Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
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