Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ Part 24

Young Polan left his native place in 1872 intending to proceed to Australia and join a relative there. A change of plan, under pressure from home, led him to linger first at Konigsberg and then in London. In London he soon came in contact with missionaries. His aim, however, was not enquiry but opposition. Rumours then reached his friends that he had become a Meshummad, but careful enquiries satisfied them that their suspicions were mistaken and he was left unmolested.

But the living G.o.d was also watching and guiding. Gradually his att.i.tude to Christianity began to change. For one thing, the absence of images in the English churches made an impression upon him. The first Christian book that he read was the "Pilgrim's Progress" in Hebrew. Then there came eager readings of Commentaries written on St. Luke, Acts, Romans and Hebrews by Dr. Biesenthal, once a rabbinical Jew; he was thus led to a careful study of the New Testament. In the Rev. Theodore Meyer the enquirer at last found a wise and loving instructor and friend. From the first, Mr. Meyer's erudition and sincerity drew forth the confidence and interest of the young Jew.

After four years' instruction, Mr. Polan came forward for baptism, and it was arranged to take place in Park Church, Highbury. An incident, however, happened which led to its postponement. On the eve of his proposed baptism he had a dream which led him to withdraw, and was the cause of severe and protracted mental struggles. It is said by the rabbins, and believed by the Jews, that in Paradise a dark veil is made to hang before the parent whose child has become an "apostate." In his dream Polan saw his mother in Paradise behind the dark curtain. The effect upon his mind was such that he could not face baptism; nor did he, until nearly a year afterwards. It may have been that the first decision was resting mainly upon mental conviction of the truth. At any rate, there followed more serious consideration and prayerful searching of the Scriptures, with the result that a certain word of the Lord reached his heart and touched it with signal power. The word was: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in G.o.d, believe also in Me."

Under the power of this word this earnest seeker emerged into the light.

Ultimately, in 1878, he openly confessed Christ by baptism, the ordinance being administered by Mr. Meyer in Park Church, Highbury.

The inevitable ostracism and persecution, with their attendant sufferings, followed. It was a welcome mitigation to the new convert's trials that his father did not entirely cast him off. And the spirit in which he suffered may be gathered from the reply he sent to his brothers and sisters, when, at his father's death, they hurled over him their anathemas, telling him that his name had been expunged from the family register. "It has caused me great pain," he wrote to a friend, "but though my name is not now in the family tree, it can be found in the Lamb's Book of Life."

In those days Mr. Polan was a member of Park Church, Highbury. The pastor at the time was Dr. Edmond, who, with Mr. Meyer, proved a spiritual father to the young Hebrew Christian. There he was surrounded by strong missionary influences, and through the Fellows.h.i.+p a.s.sociation which supported two foreign missionaries, a desire in him was awakened to become a messenger of the Cross in the foreign field.

In 1878 Mr. Meyer wanted a helper in his mission to the Jews, and Mr.

Polan was invited to take up the work. In this opening he recognised a call of G.o.d to give his life to testifying for Christ to his Jewish brethren. For twelve years he served as a valued helper of Mr. Meyer, like a son with a father, busily engaged in district visitation and taking part in the services. Personal studies also occupied his attention, and he found time to his great joy and profit to attend the course of lectures on "Systematic Theology" delivered at Queen's Square by the Rev. Princ.i.p.al d.y.k.es.

On the retirement of Mr. Meyer, Mr. Mark Polan succeeded to the heads.h.i.+p of the Mission to the Jews in East London. In 1888 he became an elder in the John Knox Church, Stepney.

POPER, Rev. Heinrich, D.D., was born at Breidenbach, Germany, in 1813.

His father died before his birth, and his mother went back to her home at Hildesheim. There he prepared himself to be a teacher, and began to give lessons to Jewish and Christian children at the age of fourteen.

Later he came to the conviction that the Talmud was not in accord with the Bible, and after three years inward struggle, he came to England and was baptized by Reichardt in 1839. He was for a time in the Operative Jewish Converts' Inst.i.tution, and then in the Hebrew Missionary College, and in 1844 he was sent as missionary to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he laboured with great efficiency until his departure in 1870. In 1859 Dr. Poper reported that there probably were from five hundred to a thousand proselytes in the district. (See "At Home and Abroad," by the Rev. W. T. Gidney, 1900.)

POSNER, Sigismund August (Lobel), was born in 1804, of wealthy parents at Auras in Silesia who gave their children a strict orthodox education; he was well instructed in the Bible. When studying at Berlin, Mr. Lachs, Director of the Deaf and Dumb Inst.i.tution, sowed in his heart the seed of the Gospel, which took root and led eventually to his conversion, and he was baptized by Pastor Schultze in 1828. His father was at first grieved, but became afterward friendly to him. He studied theology and became a very earnest preacher of the Gospel, so that only decided Christians liked to hear him. He died in 1849. His biography was published by Professor Tholuck for Sunday reading.

RABINOWITZ, Joseph, was born at Resina on the Dniester, September 23, 1837, and died at Kischineff, 1899. He was the son of David ben Ephraim, and belonged to a rabbinic family. On the early death of his mother, her father Nathan Neta took him to be educated at his house. When he was six years of age he could repeat the Song of Solomon by heart. He remained with his grandfather till 1848, when he went to other relations. At the age of thirteen they betrothed him. Being compelled by an imperial ukase to acquire the Russian language, his eyes were opened to a new world of literature, and he began to think for himself. In 1855 Jehiel Hershensohn (Lichtenstein), his future brother-in-law, gave him a L.J.S.

New Testament in Hebrew, declaring at the same time that possibly Jesus of Nazareth might be the true Messiah, at which news he was very much surprised. However, the immediate effect was that he left the Cha.s.sidim and went back to Orgeyev to his grandfather, and studied the Bible more and Russian law, so that he could act as a solicitor among his people.

In 1856, he was married, and was then regarded as an influential citizen of the town, especially when it was seen that he took an active interest in the education of children and that he contributed important articles to the Jewish newspapers, and gave lectures at Kischineff, in which he advocated the principles of reform and progress. In 1878 he wrote an article in the Hebrew paper, "Haboker Or," in which he requested the Rabbis to work for the improvement of the condition of the Russian Jews by teaching them the necessity of becoming gradually an agricultural people, and he showed this by his own example in cultivating his garden himself. Not long afterward persecutions broke out in Russia, and he went to Palestine on a mission of enquiry with a view of establis.h.i.+ng a Jewish colony there. But when he arrived in Jerusalem and became acquainted with the sad temporal and spiritual condition of the Jews there, his heart sank within him, and he was about to leave the Holy City in despair, but before doing so he went to the Mount of Olives.

There he sat down in deep meditation, and reviewing the sad history of his unfortunate people, the thought came to him as an inspiration: "The key to the Holy Land is in the hands of our brother Jesus." This thought he made then the matter and basis of his future work. Returning to Kischineff, he drew up thirteen theses, the substance of which was that Jesus is the only Saviour of Israel as well as of the whole world. With great courage and enthusiasm he then endeavoured by word and pen to propagate his conviction, and gained in a short time many adherents both at Kischineff and in other towns of Bessarabia. Having in 1885 published his "Symbol of the Israelites of the New Covenant" in seven articles, Professor F. Delitzsch and the Rev. John Wilkinson encouraged him, and in Glasgow an a.s.sociation was formed in 1887 for the support of his movement. Rabinowitz was baptized in Berlin by Professor Mead, of Andover U.S.A., in 1885, and henceforth his mission work took a more decisive but also perhaps a more restrictive character. He was asked by Provost Faltin, pastor of the Lutheran Church at Kischineff, to join that Church, but for good reasons he declined to do so, as neither he nor his adherents who had just come out from the synagogue could wors.h.i.+p in a church where there was a crucifix. For still stronger reasons he could not join the Russian Church as he was asked to do by the highest authorities. Consequently he had to build a hall, in which he preached the pure Gospel as long as he lived. The result of this movement was that not only Rabinowitz, and his wife and seven children with his brother and family, and other individual Jews who heard the Gospel from his lips publicly confessed Christ as their Saviour, but also that the att.i.tude of the Jews in general toward the person of our Lord has since then changed for the better.

RAGSTATT, Friedrich de Weile, was born at Metz in 1648. His father David was a teacher in several congregations, and naturally gave him a good Jewish education. At the Jewish school, he learned from the Talmud the old tradition that the Messiah was to come after 4,000 years had elapsed since the Creation. This led him to enquire, and eventually he was instructed by Dr. J. Alex. Neuspitzer, pastor of the Reformed Church at Cleves, in 1671. In 1672 he entered the University of Leyden, and in 1677 he became pastor at a.s.senen; and then in 1680 at Spyk, in South Holland, where he officiated till he died. Ragstatt was the author of the following works:--(1) "Jefeh Mareh" (Amsterdam, 1671), written in Latin, in which he endeavoured to prove, as against the Jewish controversialists, especially Lipman of Mulhausen, the Messianic mission of Jesus. A Dutch translation of this work, which contains also an account of Shabbathai Zebi, was published at Amsterdam, in 1683. (2) "Viytmunden--de Liefde Jesu tot de zeelen," _ib._ 1678. (3) "Van het gnaden Verbond," _ib._ 1613. (4) "Two homilies on Gen. xlix. 10, and Mal. iii.," The Hague, 1684. (5) "Noach's prophetie van Bekeering der Heyden," Amsterdam, 1688. (6) "An Address delivered on the occasion of the baptism of the Portuguese Jew, Abraham Gabai Faro," _ib._ 1688. (7) "Brostwepen des Geloofs," _ib._ 1689. (8) "Jesus Nazerenus Sions Konig on Ps. ii. 6," Amsterdam, 1688.

RAPOPORT, the well-known banker in Paris, was baptized with his wife, two sons and four daughters, by Pastor Abric at Pa.s.sy in 1879.

RICARDO, David, was born in London 1772, of a Portuguese family, and died in 1823, at Gatcomb Park, Gloucesters.h.i.+re. He embraced Christianity in his youth (see Brockhaus, 12, 523) and was therefore forsaken by his father. He entered the Stock Exchange with little means and ama.s.sed a fortune. He was the author of "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation," 1817. In 1819 Ricardo entered the House of Commons for Portarlington. Nearly all his brothers became Christians. To his memory there is a professors.h.i.+p at the London University by the name of Ricardo.

RICIO, Peter, son of a Jewish jeweller, was born at Berlin in 1809, and died in 1879; he distinguished himself as a Christian in his investigations in physical science. Amongst other works, his "Lehre von der Rechnungs elementale," became epoch-making and secured for him the members.h.i.+p of the academies at Petersburg, Gottingen and Munich, and the degree of Doctor from Paris.

ROHOLD, S. B. The story of his conversion is thus told by himself:--

"It was in the well-beloved city of Jerusalem that I was born, and there also my early days were spent. More than half the inhabitants of Jerusalem are Jews, and mostly very pious, having come from all parts of the world to be buried in the Holy City when they die. The belief amongst these Jews is that when Messiah comes there will be the resurrection, and the bodies of those who were buried beyond Jerusalem will have to suffer much rolling until they reach the city. Thus to prevent this they have their burying place in the ancient city, being zealous for their religion, without enquiring as to whether they are really right in doing so. My father's family was very well known, belonging to one of the most pious sects of Jews in Jerusalem. It was the great delight of my father to speak of his ancestors, who were great rabbis; and for half a century he occupied an honoured rabbinical position himself in Jerusalem (Rosh Hashochatim). My dear mother also, whose ancestors were leading Jews amongst the rabbis, was fond of telling us wonderful stories of her grandfather, who was a famous disciple of the great Geonim of Wilna. Needless to say, both my parents were careful to train their children in the religion of their forefathers. Being the youngest son of the family, I was much petted, and they did their utmost to bring me up in the fear of G.o.d, and in all the customs, rites, and rabbinical traditions, whilst they taught me to look upon Christianity as idolatry. Truly my parents loved me very much, and did all in their power to educate me in what they believed to be right, and their one desire was that I might occupy the seat of my dear father, to which all my teachers gave them full hope. Thus the early part of my life was spent in study within the home circle. It was in the year 1893 that I had conversation for the first time with Christians.

"In that beautiful spot, the so-called Garden of Gethsemane, I one evening met two servants of G.o.d, who began speaking to me. At the time it seemed that I had gone into the Garden merely by accident, but now, as one looks back over the past, it can be clearly seen that a loving unseen hand was guiding me. These two Christians explained to me from the Scriptures how that Jesus of Nazareth is in very deed the promised Messiah, Israel's greatest hope. As they reasoned with me, there was one pa.s.sage of Scripture which I could not get over, that 'the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until s.h.i.+loh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.'

"With this new light upon the Word of G.o.d I was given to understand that the promises regarding the coming One told not only of His glory and majesty, but also of His suffering and death (Isaiah liii. and Psalm xxii.).

"Slowly I began to see how great and true Jehovah is, and how that His divine word regarding the Messiah has been literally fulfilled in Jesus Christ. I saw my helpless condition, and realized as never before that my own righteousness was as filthy rags. And oh, what joy came to me, when the gracious promise of G.o.d was fulfilled, a promise which came to me now with such a new meaning. 'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you.' (Ezekiel x.x.xvi. 26, 27).

"Having then accepted Jesus Christ as my own personal Saviour, I began to wish that my own loved ones might know Him, whom to know is life eternal. But I feared to tell them of my new-found treasure, and it is impossible for me to describe the unrest and agony of soul that I pa.s.sed through in consequence. It was only at the Throne of Grace that comfort could be found, and there I sought the strength and help I so much needed. After this it seemed very clear that the Lord was speaking to me through His Word, and was thus answering my prayer for guidance. The word which came to me was that given to Abram of old--'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will shew thee.' (Genesis xii. 1).

"To leave those who are dear to one, the relations and friends, yes, even to leave all for Christ's sake, is not easy; yet I knew it would be best to do what appeared to be the only right thing. It was a hard command to obey, but still I had the Lord's promises to take with me,--'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world' (St.

Matthew xxviii. 20). 'If ye shall ask anything of the Father in My name, He will give it you' (St. John xvi. 23). Trusting therefore in G.o.d alone, and persuading myself that He would be faithful in fulfilling His promises, I started on my journey. And by the help of Almighty G.o.d I came to England, arriving here as a perfect stranger, not knowing the language, and without an earthly friend. It was a time of great temptation, but the G.o.d of my fathers kept me. Letters came from my friends and relations in Jerusalem, trying to persuade me to go back, and my dear father said it would bring down his grey hairs in sorrow to the grave if I did not return. Truly I felt the presence of my Redeemer, and realized that He had called me. This joy filled my heart, and the peace which pa.s.seth understanding was my portion. I praise G.o.d for those Christians who have learned to sympathize with His ancient people. The Lord raised up kind friends who helped me through my difficulties, and daily I learned more of my Saviour's love, and found that 'His goodness faileth never.' His word says, 'They who put their trust in Him will never be put to shame,' and as I trusted, so I proved the truth of it.

After spending some time in England, the way opened for me to enter the Bible Training Inst.i.tute, Glasgow.

"Here I had opportunity of studying the Word of G.o.d, for which I was very thankful. At length a call came for me to enter active service in the vineyard of the Lord at the Bonar Memorial Mission to the Jews of Glasgow. On this work the Lord was pleased to set His seal, sending friends to encourage me, and in other ways blessing me abundantly."

ROMANN, Nathaniel, was born at Kobylin, Posen, in 1819, and was educated in the rabbinic schools of Lissa and Breslau, attending also at the latter place lectures at the University. From the reformed rabbi, Dr.

Geiger, he learned to reject the Talmud, and from the missionaries Teichler, Caro, and Cerf, he learned to accept the Gospel, and to become a whole-hearted Christian. He then became a teacher in a Christian school at Zieginhals. In 1851 he was accepted by the L.J.S. as a candidate for missionary work, and after preparing himself in their college, he was sent to labour in Breslau and Berlin, where he discharged his duties faithfully, becoming a blessing to many Jews, till his death in Berlin in 1871.

RONKEL, Philipp Samuel Van, was born at Groningen, Holland, in 1819. His father was a teacher in a Jewish school, and when Pauli visited him, he shewed him a New Testament, which he often read, but concealed it from his son. Pauli said to him, "You may hide the New Testament from your son, but you cannot thereby frustrate the counsel of G.o.d." Philipp was well educated in rabbinic law, but he found no pleasure therein, nor did the services in the synagogue attract him. He was brooding upon something which his parents could not find out. At the age of nineteen he entered the academy of Groningen, and studied cla.s.sics. A professor there drew his attention to the influence which Jesus exercises upon thinking humanity. From that time the personality of the Saviour occupied his mind, and he began to read with delight the poems of Da Costa. Just then he was requested by the Jewish congregation at Leerdam to deliver a sermon at the dedication of a new synagogue, and he took for his text Haggai ii. 10, and manifested in his sermon that he was inclined towards Christianity. It then happened that a Christian pastor visited a poor sick woman, but she refused to have his services. Ronkel then tried to see what he could do with her, and succeeded in getting an attentive hearing from her to his stories about good women of the Old Testament. She then asked him to read the Bible, but he had not one with him, and her own Bible she had torn to pieces when the pastor visited her. Then she asked him to pray, but he had never offered up an extempore prayer. In this perplexity he thought he could repeat the Lord's prayer in Dutch, which he had learned in Greek. He then repeated it with such fervour that the woman shed tears. This was the turning point in Ronkel's life. He took now the decisive step, and was baptized on Christmas Day, 1856, Da Costa being one of the witnesses. He became a true Christian, according to the testimony of his own father. Later he became one of the most eloquent preachers in Holland, and the Lord prospered the work which He had committed to his hands.

ROSENBERG, Rev. L., wrote the following brief sketch of himself shortly before he died:--"My parents were by birth Austrian Jews. By occupation my father was a landed proprietor and my mother carried on a drapery business. There were four children of the marriage, three boys and one girl. I was born on April 5th, 1828. My mother and three children died at a time when I was too young to remember them. My father was baptized into the Christian Church. I received a good secular and religious education, enough to lead me to avoid bad company; not so much to honour G.o.d as to honour myself in order to be respected and esteemed so as to mix with the best society.

"Ignorant of and prejudiced against Christianity, how wonderful were the dealings of the Lord with me will be seen from the following record:--About 1841 I visited Constantinople. Here a young Jewish friend persuaded me, after much effort, to go with him to a Mission House, where we heard a G.o.dly sermon preached before a gathering of young Israelites, by the Rev. Dr. Schwartz, who, later on, was Pastor of Trinity Chapel, Edgware Road, West London, and also a member of the Committee of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. His Scriptural discourse awakened in me a desire to know more about Christianity, and I often went to hear him preach at the Chapel of the Prussian Emba.s.sy on the fore-noons of the Lord's Day.

"Having for a few years been convinced of the truth of Christianity, I studied the Old and New Testament together, praying morning and evening for light.

"About 1844 I again visited Constantinople on my way to Asia Minor for hunting, with a view to becoming a naturalist by profession, collecting wild animals, birds, and insects of all sorts for the museum. It was whilst hunting on the top of Mount Olympus that the glorious scenery and the power of G.o.d's Word, created as it were, a voice within me, ordering me to leave all things, and I returned to Constantinople, and was baptized by Mr. Allen, son-in-law of Dr. Duncan, the well-known 'rabbi Duncan' of Edinburgh.

"Again I returned to Broussa, and on my own account I preached the Gospel for a whole year to Jews, Armenians, and Greeks, from among whom many, through Divine grace, were converted.

"Thus encouraged I went to Malta, where for about six years I studied literature and theology in the Protestant College there, and in return I gave lessons to boys in different cla.s.ses, four hours a day. To complete my preparations for the ministry of the Church I studied both in London and Edinburgh.

"The Jewish Committee of the Established Church of Scotland engaged me for about seven years, during which time I laboured as one of their missionaries at the stations of Salonica and Smyrna, with encouraging results, through the Divine blessing resting upon the Jews, Armenians and Greeks. After this, on my resignation, I returned to Edinburgh and London.

"Whilst in London the Committee of the Malta Protestant College, to whom I was well known, and amongst whom were the late Lords Shaftesbury, Calthorpe and Kinnaird, engaged me, and I went to the East to establish British Schools for boys in all the princ.i.p.al towns bordering on the Mediterranean and Black Seas. I established in Cairo a large boarding and day school, and for over two years I worked on until my health completely broke down, and, acting upon medical advice, I resigned and came to London.

"On August 21st, 1865, I was engaged by the Committee of the British Society, and ever since then I have been labouring, in Adrianople, chiefly among the Jews, but also among the Armenians and the Greeks.

During the first ten years I baptized forty Jews, whilst other enquirers of mine have been baptized in Constantinople, Smyrna, Jerusalem and London. Many unbaptized Jews, Armenians and Greeks, have also been led to believe in Jesus as the Saviour of their souls." He died in 1905 after more than forty years missionary work in Adrianople.

ROSENBERG, Samuel, M.D., was baptized at Constantinople about 1873. He accompanied General Hicks on his compaign in the Soudan, where he lost his life with the rest of the expedition.

ROSENBOHM, a Jewish convert in Sweden, was tutor of Hebrew at the University of Upsala, in 1720. At the Coronation of King Friedrich, he delivered a rabbinic oration, and likewise at the conclusion of peace between the Kings of England, Denmark, and Prussia. (Wolff Bib. Heb. 3 N, 2138 a).

ROSENFELD, J. F. (Asriel), was born in 1807. His parents brought him up piously, and married him at the age of fourteen. Coming in contact in Berditsheff with a Scotchman, he received from him a New Testament. He then went to Warsaw, became an inmate in the House of Industry, and learned the trade of bookbinding, was baptized in 1828, and afterwards laboured zealously as a missionary in Poland until his death in 1853.

ROSENSTRAUCH, Max, was born at Lemberg, on September 1, 1837. His parents Moses and Scheindell, were strictly orthodox, and brought him up in the straitest customs of strict Judaism. As he grew up, they were proud of his Talmudical knowledge, their intention being that he should become a rabbi. When seventeen years old, family circ.u.mstances compelled him, however, to go into business, and he was apprenticed to a merchant, with whom he remained ten years. In 1865, he accepted the post of a schoolmaster in Ja.s.sy. Whilst there he heard of the Hebrew learning of the Rev. W. Mayer, one of the L.J.S. missionaries, and formerly a scholar in their mission schools in London. From him he received a New Testament, which he read with eagerness, leading him to take Christian instruction for eighteen months. Soon after this a strange event took place in his life. He had left Ja.s.sy, and was on a steamer going to Odessa, when the engine broke down. There being danger, the Captain called upon all the pa.s.sengers to pray. This Max Rosenstrauch felt he could not do in the Name of Jesus Christ; all he could say was--"Lord, teach us to pray." Later on the captain gave an earnest address to the pa.s.sengers on St. John iii. 14, 15; this he did not fully understand, but what he did made a lasting impression upon him. In 1867 he was in Kischineff, and of this period he says, "It only awakens in me painful reminiscences. My Talmudical supports had been broken by the instruction received at Ja.s.sy, and I fell altogether into unbelief. I could perform neither Jewish nor Christian prayers. I did not even believe in the existence of G.o.d. I sometimes disputed with the Scotch missionary, Mr.

Tomory, and Mr. Daniel Landsmann, and they knew me as a thorough infidel Jew. At Odessa I lived as an atheist, and I had no intercourse with any Christian. I was busy the whole day at a boarding-school, under Mr. Trubitsch. At Kischineff my slumbering conscience was aroused, and an unspeakable struggle agitated my heart, until the Lord opened my eyes, and in every page of the Bible I saw the glory of Him who said, 'I am the Light of the World.' In His Name I was baptized on Easter Day, 1868." After some years of missionary work with continental societies, he joined the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, in which he remained till his death, November 3, 1900. The "Prayer-book for Jewesses" and his "Catechism for Jews," which he wrote, have been most useful in his work, and in that of the above Society generally.

ROSENTHAL, Rev. Michael, Vicar of St. Mark's, Whitechapel, who died at the age of 63, was a converted Jewish rabbi, who for thirty years carried on an earnest missionary work among the Jews of East London. The story of his conversion is a remarkable one. Young rabbi Rosenthal, a Hebrew of German extraction, was a profound Talmudist, and as strict and zealous a Jew as was Saul of Tarsus before the journey to Damascus.

Rosenthal was sent on missions in connexion with the faith of his fathers to Asia Minor, to North Africa and other countries, and finally to England. On a steamboat he met a very learned and able man, who he believed was a Jesuit. The man was certainly a Roman Catholic, and he possessed a good deal of rabbinical lore. Rosenthal, as a strict Jew, observed all the dietary and other laws of his people, and took his meals separately. The supposed Jesuit ridiculed his scruples, and one day, when the young rabbi was dining alone, touched his bottle of claret, thereby, of course, rendering it defiled. Rosenthal was angry, and the man saw this and taxed him with over-niceness in ceremonial observance. "Do you really think," he asked, "that G.o.d is pleased by your rejecting things that are good enough for the captain and other people on the s.h.i.+p, and that you really serve Him by making yourself so different from anybody else?" They had some conversation, which left a great impression on the young rabbi's mind. One argument used by the supposed priest had considerable effect. The Jews in the course of their history during the last nineteen hundred years have acknowledged no fewer than twenty-four Messiahs, all of whom have turned out to be false, either impostors or self-deluded fanatics. Can a nation that has made the gigantic mistake of accepting twenty-four false Messiahs claim to be infallible in rejecting a twenty-fifth? All these false Messiahs have appeared and been accepted since our Lord lived on earth except "Judas of Galilee," who was a contemporary of Jesus Christ. Some time after his arrival in England Rosenthal became acquainted with Dr.

Wilkinson, then rector of St. Peter's, Eaton Square. The young rabbi was tremendously impressed by Dr. Wilkinson's great abilities and spiritual earnestness. "Here is a Christian," he said to himself, "who is absolutely sincere and of great intellectual power. Can Christianity be merely a modern form of Paganism when such n.o.ble souls as these profess it?" He listened to Dr. Wilkinson, and was on the way to conversion when the good rector advised him to have recourse to the learned Dr. Ewald, a celebrated Jewish missionary of the L.J.S., for the solution of difficulties which only a Hebraist could deal with successfully.

Rosenthal was eventually baptized by Ewald. He took orders in the English Church, being ordained deacon by Dr. Jackson, Bishop of London, in 1877. Four years later he was admitted to the priesthood, and he served for thirteen years as curate to the Rev. S. J. Stone, author of "The Church's One Foundation," at St. Paul's, Haggerston, devoting himself chiefly to mission work among the East-end Jews. He organized the East London Mission to the Jews, which first came under regular diocesan management when the present Bishop of London was Bishop of Stepney. In 1899 Bishop Creighton presented Mr. Rosenthal to St. Mark's, Whitechapel, a parish which is inhabited almost entirely by Jews. He met with a good deal of hostility from the Jews in the first years, but he talked straight to them and gradually the opposition died down, and he steadily pursued his mission work among them. His labours were attended with considerable success. He said that he had himself baptized over six hundred Jews and Jewesses.

ROSENTHAL, Wildan Charles (Simeon), a learned Jew in Jerusalem, was baptized with his wife, son and daughter by Nicolayson in 1839. This family were the firstfruits of the L.J.S. mission in the Holy City. His daughter became the wife of Mr. Bergheim, the banker, a Jewish convert.

ROSSVALLY, Dr. Max L., an American Jewish convert in the latter half of the nineteenth century. He had been an actor, and after his conversion became well-known as a lecturer in America and in England. He displayed great zeal in his endeavours to form a Hebrew Christian Union, and in 1877 it is recorded that two hundred converts were united together and held monthly meetings in New York and in Brooklyn. Rossvally wrote "The Dying Trumpeter and his Experience," a German version of which appeared in Hamburg, in 1891.

RUBEN, Maurice, was born in Prussia, in 1856. His people were typical Jews, strict in their customs and in the observance of Jewish laws and traditions. He came to the United States when he was sixteen years of age. In 1895 he had the position of department manager in one of Pittsburg's largest stores. His brother was half owner of this enterprise. Plans were under way to admit him into a partners.h.i.+p in the firm, which would have made him to-day--had he chosen "the way of the world"--a man of wealth, with an annual income of 15,000 dollars.