Hebrew +Christian Alliance," and delivered lectures, besides preaching twice +every Sunday. In this good work he continued till August 24, 1870, when +he died on his knees at the age of fifty-three, and was buried near his +friend, Ridley Herschell. + +SCHWARZENBERG, Rabbi Abraham, lived in the little town of Kasimir in +Poland, and was employed by a Jewish merchant who at last became a +bankrupt, yet on account of his Talmudic learning was chosen as rabbi at +Lublin. Schwarzenberg, who was an upright, conscientious man, knowing +that his master had deceived many poor people, took offence thereat, and +reproached the Jews for not acting according to the law in this matter. +After this some one gave him a New Testament which missionaries had left +in the town. After reading it he persuaded others also to read it, and +exposed himself to persecution. He then went in search of the +missionaries, and coming to a Roman Catholic priest he expressed a wish +to be instructed and baptized, but the priest told him that he must +first of all lay aside the New Testament. Schwarzenberg concluded that +he was not a missionary, and went to Lublin, where he had heard there +was an Evangelical minister. This worthy man looked upon him with +suspicion and received him coldly, so he went to a river and dipped +himself three times in the name of the Holy Trinity. At last he heard +that the missionaries resided in Warsaw, so he tramped at once to +Warsaw, where Dr. McCaul instructed and baptized him in 1828, in his +65th year. In spite of his age Schwarzenberg began to learn German in +order that he might intelligently take part in the services of the +Church of England. His mode of life was quite that of a Polish Jew, with +long fore-locks and dressed in a long kaftan with girdle. He used to say +that a converted Jew must have a changed heart, but not a change of +dress. He maintained himself by selling fruit in the street, and also +worked voluntarily as a missionary. The police had an order to protect +him against the Jews, though when he was in a lonely street he was often +stoned by them. In this manner he ran the Christian race until 1842, +when he departed at the age of eighty to be with Christ. + +SEGALL, Rev. Joseph F., a native of Piatra (Moldavia), came with a +number of young friends into possession of missionary literature which a +colporteur from Bucharest had left in the town in 1874. This they +studied secretly in rotation. After being solemnly impressed by the +truth, they wrote a letter to the Rev. F. G. Kleinhenn, asking for +admission to some institution in which they might learn more of the +Gospel. Mr. Kleinhenn replied that he had no such home, and could not +encourage anyone to come to him except on his own means and on his own +responsibility. However, one day Segall and his friend Suffrin appeared +at Mr. Kleinhenn's house, and he had to take them in. They were then +instructed by Mr. Kleinhenn and Mr. Bernstein for some considerable +time, and then baptized. The history of the two runs to some extent +together. The relations of each tried their utmost to win them back to +Judaism, but they had grace given to them not to yield. In the same year +Mr. Bernstein, then stationed at Strasburg, was the medium of their +being admitted by Dr. Heman, at Basel, into his home for proselytes, to +be trained for future usefulness. After finishing their course of study +they applied to the L.J.S., passed through its missionary college, and +were appointed missionaries. Segall was stationed at Birmingham, and +ordained by the Bishop of Worcester in 1877-8 to the curacy of St. +Martin. Subsequently he was appointed to the charge of the mission at +Damascus, where he also acted as chaplain to the English colony there. + +SIMON, Erasmus, was one of the earliest converts of the L.J.S. This +excellent man seems to have been a native of Holland. In London he made +the acquaintance of J. Frey, and heard the Gospel from him and was +baptized. In 1820 he was appointed to work under the Rev. A. S. Thelwall +at Amsterdam. In 1829 he formed a society called the "Friends of the +Hebrew Nation," under the patronage of the Bishop of London. This +society rented three houses in Camden Town for Jewish enquirers, and +started the "Operative Jewish Converts' Institution." Amongst its +inmates were the future founder of the British Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, Ridley Herschell, and +Wertheimer, the future well-known bookseller. The former was one of +twelve candidates for baptism presented by Simon to Bishop Blomfield, +who baptized them in St. James', Piccadilly. + +SIMSON, Martin Eduard, son of a banker, German jurist and statesman, +born Nov. 10, 1810, at Königsberg, and died at Berlin, May 22, 1899. He +embraced Christianity as a young man, studied law, and in 1833 he became +professor of Roman law, and three years later a judge. In 1848 he +received the title of "Rath" in the higher court. In 1848 he was sent +as a deputy from Königsberg to the National Congress at Frankfurt, and +was soon raised to be its president, and had the honour to offer the +crown of the German Empire to King Frederick William IV. of Prussia. +Subsequently he held high offices of state, and in 1879 he was appointed +first president of the German Supreme Court at Leipzig; in 1888 he +received the decoration of the Black Eagle of Prussia and was ennobled. +In 1892 he retired to private life. He was the author of "Geschichte des +Königsberger Ober Tribunals." Of his three baptized brothers, one became +professor of Oriental languages at Königsberg, and the other two lawyers +at Berlin. + +SKOLKOWSKI, J., was a native of Calwary in Russian Poland, baptized at +Königsberg, and then studied at the L.J.S. Missionary Training College +in London. In 1849 he laboured as a missionary in London, Cairo, Lublin, +Gnesen, and Posen, and then, in 1869, at Königsberg. "His annual +reports," says the Rev. W. T. Gidney, "supplied most interesting details +of mission service, together with glimpses of the social condition, +pursuits, and religious opinions of Jews, among whom he devotedly +carried on the work of preaching Christ and Him crucified, until his +retirement in the beginning of 1888, after a long service of very nearly +forty years." + +SOBERNHEIM, Dr. Joseph Friedrich, an earnest convert in Berlin in the +middle of the nineteenth century. The history of his conversion is as +follows. A student had pawned a New Testament with a Jew for a paltry +sum of money, and when he came to redeem it, the pawnbroker, having in +the meantime read it and become a Christian, gave the student a hundred +Louis d'or as a token of gratitude because he had through this book come +to a saving knowledge of Christ. This Jewish convert was instrumental in +the conversion of nine other Jews, among whom was Dr. Sobernheim and his +father. He was esteemed as an author of medical works. He wrote: +"Handbuch der Praktischen Arzenimittelehre" (Berlin, 1844), "Beiträge +zur Phänomenologie des Lebens," _ib._, 1841. He died in 1846. ("Jewish +Intelligence," December, 1864.) + +SOLOMON, Rev. Benjamin Nehemiah, was born at Lemberg in 1791, and in due +time became a rabbi. In 1814 he came to London, and through the +instrumentality of J. Frey became a Christian, and was ordained in 1817. +He then accompanied Lewis Way on his missionary journey through Holland, +Germany and Russia, both preaching the Gospel to the Jews everywhere. +Lewis Way having obtained for him permission from the Emperor Alexander +to work in Poland, he first of all translated the New Testament into +Yiddish, for the use of Polish Jews. In 1821 he accompanied McCaul to +Warsaw, but from Amsterdam he wrote to Thelwall that the condition of +his wife and children in Galicia obliged him to return home. His own +father declared to the missionary Smith, in 1827, that he was living as +a Christian. + +STAHL, Friedrich Julius, son of a banker, jurist and publicist, was born +at Munich, January 16, 1802, and died at Bruckenau, Aug. 10, 1861. He +became a Christian in his eighteenth year, and was baptized at Erlangen +in 1819. Already at the age of fourteen he discussed religious topics +with his fellow scholars. The writings of Thiersch had a great influence +upon him. After he had become a Christian, he acted as a missionary to +his own family and brought his parents and brothers and sisters to the +Saviour. He studied law at the Universities of Wurzburg, Erlangen, and +Heidelberg. In 1834 he represented the University of Erlangen in the +Bavarian Parliament. In 1840 he became professor of law at the +University of Berlin, where his lectures drew an audience of all +classes. His idea of Christianity was that it should pervade the whole +life and also the State. According to Lord Acton, Stahl had a more +predominant influence and shewed more political ability than Lord +Beaconsfield (Acton, Letters to Mary Gladstone, p. 103, London, 1904). +His writings are as follows, "Die Philosophie des Rechts nach +Geschichtlicher Ansicht," 2 vols. (Heidelberg, 1830-37); "Ueber die +Kirchenzucht" (1845-58); "Das Monarchische Princip" (Heidelberg, 1845); +"Der Christliche Staat" (_ib._, 1847-8); "Die Revolution und die +Constitutionelle Monarchie" (1848-9); "Was ist Revolution?" (_ib._, +1852), of which three editions were issued; "Der Protestantismus als +Politisches Princip" (_ib._, 1853-4); "Die Katholische Widerlegungen" +(_ib._, 1854); "Wider Bunsen" (1856); "Die Lutherische Kirche und die +Union" (1859-60). After his death were published, "Siebenzehn +Parlamentarishen Reden" (1862), and "Die Gegenwärtigen Partien in Staat +und Kirche" (1868). + +STEINHARDT, son of the landlord for many years of the L.J.S. schools at +Bucharest naturally came in contact with the mission there, but no one +of the family shewed any inclination towards Christianity, yet the seed +sown in the son's heart bore fruit in time. He went to Constantinople +and was baptized there. Then he became a city missionary in New York, +studied theology, and became, in 1871, pastor of a Swiss congregation in +Fountain City, Wisconsin, and in 1882 at Louisville, Ky. + +STERN, Dr. Henry A., was born of Jewish parents on April 11, 1820, at +Unterreichenbach, in the Duchy of Hesse Cassel. Subsequently the family +removed to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where they resided in the quaint old +"Judengasse," now a thing of the past. Though educated in this town with +a view to the medical profession, Stern, when about seventeen years of +age, decided to follow commerce, and to that end repaired to Hamburg. It +was there, in the providence of God, that his attention was first drawn +to Christianity, by noticing some Christian literature in a glass case +near the house of the London Jews' Society's missionary, Mr. J. C. +Moritz. The impression subsequently obtained by its perusal was +increased when, on arrival in London, in 1839, Stern was induced by a +fellow-lodger to attend a Sunday afternoon Hebrew service in Palestine +Place, conducted by Dr. Alexander McCaul. Thoroughly awakened, Stern +sought the missionary the next day, and, indeed, for many days, until he +became a recognized enquirer, and was eventually admitted into the +Operative Jewish Converts' Institution. There he was further carefully +prepared in Christianity, and baptized on March 15, 1840. For two years +longer he remained in the Institution, working at his trade, but it was +very evident that Stern, by his learning and gifts, was eminently fitted +to be a missionary, and consequently he was taken into the Society's +College for a further term of two years. + +In 1844 Stern received his first missionary post, and was sent to +Bagdad. He left London under the direction of the Rev. Murray Vickers, +accompanied by three other young missionaries. They broke their journey +at Jerusalem, where Stern was ordained deacon by Bishop Alexander, on +July 14 of the same year. Arriving at Bagdad, Stern threw himself into +his work with great zeal and ardour. + +The Jewish population of Bagdad then consisted of about 16,000 souls. +The whole trade of the town was in their hands, and they were supposed +to be the most wealthy class of the community. They manifested the +greatest anxiety to obtain the books published by the Society. Day after +day the house of the missionaries was filled to overflowing with Jews of +all ages, ranks and stations, and the streets near were crowded all day +by numbers of Jews, Stern being constantly stopped as he walked along +them. The bazaars, khans, and the Beth Hamedrash, were visited, and +supplied frequent opportunities for proclaiming the Gospel. + +The eagerness manifested by the Jews of Bagdad to enter into discussion +on the subject of Christianity, and more especially the application of +two enquirers for regular instruction, stirred up active opposition on +the part of the rabbis, and an excommunication was issued against all +who should have intercourse with the missionaries. This had the desired +effect. For six or seven months no Jew was seen in the mission house. +Then, gradually, some ventured to come by stealth; and, soon, from +twelve to twenty again visited the missionaries on Saturdays, several of +whom were of the most respectable Jewish families in Bagdad. The Jewish +authorities, however, did not relax their vigilance, but threatened to +repeat the anathema. + +In the winter of 1844 Stern made a journey to certain places on the +banks of the Euphrates, going to Hillah, where he visited the synagogue +and Jewish schools; the tomb of Ezekiel, greatly venerated by the Jews; +Meshed-Ali, a Moslem town with a few Jews; Cufa; the tower of Belus +(Babel) or Birs Nimroud; and the ruins of Babylon. In 1845 Stern and a +fellow-labourer, the Rev. P. H. Sternchuss, improved the time during +which missionary operations in Bagdad were suspended, in consequence of +the _cherem_ mentioned above, in making a missionary journey into the +interior of Persia. They held much interesting intercourse with the Jews +of Kermanshah and Hamadan. On November 21 of the same year, the two +missionaries embarked on the Tigris for the purpose of undertaking a +second journey in Persia. They visited Bussorah, Bushire, Shiraz, and +several other places where Jews resided. Both in synagogues and Jewish +schools, and also at their lodgings, they proclaimed the unsearchable +riches of Christ to considerable numbers of their Jewish brethren. + +The deadly scourge of cholera prevailed in Bagdad to an alarming extent +in 1846, and in a very few weeks several thousands were suddenly taken +off by it, and missionary work was consequently suspended. The Jews +thought the visitation was owing to the fact that many of their brethren +had imbibed the doctrines of Christianity, and their opposition became +most violent. A second _cherem_ was pronounced in the synagogues against +the missionaries and all holding intercourse with them. + +Notwithstanding the violence of the rabbis and the ignorance which +prevailed, especially amongst Jewesses, the missionaries met with many +to whom they were able to declare the love of the Redeemer, and several +received regular instruction. Of the Bagdad Jews in general they +said:--"A spirit of enquiry pervades all classes of Jews in Bagdad The +rabbis are fully sensible of it, and endeavour to do everything in their +power to check this extraordinary movement." + +In 1847 a temporary retreat to Persia was thought advisable, during +which Stern preached the Gospel to many hundreds of Jews, both in +Chaldæa and Persia, and extensively circulated the Scriptures in the +Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Armenian languages. This +was a great achievement in a region hitherto noted for intolerance, +bigotry, poverty, fanaticism, and superstition. + +On the arrival from home of fresh supplies of books, the lodgings of the +missionaries were crowded for days together, from morning till evening, +with eager applicants for the sacred treasure. The missionaries were now +well known to many of the Jews in the surrounding countries, from the +journeys which they undertook from time to time. They sent the Word of +God to the wilds of Kurdistan, the deserts of Khorasan and Turkistan. +They were privileged to admit two Israelites, one of Bagdad and the +other from Bushire, into the Church of Christ by baptism. Others +received instruction from them for a longer or a shorter period. + +On their return to Bagdad, a room belonging to the mission was fitted up +for Divine Service, and usually from twelve to fifteen Jews attended the +daily morning service, at dawn of day; the instruction of enquirers +taking place immediately afterwards. An English service was held on +Sunday morning, and a Hebrew service in the afternoon during winter. An +operative converts' institution was opened. + +In August, 1850, a Jewish doctor was baptized, which incident produced +another severe anathema from the rabbis against all who should have any +intercourse with the missionaries. "In order to make the interdict more +impressive," wrote Stern, "the horn was blown, and all the books of the +law unrolled." This was repeated several days. Jews, in large numbers, +however, began to call at the depôt which Stern opened; and he affirmed +that there were many who had learned the Truth from reading the New +Testament. In 1851 and 1853 two other baptisms were recorded. After +eight or nine years spent in Mesopotamia, where Mrs. Stern's health had +greatly suffered from an attack of cholera, Stern was transferred to +Constantinople in 1853. + +There he found a larger and even more important sphere of work--totally +different, as he had now to deal with Spanish instead of Eastern Jews. +They were down-trodden and oppressed, and their pitiable state was not +improved by the extensive conflagrations, which periodically devastated +their quarter. Numbers, however, became enquirers, notwithstanding +severe persecution, and some were baptized. The mission schools were +well attended, and the medical mission, conducted by Dr. Leitner, did +excellent service. Stern visited Adrianople, Salonica, and other towns +with large Jewish populations. + +The year 1856 was signalized by a visit to the Karaites and other Jews +in the Crimea. At Baktchi-Serai, Stern was surrounded by Jews, "all +anxious to buy Gospels," and was the guest of the chief rabbi, who +shewed him the cemetery of the Karaites--strangely called "The Valley of +Jehoshaphat"--with its 40,000 sculptured tombs, and in which myriads more +had been interred, to whose memory poverty or indifference had raised no +monument. At Simpheropol, Stern preached in the synagogue and sold a +number of New Testaments and Pentateuchs. On one occasion he had the +privilege of addressing British troops in their quarters in the Crimea. + +Stern made a second journey in the same year--to Arabia. + +The space at our command is totally inadequate to describe the incidents +of that romantic and perilous journey, in the wake of Joseph Wolff who, +just forty years before, had engaged in the same pioneer work. Stern had +to take precautions for his safety, adopting native dress and passing as +the "Dervish Abdallah." At Safon, a beautiful mountain town, the report +that a man who spoke Hebrew, and yet was no Jew, dressed like a +Mohammedan and yet ignored the Koran, caused much sensation amongst the +Jews, who flocked to see him, and to whom he preached in a synagogue. +This was repeated at other places. At Sanaa he was occupied for twelve +days, with very little rest at night, preaching to the multitudes who +congregated wherever he went. The last day of his visit there he +characterized as "the happiest of my life, the happiest of my missionary +career." + +After a visit to England in 1857, Stern returned to Constantinople, +taking up again the threads of his settled missionary work there. + +In 1859 Stern embarked on the first of his most memorable journeys to +Abyssinia. Mr. J. M. Flad had been working in that country as one of the +"Pilgrim Missionaries" from St. Chrischona. More Christian labourers, +however, were needed; and so Stern was despatched from Constantinople to +found an English mission, if possible, amongst the Falashas--some +thousands of Jews dwelling in the highlands of the interior. Flad now +joined Stern, and the two worked hand-in-hand together. The results of +this preliminary visit were thus summed up by Stern, who, having +accomplished his purpose, repaired to England in 1861:--"I visited, in +company with Mr. Flad, the Bishop of Jerusalem's Scripture Reader, +upwards of thirty Falasha settlements, and saw the priests, and all +those that could read, from more than fifty-five other places. The +desire to obtain the Word of God exceeds all description; young and old, +the man standing on the verge of the grave, and the youth just rushing +into life's happiest whirl, heedless and indifferent to the pain and +difficulties of the road, followed us for days and days, till we yielded +to their unwearied entreaties, and from our scanty stock supplied their +communities with copies of the sacred volume." + +Speaking in Exeter Hall in May of the next year, Stern said, "During my +stay in that country, I was amazed at the excitement created by our +preaching through the various provinces we visited. Frequently, hundreds +of Christians and Jews would meet together near our tent with the Word +of God in their hands, converse and investigate those truths which we +had been preaching." + +Flad and a fellow-labourer named Bronkhörst, who had joined him, +continued to carry on the work with much success, and on July 21, 1861, +the first fruits of the mission were gathered in, twenty-two Falashas +receiving Holy Baptism. On August 4, nineteen more were baptized. This +encouraging success led to Stern going out again to Abyssinia in +September, 1862, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rosenthal. We cannot +follow the details of the work for the next two years, but must sum them +up in Stern's own words:--"We have in the course of two years, without +being allowed to form a separate community, rescued a considerable +number of Falashas from their unbelief, and nominally, but not +virtually, united them as a living, active and spiritual element, to the +dead Church of the Amharas. We have circulated about one thousand whole +copies and portions of Scriptures; we have given an impulse to the study +of the written vernacular; and we have stirred up a spirit of enquiry +among Jews and Amharas, which must either terminate in a spontaneous +reform, or lead (which is far more probable) to our expulsion and a +relentless persecution." The latter surmise proved to be only too true. + +The following circumstances eventually led to the imprisonment of the +missionaries. King Theodore had despatched to the Queen of England, by +Consul Cameron, a letter, to which, from some strange reason, no reply +was vouchsafed. A similar letter to Napoleon III. was indeed answered, +but the verbal message accompanying it gave dire offence. Theodore +resolved to be revenged on all Europeans, and to "humble the pride of +Europe," as he said, meaning England and France. + +Some expressions in Stern's book, "Wanderings among the Falashas in +Abyssinia," as to Theodore's humble origin, also gave offence to the +dusky monarch. When Stern paid him a visit, in order to ask permission +to return home, the opportunity thus offered for revenge was seized. +Stern had with him two servants. The hour of the visit was unfortunately +ill chosen, and his servants' knowledge of Arabic so limited, as to +render their mode of interpreting so offensive to the King, that he +ordered them to be beaten,--an order so effectually obeyed, that they +died in the night. Stern, unable to endure the scene, turned round, and +in his nervousness _bit his finger_,--unaware, or forgetful, that such a +gesture was in Abyssinia indicative of _revenge_. At first, the King +seemed inclined to overlook the matter, but subsequently, urged on by +those around him, Stern was struck down insensible, and, on recovery, +bound hand to foot and consigned to prison. + +For four and a-half years Stern remained a prisoner. It is impossible to +describe his terrible sufferings and perilous position during that long +protracted "period of heart-rending and heart-breaking martyrdom." + +Rosenthal was the next victim; subsequently Consul Cameron, Flad and his +wife, Mrs. Rosenthal, Consul Rassam, Lieutenant Prideaux, Blanc, Kerans, +and others, were in turn imprisoned. Flad was shortly afterwards +released, in order to be sent to England on an embassy to Queen +Victoria, his wife and children being held as hostages for his return. + +The prisoners remained in captivity--with a slight interval of freedom +in the spring of 1866--first in one place, then in another, and +subsequently at Magdala--until Easter, 1868. An English expeditionary +force, under Sir Robert Napier, had arrived to effect their deliverance. +In answer to the demand of the English General, and perhaps in order to +propitiate him, Theodore ordered the release of his prisoners. This +tardy act of justice did not save him. A battle was fought on Good +Friday between the English army and the hosts of Theodore, who was +decisively beaten. On Easter Monday the stronghold of Magdala was +stormed and captured, and Theodore fell by his own hand. Most graphic +accounts of these stirring days were sent home by Stern and Flad, the +latter of whom prefaced his remarks with the appropriate words, "The +Lord has turned our captivity: we are like unto them that dream. Our +mouth is filled with laughter, and our tongue with praise. We say, The +Lord has done great things for us! The Lord has done great things, +whereof we are glad." + +The release of the missionaries by the military expedition sent out to +vindicate the honour of the British nation, and to recover the person of +its official representatives, was a wonderful answer to believing and +persevering prayer. The missionaries returned to England in June, 1868; +and, on July 3, a special meeting for prayer and thanksgiving was held +at the Freemasons' Hall, the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G., in the chair, +when all the released missionaries, with their wives, were present, and +in a few words told of their wonderful deliverance, and the Almighty arm +which had wrought it. + +It may here be mentioned that though since 1869, no European missionary +has been allowed in Abyssinia, the London Society's mission has never +once been suspended, notwithstanding overwhelming odds and almost +insuperable obstacles! Other missions have been given up for a time when +dangers threatened--this has held on its way through the fostering care +of Mr. J. M. Flad, who has supervised it from a distance, and the +indomitable courage of the native missionaries. Like the early +Christians, they have overcome by "the blood of the Lamb, and by the +word of their testimony: and they loved not their lives unto the death" +(Rev. xii. 11). Famine, war, bloodshed, imprisonment, ecclesiastical +jealousy, civil strife, the Dervish invasion, the coming of the +Italians, have been potent enemies--powerful enough to harass and to +impede, but not to stop the work. Indeed, it has flourished beyond +expectation, and, in spite of ignorance and want of freedom, the Gospel +has spread amongst the Falashas, 2,000 of whom have been baptized. + +We now come to the last period of Stern's life (1870-1885) which, though +free from stirring adventures and dangerous situations, was none the +less active and full. + +For some time after his return Stern was incessantly and altogether +engaged in narrating his experiences to crowded audiences in every part +of the country, who hung, with breathless interest, upon the terrible +yet fascinating story of the Abyssinian mission. In subsequent years +Stern could very rarely be persuaded to recount the horrors of the past. +On one occasion, and that only, in response to the persuasive entreaty +of friends in a south-coast town, did he ever tell the wonderful story +of his sufferings and achievements in that far-off land. Either the +innate humility and modesty of the man, or painful memories, made it +most distasteful to unlock the door of the past. + +In 1870 Dr. Ewald resigned his work as senior missionary in London. It +was no easy matter to find a man qualified to succeed him. Only one +seemed possible, and that was Stern, whose health, undermined by his +unparalleled sufferings in Abyssinia, no longer permitted him to serve +the Society in the East. He was appointed Ewald's successor from the 1st +of January, 1871, and brought to his new sphere a ripe and unrivalled +experience in Jewish missionary work, gained, as we have seen, in +Persia, Turkey, Arabia, and Abyssinia; and an acquaintance with a dozen +or more languages, an invaluable possession for a missionary in the +metropolis, who has by personal intercourse and correspondence to deal +with Jews of different nationalities. Though Stern missed in England the +refined courtesy of the German, and the religious gravity of the +Oriental Jew, and consequently those winning qualities which helped on +friendly intercourse and mutual interchange of convictions between +missionary and Jew, he yet found that most of the Jews in England were +able to discuss religious questions calmly and dispassionately. The +three chief means which Stern relied upon to win his way amongst the +Jews were circulation of tracts, domiciliary visitation, and special +sermons in Spitalfields and Whitechapel. The last were highly +successful. Jews attended in large numbers, attracted by the fame of the +preacher, and the glowing and burning eloquence which flowed from his +lips as he pointed them to the Messiah. An attendance of from 400 to 500 +Jews was of frequent occurrence. A German prayer meeting was substituted +for the service hitherto held on Friday evenings, in order to draw +together some of the 2,000 proselytes, and numerous enquirers then in +London. This paved the way for the establishment, later on, of the +"Hebrew Christian Prayer Union." + +Thousands of Jews were addressed in public and in private, in streets, +houses, shops, churches and mission halls. + +A mission hall, situated in Whitechapel, was made a useful centre, where +meetings on Saturdays and other days were generally well attended. There +was a daily Bible Class held for Jews. Conversions and baptisms were +numerous; but, as Stern said in 1876, when speaking of results, and his +words are true for all time, and in every place as well as +London:--"Conversions, however few or many they may be, are not the +gauge by which the progress of mission work amongst the Jews can be +ascertained. A man may be thoroughly convinced of the truth of the +Gospel, and yet hesitate to take the final and decisive step. He may +shrink from the persecution, the trials, the troubles, and the +sacrifices a public profession of his faith would entail. Of course no +one, who is truly concerned for his soul's eternal welfare, should be +ashamed to avow his convictions. Nevertheless, a strong faith and ardent +love are indispensably necessary to enable a catechumen to break through +the ties of cherished affection and friendship for the Gospel's sake. +That all are not destitute of these heavenly gifts, ever-recurring +instances testify. The greater majority, however, prefer to conceal +their religious sentiments. They go to church, join in the services, and +even contribute to missionary societies, and yet nominally profess to be +Jews." + +Stern not only worked in London, but also held special services for Jews +in many other towns. He combined with his mission work the supervision +of the "Wanderers' Home," a most useful institution for the reception of +converts and enquirers. + +In 1874, on the thirtieth anniversary of his ordination, his Hebrew +Christian and other friends presented him with a testimonial--a silver +tea and coffee service--as a slight token of their esteem; and in 1881 +the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of +Divinity. In 1884 he was elected a member of the Committee of the +L.J.S., where his vast and varied experience was of the utmost use; and +he was also elected an Associate of the Victoria Institute. + +Stern's work in London was carried on to the time of his death, which +occurred, after much suffering, on May 13, 1885. The funeral service was +held in the Episcopal Jews' Chapel, Palestine Place, on May 18, in the +presence of a large and sorrowing congregation, and his mortal remains +laid to rest in Ilford Cemetery. He was twice married: first, in 1850, +to Miss Charlotte Elizabeth Purday, who died in 1874; and secondly, in +1883, to Miss Rebecca Goff, daughter of S. D. Goff, Esq., of Horetown, +Co. Wexford. + +As a preacher Stern was eloquence itself; as a writer he had a most +charming and picturesque diction. His published journals and books, like +those of Dr. Wolff, are full of the most romantic incidents of +missionary experience. His published works were: "Dawning of Light in +the East" (1854), being an account of his work in Persia, Kurdistan and +Mesopotamia; "Wanderings amongst the Falashas in Abyssinia" (1862); and +"The Captive Missionary" (1868), both narratives of his Abyssinian +experiences. + +That he was of the spirit of which martyrs are made, the following +extracts from his letters, written during the long and dreary days of +his captivity in Abyssinia, clearly demonstrate:-- + +"Thank God, in the midst of my troubles, cares and anxieties, I enjoy +the profoundest calm and resignation. It is true there are days when the +heart pulsates with gratitude and joy, and there are days when it throbs +beneath the mortifying agonies of despondency. Sometimes I feel as if I +could not endure another week the fetters which encircle my limbs, and +confine me in painful inactivity to this desolate rock. Such rebellious +sentiments I generally try to suppress, and if this is impossible, I +seek comfort in the thought, that all is ordered in wisdom and infinite +love. Our heavenly Father hath, no doubt, an object in this protracted +captivity, and when once the veil of mystery is lifted up, every +incident and circumstance which hath wrung a prayer or extorted a groan +from the grieved soul, will prove to have been in harmony with the +designs of a gracious Providence, and fraught with inestimable +blessings." + +And again, "Our nerves were horrible shattered, and our minds, too, +would have been unhinged, had not religion, with her solacing influence, +soothed the asperities and hardships of our existence. The Bible, +prayers, and a morning and evening exposition of an appropriate passage +were the exercises in which we regularly engaged. No bitter gibes, no +harsh expressions, no unbecoming word characterised our intercourse; +religion formed a wonderful bond of harmony, and when I looked on the +devout countenances that there hung over the inspired page, as I +commented on the selected text, I cherished the pleasing hope that the +clouds, so big with wrath, had been charged with showers of everlasting +mercy. At such a period--I say it solemnly--the punctured head, the +riven side, the pierced feet, and the heavy cross of redeeming love, is +a sight that nerves and supports the drooping and desponding spirit. In +my distress and sorrow, I threw myself on the bosom of a sympathizing +Saviour, and if I was not happy, I was at least resigned." + +No one can estimate the abundance of spiritual harvest from the long +life of toil and labour which Stern spent to the honour and glory of his +Master. He sowed in tears, he led captivity captive, he turned many to +righteousness, and of him it may confidently be said, that he will shine +as a _star_ for ever and ever.[23] + + +[23] W. T. Gidney, "Biographies of Eminent Hebrew Christians," 1906. + + +STERN, Herman, gives the following sketch of his history:--"My father +was a rabbi and teacher of the Talmud at Prague, at Strakenitz, and +somewhat later at Bamberg. I had the happiness to be instructed by him +in the Bible and in the Talmud, from my tenth to my twenty-first year, +and during this period of eleven years, I also attended some Christian +schools. On the decease of my father, who died in his seventy-sixth +year, duty no longer demanded my residence at Bamberg, and having +applied to the then 'Court Commission' (Hofcommission) at Würzburg, for +the situation of Jewish teacher at Höchburg, which was at that time +vacant, I obtained it. The Jewish inhabitants of Höchburg were pious, +and previous to my coming there the children of the rich had been +instructed by private tutors. But as the former had been unwilling that +the children of the less fortunate Jewish parents should share this +instruction, these felt themselves obliged to petition the authorities +for the appointment of a public teacher, which was answered, quite +unexpectedly to the rich, by my installation. It was, therefore, to be +expected that the wealthier Jews would not be pleased with the new +school; and when at last the authorities would no longer suffer the +private tutors to remain at Höchburg, obliging the rich Jews to send +their children to the public school, the latter became to them an +object of hatred. This hatred to the school was now transferred to me, +and I was persecuted in every possible way. The wealthier Jews +complained of me, because I permitted the boys to sit bare-headed; +because I kept no wash-basin in the school-room, and what gave me most +trouble, though it was not raised into a point of accusation, because I +had often inculcated the duty of love to Christians, whom the 'Shulchan +Aruch,' denominated idolaters. + +"I endeavoured to conform in my religious instruction to the letter and +spirit of the Holy Scriptures, and could not avoid alluding to the +defectiveness and emptiness of the synagogue ceremonial, as taught in +the Talmud and the Jewish code 'Shulchan Aruch.' + +"This course was complained of before the chief rabbi of the district; +and for my own security, I requested the Government that the rabbi be +instructed to superintend the religious instruction of my school, and to +subject it to one or two examinations annually. Mr. Bing, the chief +rabbi, however, begged to be excused from doing so, stating that my +religious instruction did not please him. The Government then demanded +of the rabbi either to propose one of the existing religious compendiums +as a text-book for schools, or else to write one himself. + +"The rabbi offered to do the latter. In the third year of my public +services, the Government sent me to the town of Heidingsfeld, and before +leaving Höchburg, I received a testimonial from the royal +school-inspector of the district, expressing the satisfaction my labours +had given to the Government. + +"I had been nearly two years in the school at Höchburg, when the +Government sent me, and all other Jewish teachers of the kingdom, the +new text-book of the Mosaic religion which the rabbinical candidate, Dr. +Alexander Behr, had written, under the surveillance and direction of the +chief rabbi, Mr. Abraham Bing, and which the rabbi at Fürth, and many +other influential Jewish ecclesiastics, had adopted; Government +signifying at the same time that it was the desire of His Majesty the +King to have this book introduced in all Jewish schools. I received +joyfully this book, which promised to meet the urgent necessities of the +schools. But I was doomed to severe disappointment; the 160 octavo pages +which this volume contains, were almost entirely filled with ceremonial +laws, treating of phylacteries, inscriptions, fringes, circumcisions, +meats, the prohibition of shaving, the creed, &c. Not a word, and much +less an exposition of morality, of conscience, of virtue, of holiness, +of the condition and destiny of man. + +"In that portion of the book which treats of God, there was an entire +omission of His power, His wisdom, His goodness, His mercy and holiness, +and of all the lessons derived from these attributes and perfections. +Not even the Decalogue found a place in this work. + +"The Messiah (as well as many other similar predictions) it explained to +signify a period of time when all men should know God and serve Him. + +"I directed the attention of the Government to this dead skeleton, +shewing that I could not receive this book as my guide in religious +instruction. I prayed for permission to follow my own course of +instruction, and pledged myself to have my lessons printed and submitted +to the chief rabbi. + +"My petition was granted; and this was the beginning of trouble. My book +on the 'Confirmation of Israelites' followed in 1829. It was the more +gladly received by the public, since I confirmed all my positions by +quotations from the Talmud, which I translated literally. The second +volume, which I published in 1835, under the title of the 'Tree of +Life,' was as kindly received. Both these books continue as standards in +many schools of various countries, and prove that even the Talmudists of +the third, fourth, and fifth centuries drank from the evangelical source +of life. In like manner also, 'The Confession of Faith of the +Israelites,' as delineated in my works, the 'Confirmation,' pages +140-46, and the 'Tree of Life,' pages 226-243, remain in full credit +among the Jews to this day, nor have the rabbis ventured to say ought +against it, although it refers to the New Testament both in the text +itself and in the notes. + +"Five-and-twenty years have I been openly inculcating these principles +in my schools and in the synagogues, and never have either the Jewish +deputies delegated by the Government to attend my public examinations, +nor the great number of Jews who assisted on such occasions, uttered an +objection; this is a proof that my religious principles were not a +baseless fabric, or, as is too often the case in the statements of our +rabbis, the result of mere whim or conjecture. + +"The kindly, but often misconstrued feelings of His Majesty, Ludovic I., +towards the Jews of his realm, which had been manifested by his +establishment of national schools for them, by the appointment of +regularly educated rabbis, the free admission of the Jews to all the +existing Christian scholastic institutions, and the manifold favours +enjoyed by Jewish mechanics, &c., were again shewn in the year 1836, by +his convoking of Jewish committees. + +"These consisted of rabbis, Jewish teachers, and delegates of +communities. They met in all the provincial capitals of the kingdom in +the public edifices, where they held regular sessions, under the +presidency of a royal commissary, to solve such questions in +theological, scholastic, and social matters, as had arisen during the +then contemplated Jewish emancipation; and to give the Government their +advice. + +"One of the questions before the Committee at Würzburg was--Whether the +Jewish doctrines acknowledge or reject the belief in the Trinity, as +contained in the Old Testament. The rabbis consulted on this weighty +point in private sessions, which I attended, having been chosen by a +majority of votes as one of the referees; and they thereupon declared in +the public session briefly that the doctrine of the Trinity is not +contained in the Old Testament, on which account also the Jews did not +acknowledge this doctrine. + +"The president then demanded that every one agreeing with the +declaration of the rabbis should rise. All the rabbis, all the teachers, +and all the delegates (116 individuals) arose. I only remained sitting, +and then handed to the president a written notice, stating that I should +beg the rabbis, in a circular which should be printed, to give me an +explanation of various difficulties that I entertained on this point, +before I could accede to the declaration made by them. + +"My circular, entitled 'Israelitism in its Excellency and its Burden' +('Israelitenthum in seiner Würde und Bürde) was printed during these +sessions (which lasted six weeks), and produced a universal sensation. +The rabbis took it very ill that I had ventured on this step, +notwithstanding I had been shewn, as in a camera obscura, in glaring +colours, my prospective misery; but they did not answer my circular. +Only Dr. Romann, the chief rabbi at Cassel, and Mr. J. Heidegger, a +teacher of the Talmud at Fürth, wrote each one a pamphlet against me. +Both of them, however, scarcely touched upon the point, and were +contented with abuse, cursing, and persecution. + +"My school at Heidingsfeld was advised to institute a complaint against +me, as having, through my circular, shaken the basis of my religion, and +to found thereon a request for my removal. The Government, however, +declined entertaining the complaint; since, by issuing my circular, I +had adopted the very course which the rabbis themselves had pointed out +when asked how a Jew should proceed in case that religious doubts +should arise; since there was no supreme religious tribunal in existence +to whom the case might be referred; the rabbis having declared that in +such an event a circular letter stating the question should be addressed +by the enquirer to all Jewish theologians. + +"These reasons were too weighty to encourage an appeal to the royal +'Ministerium,' although my opponents anticipated a favourable decision +from this event for themselves, notwithstanding their unholy aim. + +"They, however, preferred to accuse me anew as having transgressed my +religion, namely, by having taught in my schools that in case of +necessity the Jews were permitted to break the laws relating to the +Sabbath in order to relieve a fellow-man. + +"I was cited and heard, and having confessed the truth of the charge, +the royal 'Ministerium' resolved on my penal removal to the school at +Main-Stockheim. + +"This severe penalty could not have been inflicted, if the rabbis had +not represented that Jews were not permitted to violate the Sabbatical +laws in order to relieve a fellow-man. + +"I was therefore obliged to leave a town where so many persons and +objects were dear to me, and where I had enjoyed that rare happiness of +teachers--to instruct the children of my former pupils. I was forced to +leave two pretty little gardens which I had gradually raised on desert +spots, and the trees which I had planted at the birth of each of my +children. + +"I departed; my wife and children followed me weeping, and the tears of +many others comforted me. + +"In November, 1837, I arrived in the village of Main-Stockheim, the +place of destination, as the appointed Jewish teacher of religion. The +Jewish community belonged to the orthodox or pious class. I was shewn to +three small rooms as my residence, and their gloomy appearance was +little calculated to cheer my mind. + +"I observed that this dwelling could not accommodate myself and family; +and begged the Jewish School-Community (Schulgemeinde) to grant me other +rooms, or else to enlarge these; but it was in vain. I was obliged to +convert the lobby into a dormitory for my children. The little rooms, +owing to their disproportionate loftiness, were cold and uncomfortable, +and so damp that we had thick ice within, near the windows. My wife and +some of my children fell sick; and I felt myself obliged, and in duty +bound, to petition the royal land-tribunal for the enlargement of my +dwelling, and my petition was shortly granted. + +"But the Jewish Warden appealed to a higher tribunal, the Government; +and when the former decision was confirmed, they appealed to the +Ministerium. Much time was thus lost, and I obtained at last an +additional room and a cellar. + +"My salary was so small that I had to live partly on my own means; and +yet the Jewish School-Community withheld from me part of the amount of +firewood granted me by law. Out of love of peace, I offered to +relinquish part of the withheld quantity of wood, if they would but +give the rest, so as to obviate the necessity of complaining to the +Government; but I was forced to complain. + +"The suit passed again all the various Courts as before, and was decided +in my favour; the lawful quantity of wood was to be given me, and for +that which had been unjustly withheld I was to be indemnified. Although +I had declined to accept the indemnification granted me by law--a +refusal very cheerfully accepted by my rich community--yet they did not +neglect to avenge themselves upon me on the grounds of piety; being +aware that this was the likeliest way to compass their end. I was +accused of the following sins, which I had actually committed. + +"1. That I had not only permitted my female scholars to come to the +synagogue on Saturdays, but had commanded them to do so, in order to +attend to the religious instructions which I there imparted. + +"2. That I had cut my beard in Omer.[24] + +"3. That, on one occasion, being called up to the reading of the Torah, +I had appeared with gloves on. + +"4. That I kept a Christian servant. + +"5. That on the anniversaries of my parents' death, I did not lead the +synagogue service: and, + +"6. That, although I would not allow my wife to use the 'dipping bath' +(Tauchbad), I would persist in giving her my arm. + + +[24] The period between the Passover and the Feast of Weeks. + + +"They stated that they could no longer suffer a man among them who was +so immoral, so irreligious, and who excited so much scandal; and since +no Christian court could decide on these Jewish sins, it was requested +that the chief rabbi should be heard, and that I should be discharged. I +replied: and respecting the last two points on which most stress seemed +to be laid, I observed first, that it had been my father's dying request +that I should neither fast nor lead the synagogue service on the +anniversaries of my parents' death, as the custom had originated in a +superstition; and, secondly, that according to a medical testimonial +which I laid before the court, my sick wife had been prohibited from +using the 'dipping bath;' but the decision of the chief rabbi was, that +as I had confessed my wife neglected the bath, while, at the time, it +was proved that she had taken my arm in walking, I was worthy of death +according to Levit. xx. 18, and must be discharged from my office +forthwith. I protested against this barbarous decision, and prayed to +submit it to another Rabbinat. My petition was granted, but the rabbi of +the district, Mr. L. B. Bamberger, of Würzburg, declared that he fully +agreed with the chief rabbi, and added that my wife also was worthy of +death. + +"In consequence, I was discharged, lost the salary yet due to me, though +the Government had approved of my official labours, and I was adjudged +as having forfeited even my claim upon the States Institution for the +Relief of Orphans and Widows of German School Teachers, as well as my +right to the 133 florins which I had already paid into that Institution. +With this bitter experience, and provided with most satisfactory +testimonials from my immediate superiors, I left my native country, and +went with my wife and children to the free town of Frankfort, where I +enjoyed perfect peace in the capacity of a private tutor. From this +brief sketch it will sufficiently appear that the rabbinical Jewish +religion leads to and justifies the most revolting injustice and +cruelty, a reproach which cannot be brought against Christianity." + +STERN, Joseph Paul, a native of Hungary, where he had been a teacher and +then a merchant, came to Jerusalem in 1851, at the age of thirty-five. +Becoming ill he was admitted on application to the L.J.S. hospital, +where, one may say, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was truly +converted, and was baptized on Good Friday of that year. Henceforth he +devoted his life to preach the grace of God as manifested in Christ +Jesus, to his brethren in season and out of season. He was only a +Scripture reader, but few could resist his entreaties to accept +salvation through Christ, and the Jews feared him as well as respected +him, for he often rewarded them good for evil. In 1860 he visited his +relatives in Hungary, when he preached Christ to them, and escaped being +poisoned. In 1872, when the Rev. A. Bernstein visited him in his +sickness and administered the Holy Communion to him, he asked to be +dressed in his best clothes, for he expected to go to the marriage of +the Lamb. But he lingered yet for a while and died in 1873, uttering +with his last breath--"Christ is all." + +STERN, Maximilian Christian Heinrich, was baptized by Dr. Poper at +Frankfurt, in 1846, when two of his brothers became Christian preachers +in America. He was then fifty-two years old. His family followed his +example two years later. In 1856 he published "Die Jüdische +Zeitrechnung." He died in 1861. (See "Jewish Missionary Intelligence," +1846, page 123). + +STERNCHUSS, Rev. P. H., after a course of preparation in the L.J.S. +Missionary Training College, was sent, together with A. J. Behrens, to +open a mission at Safed in 1843, where they held a daily service and +tried to have intercourse with the fanatical Jews, but were boycotted by +them. In 1844, they were both ordained in Jerusalem, and Sternchuss +accompanied Stern to Bagdad, whence he itinerated to Mesopotamia, +visiting Hillah and Ezekiel's tomb twice, he also visited Persia. The +trying climate, the galling reproaches and persecutions, and the +hardships which those early missionaries in the East endured, soon told +upon Sternchuss, so that he had to resign on account of ill-health in +1850, but continued still for a short time to labour for the Society in +the West of England. + +TARTAKOVER, Rev. E. M. Very little information can be obtained about +this servant of Christ, but that little is most interesting, inasmuch as +it embraces a reflective comment on a long period of Church history in +which Palestine and the Jewish residents there had no Hebrew Christian +minister of the Gospel. On October 30th, 1842, Tartakover was ordained +in Jerusalem by Bishop Alexander. Such an event as the ordination of a +Jewish convert had not been witnessed in the Holy City since Apostolic +times. + +TOMORY, Rev. A., after finishing his theological studies at Edinburgh, +was appointed by the Free Church of Scotland as a missionary at Pesth in +1853. In 1864 he was transferred to Constantinople, where he carried on +a most faithful and fruitful work, both evangelistic and educational, +during the remainder of his earthly pilgrimage, and left a worthy +memorial in the home for enquiring Jews which he founded at Galata. + +TREMELLIUS, John Immanuel, was born at Ferrara in 1510; and died at +Sedan, October 9th, 1580. He was educated at the University of Padua, +and baptized in the Roman Catholic Church about 1540, through the +influence of Cardinal Pole, but embraced Protestantism in the following +year, and went to Strasburg to teach Hebrew. Owing to the wars of the +Reformation in Germany, he was compelled to seek refuge in England, +where he resided at Lambeth Palace with Archbishop Cranmer in 1547. In +1549 he succeeded Paul Fagius as Regius Professor of Hebrew at +Cambridge. On the death of Edward VI. he revisited Germany, and, after +some vicissitudes, became Professor of the Old Testament at Heidelberg +in 1561. He ultimately found a home in the College of Sedan, where he +died. His chief literary work was a Latin translation of the Bible from +the Hebrew and Syriac. The five parts relating to the Old Testament were +published at Frankfurt between 1575 and 1579; in London in 1580, and in +numerous later editions. Tremellius also translated into Hebrew Calvin's +Catechism (Paris, 1551), and wrote a Chaldaic and Syriac grammar (Paris, +1569). + +TURCKHEIM, Rev. Ernest Julius, had been, at the age of twenty-one, +master of a Jewish school at West Hartlepool, where he gave great +satisfaction to the parents of the children, so that they wished him to +become their minister. In order that he should be able conscientiously +to discharge his duties, Turckheim applied himself to a diligent study +of the Old Testament. This in itself made him more serious than he had +been before. Meeting with Mr. J. Alexander, then agent of the British +and Foreign Bible Society at the Crystal Palace, he received from him a +New Testament, and through reading it earnestly he became convinced of +the truth of Christianity, and was baptized in 1873. He then studied at +the London College of Divinity, and was ordained at York in 1875-6 to +the curacy of St. Thomas there. In 1878 he was curate of All Saints', +Derby. In 1879 he became curate of All Souls', Langham Place, London. In +1882 he was appointed to the living of Hale Magna, in Lincolnshire, +where he did good work until his death in 1907. + +Speaking at the L.J.S. anniversary meeting in 1893, he said:--"A Jew by +birth, a Jew by training and practice till I was twenty-four years old; +a Jew still by every feeling of national loyalty and sympathy, I thank +God that I can say, nevertheless I am also a Christian. And it is as a +Jew and a Christian I have responded to your invitation, and am standing +here to-day and make this solemn confession of my faith. It is due to +the grace of God, it is due to the power of His Word, which is the power +of God unto salvation, unto every one that believeth--to the Jew first. +It is due, I must add, to the patience and forbearance, to the love and +labours, to the life and death, to the mediation and sufferings for me +of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is due to the prayers of God's +people, it is due to this Society. It is due to all of you who labour +and pray, and make substantial sacrifices for the promotion of +Christianity amongst the Jews. It is due that we Christian Jews who +have, by the grace of God, been brought out of Jewish darkness into the +blessed and happy position of pardoned sinners by the blood of the +Cross, that we should fearlessly declare with no uncertain sound, that +whilst we are Christians by grace, we are still Jews by nature, by race, +and by sympathy, and thus take a humble part in testifying to the +blessed and everlasting truth that God has not cast away His people, +that there is still a remnant according to the election of grace. It is +twenty years since I ventured my eternal welfare with Jesus of Nazareth. +After twenty years of mature deliberation and trial, I once more take my +stand beside the Ethiopian eunuch, and declare to-day, with my heart +full of thankful gladness and humble faith, 'I believe that Jesus Christ +is the Son of God.' Twenty years, we must observe, is a period wherein a +man can make a test of a step that he has taken, and I never, never, for +one moment, have wavered in my conviction that 'there is none other name +under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,' than the name of +Jesus Christ." + +VAMBREY, Hermann, was born in 1832 at Szerdahely, on the Island Schütt, +Hungary. He studied at Pressburg, especially modern languages, and +became a member of the Reformed Church after his baptism. At the age of +twenty-two he became tutor in a Turkish family in Constantinople, and +later he travelled through Asia Minor, Armenia, Persia, Turkestan, +Bokhara, Samarkand and the regions of the Oxus. Dressed as a dervish he +passed through all these countries unhurt, but was often in danger. He +then published his experiences and acquisitions in these journeys, in +the following works: "German-Turkish Dictionary" (Constantinople, 1858). +"Dsagataic Dictionary" (Hungarian), (Pesth, 1861). "An Etymological +Dictionary of Torkatartaric Languages" (Leipzig, 1877). "The Russian +Power in Asia" (_ib_., 1871). "Central Asia" and "Anglo-Russian +Relations" (_ib_. 1873). "Travels in Central Asia" (_ib_., 1865). +"Sketches from Central Asia" (_ib_. 1868). "Wanderings and Experience in +Persia" (1867). "Niguric Linguistic Documents" (Innsbruck, 1870). +"History of Bokhara" (Stuttgart, 1872). "Islam in the 19th Century" +(Leipzig, 1875). "Moral Pictures from the East" (Berlin, 1876); and a +number of other works. He wrote his autobiography under the titles, +"Arminius Vambrey, His Life and Adventures" (London, 1883), and +"Struggles of my Life" (_ib_., 1894). + +VANORDEN, Rev. E., a Dutch Jew, who was baptized by Dr. Ewald in 1863. +He afterwards studied for the ministry in America and was sent as a +missionary to Brazil, where he laboured at San Paulo for many years. + +VENETIANER, Pastor A., son of a Jewish rabbi, was converted through the +preaching of the Rev. C. A. Schönberger. He afterward studied theology +in Serftom. In 1879 he became Pastor in Panseora, Hungary, and +afterwards in Trieste, where he wrote a book entitled: "Die Evangelische +reformite Kirche Cristo Salvatore zu Triest" (Trieste and Leipzig, +1887); and also an epistle to Rabbi J. Lichtenstein in Tapio Szele, +entitled "Zum Zeugniss" (Vienna, 1886). Later on he became Pastor at +Rohrbach, South Russia, where he supported the movement of Rabinowitz. + +VICARS, Mrs. Murray, was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant, and +was brought to a knowledge of the Saviour through her intercourse with a +Christian nurse. Her father, when attending the dedication of a new +synagogue, took cold and became dangerously ill. His Jewish friends of +the synagogue came to visit him, but were afraid to tell him that he was +on the brink of the grave, and he died soon after. This brought her +serious thoughts and led her to question the reason why the Jews shrink +from mentioning the subject of death to a sick man. She had afterward to +appear before a Court in reference to the property which her father had +left and to take an oath before the magistrate. An Old Testament was +then handed to her for that purpose, when she exclaimed before the whole +assembly of Jews and Christians: "The New Testament is for me." This +raised a great commotion, but having taken this decisive step, she did +not hesitate to become a member of the Church by baptism. She afterward +married the Rev. Murray Vicars, and went with him to Bagdad to labour +amongst the Jews there. On their journey back to England on account of +ill-health, her husband died at Marseilles, in 1850, and she settled at +Brighton, where she founded a school for ragged children. It must be +added that her sister, too, embraced Christianity, and she left three +sons, clergymen of the Church of England, two of them are especially +well known--the Rev. Charles Neil and the Rev. James Neil. The latter +was incumbent of Christ Church, Mount Zion, from 1871-74. + +The maiden name of Mrs. Murray Vicars was Fanny Phillips; her brother +Samuel was a distinguished man of letters. + +WALLFISCH, Rev. J. H., was brought to a knowledge of Christ by Professor +Cassel at Breslau, and after his baptism there he was for a time in the +service of the Free Church of Scotland. He emigrated to the United +States and, joining the Methodist Episcopal Church, became secretary of +the Jewish mission of that body, founded an "Institutum Judaicum" +amongst the students of the Anglo-German College at Golena, and received +from Milton College the degree of Doctor of Music. + +WEISS, Edward, was converted through the instrumentality of Dr. +Zuckerkandl at Rustschuk, Bulgaria, in 1869, where he was for some time +teacher in the mission school. On account of the Russo-Turkish war, he +was removed by the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel +amongst the Jews to Vienna, and assisted Salkinson. At least thirty of +his enquirers were baptized there. The rest of his life was spent in +preaching the Gospel at Pressburg, where he had frequent intercourse +with the students of the Rabbinic Seminary there. He died in 1905. + +WOLF, Philipp, D.D., was baptized in 1554. He wrote "Spiegel der Juden," +in which he brings proofs from Moses and the prophets that Jesus is the +Messiah, and gives information concerning the Jewish prayers, some of +which he quotes in German, and also in reference to the "Shem +Hamphorath," or ineffable name of God. (Wolff, Bib. Heb. 3 N. 1830 c.) + +WOLFF, Joseph. The two great missionary explorers of the nineteenth +century were David Livingstone and Joseph Wolff. The labours of the +former were chiefly confined to Negro races of the "Dark Continent"; +whereas the latter made most extensive journeys amongst the various +remnants of the tribes of Israel scattered throughout Africa and Asia. +The lives of both these great men touch upon all that is romantic and of +thrilling interest in the wide range of exploration, and none the less +so because they consecrated themselves to their Master's service, and, +with a consuming zeal for souls, went forth to seek and to save the +lost. + +Joseph Wolff was the pioneer missionary to Jews in the Orient. Like St. +Paul, he, too, was "in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils +of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, +in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness." His almost +superhuman efforts in the third and fourth decades of last century cast +a halo of romance around Jewish missions, and laid the foundation for +much subsequent work. Within the short period of sixteen years we find +him visiting Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Asiatic Turkey, +Persia, India, Bokhara, Abyssinia and Arabia--and some of these +countries more than once. Verily, he compassed sea and land to make +proselytes to the faith, of which he became such a doughty champion. + +The life of this remarkable man naturally falls into three periods--his +early years as a Jew; his missionary efforts amongst his brethren; and +his last years quietly and uneventfully passed in country parishes in +England. Our chief concern is with the middle period, to which, however, +we can do but scant justice, as its constant and restless action and +stirring adventures overwhelm us with an embarrassment of riches. + +"Wolff," as he was simply called, after his grandfather, was born at +Weilersbach, a small Bavarian village, in 1795, or 1796,[25] of Jewish +parents, his father, whose name was David, belonging to the tribe of +Levi. He was the rabbi of the small Jewish community of the place, +numbering fifteen families, but soon after the birth of his son he +removed to Halle. In his very early years the boy received a strict +Jewish education, and at the age of six recited the Hebrew prayer-book +every day. He was then sent to a Christian school, but apparently only +to learn German. When Wolff was eleven years old he was placed at the +Protestant Lyceum at Stuttgart, but growing dissatisfied with it, he +went to reside with his cousin, Moses Cohen, at Bamberg, and entered the +Roman Catholic Lyceum of that place. He there made up his mind to become +a Christian and a missionary like Francis Xavier. But he was unsettled +in the extreme in his search after the truth, and wandered to Würzburg, +Frankfort-on-the-Main, Halle, Prague, Vienna, Pressburg, back again to +Vienna, Mölk, Munich, Anspach, Saxe Weimar, Heidelberg, Soleure, and +finally arrived at Prague. There he was baptized by the Abbot of the +Benedictine Monastery Emaus, in the year 1812, at the age of seventeen, +receiving the name of "Joseph." At his confirmation shortly afterwards +he received the two further names of "Stanilaus Wenceslaus," which, +however, he never used. + + +[25] Wolff himself is responsible for this uncertainty, having supplied +these two different dates. "Travels and Adventures," vol. 1, p. 2, and +"Missionary Journal and Memoir," p. 1. + + +Joseph Wolff was by this time proficient in the Latin, Persian, +Chaldean, and Syriac languages, and entered the University of Vienna to +study Arabic, Ecclesiastical History, and Divinity. There he remained +two years. In 1814 he resided with Count Stollberg, and, like every one +else, was much exercised at Napoleon's escape from Elba. In 1815 Wolff +entered the Lutheran University of Tübingen to pursue his studies in +Oriental languages and theology; but he left the next year on a +pilgrimage to Rome, travelling on foot through Switzerland and Italy +until he reached the Eternal City. Being introduced to Pope Pius VII., +he shewed him a Hebrew Bible which had been the companion of his +travels. Wolff entered the Collegio Romano, and in 1817 the Propaganda, +from which his Protestant leanings, and neglect of scholastic divinity +for the Bible, caused his expulsion in 1818. Wolff now returned to +Vienna, lamenting that his missionary aspirations had been frustrated. +In his distress of mind he wrote to Hoffbauer, Vicar-General of the +Liguorians, who received him into his monastery. Wolff was not happy +there for more than a few months, and leaving Vienna, travelled through +Austria to the Benedictine monastery of Krems-Münster, where he was well +received by the monks. Too restless to remain long in any place, Wolff +travelled through Bavaria, Switzerland, and France, entering first this +monastery and then that. At Paris he met with Robert Haldane, who +exercised a powerful religious influence over him; and with whom he +journeyed to London. + +We naturally find our interest in this talented and eager youth +increasing on his arrival in England, in 1819, at the age of +twenty-four, when he came under the notice of Mr. Henry Drummond, the +Rev. Charles Simeon, the Rev. Lewis Way, and other well-known friends of +Israel. Wolff made his way, as almost every baptized or enquiring Jew +did when first arriving in this country, to "Palestine Place," the +missionary headquarters of the London Society for Promoting Christianity +amongst the Jews, where all were sure of a hearty welcome. He attended +the service in the Episcopal Jews' Chapel, conducted by the chaplain, +the Rev. Charles Sleech Hawtrey, and, to use his own words, was +"enchanted with the devotion and beauty of the ritual." Henceforth he +considered himself a member of the Church of England. The Society sent +him to Cambridge to be trained as a missionary, and to study theology +under Simeon (himself of Jewish extraction), and other Oriental +languages under Professor Lee. Two years' residence there, and a short +course at the London Society's Seminary in Sussex, were sufficient for +the zealous young convert who was longing for active missionary service +abroad. Mr. Drummond sent him forth on his career. His feverish anxiety +to be thus employed is seen in his selection of the words of Francis +Xavier, "Who would not travel over land and sea to be instrumental in +the salvation of one soul?" as the motto for the title page of his +"Travels." Wolff left England in April, 1821, and with passing calls at +Gibraltar, and Malta (where he baptized a Jew) in due time he reached +Alexandria. He spent three months amongst the Jews of that city and of +Cairo, preaching in their synagogues, and distributing New Testaments. A +visit which he paid to the Convent of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, is +interesting from the fact that the monks promised to pray for the +conversion of the Jews. + +Wolff's eyes, however, were fixed on the Holy City, and his work in +Egypt was regarded by himself as a "preparation for preaching the Gospel +of Christ at Jerusalem." He did so first in the synagogue of the +Karaites; and afterwards made daily efforts for three or four months to +reach the Sephardim, Ashkenazim and Chassidim, both by word of mouth and +circulation of the Holy Scriptures. + +Towards the end of 1822, Wolff visited Antioch and Aleppo, just before +the terrible earthquake visitation of the latter city, when hundreds of +Jews confessed that the truth of the Gospel could not be denied. In the +spring of 1823 he was again in Egypt following up his previous work, and +going on to Jerusalem for Easter. His three months' labour there amongst +the Jews, thus described by himself, "I lodged among them, and was +engaged in preaching the Gospel from morning to night, and often all +night," cleared the way for subsequent efforts. + +In the same year Wolff visited Damascus, where the Jews eagerly accepted +the Arabic Bibles which he had with him, and Aleppo, where he was again +well received. + +Wolff's account of his visit to Bagdad in 1824, and other cities of +Mesopotamia, is most interesting reading. He seems to have visited the +scattered communities of Jews, amongst all of whom he had easy access. +At Mosul he was shewn a Hebrew translation of the New Testament which +had been made by a rabbi a hundred years previously. Left as a precious +heirloom to the rabbinical college, it had remained neglected until +Wolff pointed out its priceless value. At Orfa, the ancient "Ur of the +Chaldees," Wolff found about fifty Jewish families, and some Jacobites, +or Syrian Christians, claiming to be lineally descended from Jews who +received Christianity through the preaching of St. James at Jerusalem. +Their peculiar ceremonies, as also their features, gave colour to their +claim to be literal as well as spiritual children of Abraham. + +In 1825 Wolff visited the various Jewish communities of Persia, who, +perhaps, have better grounds than any other people to be regarded as +descendants of the "Lost Ten Tribes." In 1827 and 1828 Wolff visited the +Ionian Islands and Asia Minor. At Smyrna he awakened, as indeed he did +everywhere, a widespread enquiry into Christianity on the part of the +Jews. + +Probably the most romantic and thrilling of all Wolff's experiences were +those which he encountered at Bokhara in 1832. "Adventures to the +adventurous" is a truism, and Wolff was bold and daring to the last +degree, otherwise he would not have accomplished his purpose. He dressed +as a Turkoman, and so obtained an audience of the king, when he was +denounced as a Russian spy by the Jews. By his wonderful adroitness he +overcame all opposition, and received permission to evangelize the Jews, +but was forbidden to hold religious converse with Moslems. He took +lodgings at the house of a Jew, and was visited by his brethren, who +asserted that their forefathers had been carried from Samaria by the +Kings of Assyria and brought to Haran (Isa. xxxvii. 12), _i.e._, +Bokhara. The three months spent there by Wolff, especially amongst the +learned class, were fruitful, and he baptized as many as twenty. These +men had all remained faithful when he visited Bokhara again in 1844. +That second visit, more hazardous even than the first, was made with the +purpose of ascertaining the fate of Colonel Stoddart and Captain +Conolly,--two Englishmen, who, as subsequently transpired, had been +murdered. Wolff's arrival in the city was witnessed by 20,000 persons +shouting "welcome" to the enterprising traveller, whose costume--gown, +hood, and shovel-hat--roused no small astonishment. Wolff obtained +permission from the king for the Jews to repair their ancient +synagogue.[26] + + +[26] "Narrative of a Mission to Bokhara." + + +In 1833 we find Wolff in India, visiting the white and the black Jews of +Cochin, and the Beni-Israel of Poona, Calcutta and Bombay. This was not +an unexplored field, as the L.J.S. missionaries had been working there +from 1820 to 1830. Wolff found plenty to do, and at Calcutta, for six +successive days, talked twelve hours on end to all who came to his +"retreat." + +Hitherto Asia had been the principal scene of Wolff's labours, but in +1835 he was in Abyssinia and in 1836 in Arabia, visiting the Yemen. At +Sanaa he expounded Isaiah liii. to the Jews, and subsequently baptized +four with their families. The Jews were polygamists, but apparently +dissatisfied with the state of things thus entailed. + +Lack of space prohibits us from enlarging on Wolff's labours in the +East. His own descriptions remain to this day the most entertaining of +missionary annals, and bear witness to the wonderful activity of the man +whose striking personality, not unmixed with a harmless and naive +egotism, carried him through numberless dangers, and extricated him from +perilous situations. The restlessness of his nature, which in early life +impelled him to wander over Europe in search of light and learning, +developed in succeeding years into that consecrated fiery energy and +impulse which made him so peculiarly fitted to play the _rôle_ of +pioneer missionary. Many of his friends, as he said, "believed him to be +Elijah," though he archly added, "he always believed himself to be +Joseph Wolff!" But a pioneer he was in every sense of the word, and as +such rendered yeoman service to a cause, which more than all others, +perhaps, needs all the glamour and romance it can call to its aid. So +great was his dramatic power in describing his travels that Archbishop +Whately proclaimed him to be "a missionary Shakespeare." + +Wolff had an iron constitution and a powerful frame, absolutely +impervious to matters of climate, and privations, however severe and +enduring. He records that, when travelling in India in 1832, he was +stripped of everything, and in danger of being "made into sausages," and +"had to walk without a rag of clothing on for 600 miles from the Hindu +Koosh to the Punjaub, through storms and snow!" He was relieved and +clothed at Cabul by Lieutenant Burnes. Wolff's character, wonderful +activity, and resources, were thus caustically summed up by one who +knew him:-- + +"He appears to me to be a comet without any perihelion, and capable of +setting a whole system on fire. When I should have addressed him in +Syria, I heard of him at Malta, and when I supposed he was gone to +England, he was riding like a ruling angel in the whirlwinds of Antioch, +or standing unappalled among the crumbling towers of Aleppo. A man who +at Rome calls the Pope 'the dust of the earth,' and at Jerusalem tells +the Jews that the 'Gemara is a lie'; who passes his days in disputation, +and his nights in digging in the Talmud; to whom a floor of brick is a +feather-bed and a box is a bolster; who makes or finds a friend alike in +the persecutor of his former or of his present faith; who can conciliate +a Pasha or confute a patriarch; who travels without a guide, speaks +without an interpreter, can live without food, and pay without money, +forgiving all the insults he meets with, and forgetting all the flattery +he receives; who knows little of worldly conduct, and yet accommodates +himself to all men without giving offence to any--such a man (and such +and more is Wolff) must excite no ordinary degree of attention in a +country and among a people whose monotony of manners and habits has +remained undisturbed for centuries. As a pioneer I deem him matchless, +_aut inveniet viam, aut faciet_; but, if order is to be established or +arrangements made, trouble not Wolff. He knows of no church but his +heart, no calling but that of zeal, no dispensation but that of +preaching. He is devoid of enmity towards man, and full of the love of +God. By such an instrument, whom no school hath taught, whom no college +could hold, is the way of the Judæan wilderness preparing.... Thus are +his brethren provoked to emulation and stirred up to inquiry. They all +perceive, as everyone must, that whatever he is, he is in earnest; they +acknowledge him to be a sincere believer in Jesus of Nazareth, and that +is a great point gained with them, for the mass of the ignorant and +unconverted Jews deny the possibility of real conversion from +Judaism."[27] + + +[27] The Rev. Lewis Way, quoted in "Travels and Adventures of Dr. +Wolff," vol. i., p. 287. + + +General Sir Charles Napier said that Wolff had "worked harder for +religion, and had gone through more dangers for it, with a brave heart, +than any man living." + +Of his life in England as a parochial clergyman, but little can be said +in this biography. He married, when a young man, the daughter of the +Earl of Orford, Lady Georgiana Walpole, with whom he lived happily for +thirty years, and whose son was Sir Henry Drummond Wolff. When he +settled in England, he became vicar of Linthwaite, a small village in +Yorkshire. His friend, Henry Drummond, after whom he had named his son, +wrote, "Your call is to be an evangelist for all the nations of the +earth, and for this you are fit; but, to use your own simile, you are as +fit for a parish priest as I am for a dancing-master." Wolff shortly +afterwards removed, on account of his wife's health, to the sole charge +of High Hoyland, another Yorkshire village, with about 120 souls. There, +too, he must have felt like a lion in a cage; and when, five years +later, he resigned his charge on the ground of not being able to meet +his expenses, and undertook his second journey to Bokhara, he must +indeed have rejoiced in an aftermath of the freedom and action of his +earlier career. One little incident is too good to be omitted. Before +Wolff entered upon the curacy, his predecessor, doubting the sentiments +of his successor, preached his farewell sermon from the text, "After my +departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you." Wolff remarks, +"However, he was very merciful, and made no allusion to the coming +'Wolff' in his sermon!" + +On his return from Bokhara, Wolff was appointed to the living of +Isle-Brewers, in Somersetshire, with a population of 300, amongst whom +were two farmers, all the rest being peasants. There Wolff remained for +the remainder of his life, his talents and brilliant gifts being wasted +in such retirement, but his energy knowing no diminution. He built a new +parsonage and schools, defraying a portion of the expense from the +proceeds of his works and lectures; and erected a new church, for the +cost of which he laid all his numerous friends and everybody else, under +contribution by incessant correspondence and personal applications. He +was a father to his poor, and every winter supported thirty-five +families with the necessities of life. Wolff was the neighbour and firm +friend of George Anthony Denison, "dearer to him than any," although +theologically in the opposite camp. Amongst Wolff's other numerous +friends and acquaintances, we may mention the names of Sir Walter Scott, +Dean Stanley, Dean Hook, Alfred Tennyson, and Alfred and Margaret Gatty. + +Wolff died in 1862, at the age of 66 or 67 years--a long life, when the +restless activity of brain and body is taken into account, and a full +life, in every sense of the word. He exemplified in his person the +saying, "It is better to wear out than to rust out." And his epitaph +might well have been, "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up." + +WOLFF, Oscar Ludwig Bernard, was born in Altona, 1799. After embracing +Christianity (the date uncertain) he held the professorship of modern +languages and literature successively at Weimar and at Jena, where he +died in 1851. His literary works appeared at Jena in 1841-43 in fourteen +volumes. The best known of his works are "Poetischer Hausschatz des +Deutschen Volkes" (Leipzig, 1839); "Hausschatz Deutscher Prosa" (_ib._, +1855) and "Geschichte des Deutschen Romans," Jena 1843. + +WOLKENBERG, Rev. Marcus. Mordecai Wolkenberg (for such was his Jewish +name) was born in 1834 in Russian Poland. When quite young he was +smuggled over the border into Galicia (Austrian Poland) to avoid being +Christianized and trained for military service, it often being the +custom in the time of the Emperor Nicholas I. to seize Jewish lads for +those ends. Mordecai was placed by his parents with pious and orthodox +relatives at Brody, where he gained the interest of the famous rabbi of +the town, Salomon Kluger, and through his teaching soon acquired a good +Hebrew and Talmudical education. When quite a young man he was appointed +tutor in the home of the rich banker Cahner at Jassy, where he remained +about two years. During his stay there he made the acquaintance of the +Rev. W. Mayer, the L.J.S. missionary. After a time of great +heart-searching and deep spiritual experience, he was led to embrace the +Christian faith, and was baptized. Thereupon he had to pass through a +period of bitter trial and persecution, instigated chiefly by his +employer. His occupation had brought him in contact with many people. +All these forsook him when he made his public confession of +Christianity. At length he had to leave Jassy, and, after a while, +Marcus (as his name now was) went to the Malta Protestant College; later +on he came to London, when he read theology with the Rev. A. S. +Thelwall. In 1863 he was appointed an assistant missionary at Jassy. +This was a great trial to his feelings and faith, for it was there that +he first found Christ, and there, in consequence, that he had first +tasted the venom of religious hatred. Here, however, to his surprise, he +was sought for and visited by numbers of his former acquaintances. A +wide door, and effectual, was thus opened to him, one result of years of +patient school and other missionary work by those who had long laboured +in Jassy. Of this circumstance he says: "Most of these visitors were +teachers, some merchants, and others near relatives of one of the +wealthiest Jews here. Nor has the bold proclamation of the truth, on my +part, deterred them from continuing their intercourse with me." For +seven years he thus worked in Jassy and in Bacau for Christ, and with +much blessing. In 1870, owing to the illness of his wife, he had to +return to England; where he laboured successively in London, Manchester, +Birmingham, and lastly in Liverpool, where he died April 17th, 1900, +very much regretted by all who knew him, and not least by many Jews, who +spoke in the highest terms of his goodness, piety, and scholarship. + +XERES, Jonah ben Jacob, was a native of North Africa, where he came in +contact with English Christian merchants and learned the truth as it is +in Jesus from them. In 1707 he came to London and was instructed and +baptized by Dr. Allix in 1709. He then wrote an "Address to the Jews," +containing his reasons for leaving the Jewish and embracing the +Christian religion. (See Wolff Bib. Heb., 14, N. 823.) + +The book is dedicated to the then Archbishop of York (in 1709), and +prefaced by an attestation to the respectability of the author by seven +London merchants, and another by the learned Dr. Allix. + +"We, whose names are underwritten, merchants trading into Barbary in +Africa, do hereby certify, all whom it may concern, that we, each of us, +having formerly lived for several years in those parts, did then, as we +do now, personally know Jonah ben Jacob Xeres, who was born in Saphia, a +sea-port town on that coast. His parents, being Hebrews, were reputed +to be honest and substantial people; who employed much care in educating +this their son, Jonah, in the Jewish religion, and no less expense in +instructing him in the Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldean tongues. He the said +Jonah lived in that country a professed Jew, till the age of five and +twenty, or thereabouts; and always behaved himself sober in his +conversation, and no less just in his dealing, as some of us have +experienced, having had occasion to employ him on several accounts, +whereby, amongst other conversation, he had an opportunity of +discoursing with some in our factory about matters of religion; and, as +he now informs us, was thereby possessed with some notion, that the +Messiah had already come; whereby, being uneasy under such a weighty +doubt, he came over to England about eighteen months ago, in order to +acquire a full satisfaction. After some time here, he applied himself to +some of us to recommend him to some learned Divine for information; +whereupon he was sent to the Rev. Dr. Allix, on whom some of us have +since waited, who, requesting of us a character of the said Jonah, is +the occasion of this paper, which we do in all respects believe to be +true, and have a very good opinion of the probity and sincerity of the +above-mentioned Jonah; and that we trust upon his examination, he will +prove to the judgment of the Most Reverend the Archbishops, the Right +Reverend the Bishops, the Reverend the Clergy, and all other pious +Christians, to whom we recommend him, &c. + +"Done at London, this eight and twentieth day of May, one thousand +seven hundred and nine. + +"Peter Fleuriot, Samuel Robinson, John Lodington, John Adams, Val. +Norton, Robert Colmore, Thomas Coleman." + +"These are to certify, that upon several discourses had with the +aforementioned Jonah ben Jacob Xeres, I have found him very well +acquainted with the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, and all +other Jewish and particularly Talmudical learning; so that he was +very ready, upon the chief objections that Jews make to the +doctrine, deity, and office of our Saviour. But, as he is endowed +with very good natural and acquired parts, I was the more able to +satisfy and convince him of the truth; so that, after having +examined by Scripture all the most material controversies, he hath +freely declared to myself, and his other friends, his desire to +renounce the errors and prejudices of his education in the Jewish +religion, and to embrace and profess the Christian faith. + +"Witness my hand this 30th day of July, 1709. + + "Peter Allix, D.D." + +ZABANSKI, J., was born at Minsk in Lithuania. His father, a bigoted +Talmudist, sent him once on an errand to a Christian nobleman, who made +him a present of a Hebrew New Testament which, on coming home, he +innocently enough shewed his father, and was peremptorily told to take +it back. This excited in him the curiosity to know the contents of the +book, and he soon procured one. Detected in reading it, he was punished +by his father more than once, and at last the father got the police to +give him twenty-five strokes with a rod for disobedience. The +consequence was that he got ill and had to be taken to a hospital. After +being there nine weeks, he ran away, obtained a situation as a teacher +in a family for three years, where he got possession of a German New +Testament and Dr. McCaul's "Old Paths." He then returned to his father +and asked his permission to go abroad. As this was not granted, he again +ran away, and this time to Constantinople, where he heard the Gospel +from a missionary named Goldberg. Thence he went to Jerusalem, and was +admitted by Hershon into the House of Industry. His countrymen there, +who knew his father as a learned Talmudist, tried every means to snatch +him away from the Mission. They even went to Rachel's grave to pray for +his return to Judaism, and finally sent two Jews to his father to come +and fetch him, but Zabanski became a Christian and laboured afterwards +as a missionary of the L.J.S. from 1864 to 1867, and for a long period +as an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in Bulgaria. + +ZECKHAUSEN, Rev. Leopold. The following is from his own pen:-- + +"I was born in December, 1862, at Kovno in Russia, of strictly orthodox +Jewish parents, and, with the rest of my brothers, I got the usual +education of rabbinical Jews. My mother, like so many mothers in Israel, +would fain have seen me devoting myself entirely to the Talmud. I was to +be the rabbi of the family. My inclinations, however, were in the +direction of secular knowledge, and my father was broad-minded enough +not to insist upon an exclusively rabbinical training. At the age of +eleven I was accordingly sent to the local Gymnasium, or grammar school. +After a stay of six years at this school I left Russia with the +intention of studying medicine at the University of Koenigsberg in +Prussia. But six months later financial difficulties, in which my father +found himself, necessitated my dropping the studies and accepting a post +offered me in an office (July, 1881.) + +"Once in business I threw myself heart and soul into my new vocation, +and kept on rising steadily. At the end of ten years spent in business +houses in Koenigsberg, Frankfort and Amsterdam, I was offered a +partnership at Libau in Russia. I declined it, however, after some +deliberation, and decided to leave business for good (1891). + +"That step was the outcome of another and a more important one, which I +had taken three years previously, and which proved to be the turning +point of my life. While still at my father's house I had begun to get +weary of the endless, and often meaningless ceremonies of rabbinical +Judaism. In Germany and Holland, surrounded by general religious +indifference and rampant scepticism, my faith in Judaism waned more and +more. I tried to make myself acquainted with Christianity, assayed to +study the New Testament, but not with the hope of finding in it truth +and peace. My studies were mostly of a critical nature. My Jewish +prejudices, though largely toned down by frequent intercourse with +Christians, were still potent enough to prevent an impartial +investigation. The difficulties of the Gospels seemed to me insuperable. +So I continued to drift further and further away from religious +influences, until at Amsterdam I found myself at a boarding house +in the company of some earnest Christian young men. They were +schoolmasters--intelligent, idealistic, eager to learn and to exchange +thoughts with others, and before very long we were on friendly terms. +Through their intercourse, the almost extinguished interest for +religious thought once more revived in me. Not that we ever went in for +regular theological discussions--mere politeness forbade that--but +Dante's 'Inferno,' Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' and other literary +productions with a religious basis, were often talked over among us, and +I could not help being impressed by the true, though unobtrusive, +religious fervour of those educated young men. + +"I decided to look for a person competent to deal with my prejudices and +willing to assist me to a spiritual understanding of Christianity. An +Encyclopædia helped to the address of the London Society for Promoting +Christianity amongst the Jews, and a letter from the Secretary +introduced me to the Society's missionary at Amsterdam, the Rev. A. C. +Adler. I told that gentleman, on my first visit to him, that it was not +so much the history of Christ and Christianity as the spiritual element +of the New Testament that baffled me, and that I should feel obliged to +him for some light upon the subject. I did not pretend to any desire of +embracing Christianity, nor did Mr. Adler, on his part, so much as hint +at that eventuality. He most readily acceded to my request for +enlightenment, and suggested that we should read together the Gospel of +St. John. For some seven weeks I had the little expected pleasure of +listening to a masterly exposition of a book that had been till then the +least intelligible one to me in the New Testament. I shall never forget +the impression Mr. Adler's intelligent interpretation of that Gospel +produced upon my mind and heart. I felt myself literally introduced into +a new world--into that spiritual world of which the carnal mind and the +materialist know nothing. The person of Christ kept on growing before +and within me until I could think of nothing else. But I was not to +yield myself to Him without a struggle. + +"Mr. Adler, with an unerring tact, restricted himself conscientiously to +the task of instruction. He asked no questions, nor did he invite me to +a confession of faith. Had he done so, I fear he had but succeeded in +repelling me, at least for a time. + +"When I found myself face to face with the question:--'What think you +_now_ of Christ?'--pride of reason and lingering prejudice seemed to +assert themselves more. I at once suddenly ceased visiting Mr. Adler and +thought of getting Christianity out of my head entirely. I cannot tell +whether Mr. Adler still entertained the hope of ever seeing me again in +his study; I certainly intended that it should not be the case. + +"The Lord Jesus, however, had become too strong for me to resist Him +successfully for any length of time. My peace of mind was clean gone, +and I had, for my own part, experienced the truth of our Lord's words, +'No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me, draw him.' + +"After a time I was again at Mr. Adler's. When, in answer to my knock +there came his Dutch 'Binnen!' ('Come in!'), and I stepped into the +room, Mr. Adler came hurriedly up to meet me, and, taking both my hands, +exclaimed joyfully, 'You have come again. Then all is right. I knew you +would not come unless your doubts were conquered. I have been praying +for that.' + +"A few days after this episode I received a telegraphic message +necessitating my immediate return to Germany. I took at once a train to +Zandvoort, a seaside place near Amsterdam, where Mr. Adler was at the +time with his family for their summer holiday. I told him I had to leave +Holland without delay and requested, as a special favour, that he would +admit me into the Church of Christ by baptism the very next day. Mr. +Adler looked rather perplexed. He was, on principle, he told me, opposed +to doing things in a hurry, and especially when baptism was under +consideration. But my case was so exceptional that he thought he saw in +it the Lord's doing, and could not therefore refuse my request. + +"The following morning, Sunday, August 12th, 1888, Mr. Adler was in the +pulpit of his church, after explaining the reason of his unexpected +return to Amsterdam, he invited the congregation to be present at my +baptism that afternoon. Saintly old Mr. Bloch, late missionary of the +L.J.S., and the beadle of the church, acted as witnesses to my public +declaration of faith in Christ crucified. + +"On the day following my baptism I had already left Holland, and was on +my way back to Koenigsberg. There I spent another three years, following +my commercial vocation and keeping up all along a pretty regular +correspondence with Mr. Adler, to whose instruction I owed so much. In +those letters he frequently reminded me of my Christian duty toward my +Jewish brethren, and invited me to offer myself for missionary training. +I doubted my qualifications for such a calling, questioned the +advisability of going back to college after an interval of ten years +spent in commercial pursuits, but at last I decided to follow the call, +and sent an application to London for admission into the London Jews' +Society's Missionary College. I was admitted there in December, 1891, +and remained associated with the Institution for three years and a-half, +till July, 1895. + +"Having completed the course of my studies, I was attached to the staff +of the London Mission, thence I was transferred to work at Manchester in +1896, and exactly three years later to Jerusalem. Here I was ordained +deacon at Christmas, 1900, and priest on Trinity Sunday, 1902, by the +Bishop of the Church of England in Jerusalem and the East, Dr. Blyth. +Here also I was married to Miss Sara Jane Ellison, daughter of the late +Dean Ellison, of Shillelagh, County Wicklow, Ireland, April, 1901. + +"I may be allowed to mention in conclusion that the decision to give up +my business prospects, in order to become a missionary to the Jews, was +soon amply rewarded by the Lord. My elder brother, with whom I had +exchanged many letters on the subject of Christianity ever since I had +embraced it myself, without apparently making much impression on him, +wrote to me now--having heard of the step I had taken--to express his +appreciation of what I had done. 'Whatsoever people may think of your +motives or your actions, there is probably no one that can put them down +at their proper value better than myself,' ran his note. 'I have seen +you during the last ten years steadily climbing the ladder of commercial +success, gaining in experience and reputation, and about to earn the +fruit of much labour, and then to throw it all deliberately over in +order to become a missionary! I cannot help admiring you. You have done +the right and proper thing. Though we differ in our religious opinions, +we do not on the point of principle. You have acted as I should have +expected an honest man, with soul above £ s. d. to act. It is refreshing +to find enthusiasm for ideal goods in our sordid age of materialism.' + +"This brother of mine is now, I am grateful to say, himself a worker in +the Lord's vineyard, labouring with marked success as a medical +missionary amongst the Jews of New York, faithfully assisted by his +wife--also a convert from Judaism." + +In 1902 the Rev. L. and Mrs. Zeckhausen were transferred from Jerusalem +to Cracow; and in 1908, on the death of his spiritual father, the Rev. +A. C. Adler, he succeeded to the headship of the L.J.S. mission at +Amsterdam and Rotterdam. + +ZUCKERKANDLE, Dr., and his wife were converted and baptized in Pesth +through the instrumentality of the Rev. William Wingate. He was +afterwards a missionary of the L.J.S. in Bucharest, and later on he +entered the service of the British Society for the Propagation of the +Gospel among the Jews and conducted a school at Rustschuk in Bulgaria, +where he died in 1874. The widow came then to London, and laboured +amongst the Jewesses in Spitalfields for many years with great blessing +upon her work of love. She was probably the first to organize a Jewish +mothers' meeting. + +ZUCKERTORT, G. J., father of the famous chessplayer, was won for Christ +through the preaching of the L.J.S. missionary Wendt, and was baptized +by him in 1831. In 1836 he was appointed assistant missionary at Lublin, +where he preached the Gospel to his own relations, one of whom, a +thriving medical doctor of the same name, confessed Christ and was +baptized with his four children in 1845, and his wife later, in 1849. + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Inconsistencies in spelling have been resolved in cases where it was +possible to divine the author's intent with a reasonable degree of +certainty. Otherwise variable spellings (such as Leipzig, Leipsig and +Leipsic) have been retained. + +Page 118 There is a discrepancy in date of birth. + +Quote: _Bernhardy, Dr. Gottfried, born in Landsburg, 1860, died 1875 +... wrote "Syntax of the Greek Language," Berlin, 1829. "Grundriss der +Romischen Literatur," 1830. "Grundlinien der Encyclopaedia der +Philologie," 1832, &c._ + +Other sources say he was born March 20, 1800. + +Page 406 Replaced "when" with "where". "In 1863 he retired to Berlin, +when he died in 1870." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ, by +Rev. A. Bernstein, B.D. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME JEWISH WITNESSES FOR CHRIST *** + +***** This file should be named 37734-8.txt or 37734-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/7/3/37734/ + +Produced by Louise Davies, Jerry, Julia Neufeld and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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