Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
blood there is no remission of sin,' she said, 'Yes, I know it, and feel
it more than ever. I once kept the Day of Atonement with fasting and
prayer, in the vain hope of making propitiation for my sins, but I am
beginning to feel I want something better than the blood of bulls and
goats to atone for them. I often repeat those words, "Lord, I believe,
help Thou mine unbelief." 'Unbelief,' she said, 'has been, and still is,
our sin; the veil is still over our people's eyes; but it shall be
removed, for God has promised it. They will not search the Scriptures as
I do.' With clasped hands and uplifted eyes she said, 'I'll tell you
what I say to the Anointed One (Jesus, I mean), "If I have done or said
anything against Thee, pardon, oh pardon me, for I did it in
ignorance."' This was indeed good news to us, and we earnestly prayed
God to deepen these convictions, to teach her by His Spirit, and give
her much grace to impart them to her Jewish friends and relatives. The
New Testament which I promised, but was unable to give her on account of
our sudden and unexpected departure, was supplied her by a friend during
our absence, the reading of which proved a great blessing to her.
"A few days before _Yom Kippur_ she said, 'The more I read my Bible, the
more I am beginning to feel my being born a Jewess can never save me; I
must have something better than my fastings and prayers.' Every visit I
paid her I could see a considerable change in her sentiments respecting
the Lord Jesus. It was pleasing to me, who had prayerfully watched her
for so many months, to observe how gradually her Jewish prejudices
disappeared, her views of the Gospel becoming more and more clear, and
her love for Jesus increasing daily. It was in the beginning of October
1854, she expressed a wish to be baptized, provided it could be done
very secretly, on account of her position. She said, 'I should not even
like my servant to know of it' (who had lived in her service four
years). I told her to remember that 'the fear of man bringeth a snare,'
and that Jesus Christ tells us that, 'Whosoever shall deny Me before
men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in Heaven'; I also
advised her to read the tenth chapter of St. Matthew, at the same time
to make it a matter of serious prayer before God, and I would do the
same, and that we would converse more on this subject at another time.
"Let me here remark that Miss Montefiore had a niece in England, who had
already embraced Christianity, and her heart's desire and prayer to God
for her aunt was, that she might be saved. Every letter she sent her
aunt contained some exhortation to search the Scriptures; she also
forwarded her religious books; but the contents of the letters were soon
forgotten; nevertheless, I believe that the first link in the chain of
human agency in Miss Montefiore's conversion was to be found in this
niece's persevering prayers for her aged relative. Not having heard from
her aunt for a year, and knowing nothing of our Christian intercourse,
the lady was surprised and thankful to receive the following letter:--
"'_October_, 1854.
"'DEAR L.,--I have at last taken courage to reply to some of your
letters, dates _n'importe_. I have read "The Book and its Story,"
the missionary's aid for converting the blind and the stupid. I read
it with much interest, and I pray ardently it may bring the whole
world to believe, as I now do, that Jesus Christ, God's only
begotten Son, was ordained to be crucified to take away all our
sins; and that by believing in Him we shall be saved. Madame R. lent
me the Old and New Testament bound together. The Old Testament I
almost knew by heart, but the New I had never before read. I have
studied it closely during many evenings, which has sorely pained my
eyes; but, oh, how plainly and typically the Bible shews the coming
of Messiah! I have thought so long since, before you endeavoured to
bring me to believe. Oh, my dear L., had God so ordered your abode
close to me, I should have listened better than by your letters, and
perhaps been baptized ere now. Pray keep _very secret_ the words of
this letter. I cannot say more. My heart is too full.
"'My country residence of ten weeks did not improve my health. The
fatigue was too much for me at my time of life. I continue very
feeble. The Lord's will be done! If He heals me, I shall be healed;
if He saves me, I shall be saved. Thanks to our Heavenly Father the
cholera is over at Marseilles. I have lost my poor landlady, she
died in the country, leaving Marseilles to escape the cholera. I
went with regret, as I was not afraid. I completed last week my
eighty-first year, so excuse the defects, for my age's sake. "He is
in the Father, and the Father is in Him." Amen.--Your truly
affectionate,
"'LYDIA MONTEFIORE.'"
"'What word can express my surprise,' writes that lady, 'at the
declaration contained in the former part of this letter! An actual
declaration in the belief of a crucified Redeemer! Over and over again
did I read the words, "And I pray ardently that the whole world may
believe, as I do now, that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, was
ordained to be crucified to take away all our sins, and that by
believing in Him we shall be saved." Could this be from one of whom it
was said only two years before, "She is an out-and-out Jewess?" The Lord
did at last convince her that Jesus was the Messiah of whom Isaiah spoke
in his liii. chapter, as he writes: "He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of
our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed. He was cut off
out of the land of the living."' Her desire for immediate baptism daily
increased; and she frequently made it a subject of conversation with her
Christian friends. At a subsequent visit she said to me, 'The Lord has
given me a deep sense of my former sins, but I have rolled them all on
Jesus for pardon, and now I shall not be happy until I am baptized.' I
again told her seriously to consider the step she was about to take, in
declaring she was not ashamed of Jesus; and asked her whether she had
made up her mind to endure persecution for Christ's sake. She said, 'My
confidence is in God; He will not lay more upon me than I am able to
bear.' The conversation that day was more about faith in God, and less
of man, which I was very glad to hear. At another visit, when speaking
about baptism, I said, 'Now, suppose you are baptized, and your friends
should ask you whether it was true,--what would you say?' She said, 'I
would tell them it was quite true, and that I felt assured, if they
searched the Scriptures prayerfully, as I had done, God would remove the
veil from their eyes, as it has pleased Him to remove it from mine; and
then they would also believe in Jesus, the true Messiah, and in the
power of His resurrection, as I have done.' It was truly delightful to
see how gradually the fear of man subsided, and her confidence in God
daily grew stronger. I accordingly introduced the Rev. J. Monod, who
very kindly visited her several times; his visits were much blessed to
her; and having been satisfied with her faith in Christ, he baptized her
on Thursday, January 18th, 1855.
"We spent the previous evening with her, and I read St. Paul's
conversion, and the sufferings of our Saviour, which affected her much,
and I earnestly asked God to be with us on the following day. She said:
'How thankful do I feel that the fear of man is entirely removed from my
mind, so much so that I have not only told my intentions to my servant,
but have given her leave to publish it abroad, and told her, should she
meet my relations, how to tell them of it; in fact, I wish all my
relations to know it, and I pray God they may be brought to the
knowledge of truth ere they die."
MORITZ, (Moses) Johann Christian, was one of the most distinguished of
the early missionaries of the L.J.S. He was born at Bernstein
(Pomerania) in 1786. His mother died when he was only four years of age.
Before she expired she blessed him, and said, "You will live to see the
advent of the Messiah. Remain steadfastly in the faith of your fathers,
that you may have a rich share in their Kingdom." These words made a
strong impression upon the child and were realized by him in a different
manner than the mother expected. Moritz received a Talmudic education
from private teachers, but modern literature attracted him most. His
father and his teacher warned him against it, and indeed they had reason
for doing so, for he began to express his doubts about the divine origin
of the Talmud, and one rabbi declared that his mind was deranged and
that he would eventually become a Meshummad. On account of his
disagreement with his stepmother, Moritz left his home at the age of 16
and went to Berlin to an uncle. At that time Prussia had suffered much
from the war with Napoleon, and Moritz went to London in 1807, and
brought a recommendation to the rabbi Dr. Herschell. The rabbi received
him in a friendly manner, and warned him to beware of the missionary
Frey, yet he did not regard it. The quiet Sunday in England impressed
him, and enquiring of Jews for the cause of it, they said, "If we Jews
should keep the Sabbath holy, as the Christians here do their Sunday,
the Messiah would soon come." This utterance he considered as a hint to
him for seeking to become acquainted with Christianity. He then got a
New Testament and read day and night, comparing it with the Old. He felt
his sins and took refuge in Jesus by faith, which he at once confessed
before the Jews. His father was informed of his son's intention to
become a Christian, and he came to London and tried his best to win him
back to Judaism, but had at last to leave him with imprecations and the
assurance that he would never get anything of his property. Moritz went
then to the German Pastor, Dr. Steinkopf, by whom he was instructed and
baptized. In 1811, he went to Gottenburg, Sweden, where he maintained
himself by giving lessons and selling books. In 1817 he was introduced
by Lewis Way to the mission, and having received a special call from the
Czar Alexander he went to Russia that year and laboured till 1825. At
that time he wrote two letters to the Jews, based on Jer. xxxi. 31-34.
(Elberfeld, 1820.) In 1825, after being in the Missionary College, he
entered the service of the L.J.S., and was sent to Hamburg, where he at
once formed a Prayer Union. From Hamburg he itinerated to Sweden,
Denmark, Russia, Bavaria, Würtemberg, receiving God's smile and blessing
upon his efforts wherever he went. In 1843, he returned to Gottenburg
where he testified to his brethren of the truth of the Gospel till 1868,
when he died in the Lord, after 42 years service under the L.J.S. It may
be mentioned that his wife, a Swedish lady, who shared his toils and
hopes with him for fifty years, died in 1864, and after her death he
gave all her savings to the L.J.S.
MOSSA, Nathaniel Immanuel, gives the following particulars of
himself:--"I was born on October 29th, 1833, at Friedland, near Beskow.
My father was a Jewish merchant, first in that town, and later in
Spandau, where I passed my boyhood. When I had completed my studies at
the Werder Gymnasium in Berlin I entered the University in order to
study medicine. I graduated in 1858, and the next year passed the State
Examination. I then entered the army for one year as a volunteer doctor,
and was sent to Spandau, and then to Jüterberg. Here, in the hospitable
house of Dr. Gross (later in Barmen), I learned Hahnemann's method of