Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
the East" (1854), being an account of his work in Persia, Kurdistan and
Mesopotamia; "Wanderings amongst the Falashas in Abyssinia" (1862); and
"The Captive Missionary" (1868), both narratives of his Abyssinian
experiences.
That he was of the spirit of which martyrs are made, the following
extracts from his letters, written during the long and dreary days of
his captivity in Abyssinia, clearly demonstrate:--
"Thank God, in the midst of my troubles, cares and anxieties, I enjoy
the profoundest calm and resignation. It is true there are days when the
heart pulsates with gratitude and joy, and there are days when it throbs
beneath the mortifying agonies of despondency. Sometimes I feel as if I
could not endure another week the fetters which encircle my limbs, and
confine me in painful inactivity to this desolate rock. Such rebellious
sentiments I generally try to suppress, and if this is impossible, I
seek comfort in the thought, that all is ordered in wisdom and infinite
love. Our heavenly Father hath, no doubt, an object in this protracted
captivity, and when once the veil of mystery is lifted up, every
incident and circumstance which hath wrung a prayer or extorted a groan
from the grieved soul, will prove to have been in harmony with the
designs of a gracious Providence, and fraught with inestimable
blessings."
And again, "Our nerves were horrible shattered, and our minds, too,
would have been unhinged, had not religion, with her solacing influence,
soothed the asperities and hardships of our existence. The Bible,
prayers, and a morning and evening exposition of an appropriate passage
were the exercises in which we regularly engaged. No bitter gibes, no
harsh expressions, no unbecoming word characterised our intercourse;
religion formed a wonderful bond of harmony, and when I looked on the
devout countenances that there hung over the inspired page, as I
commented on the selected text, I cherished the pleasing hope that the
clouds, so big with wrath, had been charged with showers of everlasting
mercy. At such a period--I say it solemnly--the punctured head, the
riven side, the pierced feet, and the heavy cross of redeeming love, is
a sight that nerves and supports the drooping and desponding spirit. In
my distress and sorrow, I threw myself on the bosom of a sympathizing
Saviour, and if I was not happy, I was at least resigned."
No one can estimate the abundance of spiritual harvest from the long
life of toil and labour which Stern spent to the honour and glory of his
Master. He sowed in tears, he led captivity captive, he turned many to
righteousness, and of him it may confidently be said, that he will shine
as a _star_ for ever and ever.[23]
[23] W. T. Gidney, "Biographies of Eminent Hebrew Christians," 1906.
STERN, Herman, gives the following sketch of his history:--"My father
was a rabbi and teacher of the Talmud at Prague, at Strakenitz, and
somewhat later at Bamberg. I had the happiness to be instructed by him
in the Bible and in the Talmud, from my tenth to my twenty-first year,
and during this period of eleven years, I also attended some Christian
schools. On the decease of my father, who died in his seventy-sixth
year, duty no longer demanded my residence at Bamberg, and having
applied to the then 'Court Commission' (Hofcommission) at Würzburg, for
the situation of Jewish teacher at Höchburg, which was at that time
vacant, I obtained it. The Jewish inhabitants of Höchburg were pious,
and previous to my coming there the children of the rich had been
instructed by private tutors. But as the former had been unwilling that
the children of the less fortunate Jewish parents should share this
instruction, these felt themselves obliged to petition the authorities
for the appointment of a public teacher, which was answered, quite
unexpectedly to the rich, by my installation. It was, therefore, to be
expected that the wealthier Jews would not be pleased with the new
school; and when at last the authorities would no longer suffer the
private tutors to remain at Höchburg, obliging the rich Jews to send
their children to the public school, the latter became to them an
object of hatred. This hatred to the school was now transferred to me,
and I was persecuted in every possible way. The wealthier Jews
complained of me, because I permitted the boys to sit bare-headed;
because I kept no wash-basin in the school-room, and what gave me most
trouble, though it was not raised into a point of accusation, because I
had often inculcated the duty of love to Christians, whom the 'Shulchan
Aruch,' denominated idolaters.
"I endeavoured to conform in my religious instruction to the letter and
spirit of the Holy Scriptures, and could not avoid alluding to the
defectiveness and emptiness of the synagogue ceremonial, as taught in
the Talmud and the Jewish code 'Shulchan Aruch.'
"This course was complained of before the chief rabbi of the district;
and for my own security, I requested the Government that the rabbi be
instructed to superintend the religious instruction of my school, and to
subject it to one or two examinations annually. Mr. Bing, the chief
rabbi, however, begged to be excused from doing so, stating that my
religious instruction did not please him. The Government then demanded
of the rabbi either to propose one of the existing religious compendiums
as a text-book for schools, or else to write one himself.
"The rabbi offered to do the latter. In the third year of my public
services, the Government sent me to the town of Heidingsfeld, and before
leaving Höchburg, I received a testimonial from the royal
school-inspector of the district, expressing the satisfaction my labours
had given to the Government.
"I had been nearly two years in the school at Höchburg, when the
Government sent me, and all other Jewish teachers of the kingdom, the
new text-book of the Mosaic religion which the rabbinical candidate, Dr.
Alexander Behr, had written, under the surveillance and direction of the
chief rabbi, Mr. Abraham Bing, and which the rabbi at Fürth, and many
other influential Jewish ecclesiastics, had adopted; Government
signifying at the same time that it was the desire of His Majesty the
King to have this book introduced in all Jewish schools. I received
joyfully this book, which promised to meet the urgent necessities of the
schools. But I was doomed to severe disappointment; the 160 octavo pages
which this volume contains, were almost entirely filled with ceremonial
laws, treating of phylacteries, inscriptions, fringes, circumcisions,
meats, the prohibition of shaving, the creed, &c. Not a word, and much
less an exposition of morality, of conscience, of virtue, of holiness,
of the condition and destiny of man.
"In that portion of the book which treats of God, there was an entire
omission of His power, His wisdom, His goodness, His mercy and holiness,
and of all the lessons derived from these attributes and perfections.
Not even the Decalogue found a place in this work.
"The Messiah (as well as many other similar predictions) it explained to
signify a period of time when all men should know God and serve Him.
"I directed the attention of the Government to this dead skeleton,
shewing that I could not receive this book as my guide in religious
instruction. I prayed for permission to follow my own course of
instruction, and pledged myself to have my lessons printed and submitted
to the chief rabbi.
"My petition was granted; and this was the beginning of trouble. My book
on the 'Confirmation of Israelites' followed in 1829. It was the more
gladly received by the public, since I confirmed all my positions by
quotations from the Talmud, which I translated literally. The second
volume, which I published in 1835, under the title of the 'Tree of
Life,' was as kindly received. Both these books continue as standards in
many schools of various countries, and prove that even the Talmudists of
the third, fourth, and fifth centuries drank from the evangelical source
of life. In like manner also, 'The Confession of Faith of the
Israelites,' as delineated in my works, the 'Confirmation,' pages
140-46, and the 'Tree of Life,' pages 226-243, remain in full credit
among the Jews to this day, nor have the rabbis ventured to say ought
against it, although it refers to the New Testament both in the text
itself and in the notes.
"Five-and-twenty years have I been openly inculcating these principles
in my schools and in the synagogues, and never have either the Jewish
deputies delegated by the Government to attend my public examinations,
nor the great number of Jews who assisted on such occasions, uttered an
objection; this is a proof that my religious principles were not a
baseless fabric, or, as is too often the case in the statements of our
rabbis, the result of mere whim or conjecture.
"The kindly, but often misconstrued feelings of His Majesty, Ludovic I.,
towards the Jews of his realm, which had been manifested by his
establishment of national schools for them, by the appointment of
regularly educated rabbis, the free admission of the Jews to all the
existing Christian scholastic institutions, and the manifold favours
enjoyed by Jewish mechanics, &c., were again shewn in the year 1836, by
his convoking of Jewish committees.
"These consisted of rabbis, Jewish teachers, and delegates of
communities. They met in all the provincial capitals of the kingdom in
the public edifices, where they held regular sessions, under the
presidency of a royal commissary, to solve such questions in
theological, scholastic, and social matters, as had arisen during the
then contemplated Jewish emancipation; and to give the Government their
advice.
"One of the questions before the Committee at Würzburg was--Whether the
Jewish doctrines acknowledge or reject the belief in the Trinity, as
contained in the Old Testament. The rabbis consulted on this weighty
point in private sessions, which I attended, having been chosen by a
majority of votes as one of the referees; and they thereupon declared in
the public session briefly that the doctrine of the Trinity is not
contained in the Old Testament, on which account also the Jews did not
acknowledge this doctrine.
"The president then demanded that every one agreeing with the
declaration of the rabbis should rise. All the rabbis, all the teachers,
and all the delegates (116 individuals) arose. I only remained sitting,
and then handed to the president a written notice, stating that I should
beg the rabbis, in a circular which should be printed, to give me an
explanation of various difficulties that I entertained on this point,
before I could accede to the declaration made by them.
"My circular, entitled 'Israelitism in its Excellency and its Burden'
('Israelitenthum in seiner Würde und Bürde) was printed during these
sessions (which lasted six weeks), and produced a universal sensation.
The rabbis took it very ill that I had ventured on this step,
notwithstanding I had been shewn, as in a camera obscura, in glaring
colours, my prospective misery; but they did not answer my circular.
Only Dr. Romann, the chief rabbi at Cassel, and Mr. J. Heidegger, a
teacher of the Talmud at Fürth, wrote each one a pamphlet against me.
Both of them, however, scarcely touched upon the point, and were
contented with abuse, cursing, and persecution.
"My school at Heidingsfeld was advised to institute a complaint against
me, as having, through my circular, shaken the basis of my religion, and
to found thereon a request for my removal. The Government, however,
declined entertaining the complaint; since, by issuing my circular, I
had adopted the very course which the rabbis themselves had pointed out
when asked how a Jew should proceed in case that religious doubts