Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
birth, a Jew by training and practice till I was twenty-four years old;
a Jew still by every feeling of national loyalty and sympathy, I thank
God that I can say, nevertheless I am also a Christian. And it is as a
Jew and a Christian I have responded to your invitation, and am standing
here to-day and make this solemn confession of my faith. It is due to
the grace of God, it is due to the power of His Word, which is the power
of God unto salvation, unto every one that believeth--to the Jew first.
It is due, I must add, to the patience and forbearance, to the love and
labours, to the life and death, to the mediation and sufferings for me
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is due to the prayers of God's
people, it is due to this Society. It is due to all of you who labour
and pray, and make substantial sacrifices for the promotion of
Christianity amongst the Jews. It is due that we Christian Jews who
have, by the grace of God, been brought out of Jewish darkness into the
blessed and happy position of pardoned sinners by the blood of the
Cross, that we should fearlessly declare with no uncertain sound, that
whilst we are Christians by grace, we are still Jews by nature, by race,
and by sympathy, and thus take a humble part in testifying to the
blessed and everlasting truth that God has not cast away His people,
that there is still a remnant according to the election of grace. It is
twenty years since I ventured my eternal welfare with Jesus of Nazareth.
After twenty years of mature deliberation and trial, I once more take my
stand beside the Ethiopian eunuch, and declare to-day, with my heart
full of thankful gladness and humble faith, 'I believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God.' Twenty years, we must observe, is a period wherein a
man can make a test of a step that he has taken, and I never, never, for
one moment, have wavered in my conviction that 'there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,' than the name of
Jesus Christ."
VAMBREY, Hermann, was born in 1832 at Szerdahely, on the Island Schütt,
Hungary. He studied at Pressburg, especially modern languages, and
became a member of the Reformed Church after his baptism. At the age of
twenty-two he became tutor in a Turkish family in Constantinople, and
later he travelled through Asia Minor, Armenia, Persia, Turkestan,
Bokhara, Samarkand and the regions of the Oxus. Dressed as a dervish he
passed through all these countries unhurt, but was often in danger. He
then published his experiences and acquisitions in these journeys, in
the following works: "German-Turkish Dictionary" (Constantinople, 1858).
"Dsagataic Dictionary" (Hungarian), (Pesth, 1861). "An Etymological
Dictionary of Torkatartaric Languages" (Leipzig, 1877). "The Russian
Power in Asia" (_ib_., 1871). "Central Asia" and "Anglo-Russian
Relations" (_ib_. 1873). "Travels in Central Asia" (_ib_., 1865).
"Sketches from Central Asia" (_ib_. 1868). "Wanderings and Experience in
Persia" (1867). "Niguric Linguistic Documents" (Innsbruck, 1870).
"History of Bokhara" (Stuttgart, 1872). "Islam in the 19th Century"
(Leipzig, 1875). "Moral Pictures from the East" (Berlin, 1876); and a
number of other works. He wrote his autobiography under the titles,
"Arminius Vambrey, His Life and Adventures" (London, 1883), and
"Struggles of my Life" (_ib_., 1894).
VANORDEN, Rev. E., a Dutch Jew, who was baptized by Dr. Ewald in 1863.
He afterwards studied for the ministry in America and was sent as a
missionary to Brazil, where he laboured at San Paulo for many years.
VENETIANER, Pastor A., son of a Jewish rabbi, was converted through the
preaching of the Rev. C. A. Schönberger. He afterward studied theology
in Serftom. In 1879 he became Pastor in Panseora, Hungary, and
afterwards in Trieste, where he wrote a book entitled: "Die Evangelische
reformite Kirche Cristo Salvatore zu Triest" (Trieste and Leipzig,
1887); and also an epistle to Rabbi J. Lichtenstein in Tapio Szele,
entitled "Zum Zeugniss" (Vienna, 1886). Later on he became Pastor at
Rohrbach, South Russia, where he supported the movement of Rabinowitz.
VICARS, Mrs. Murray, was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant, and
was brought to a knowledge of the Saviour through her intercourse with a
Christian nurse. Her father, when attending the dedication of a new
synagogue, took cold and became dangerously ill. His Jewish friends of
the synagogue came to visit him, but were afraid to tell him that he was
on the brink of the grave, and he died soon after. This brought her
serious thoughts and led her to question the reason why the Jews shrink
from mentioning the subject of death to a sick man. She had afterward to
appear before a Court in reference to the property which her father had
left and to take an oath before the magistrate. An Old Testament was
then handed to her for that purpose, when she exclaimed before the whole
assembly of Jews and Christians: "The New Testament is for me." This
raised a great commotion, but having taken this decisive step, she did
not hesitate to become a member of the Church by baptism. She afterward
married the Rev. Murray Vicars, and went with him to Bagdad to labour
amongst the Jews there. On their journey back to England on account of
ill-health, her husband died at Marseilles, in 1850, and she settled at
Brighton, where she founded a school for ragged children. It must be
added that her sister, too, embraced Christianity, and she left three
sons, clergymen of the Church of England, two of them are especially
well known--the Rev. Charles Neil and the Rev. James Neil. The latter
was incumbent of Christ Church, Mount Zion, from 1871-74.
The maiden name of Mrs. Murray Vicars was Fanny Phillips; her brother
Samuel was a distinguished man of letters.
WALLFISCH, Rev. J. H., was brought to a knowledge of Christ by Professor
Cassel at Breslau, and after his baptism there he was for a time in the
service of the Free Church of Scotland. He emigrated to the United
States and, joining the Methodist Episcopal Church, became secretary of
the Jewish mission of that body, founded an "Institutum Judaicum"
amongst the students of the Anglo-German College at Golena, and received
from Milton College the degree of Doctor of Music.
WEISS, Edward, was converted through the instrumentality of Dr.
Zuckerkandl at Rustschuk, Bulgaria, in 1869, where he was for some time
teacher in the mission school. On account of the Russo-Turkish war, he
was removed by the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
amongst the Jews to Vienna, and assisted Salkinson. At least thirty of
his enquirers were baptized there. The rest of his life was spent in
preaching the Gospel at Pressburg, where he had frequent intercourse
with the students of the Rabbinic Seminary there. He died in 1905.
WOLF, Philipp, D.D., was baptized in 1554. He wrote "Spiegel der Juden,"
in which he brings proofs from Moses and the prophets that Jesus is the
Messiah, and gives information concerning the Jewish prayers, some of
which he quotes in German, and also in reference to the "Shem
Hamphorath," or ineffable name of God. (Wolff, Bib. Heb. 3 N. 1830 c.)
WOLFF, Joseph. The two great missionary explorers of the nineteenth
century were David Livingstone and Joseph Wolff. The labours of the
former were chiefly confined to Negro races of the "Dark Continent";
whereas the latter made most extensive journeys amongst the various
remnants of the tribes of Israel scattered throughout Africa and Asia.
The lives of both these great men touch upon all that is romantic and of
thrilling interest in the wide range of exploration, and none the less
so because they consecrated themselves to their Master's service, and,
with a consuming zeal for souls, went forth to seek and to save the
lost.
Joseph Wolff was the pioneer missionary to Jews in the Orient. Like St.
Paul, he, too, was "in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils
of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen,
in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness." His almost
superhuman efforts in the third and fourth decades of last century cast
a halo of romance around Jewish missions, and laid the foundation for
much subsequent work. Within the short period of sixteen years we find
him visiting Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Asiatic Turkey,
Persia, India, Bokhara, Abyssinia and Arabia--and some of these
countries more than once. Verily, he compassed sea and land to make
proselytes to the faith, of which he became such a doughty champion.
The life of this remarkable man naturally falls into three periods--his
early years as a Jew; his missionary efforts amongst his brethren; and
his last years quietly and uneventfully passed in country parishes in
England. Our chief concern is with the middle period, to which, however,
we can do but scant justice, as its constant and restless action and
stirring adventures overwhelm us with an embarrassment of riches.
"Wolff," as he was simply called, after his grandfather, was born at
Weilersbach, a small Bavarian village, in 1795, or 1796,[25] of Jewish
parents, his father, whose name was David, belonging to the tribe of
Levi. He was the rabbi of the small Jewish community of the place,
numbering fifteen families, but soon after the birth of his son he
removed to Halle. In his very early years the boy received a strict
Jewish education, and at the age of six recited the Hebrew prayer-book
every day. He was then sent to a Christian school, but apparently only
to learn German. When Wolff was eleven years old he was placed at the
Protestant Lyceum at Stuttgart, but growing dissatisfied with it, he
went to reside with his cousin, Moses Cohen, at Bamberg, and entered the
Roman Catholic Lyceum of that place. He there made up his mind to become
a Christian and a missionary like Francis Xavier. But he was unsettled
in the extreme in his search after the truth, and wandered to Würzburg,
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Halle, Prague, Vienna, Pressburg, back again to
Vienna, Mölk, Munich, Anspach, Saxe Weimar, Heidelberg, Soleure, and
finally arrived at Prague. There he was baptized by the Abbot of the
Benedictine Monastery Emaus, in the year 1812, at the age of seventeen,
receiving the name of "Joseph." At his confirmation shortly afterwards
he received the two further names of "Stanilaus Wenceslaus," which,
however, he never used.
[25] Wolff himself is responsible for this uncertainty, having supplied
these two different dates. "Travels and Adventures," vol. 1, p. 2, and
"Missionary Journal and Memoir," p. 1.
Joseph Wolff was by this time proficient in the Latin, Persian,
Chaldean, and Syriac languages, and entered the University of Vienna to
study Arabic, Ecclesiastical History, and Divinity. There he remained
two years. In 1814 he resided with Count Stollberg, and, like every one
else, was much exercised at Napoleon's escape from Elba. In 1815 Wolff
entered the Lutheran University of Tübingen to pursue his studies in
Oriental languages and theology; but he left the next year on a
pilgrimage to Rome, travelling on foot through Switzerland and Italy
until he reached the Eternal City. Being introduced to Pope Pius VII.,
he shewed him a Hebrew Bible which had been the companion of his
travels. Wolff entered the Collegio Romano, and in 1817 the Propaganda,
from which his Protestant leanings, and neglect of scholastic divinity
for the Bible, caused his expulsion in 1818. Wolff now returned to
Vienna, lamenting that his missionary aspirations had been frustrated.
In his distress of mind he wrote to Hoffbauer, Vicar-General of the
Liguorians, who received him into his monastery. Wolff was not happy
there for more than a few months, and leaving Vienna, travelled through