Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ

by Aaron Bernstein

"As I grew older, and began to reflect upon the nature and principles of Judaism as practised in the synagogue, my understanding showed me that such formal worship could not be in accordance with the will of God, that something or other was deficient in the system, there being nothing solid to influence the heart and give vitality to the worshipper. I could not help experiencing at times something like a vagueness in my mind with regard to my religious perceptions.

"By the providence of God I was led to leave home; and, although it was contrary to the wishes of my parents, I set out on my journey, and in due course arrived in England, in the City of London. After my sojourn there for some time, I was incidentally brought into contact, for the first time in my life, with one of those messengers who are sent out by the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, whose work is to disseminate the Word of Life. It was by him that the Gospel was, in the first instance, proclaimed in my ears. Though some impression was made on my mind in consequence of his preaching, I nevertheless resisted it, on account of the deep-rooted prejudice I had imbibed against the Christian religion, and I refused his kind invitation to go to his house.

"God, who guides the destiny of men in a most marvellous way did, by His gracious design, cause me again to meet the same missionary, who once more entreated me to accept Jesus as the Messiah, and to search into the truth of the Christian religion. As on the former occasion, I again resisted with increased strength, and again declined his kind invitation. Still, the impression which was left on my mind on this second occasion, led me to reflect upon the question at issue between Jews and Christians, and whether this Jesus, whom our forefathers had rejected, was the same who should redeem Israel. Thus I was for some time perplexed and undecided, and in my perplexity I at length resolved that I would go to the missionary's house, not with any desire to be converted, but simply for further information.

"I thus became directed to read the Word of God, in order to verify the predictions which refer to the Messiah, and their fulfilment in the Person of Jesus Christ. I then began to read the New Testament, and to compare this with the Old, and, in course of time, the doing so terminated in my conviction that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, who gave Himself a sacrifice for sin, and was cut off but not for Himself. After some inward struggle of mind, my agitated feelings may be better conceived than described, and in spite of all hindrances that presented themselves, I was enabled, by the grace of God and the enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit to decide for Christ, and He became my Lord and Saviour. I avowed myself by public baptism a believer in the Triune God.

"After some years of Christian life, I was called to the service of God, in making known the same Saviour and the same Gospel I had received to our benighted Jewish brethren, and, by the grace of God, I have been engaged in so doing for fifteen years, in Newcastle and the district. The Lord has graciously blessed my humble efforts, and unto Him I ascribe the glory."

Jacoby, Dr. Ludwig, was the founder of German Methodism at St. Louis, Mi., U.S.A., and helped to spread it in Germany, in the latter half of the 19th century. His biography is found in the Rev. Fr. Kopp's characteristic pictures from the history of Methodism.

Jacoby, Rev., was one of Dr. McCaul's converts in Warsaw, and missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church to the Jews in New York. He became later on an earnest Army Chaplain in a small-pox hospital during the Civil War, in Washington, 1864.

Jaffe, Philipp, M.D. and historian, born at Schwersenz, Posen, 1819, studied under Ranke in Berlin, where he won the history prize. He published "Monumenta Germaniæ Historica," 1854-63; "Bibliotheca rerum Germanicarum," 1864; "Regesta pontificum Rom. a Condita Ecclesia ad Annum post Chr. 1198"; in which work no less than 11,000 papal documents and letters were investigated, and in consequence received the attention of Pius IX. These ecclesiastical studies led him finally to embrace Christianity in 1868.

Jaffe, Philipp, son of Rabbi Baer of Gnesen, Posen, was born in 1824. Naturally he was brought up in strict orthodoxy and early imbibed prejudices against Christianity, so that when reading a book in the school he refused to utter the name of Jesus. His father sent him later to Wales to learn commerce at the house of a relative. Then a Christian lady gave him a New Testament which he secretly read, and that became the means of his conversion. He studied in London, and at the age of twenty-six he was ordained in the presence of the then Secretary of the British Society, whose service he afterwards entered and laboured as a missionary in Bristol and in Birmingham; and then from 1853 till 1857 at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Nüremberg and Hamburg. He was instrumental in the conversion of a number of Jews, among whom was a Jewess 83 years of age, and also in the conversion of a Roman Catholic priest.

Jair and Jan, Dr. Aga, two Persian Jews, the latter of whom especially was under the influence of the C.M.S. missionary, the Rev. Dr. Bruce. They were baptized by the Armenian Protestant pastor in Hamadan in 1878.