Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
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