Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
&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