Aaron Bernstein - Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ

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.

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 Asseso, laboured there with great fidelity, and bore testimony for Christ before all classes. God owned and crowned his labours, for on one Sunday ten Falashas were baptized, amongst whom were some of his relations.