Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
an excellent knowledge of the "Zohar"), Nathan ben Elisha (Michael
Wolowski) and his brother Solomon (Lucas Francis Levi Wolowski). They
were all influenced in favour of Christianity by the Frankist movement.
Some descendants of this family are still living in Galicia.
ADDENDA.
CONVERTS IN THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM" IN LONDON.
The subject under the above title requires a special paragraph, because
it manifests to us the zeal which English Christians in the Middle Ages
displayed with regard to the conversion of the Jews, and that their
effects were richly blessed.
In an article in the "Hebrew Christian Witness," 1875, by Christopher
Chattoc, of Haye House, Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire, entitled "Traces
of Early Anglo-Hebrew Christians from Authentic Sources," he says:--"All
our best historians allege that, at the expulsion of the Jews from this
country in 1290, about fifteen thousand were expelled. If we compare
this number with the approximate amount of the then population, it is
something considerable, and if we take the present population of the
country and compare the number of converted and unconverted Jews at the
present time, the relative proportion of converted Jews in 1290 would be
at least--say, five hundred. This cannot by any means be considered an
excessive estimate for men, women and children, as the conqueror is said
to have brought over Jews in great numbers, and they were much favoured
by the three first Norman kings. The 'Domus Conversorum,' or home for
converts, was established in 1232 (by order of Henry III.), a private
one in 1213 in London, and one even much earlier still in Oxford." He
then gives a list of three long pages full of names of clergy and
others, in which he traces Jewish names anglicized, and refers to quite
a number of historical works. This cannot for want of space be
reproduced here. I will only mention that Dr. M. Margoliouth said that
there were three Kings in Great Britain by the name of Solomon. But the
article by Rabbi Michael Adler, in the "Jewish Encyclopædia," may be
given in abridged form. "The 'Domus Conversorum' was situated in
Chancery Lane and had a Chapel attached to the buildings.[4] A similar
institution, on a much more modest scale, having been commenced by the
clergy in 1213. A chaplain was appointed to instruct the converts and a
warden to attend to their temporal affairs. Each male inmate received
1-1/2d., equal to about 2s. 6d. of the present currency, and each female
1d. During the fifty years that elapsed from the time of the founding of
the 'Domus' until the year of the great expulsion, about a hundred Jews
in all (?) participated in the benefits of the institution, a small
proportion out of the 1,600 Jews in England. All the expenses of the
'Domus' were borne by the royal treasury, while some of the bishops left
bequests to augment its funds. In addition to these sources of income, a
small poll-tax, called 'the chevage,' was levied upon all Jews, above
the age of twelve, to support their converted brethren. The treasury
grant amounted annually to £202 0s. 4d. (in present currency about
£4,000). At times this contribution was not forthcoming, and the
'converts' were reduced to sore straits of poverty. In 1271 the King
addressed a letter to the Mayor of London, and to the Warden of the
'Domus' complaining of numerous irregularities in the management of the
house; and it was not till the year of 1280, under the custos of John de
St. Denis, that definite regulations for the control of the institution
were drafted. The records of the 'Domus' end at the year 1608. As late
as the year 1717 a London converted Jew petitioned King George I. for a
grant from the funds of the 'Domus.'"
[4] The house was taken from a Jew named Herberton.
In accordance with the method pursued in this work, I give an
alphabetical list of the converts mentioned by name, in the above
article, as converts in the house:--
Arthur Antoc, 1663.
Aseti Briasti and his wife, Perota, of France, in the
14th century.
Belager, a rabbi of Oxford, entered the house in 1281.
Claricia, a Jewess from Exeter, resided there in 1353.
Elizabeth, described as the daughter of Rabbi Moses,
Episcopus Judæorum, joined the converts in 1339.
She remained in the house for seventeen years.
Edward of Westminster lived there from 1461 to
1503.
Edward Scales, from 1503 to 1527.
Elizabeth Ferdinando, admitted in 1603.
Elizabeth Baptista, from 1504 to 1532.
Elizabeth Portugale, from 1492 to 1538.
Fortunati Massa, admitted in 1581.
Henry of Stratford, 1416-41.
John of Castile, admitted in 1366.
John de Sancta Maria of Spain, 1371-1405.
John Durdragt of Dordrecht, Holland, 1425-55.
John Fernando of Spain, 1487-1503.
Katherine Wheteley, admitted in 1532.
Mary Crook, admitted in 1532.
Martin, son of Henry of Woodstock, 1413-1468, the
longest period of residence.
Nathaniel Menda, from the Barbary States, 1578-1608.
He was baptized in London by John
Foxe, the author of "The Book of Martyrs."
Philip Ferdinandus, a learned Polish Jew who had
taught Hebrew at Oxford and Cambridge and
Leyden, resided and died in the 'Domus' in 1600.
Wolfgang, Jacob, from Germany, was admitted in the
year after the Gunpowder Plot.
* * * * *
_To be continued, and the next part will give accounts of Jewish
Converts in the Protestant Churches since the Reformation._
PART II.
CHAPTER VI.
CONVERTS IN THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES.
The Reformation ushered in the time of civil and religious liberty, of
progress in every department of human activity, of thorough
investigation of every branch of learning, of more sympathy with human
suffering, and of more zeal among enlightened Christians for the spread
of the Gospel among all the nations of the earth. The Jews, as a nation,
were certainly not unaffected by it. For as the Reformation purged a
great part of the Western Church from image worship, superstition, false
doctrine and papal supremacy, it at the same time removed some of the
obstacles in their way of entering a Christian Church. They could go
into any of the Reformed Churches and find no images in them, and listen
to the reading of their own Scriptures, to the singing of their own
Psalms, and to sermons which were of a character to awaken and to edify
them. No wonder that Jewish voluntary conversions to Christianity since
the Reformation are more numerous than in all the previous Christian
ages since the time of the Apostles.
In our list we properly place first the name of a Jew who came in
contact with the pious Count Zinzendorf. The story is given by Professor
F. Delitzsch.
ABRAHAM, a rabbi, met the Count at Romseberg, where the latter took
refuge when he was expelled from Saxony. After some conversation they
got attached to each other, so that R. Abraham once invited the Count to
dine with him on the Sabbath. The Count accepted the invitation as
readily as it was given, and, cutting a slice from the loaf said, "Tell
me, Rabbi Abraham, if your hospitality is always so ready; has it never
been abused?" "Never, my lord," answered the rabbi. "I shall not be
tired of giving as long as my hand has something to give. It has been my
custom from my youth up; and even an apple never tastes as good as it
does when I have given a half to one poorer than myself. Besides, the
habit has been of great service to me." He then told him how, one
Sabbath day, a rough-looking man came in and asked for alms. Not daring
to touch money on the Sabbath day, he invited him to dine with the
family. After the meal the man departed with a gruff word of thanks. Not
long afterwards Abraham was passing through a forest, when robbers
seized him and nearly killed him, and, while on his knees recommending
his soul to God, another robber came up and called out, "Rabbi Abraham,
do you not know me? A man who fed me when I was hungry shall not die
thus." And, thrusting a piece of gold into the old man's hand, he drew
his companions away with him into the forest, leaving the rabbi to
pursue his journey. These two tried men became after this even greater
friends than before. The Count, like Philip of old, declared unto him
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rabbi Abraham became a believer, attended
the services of the Moravian Brethren, but remained still unbaptized.
When he at last lay on his sick bed, Leonard Dober, one of the Count's
assistants, came to visit him. "Welcome, dear brother," said he, "at my
last hour. You sought me for years in the Lord's name, with love and
kind words; and see I have been found. My end is near; so is my
salvation. Will the Lord accept one who comes to Him at the last hour,
even though he approaches His Throne without the sacrament of baptism?"
"Yes," said Dober, "decidedly, as surely as it is written, 'Him that
cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out!'" "Blessed be the Holy One of
Israel for that word," said the dying man. Then he called for his son
Zadok and blessed him; and the last word they heard was, "Hallelujah!"
ABRAHAMS, Rev. George, Minister of the Regent Street Chapel, London, in
the first half of the eighteenth century.
ABRAMSON, a famous medal engraver, born in Potsdam, Prussia, in 1754,
died in 1811. He was a royal medallist and a member of the Academy of
Arts. He wrote on the taste for medals and numismatics, 1801.
ABRAHAMSON, Rev. A. E., B.A., Oxon., Rector of Skilgate, Wiveliscombe. A
convert of the L.J.S., carrying on occasionally a mission to Jews in
Russia by correspondence.
ADAM, Michael, a convert at Zürich, + 1550, translated into Judæo-German
"Josephus' War," the Pentateuch, the five Megilloth, viz., The Song of
Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. In this work he
was supported by Paulus Fagius.
ADLER, Rev. August Carl, a native of Höchst in Hesse Darmstadt, convert
and missionary of the L.J.S. After special training in the Hebrew
Missionary College, he laboured for a short time at Bucharest and at
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, and after 1872 he had the charge of the mission
at Amsterdam, where he laboured with great ability and success. He died
there September 15, 1907. At his funeral the Mayor of Amsterdam said
that his life left a lustre which would be a guide to many. He testified
that Adler had engraven the truth in the hearts of those who knew him.
ADLER, Rev. J., after his baptism, studied at Basel, then in Operative
Jewish Converts' Institution. He was a devoted missionary of the Mildmay
Mission from its beginning until he died. He was well beloved by all who
came in contact with him. He translated the New Testament into Yiddish.
ADLER, a brother of the above, did for a time evangelistic work among
the Jews in the Baltic Provinces. His daughter is now the wife of a
clergyman in Australia.
ADRIAN, of Emden, embraced Christianity in 1607 at Frankfort. He wrote
an hortatory letter to the Jews of Wittenberg in 1609, exhorting them to
repent and believe in the Saviour.
ADRIANUS, Mathaeus, a convert in Germany, well known to Erasmus. He was
professor of Hebrew, wrote an Introduction to the Hebrew language, and a
prayer entitled, "Hora pro Domino."
AGOSHE, a Falasha convert of the L.J.S. in Abyssinia. He was won to the
Saviour through the instrumentality of Mr. Flad and Mr. Bronkhorst, and
was baptized with 21 others in 1862. During the imprisonment of the
missionaries he ministered to their wants by supplying them secretly at
night with food. After they were released, he went to study at St.
Chrischona, in Basel, but the climate did not agree with him. In 1873 he
returned to Abyssinia and with Samony founded a school at the station of