Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ

Samany, a native of Assesso in Abyssinia, was one of Flad's early converts there. He had to undergo bitter reproaches from his mother and relations on account of his becoming a Christian, but his reply to his mother was that he loved her now better than before, and that he would take care of her. Working on his weaver's stool he at the same time used to speak to his two sisters of the "pearl of great price" that he had found, and they too became Christians. During the imprisonment of the missionaries, he attached himself to Waldemayer, who was free. After the arrival of the English expedition he went to the coast, where he and his companion Petrus were met by the Jewish traveller Halevy, who gave them some money and promised to take them to Paris. Not perceiving at once his intention, they accepted the money, but they brought it back to him the next morning, and as he refused to take it back, they threw it into the sea, although they suffered hunger at the time. Then they went to Magdala, and afterwards with Flad to Europe, and were placed in the training school at St. Chrischona, near Basle. But as Samany could not stand the climate there, Flad took him to his own house at Kornthal, and was then obliged to send him back to Abyssinia. On his return he and Agashe preached the Gospel earnestly to the Falashas. Samany continued to do so even from his sick bed. Conscious that the time of his departure had come, he asked that the coffin which he had before prepared for himself should be placed before him, then saying, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit," he entered into rest.

Samson, Lewis Paul, was an English Jew by birth, the son of a Dutch "sopher" (writer of scrolls of the law and of phylacteries). When a boy he used to hear Dr. McNeile at St. Jude's, Liverpool, and in other ways came in contact with Christian influences. When he became forty years old he was asked by his children to hear them repeat a portion of Scripture which they had been taught at school. It happened to be Isaiah liii., and it proved to be the turning point in his life. Like many another Jew, he could not believe at first that it was a part of the Old Testament, but it led eventually to his baptism by a Hebrew Christian, who was one of the Society's missionaries.

His public profession of Christianity made him an object of abhorrence to his brothers and sisters, though later on they learned to respect him for his simple, unswerving faith, and some of them, it is believed, became Christians. He continued his occupation, but at the same time was an active worker in St. Jude's parish, until his appointment under the Society. He was a man of one book and that book the Bible, which he knew almost by heart. Many a Jew was struck by his intimate knowledge of the Word of God, and none ever doubted his being a true believer, however much they disliked his invariably holding up Christ before them. Many of the poor Jews, both converted and unconverted, missed him, after his death, as a friend in need, who often used to minister to their necessities out of his scanty earnings. At one time, he was known to have lived for weeks on sixpence a day, to save up the money which he had borrowed and advanced to a Jew who either could not, or would not, repay. No wonder that so many Christians learned to love and respect him as "an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."

Saphir, Rev. Adolph, D.D. We learn from him the story of his conversion in one short sentence: "I, at that time, a lad in my twelfth year, was the first of our family to accept the Gospel." Mr. Wingate, who gives an account of the event, says that the Jews testified to Adolph's being born again from on high. "We heard that the Jews were saying that the Holy Ghost had fallen on Saphir's son, and that he expounded the Scripture as they had never heard it before." In the autumn of 1843, Adolph went to Dr. Duncan in Edinburgh, that he might perfect his knowledge of English, where he remained six months, and then went to Berlin, and studied at the Gymnasium from 1844 to 1848, acquiring a thorough knowledge not only of German literature, but also of German philosophy. In 1848-49, he was tutor in the family of Mr. William Brown in Aberdeen. In 1854, after finishing his theological studies, he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, and licensed as a preacher in Belfast. He then laboured as a missionary to the Jews in Hamburg for one year. Then he had the charge of a church in South Shields, and in 1861 he received a call to Greenwich, where people from various churches flocked to hear him. In 1872 a church was purchased for him at Notting Hill, where his ministry was always attended by all sorts of earnest Christians, especially his Thursday morning lectures. This was also the case wherever he went to preach. Saphir's love and devotion to his people and to the cause of missions was boundless. He died April 4, 1891, a few days after his wife. His last sermon was on the text, "And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." The following are some of Saphir's works: (1) "Who is a Jew?"; (2) "Who is an Apostate?"; (3) "Expository Lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews"; (4) "The Hidden Life"; (5) "Our Life Day"; (6) "Found by the Good Shepherd"; (7) "Life of Faith"; (8) "The Compassion of Jesus"; (9) "The Everlasting Nation"; (10) "Christian Perfection"; (11) "The Unity of the Scriptures"; (12) "Christ and the Scriptures"; (13) "The Lord's Prayer"; (14) "Israel's Present and Future"; and (15) "All Israel shall be Saved."

Saphir, Israel, brother of the famous satirist at Vienna, was living in Pesth in the first half of the nineteenth century, where, owing to his erudition and character, he exercised great influence upon the Jewish community, and was regarded by them as another Gamaliel. Coming in contact with the Scotch missionaries, Dr. Duncan, Mr. Wingate, Mr. Smith and Dr. Schwartz, he heard the Gospel from them, and when convinced of its truth he did not hesitate to embrace it. This is described by his son in a few words: "Through the instrumentality of the Scotch missionaries my father saw the truth as it is in Jesus, and was received into the Christian Church in 1843 at the age of sixty-three years."

Saphir, Philipp, an elder brother of Adolph, was rather inclined to worldliness, but became serious when there was an inundation in Pesth, and he had tried to save life. In 1842 Rev. Dr. Schwartz passed through Pesth on his way to Constantinople, and Philipp heard his addresses to Jews, and was impressed, becoming conscious of sin and the need of pardon. He was baptized in the Calvinistic Church of Pesth, in 1843, by Superintendent Paul Török. He wrote afterwards to Mr. Schwartz: "I was admitted into the Church of Christ. I cannot describe my feelings to you. Ah! the infinite love of God! He has given me much peace, nothing will deprive me of it. I am happy, joyful; my soul is with God. I praise Christ every hour." He then, being nineteen years of age, went to Carlsruhe to be trained as a teacher, and on his return to Pesth in 1845, at once set to work and organized a Y.M.C.A. Becoming ill, he taught poor Christian and Jewish children gratis from his sick bed "The Evangelical doctrine as he found it in the Word of God." He died September 27, 1849, whilst his father knelt by his side with two friends engaged in prayer. The daughters of Israel Saphir all became devoted Christians. One was married to Rev. Dr. Schwartz, and the other to Rev. C. A. Schönberger, both well known in the Christian Church.

Saul, Aaron, was baptized by the L.J.S. missionaries in 1812. Lewis Way took him to his Seminary. He however did not become at once a missionary, but engaged in business and held the office of Clerk in Palestine Place Chapel, and taught in the Sunday School for twenty-seven years. He devoted himself especially to the care of enquirers and to the circulation of the "Old Paths" and other missionary literature among the Jews in London. From 1841 to 1843, he laboured as missionary at Brussels, and died in London, Jews following his funeral.

Sargon, Michael, was born of Jewish parents at Cochin in 1795, and died about 1855. He was converted in 1818, through the preaching of J. Jarrett of Madras, and became the first missionary of the L.J.S. to the Jews in India. In 1820 Sargon visited his parents at Cochin, who received him kindly, and for a time the Jews there seemed to have no objection to discussing with him his new faith. A local committee was found in Madras with Sargon as the representative missionary. Madras became the centre of the Society's work in India. In 1822 Sargon had 116 Jewish children under his charge at Cochin, but in 1824 he was transferred to Bombay, where he opened, under the auspices of the L.J.S., a school exclusively for Jews. In Cochin Sargon baptized a Jew and two Jewesses in 1828. He and his brother Abraham continued their educational activity for nearly thirty-nine years after the Society had ceased to give a grant to the Bombay mission. (Report of L.J.S., 1821.)

Schapiro, B. A. M. One summer morning in the year 1890 there visited the reading room of the Hebrew Christian Mission, 17, St. Mark's Place, New York, a Hebrew lad of nineteen years, with bright eyes and curly black hair. He had just arrived there from Germany, although he was a native of Poland. The boy's keen, intelligent countenance attracted the attention of the Rev. Jacob Freshman, Superintendent of the mission, and as several Jewish men were having a lesson in English, that gentleman suggested that the young Jew should become a member of the class. The stranger knew no English, the teacher had no knowledge of Polish or Russian, consequently their conversation was carried on mainly by pantomime, and with the help of one of the scholars, who acted as interpreter. Jews are naturally fine students, grasping knowledge with avidity. The new arrival proved no exception to the rule, and so before the forenoon ended he had learned the English names of the articles of furniture in the room, the days of the week, the numerals from one to ten, and also how to write his name, "Benjamin Aaron Moses Alexander Schapiro", in English script. Long after, when he had learned to speak English with ease, we asked: "Why did your parents burden you with such a number of names?" "Because," was his answer, "they hoped and wished that I might combine in my character, when I came to manhood, the qualities of patriarch, priest, prophet and king." He was a fine Hebrew scholar, and carefully followed in a Hebrew Bible the Psalms which the other pupils read in English. We found at our next visit the new pupil awaiting our coming. His countenance glowed with pleasure, as he cordially grasped our hand and proceeded to dispose of our satchel and umbrella. That morning he read several pages in an English primer. When we went again we found that Benjamin had taken his departure, though urged by the superintendent and his kind wife, for they both had become greatly interested in him, to make their house his home for an unlimited period. His proud, ambitious spirit chafed at the thought of becoming a burden on the hands of strangers, so he started out to earn his own living, an entirely new experience in his case. Hitherto he had never been called upon to solve the three vital problems: "What to eat," "What to drink," "Wherewithal to be clothed." His brief stay at the mission proved, however, a very important epoch in this young life. The seeds of Gospel truth were sown in his heart, and afterwards quickened by the Holy Spirit, sprang up, budded, blossomed, and ultimately bore the fruitage of earnest work for the Master. Two years had elapsed since our first meeting. One evening, at the close of the service in a Hebrew Christian Church, we were cordially greeted by a young man. The native dress had been changed for American, the hair arranged in a different style, etc. So great was the transformation that at the first glance we failed to recognize our quondam pupil and friend. He then told us what had befallen him since we last met. He had, soon after leaving the mission, found employment with Mr. Benjamin Clayton, a butcher at Jamaica, L. I. Imagine, if you can, what a trial it must have been to one brought up to a strict observance of the tenets of orthodox Judaism to have to handle "Gentile" meat, especially the abhorred pork. A Christian man who dealt at the shop became interested in the young stranger, seeing him to be the possessor of talents which ought to be improved and developed. This kind friend placed him under Christian tutors.

Eventually Mr. Schapiro was converted, and publicly confessed Christ, and united with a church in Brooklyn. Soon after taking this important and decisive step he was convinced that it was his bounden duty and glorious privilege to tell the story of a Redeemer's love to his own people. Very visionary seemed the project. How could he, a youth who had not yet attained his majority, a stranger, a foreigner, a "despised" Jew, without means, with few friends, accomplish this mighty undertaking? Faith laughs at impossibilities. Enthusiasm is ever contagious. A few friends became interested, amongst others Mr. Horatio S. Stewart, the gentleman who had previously provided him with a scholarship at Pennington Seminary. The first Jewish mission work in Brooklyn was inaugurated in that part of the Twenty-sixth Ward known commonly as "Brownsville." Here a colony of Polish and Russian Jews had taken up their abode. A small hall was hired and services held on Saturday afternoon. Great was the excitement, tremendous the opposition. Jews gathered in crowds, anxious to hear what the youth might have to say concerning his apostasy from the faith of his fathers. Men thrice his age plied him with questions regarding Christianity, quibbles mostly; occasionally, perhaps, an enquirer might have been moved with a genuine desire to know the truth. The young missionary, however, was enabled to possess his soul in patience, and with quiet dignity to repel their attacks. The following incidents will serve as representative specimens of these interruptions: Once, when the missionary was giving a brief exposition of the first chapter of St. John's Gospel – "In the beginning was the Word," etc., "'Logos' as 'word' here is in the Greek synonymous with 'Memrah' in the Rabbinical writings," he remarked. A Jew sprang to his feet in a second. "You cunning Mr. Missionary!" he shouted – "trying to prove your statements from the Talmud, which you profess to disbelieve, because you cannot prove them from the Old Testament!" Quick as a flash came the rejoinder: "David, in the thirty-third Psalm, sixth verse, says: 'By the "word" of the Lord were the heavens established.'" The assailant was effectually silenced, but so angry was he at having been outwitted in public by one so much younger than himself that whenever he chanced to see the missionary approaching he would quickly cross to the other side of the street.

On another occasion a Jew said: "You know perfectly well how wrong and wicked it is for a man to desert the religion of his fathers. Why, even the Gentiles despise those who are guilty of such an act!" "What do you mean by the religion of our fathers?" was asked in return. "Why, of course, I mean the religion of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," the Jew answered. "But Abraham departed from the faith of his fathers. This 'apostasy' was imputed unto him for righteousness. You reproach me because I have departed from the religion of my fathers, which you claim to be the 'true religion.' Listen for a moment to the witness borne by Moses and the prophets concerning the religion of our fathers. Moses, our great lawgiver, says: 'Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not the good land to possess for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.' 'You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.' Isaiah the evangelist, says of our fathers: 'From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores.' 'Ah! sinful nation!' and mark the expression: 'A seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters.' In another place the same prophet says: 'Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.' Jeremiah says: 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.' The weeping prophet declares: 'All these nations are uncircumcised, and the house of Israel is uncircumcised.' Jehovah himself says to Ezekiel: 'Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me; they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. For they are impudent children and hard-hearted.' The suffering prophet again says: 'Thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; not to many people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand; surely had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto Me, for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.' Jesus the great teacher, said: 'Ye are of your father, the devil.' Now, in view of all these assertions, can you still insist upon my still adhering to the 'religion of my fathers.' You say: 'The Gentiles despise those who have departed from the religion of their ancestors.' That statement can be easily disproved from history. Jesus, Paul and the other founders of the Christian Church all apostasized from the faith of their fathers. Luther, a Roman Catholic, became the leader of the Reformation. Neander, Edersheim, Saphir and a host of other converted Jews have been indeed 'the glory of Israel, and lights to lighten the Gentiles.'"

These Saturday services were continued for more than two years. An evening school, where Jewish people, employed during the day, could receive gratuitous instruction in English, was carried on with a great degree of success. A protracted strike among the tailors, cloak-makers and operators on men's clothing, the principal industries of this settlement, reduced the people to the direst poverty; hundreds were on the verge of starvation. In this, the time of their need, Mr. Schapiro, at his own expense, opened a soup-kitchen in his rooms, himself serving the tables, and for more than two weeks scores were fed. That no offence might be given to their prejudices, the meat was "Kosher," that is, bought at a Jewish butcher's, and prepared by a Jewish cook. This kind, thoughtful treatment did much to disarm their repugnance against him as a Christian. The missionary also opened a similar mission in the Sixteenth Ward, Eastern District, where there is a Jewish population of 50,000, and for nearly a year carried on the two stations, holding a service at Brownsville on Saturday morning, and a second one in the new mission in the afternoon. Finally his committee deemed it best to confine his labours entirely to the Eastern District station, as they considered it the more hopeful field, on account of the large number of Jews in the vicinity. Meanwhile a denominational mission had been established in Brownsville. The Brooklyn Christian Mission to the Jews has from the outset been interdenominational. This work in the Eastern District was not inaugurated without opposition. The missionary and the men who assisted him in the distribution of the notices for the services and tracts were targets for the stones of crowds of Jewish boys. The older people greeted them with sneers, derision, offensive epithets, and sometimes with curses. Among the Jewish boys, Samuel – , acted as leader and instigator in the attacks. After a while he ventured into the mission, intending to create a disturbance, and, if possible, break up the services, but the story of a Saviour's love fell upon his ears, and as has many times happened in the history of missions, he who "came to mock remained to pray." Samuel was convinced, converted, and for two years has been a consistent member of a church in this city.

After seven years of mission work, owing to the combined labour of carrying on the service and collecting funds for the maintenance of the mission, his health broke down and he gave up the work.

In June, 1900, Mr. Schapiro published the first number of "The People, the Land and the Book." He had a theory that much of the variance existing between Jews and Christians had its foundation in mutual ignorance and misapprehension of their different religious beliefs. He designed to reach both parties in a spirit of love.

Mr. Schapiro for eleven years had no home, no intercourse with his own family. Having become an "apostate," he was worse than dead to them. All his overtures for reconciliation were scornfully rejected. To be cut off from all one's relatives, to have no home life, is ever a great affliction, particularly to a Jew, for the Jewish attachment and devotion to home and family are proverbial. A Jew who has embraced Christianity can sing in all sincerity, "Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee," for it is his veritable experience.

One day he chanced to meet a fellow-townsman, who, to his great surprise, told Mr. Schapiro of the latter's cousin, who lived in New York. Of course he lost no time in hunting up this relative. At first he was greeted with sharp, bitter reproach, for his change of faith, but when it was manifest that his love for Christ had not obliterated, but rather intensified, his love of kindred, speedy reconciliation followed. Mr. Schapiro learned that his father had lost his property, and also that his eldest son had died. Letters were exchanged, and complete reconciliation ensued.

The painful situation of the Jews in Russia made Mr. Schapiro anxious on his family's behalf. Through the assistance of kind friends he was enabled to bring over two of his sisters. They reached there one Thursday, and a week later found employment. There were still eight remaining at home, father, mother, brothers and sisters. Through the efforts of the once deemed lost brother "Joseph" they were enabled to go, and are now comfortably situated in their own home in New York.

Mr. Schapiro's life is not lacking in romance. Some years ago, while he was conducting the mission in Boerum Street, a pretty Jewish girl of thirteen, whose parents lived opposite, frequently attended the services. After a while the family moved and Mr. Schapiro lost sight of his little friend. After he had left the mission, and was conducting the magazine, they chanced to meet again. Their renewed acquaintance ripened into love, and a year after they were married. Mrs. Schapiro is a charming little woman, bright and attractive. Their union has been blessed with a darling little daughter, Beatrice Sylvia, now nineteen months old. The former homeless wanderer rejoices in a pleasant, tastefully arranged home, and a wife who delights to minister to his comfort, and is hospitable in the extreme, always welcoming his friends, and leaving nothing undone which can minister to their comfort.

This paper has already far exceeded the limits originally intended; still it seems impossible to close it without some slight character delineations. Mr. Schapiro, so the Jews who come from his native place tell us, is of a good family; his father was a man of wealth and position, and was noted for his rigid adherence to the tenets of orthodox Judaism. One can easily understand how sore a trial it must have been for such a Jewish father to have his son embrace Christianity, and what in his opinion was still more disgraceful, to have that son become a missionary of the Cross among his own people. Mr. Schapiro is intensely fond of books, is a good student, ambitious to be thoroughly educated, and is already quite a forcible speaker. Fearlessness forms one of the strong points of his character. He is positive, liberal, without being a radical, conservative, yet not bigoted. He has what is an absolute requisite to all who undertake leadership of any kind – good executive ability. Naturally sensitive, as a missionary among the Jews he has had many a fiery ordeal to pass through and many hard reproofs to bear. But to his credit, be it said, he has been enabled to retain his patience and to exhibit a forgiving disposition. He had a very correct idea of the propriety and reverence with which all religious services should be conducted. Never using cant expressions, and although gifted with a keen sense of the humorous, he never stooped to ridiculous illustrations, which, though they create laughter, leave no lasting impression for good. He has never sought notoriety. Mr. Schapiro is still a young man, and like all young people, has much to learn, but if health and strength are granted, he bids fair to become an able advocate of the Messiah among his own brethren after the flesh, the Jews.[22 - "The People, the Land and the Book," Miss Mary C. Sherburne. July, 1905.]

Schereschewsky, Dr. Samuel Isaac Joseph, from 1877 to 1883 missionary bishop of the American Church in China. He was born at Tanroggen, in Russian Lithuania, in the year 1831, and brought up in the religion and learning of the Jews, graduating from the University of Breslau. The reading of the New Testament in a Hebrew translation, which had fallen into his hands, convinced him of the truth of Christianity. This must have been the Society's version, as at that time Professor Delitzsch's and Salkinson's versions were not in existence; and, therefore, the Society was the first agent in the Bishop's conversion. Soon after his confession of Christ he went to the United States. He acquired his knowledge of Greek in the Theological Seminary at New York, which he entered in 1857. The Christians with whom he first came into contact belonged to the Baptist and the Presbyterian denominations; he was baptized by a minister of the former, and studied theology in a seminary of the latter body. But before he had finished his studies, he had learned and acknowledged the position of the Episcopal Church, and was admitted a candidate for holy orders under the Bishop of Maryland. In 1859 he was ordained deacon in St. George's Church, New York, and in the following year was advanced to the priesthood in China, whither he had accompanied the elder Bishop Boon on his return from a home visit.

In the autumn of 1861, Schereschewsky made a translation of the Psalms into the colloquial. This was his first work. In 1863 he moved to Pekin and began, with Bishop Burdon of Hong Kong, the translation of the first Mandarin Prayer Book. The main part of this book, viz., Morning and Evening Prayer, the Collects, and the Psalter, were his work; Bishop Burdon taking the remainder of the Book. This was completed in 1864. In 1865 a committee of five leading Chinese scholars, Dr. Edkins, Dr. Martin, Dr. Blodgett, Bishop Burdon and himself, undertook the translation of the New Testament into Mandarin. This is still in use generally throughout the Empire. The only other Mandarin version in existence at that time was Dr. Medhurst's "Mandarin," which was based on the so-called "Delegates' Version" in Wen-li. The Bishop began the translation of the Old Testament himself into Mandarin, in the autumn of 1865, and finished this colossal undertaking at the end of eight years. This, with the Mandarin Testament mentioned above, forms the ordinary Chinese Bible in general use by Christians in China, and is read at every service from the lecterns in the China Mission of the American Episcopal Church, as mentioned in the organ of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the American Church.

In 1875, Dr. Channing Moore Williams, the American Bishop for China and Japan, having been assigned to the work in Japan alone, Dr. Schereschewsky was elected Bishop of Shanghai. With great modesty and self-distrust he declined the office; but being again chosen in 1877, he was persuaded that it was his duty to undertake its labours and responsibility. He returned as Bishop to Shanghai in the autumn of 1878, and, in the course of the year 1879, translated the whole Prayer Book into Wen-li, or classic style, blending with it as much as possible the English and American Prayer Books, with the hope that all missions of the Anglican communion might use it in China. Although this hope was not gratified, the book was for many years the only one in use in all the American missions, and formed the basis of the colloquial versions which have since superseded it. In 1879 the Bishop went up the river to Wuchang, and began the translation of the Apocrypha. He had only completed one book when he was smitten down during the intense heat of the summer of 1881, and his physicians ordered his removal to Europe, whither he went the following spring. He was under treatment from 1882 to 1886, at Geneva in Switzerland. In 1883 Bishop Schereschewsky, unwilling to retain an office whose duties he could not discharge, resigned his Bishopric.

With wonderful perseverance he now devoted all his energies of mind, which remained unimpaired, to the work of bringing the Scriptures within the reach of the Chinese nation. Fully acquainted with their language in its different forms, and being not only a skilful Sinologist, but one of the most learned Orientalists in the world – and that by the testimony of Professor Max Müller – using a pen as long as he could hold a pen, and then, owing to paralysis, working on a typewriter with the two fingers which he could control, he translated the Old Testament from the original Hebrew into the Mandarin dialect, leaving to a secretary only the reduction of the typewritten words into the Chinese character. For twenty years, day after day, in China, and for a while in Massachusetts, and more recently in Japan, when he was near a printing-press which he could use, he worked under disadvantages which would have put an end to the courage and the labours of almost any other man. Not long before his death he completed his greatest work, the translation of the whole Bible, including the Apocrypha, into the Wen-li dialect. He also wrote Chinese grammars and dictionaries, and translated the Gospels into Mongolian, preparing also a dictionary of that language. He died at Tokyo, on October 15th, 1906.

We may add the following extract from the Bible Society's memoir of the Bishop, written by the Rev. Crayden Edmunds, M.A.:

"His early training, whereby he came to know Hebrew better than any other language, specially fitted him to become a translator of the Old Testament. This peculiar fitness was soon recognised by his missionary colleagues, who about 1865 entrusted him with the translation of the Old Testament into Northern Mandarin. He also worked on the Peking Committee as a translator of the New Testament. His version of the Old Testament, first published by the American Bible Society in 1875, has since been repeatedly issued by both the A.B.S. and the B.F.B.S. A revised edition appeared in 1899. But a still greater work was his translation of the whole Bible into Easy Wenli; he added the New Testament in this case, in order to secure uniformity; both Burdon and Blodgett's, and Griffith John's versions of the New Testament being in a somewhat different style. This Bible the A.B.S. published in 1902.

"The significance of Bishop Schereschewsky's achievements, however, lies not so much in their extent and scholarship as in their testimony to the indomitable courage of the man and his devotion to his work. Six years after his consecration as Bishop he became paralysed, and had to resign his episcopal jurisdiction. His malady increased till it left him with the use of only the middle finger of each hand. Fortunately his intellect remained unimpaired, and with these two fingers he was able to type out his MSS., which were afterwards rewritten in Chinese characters by his secretary.

"But the toil was well worth while. To this man alone has it been granted to give to the two hundred and fifty million Mandarin-speaking Chinese, as well as to the mass of readers in China, the Oracles of God as found in the Old Testament. Reviewing, therefore, his life in the light of these facts, we may surely trace the divine purpose in taking him from one task, for which a successor would without difficulty be found, and setting him free for another, for which his whole previous life had been a unique preparation. As a translator his influence has been far wider than it could have been as a Bishop, and Chinese Christians will ever remember, with gratitude to God, the great scholar who out of weakness was made strong – who laid so well and so truly the foundations of the Bible in their greatest vernacular, and in the more popular form of their written language."

Schlochow, Rev. Emmanuel, was born at Wingiz in Silesia. His father being indifferent to religion, he had no religious education, and became only aware that he was a Jew when his fellow-Christian scholars mockingly reminded him of it at school. This he could not endure, and his father advised him to go to a Roman Catholic priest and be baptized. However, he was then a thorough infidel, and at one time, on account of some disappointment that he had met with, he bought a pistol and was about to commit suicide, when the Scotch missionary Cerf knocked at the door of his room, and not only rescued him from taking away his life, but by God's help enabled him to devote that life to His service. He was converted and baptized in 1848. In 1851 he became connected with the L.J.S., and was sent as a missionary in 1853 to Jassy, where he remained three years. In 1856 he was appointed to Alsace, and had his station at Strassburg, whence he itinerated to France and the Rhine provinces, and met everywhere acceptance among Jews and Christians. In 1874 he went with the Rev. A. Bernstein on visits to several rabbis in Alsace and Lorraine, when they were cordially received and had profitable conversations. He then was transferred to Crefeld, but much suffering from asthma obliged him to retire to Worthing, where he died in 1876, and upon his tombstone in the churchyard there can be read the words in Hebrew, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," so that he still preaches to Jewish visitors.

Schönberger, Rev. C. A., after embracing Christianity, studied at Pesth and Basle and Leipzig, laboured for some time as a Scotch Free Church missionary at Pesth, where many Jews attended his lectures. He was ordained in Stuttgart in 1867, laboured then at Prague till 1872, when he entered the service of the British Society, and was sent back to Prague, and from there he was transferred to Vienna, where he was very efficient and realized the fulness of blessing upon his ministry. Some of his converts became preachers of the Gospel among Jews and Christians. About 1892 he returned to England, and on account of illness resigned his office. After the death of his brother-in-law, Dr. Saphir, he felt that he was called to supply in some measure his influence on behalf of the Jews, and he connected himself with the work carried on by Rabbi Lichtenstein at Pesth, and joining the Rev. David Baron, they both founded a mission in East London, under the name of the "Hebrew Christian Testimony to Israel," where a great work has been going on ever since in their own mission-house in Whitechapel Road, whence the Gospel has been carried by word and literature to Hungary, the Danubian Principalities, and Russia.

Scialitti, Rabbi Moses, an Italian Jew, was baptized on Trinity Sunday, 1663 by Dr. Warmestre, Dean of Worcester, at the Church of St. Margaret, when the Bishop of Chester, Dr. Samuel Collins, the Countess Lucy of Huntingdon, and other persons of high standing were sponsors by proxy. Scialitti subsequently addressed a letter in Italian and English to the Jews, stating the grounds for his embracing Christianity, and exhorting them to go and do likewise.

Schuffamer, Rabbi Elisha, came from Salonica to Jerusalem, and was through the preaching of Dr. Ewald converted to Christianity and baptized in 1848. He then returned to Salonica to fetch his family, but four of his children had died, yet his wife followed him to Jerusalem. There he was employed for a time as layreader, and was afterwards transferred to Cairo, where he had a Bible depôt.

Schulhof, Dr. M., a Jewish convert, was a medical missionary of the British Society. In 1854 he published: "Notes on Diseases in Turkey in reference to European troops and Memoir of the remittant fever of the Levant."

Schwartz, Rev. Dr. Karl (Solomon), was born at Meseritz in Posen in 1817. His father, Isaac Schwartz was a merchant, and gave him a strict rabbinic education, cherishing the hope that he would one day become a teacher in Israel. To this end he was sent to Berlin in 1832 to study at the rabbinic Seminary there. In the lectures the professors occasionally compared Judaism with Christianity, to the disadvantage, of course, of the latter. This excited in Schwartz a desire to examine Christianity for himself, so he took the first step by exchanging the Seminary for the Gymnasium. During the course of his studies he was instructed in Christianity and baptized October 18, 1837. He then studied theology for a year at Halle, under Tholuck, and then under Neander, Hengstenberg, and Twesten, for four years at Berlin. At that time he used to give lessons in foreign languages to the inmates of the Berlin House for foreign missions, when his landlady said to him once, "It is all very nice for you to teach these young men foreign languages in order that they may be qualified to preach the Gospel to the heathen. Have you at all thought of your own brethren who live in your own neighbourhood without the light of the Gospel?" This was a word in season. Thereupon he entered into correspondence with the L.J.S., joined the Church of England, and was ordained deacon by the Bishop of London on March 20, 1842, and was sent by the Society to Constantinople. On his way there he sojourned for awhile at Pesth, where his lectures on Isaiah liii. bore good fruit, and it seems that he then got engaged to Maria Dorothea, a daughter of Israel Saphir. He did not remain very long in Constantinople, because his connexion with the Scotch Mission at Pesth caused him to join the Free Church of Scotland, and he was sent by that Church to Berlin, where he was stationed from 1844 to 1849, and he went then to Prague, but settled in the same year at Amsterdam. There he found that the Dutch Jews were not so accessible as the Jews in Hungary, Turkey, and Germany, so he adopted the method of preaching special sermons in churches and inviting the Jews through advertisements to attend them. In 1850 he issued a Dutch paper, giving expositions of Messianic prophecy and the like, for circulation among the Jews. This he edited for several years. In 1856 a mission church was built for him, and his first sermon then was on Zech. iv. 6. In that church he baptized quite a number of Jews. On Sunday, August 1, 1858, Schwartz ascended the pulpit to preach to a congregation of 1,200, on St. John xii. 26, and while bowing down to offer up prayer, a young Jew quietly crept up the steps and stabbed him with a dagger in the left shoulder so that he was saturated with blood, and had to be carried home in a fainting condition. The attempted assassin was put into prison, where Schwartz, after his recovery, visited him but did not succeed in bringing him to a better mind. However, a near relation of his became a Christian after that event; and a Jewess, too, was thereby induced to come to Schwartz for instruction and baptism. After fifteen years' arduous labours in Holland, Schwartz accepted a call in 1864 from the congregation of Trinity Chapel, Newnham Street, London, to succeed Ridley Herschell. In London he founded a home for enquirers; and edited a periodical entitled, "The Scattered Nation." In 1866 he founded "The Hebrew Christian Alliance," and delivered lectures, besides preaching twice every Sunday. In this good work he continued till August 24, 1870, when he died on his knees at the age of fifty-three, and was buried near his friend, Ridley Herschell.

Schwarzenberg, Rabbi Abraham, lived in the little town of Kasimir in Poland, and was employed by a Jewish merchant who at last became a bankrupt, yet on account of his Talmudic learning was chosen as rabbi at Lublin. Schwarzenberg, who was an upright, conscientious man, knowing that his master had deceived many poor people, took offence thereat, and reproached the Jews for not acting according to the law in this matter. After this some one gave him a New Testament which missionaries had left in the town. After reading it he persuaded others also to read it, and exposed himself to persecution. He then went in search of the missionaries, and coming to a Roman Catholic priest he expressed a wish to be instructed and baptized, but the priest told him that he must first of all lay aside the New Testament. Schwarzenberg concluded that he was not a missionary, and went to Lublin, where he had heard there was an Evangelical minister. This worthy man looked upon him with suspicion and received him coldly, so he went to a river and dipped himself three times in the name of the Holy Trinity. At last he heard that the missionaries resided in Warsaw, so he tramped at once to Warsaw, where Dr. McCaul instructed and baptized him in 1828, in his 65th year. In spite of his age Schwarzenberg began to learn German in order that he might intelligently take part in the services of the Church of England. His mode of life was quite that of a Polish Jew, with long fore-locks and dressed in a long kaftan with girdle. He used to say that a converted Jew must have a changed heart, but not a change of dress. He maintained himself by selling fruit in the street, and also worked voluntarily as a missionary. The police had an order to protect him against the Jews, though when he was in a lonely street he was often stoned by them. In this manner he ran the Christian race until 1842, when he departed at the age of eighty to be with Christ.

Segall, Rev. Joseph F., a native of Piatra (Moldavia), came with a number of young friends into possession of missionary literature which a colporteur from Bucharest had left in the town in 1874. This they studied secretly in rotation. After being solemnly impressed by the truth, they wrote a letter to the Rev. F. G. Kleinhenn, asking for admission to some institution in which they might learn more of the Gospel. Mr. Kleinhenn replied that he had no such home, and could not encourage anyone to come to him except on his own means and on his own responsibility. However, one day Segall and his friend Suffrin appeared at Mr. Kleinhenn's house, and he had to take them in. They were then instructed by Mr. Kleinhenn and Mr. Bernstein for some considerable time, and then baptized. The history of the two runs to some extent together. The relations of each tried their utmost to win them back to Judaism, but they had grace given to them not to yield. In the same year Mr. Bernstein, then stationed at Strasburg, was the medium of their being admitted by Dr. Heman, at Basel, into his home for proselytes, to be trained for future usefulness. After finishing their course of study they applied to the L.J.S., passed through its missionary college, and were appointed missionaries. Segall was stationed at Birmingham, and ordained by the Bishop of Worcester in 1877-8 to the curacy of St. Martin. Subsequently he was appointed to the charge of the mission at Damascus, where he also acted as chaplain to the English colony there.

Simon, Erasmus, was one of the earliest converts of the L.J.S. This excellent man seems to have been a native of Holland. In London he made the acquaintance of J. Frey, and heard the Gospel from him and was baptized. In 1820 he was appointed to work under the Rev. A. S. Thelwall at Amsterdam. In 1829 he formed a society called the "Friends of the Hebrew Nation," under the patronage of the Bishop of London. This society rented three houses in Camden Town for Jewish enquirers, and started the "Operative Jewish Converts' Institution." Amongst its inmates were the future founder of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, Ridley Herschell, and Wertheimer, the future well-known bookseller. The former was one of twelve candidates for baptism presented by Simon to Bishop Blomfield, who baptized them in St. James', Piccadilly.

Simson, Martin Eduard, son of a banker, German jurist and statesman, born Nov. 10, 1810, at Königsberg, and died at Berlin, May 22, 1899. He embraced Christianity as a young man, studied law, and in 1833 he became professor of Roman law, and three years later a judge. In 1848 he received the title of "Rath" in the higher court. In 1848 he was sent as a deputy from Königsberg to the National Congress at Frankfurt, and was soon raised to be its president, and had the honour to offer the crown of the German Empire to King Frederick William IV. of Prussia. Subsequently he held high offices of state, and in 1879 he was appointed first president of the German Supreme Court at Leipzig; in 1888 he received the decoration of the Black Eagle of Prussia and was ennobled. In 1892 he retired to private life. He was the author of "Geschichte des Königsberger Ober Tribunals." Of his three baptized brothers, one became professor of Oriental languages at Königsberg, and the other two lawyers at Berlin.

Skolkowski, J., was a native of Calwary in Russian Poland, baptized at Königsberg, and then studied at the L.J.S. Missionary Training College in London. In 1849 he laboured as a missionary in London, Cairo, Lublin, Gnesen, and Posen, and then, in 1869, at Königsberg. "His annual reports," says the Rev. W. T. Gidney, "supplied most interesting details of mission service, together with glimpses of the social condition, pursuits, and religious opinions of Jews, among whom he devotedly carried on the work of preaching Christ and Him crucified, until his retirement in the beginning of 1888, after a long service of very nearly forty years."

Sobernheim, Dr. Joseph Friedrich, an earnest convert in Berlin in the middle of the nineteenth century. The history of his conversion is as follows. A student had pawned a New Testament with a Jew for a paltry sum of money, and when he came to redeem it, the pawnbroker, having in the meantime read it and become a Christian, gave the student a hundred Louis d'or as a token of gratitude because he had through this book come to a saving knowledge of Christ. This Jewish convert was instrumental in the conversion of nine other Jews, among whom was Dr. Sobernheim and his father. He was esteemed as an author of medical works. He wrote: "Handbuch der Praktischen Arzenimittelehre" (Berlin, 1844), "Beiträge zur Phänomenologie des Lebens," ib., 1841. He died in 1846. ("Jewish Intelligence," December, 1864.)

Solomon, Rev. Benjamin Nehemiah, was born at Lemberg in 1791, and in due time became a rabbi. In 1814 he came to London, and through the instrumentality of J. Frey became a Christian, and was ordained in 1817. He then accompanied Lewis Way on his missionary journey through Holland, Germany and Russia, both preaching the Gospel to the Jews everywhere. Lewis Way having obtained for him permission from the Emperor Alexander to work in Poland, he first of all translated the New Testament into Yiddish, for the use of Polish Jews. In 1821 he accompanied McCaul to Warsaw, but from Amsterdam he wrote to Thelwall that the condition of his wife and children in Galicia obliged him to return home. His own father declared to the missionary Smith, in 1827, that he was living as a Christian.

Stahl, Friedrich Julius, son of a banker, jurist and publicist, was born at Munich, January 16, 1802, and died at Bruckenau, Aug. 10, 1861. He became a Christian in his eighteenth year, and was baptized at Erlangen in 1819. Already at the age of fourteen he discussed religious topics with his fellow scholars. The writings of Thiersch had a great influence upon him. After he had become a Christian, he acted as a missionary to his own family and brought his parents and brothers and sisters to the Saviour. He studied law at the Universities of Wurzburg, Erlangen, and Heidelberg. In 1834 he represented the University of Erlangen in the Bavarian Parliament. In 1840 he became professor of law at the University of Berlin, where his lectures drew an audience of all classes. His idea of Christianity was that it should pervade the whole life and also the State. According to Lord Acton, Stahl had a more predominant influence and shewed more political ability than Lord Beaconsfield (Acton, Letters to Mary Gladstone, p. 103, London, 1904). His writings are as follows, "Die Philosophie des Rechts nach Geschichtlicher Ansicht," 2 vols. (Heidelberg, 1830-37); "Ueber die Kirchenzucht" (1845-58); "Das Monarchische Princip" (Heidelberg, 1845); "Der Christliche Staat" (ib., 1847-8); "Die Revolution und die Constitutionelle Monarchie" (1848-9); "Was ist Revolution?" (ib., 1852), of which three editions were issued; "Der Protestantismus als Politisches Princip" (ib., 1853-4); "Die Katholische Widerlegungen" (ib., 1854); "Wider Bunsen" (1856); "Die Lutherische Kirche und die Union" (1859-60). After his death were published, "Siebenzehn Parlamentarishen Reden" (1862), and "Die Gegenwärtigen Partien in Staat und Kirche" (1868).

Steinhardt, son of the landlord for many years of the L.J.S. schools at Bucharest naturally came in contact with the mission there, but no one of the family shewed any inclination towards Christianity, yet the seed sown in the son's heart bore fruit in time. He went to Constantinople and was baptized there. Then he became a city missionary in New York, studied theology, and became, in 1871, pastor of a Swiss congregation in Fountain City, Wisconsin, and in 1882 at Louisville, Ky.

Stern, Dr. Henry A., was born of Jewish parents on April 11, 1820, at Unterreichenbach, in the Duchy of Hesse Cassel. Subsequently the family removed to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where they resided in the quaint old "Judengasse," now a thing of the past. Though educated in this town with a view to the medical profession, Stern, when about seventeen years of age, decided to follow commerce, and to that end repaired to Hamburg. It was there, in the providence of God, that his attention was first drawn to Christianity, by noticing some Christian literature in a glass case near the house of the London Jews' Society's missionary, Mr. J. C. Moritz. The impression subsequently obtained by its perusal was increased when, on arrival in London, in 1839, Stern was induced by a fellow-lodger to attend a Sunday afternoon Hebrew service in Palestine Place, conducted by Dr. Alexander McCaul. Thoroughly awakened, Stern sought the missionary the next day, and, indeed, for many days, until he became a recognized enquirer, and was eventually admitted into the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution. There he was further carefully prepared in Christianity, and baptized on March 15, 1840. For two years longer he remained in the Institution, working at his trade, but it was very evident that Stern, by his learning and gifts, was eminently fitted to be a missionary, and consequently he was taken into the Society's College for a further term of two years.

In 1844 Stern received his first missionary post, and was sent to Bagdad. He left London under the direction of the Rev. Murray Vickers, accompanied by three other young missionaries. They broke their journey at Jerusalem, where Stern was ordained deacon by Bishop Alexander, on July 14 of the same year. Arriving at Bagdad, Stern threw himself into his work with great zeal and ardour.

The Jewish population of Bagdad then consisted of about 16,000 souls. The whole trade of the town was in their hands, and they were supposed to be the most wealthy class of the community. They manifested the greatest anxiety to obtain the books published by the Society. Day after day the house of the missionaries was filled to overflowing with Jews of all ages, ranks and stations, and the streets near were crowded all day by numbers of Jews, Stern being constantly stopped as he walked along them. The bazaars, khans, and the Beth Hamedrash, were visited, and supplied frequent opportunities for proclaiming the Gospel.

The eagerness manifested by the Jews of Bagdad to enter into discussion on the subject of Christianity, and more especially the application of two enquirers for regular instruction, stirred up active opposition on the part of the rabbis, and an excommunication was issued against all who should have intercourse with the missionaries. This had the desired effect. For six or seven months no Jew was seen in the mission house. Then, gradually, some ventured to come by stealth; and, soon, from twelve to twenty again visited the missionaries on Saturdays, several of whom were of the most respectable Jewish families in Bagdad. The Jewish authorities, however, did not relax their vigilance, but threatened to repeat the anathema.

In the winter of 1844 Stern made a journey to certain places on the banks of the Euphrates, going to Hillah, where he visited the synagogue and Jewish schools; the tomb of Ezekiel, greatly venerated by the Jews; Meshed-Ali, a Moslem town with a few Jews; Cufa; the tower of Belus (Babel) or Birs Nimroud; and the ruins of Babylon. In 1845 Stern and a fellow-labourer, the Rev. P. H. Sternchuss, improved the time during which missionary operations in Bagdad were suspended, in consequence of the cherem mentioned above, in making a missionary journey into the interior of Persia. They held much interesting intercourse with the Jews of Kermanshah and Hamadan. On November 21 of the same year, the two missionaries embarked on the Tigris for the purpose of undertaking a second journey in Persia. They visited Bussorah, Bushire, Shiraz, and several other places where Jews resided. Both in synagogues and Jewish schools, and also at their lodgings, they proclaimed the unsearchable riches of Christ to considerable numbers of their Jewish brethren.

The deadly scourge of cholera prevailed in Bagdad to an alarming extent in 1846, and in a very few weeks several thousands were suddenly taken off by it, and missionary work was consequently suspended. The Jews thought the visitation was owing to the fact that many of their brethren had imbibed the doctrines of Christianity, and their opposition became most violent. A second cherem was pronounced in the synagogues against the missionaries and all holding intercourse with them.

Notwithstanding the violence of the rabbis and the ignorance which prevailed, especially amongst Jewesses, the missionaries met with many to whom they were able to declare the love of the Redeemer, and several received regular instruction. Of the Bagdad Jews in general they said: – "A spirit of enquiry pervades all classes of Jews in Bagdad The rabbis are fully sensible of it, and endeavour to do everything in their power to check this extraordinary movement."

In 1847 a temporary retreat to Persia was thought advisable, during which Stern preached the Gospel to many hundreds of Jews, both in Chaldæa and Persia, and extensively circulated the Scriptures in the Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Armenian languages. This was a great achievement in a region hitherto noted for intolerance, bigotry, poverty, fanaticism, and superstition.