Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
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