Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
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