Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
the train for Antwerp, and the next morning found me wandering about the
streets of that town in dread despair. At length I resolved to return
home, and that once more at Berlin I would seek rest in work. But in
vain. I wandered under the old trees of the Tiergarten for long hours
wrestling with my God, whom I was willing to serve, but after my own
fashion as a Jew. I would not yield, and though I was hardly able to
bear this inward conflict longer, I still went on with praying in public
on the Day of Atonement.
"At the close of November, 1898, my anxiety grew so strong that I
resolved to start for Altona, in order to be thoroughly instructed about
Christianity, in a mission house. Nobody had told me of such an
institution, but by chance I learned of its existence from one of its
former inmates. The 26th of November, 1898, found me at Hamburg. But
still the old Adam would not yield, and I never entered the mission
house till the utmost need forced me to go and see the Rev. A. Frank. He
received me most kindly, and was willing to give me shelter in the
house, but told me that, like all other inmates, I would have to engage
in manual labour. I most gladly agreed to this, and I became a pupil of
the mission on December 1st.
"Far from the noise and influence of the world I first met my Saviour in
all His glory. There was no question now about justification by
performing Moses' laws; His light made me see my sins in all their
awfulness, and I broke down crying, 'My punishment is greater than I can
bear' (Gen. iv. 13). But soon Divine love made me sing, 'My life is
preserved' (Gen. xxxii. 30), and all my heart went out to my Saviour who
had done so much for me. I was baptized on April 23rd by Pastor Aston.
For a short time after I stayed at Hamburg as a private teacher, and the
Lord's blessing was with me; but I was soon asked by our dear Pastor
Dworkowicz if I would be willing to work as missionary to the Jews, and
he felt I might be of service at Königsberg. Circumstances at the
beginning of 1901 made my way clear. I knew then that it was after my
Saviour's will that I should enter upon this work; so I applied to the
British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, and I
was accepted on June 9th, on the recommendation of Pastors Dworkowicz,
Aston and Frank, of Hamburg. I commenced work there under the direction
of the first named, but on March 15, 1902, I started for Königsberg, in
order to labour in that city for the glory of God my Saviour. 'The Lord
hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad' (Ps. cxxvi. 3)."
LANDSMAN, Daniel, was living in Jerusalem about 1870, maintaining
himself by his handiwork as a strict, pious Jew. Whenever the L.J.S.
missionary Stern met him he used to preach Christ crucified to him, so
that at last he, in a passion, assaulted Stern violently, but at length
was conquered by the Gospel, and then became his best friend. After his
baptism in the Holy City he witnessed for Christ there before the Jews
for some time. Then a position as assistant missionary was offered him
in the Scotch Presbyterian mission at Constantinople, where he zealously
laboured for seventeen years, and Bassin, afterward a missionary was one
of those in whose conversion he was instrumental. He then emigrated to
the United States, and was appointed by the Lutheran Synod at Missouri
as missionary in New York about 1883, where he was blessed in his
efforts to win souls for the Kingdom of God. He wrote the following
tracts, partly in Hebrew and Yiddish, "Jeshua Sar ha Panim"; "Jeshua ha
Nozri ist der Messiah Emeth," "Memra," "Shabbath Feiertage und
Beschneidung"; "Was sagen die Rabbinere über Maschiah"; "Was sagt die
Kabbalah, &c., über die Dreieinigkeit Gottes," 1888.
LASERON, Dr. Michael Maximilian August Heinrich, born in Königsberg,
1819, died in London, 1894. His father was a rabbi, but died on the same
day, as his mother, when he was only seven years old. Laseron was then
brought up by bigoted relations, who were not very kind to him. Owing to
this he had no great love for the Jews, but rather sought after
Christians, from whom he learned to know the Lord Jesus as his Saviour.
He did not conceal his convictions, but told his relatives that he had a
desire to become a Christian. Thereupon they so illtreated him that his
life was in danger; so when he was seventeen, he escaped on foot to
Frankfort, enduring great hardship on the way. Then he was instructed
and baptized by Pastor Keimers, but he could not remain in Frankfort on
account of persecution by the Jews, so he went to Basel. Scarcely had he
arrived there, when he got very ill, and the wife of the missionary, a
lady by the name of Haslen, nursed him till he recovered. Friends in
Switzerland recommended him to the L.J.S., and he was for a time in the
Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, Palestine Place. Then he entered
as a student the newly-founded Missionary Training College of the
British Jews' Society, and remained there over two years. However,
though he was interested in the Jewish mission, and took practical part
in the same, yet he felt that he was called to be a medical man, and the
Committee allowed him to leave in 1849. Thereupon he went to Erlangen
and studied medicine, and at the same time practised homoeopathy
privately. Laseron then returned to London, and was a successful
practitioner. Settling at Edmonton in 1854, he there lost his eldest
child. This was the occasion for a call to a great enterprise of faith
which bore glorious fruit. The bereaved parents noticing in the street
poor, half-starved children, resorted to prayer and then resolved to
establish an asylum for poor children where they could receive a good
education. An Irish lady hearing of it, sent him £3; with this
encouragement he hired a house, appointed a teacher, and opened the
school in 1856, having sixteen scholars on the fore-noon of the first
day and more in the afternoon. He also built a chapel. In a few months
the school was so full that he could not admit any more children. Then
he opened evening classes and services on Sunday, which were attended by
150 persons, who seldom went to a place of worship. In answer to earnest
prayer Dr. Laseron received small and large, and even very large, gifts
of money for his work in a most remarkable manner, often from people who
were entire strangers to him, notably the brothers Samuel and John
Morley supported him very generously, so that he was enabled to
establish the Evangelical Protestant Deaconesses' Training Institution
at Tottenham, now called The Prince of Wales's General Hospital. Dr.
Laseron reached the age of 75, and before his departure he asked a
friend to write to his children in Australia--"I thank God that I am
surrounded by such as love me and Him."
LASERON, Rev. David, came to Edinburgh from Germany, and maintained
himself there by giving lessons in German and in Hebrew. He had also
Christian pupils who visited him when he was sick and from whose young
lips he first heard of the great Physician of souls. After his baptism
in 1844 he was sent as a missionary to Cochin, where he established
schools for heathen and Jewish children. In 1852, these schools were
attended by 16 white Jewish boys, 112 black Jewish boys and 24 girls.
Laseron baptized one Jew there by the name of Jehil Benjamin, in 1849.
He was recalled home in 1855, owing to some disagreement with his
colleague.
LASSON, Adolf, born in Alt Strelitz, 1859, embraced Christianity while
he was tutor of Philosophy in the University of Berlin. He wrote the
following works: "Fichte über das Verhältniss von Staat und Kirche,"
Berlin, 1863; "Meister Eckhardt der Mystiker," 1878; "Das Cultur ideal
und der Krieg," 1868; "Principien der Zukunft des Volkesrechts," 1871.
In reference to religion, he belonged to the evangelical party in the
German Church. The year of his baptism is not known.
LAUB, P. B., born in the Bukowina, Austria, and received a strictly
orthodox Jewish education. Receiving a New Testament from some one, he
became convinced of the truth of Christianity, and then went to London,
where he came in contact with the writer, who recommended him to the
Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, but he soon left for Stuttgart,
and was baptized by Gottheil there. He then studied at Basel, but
wishing to devote his life to the Jewish Mission, he went to the
Institutum Delitzschianum, in Leipzig, to prepare himself for future
work. In 1889, he went to assist Mr. Flad in Tunis, and then was called
by the French, and afterwards by the Swiss Missionary Society to be
their missionary in Alsace.
LAURIA, Rabbi Elieser, was one of several Rabbis who became Christians
in Jerusalem in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was
baptized by Bishop Alexander in 1843, whereupon he was forced by the
Jewish authorities to divorce his wife, who was sent by them back to
Russia. She, however, returned to him in 1846, and in the next year she
too made a public confession of her faith in our Saviour. Henceforth she
assisted her husband in winning souls, and they laboured together at
Cairo, until her death of cholera in 1849. Lauria opened a mission
school there in 1850. He was much esteemed, even by the rabbis, and he
circulated the Scriptures as far as Arabia, and the mission was not
without results.
LAZARUS, Joshua George, was baptized with his wife and two children in
Liverpool, under the ministry of Rev. H. S. Joseph. In 1842, he became
his assistant there and in Manchester. In 1851, Lazarus reported that
sixty-eight Jews had been baptized since he entered upon his labours in
the two cities. He retired on account of feeble health in 1853, and died
in 1869.
LEBERT, Herman, M.D. (Levy), born 1813, died 1878. He as a Christian
doctor was very distinguished. Friedrich Wilhelm IV. bestowed upon him
the gold medal for Art and Science. He became Professor of Medicine in
Breslau, 1859. His literary works are: "Anatomie Pathologique générale
et speciale," 2 vols., 1854-62, for which the Parisian Academy gave him
the prize. "Handbuch der Practischen Medicin," 2 vols., 1859.
LEBRECHT, Abraham (Herz), born at Gross-Glogau Germany, 1706. At the age
of seventeen both his parents died, and his relatives sent him to a
Jewish high school at Prague. In 1739, he was a teacher at Belgrade, and
when the Turks captured the city, they sold him and Newman, son of a
Lutheran pastor, with many others, as slaves. The master tempted Newman
to sin, but he resisted, and was cruelly beaten. The master then tried
to make him yield through the medium of Herz, but Newman said to him: "I
cannot offend my Lord Jesus, and would rather die than commit sin." This
made a strong impression upon the young Jew, and henceforth he became
very anxious about the state of his soul, and the other preached to him
the good tidings of salvation through Christ. Newman died from the
stripes he had received, and Herz was sold to Hadshi Mustapha, who
brought him to Smyrna in 1741. There the Jewish community bought his
release, presented him with sixteen ducats, and sent him to
Constantinople, whence he made his way back to Germany, where in various
ways he experienced the lovingkindness of God. Twice when he was in
great despair, and was about to commit suicide, he was providentially
saved and brought to his senses by Christians, who had come to him at
the right moment. In his wanderings he visited Friedrich Augusti, the
well-known convert, who had had similar trials. Finally, he was baptized
on Whitsunday, 1744, when he assumed the name of Lebrecht (Live right),
and refused to receive a present from his sponsors, which it was the
custom to give. He then lived as a consistent Christian to the age of
70, and died in 1776. This extract is taken by Pastor de le Roi from