He then offered himself to the Society, and in 1854 entered the Hebrew College in Palestine Place. In 1857 he was appointed a missionary of the Society at Bagdad. The results of his work are summed up in his own words, "The mission was a great success, not from the number of baptisms, but from the large numbers to whom we preached Christ." In 1867 he commenced his great work at Smyrna, where, through his labours during eighteen years, many Jews were born again, and were baptized. In 1885 he left Smyrna. One who knew him and his work there wrote after his death, "Mr. Eppstein will ever be remembered by thousands of Jews living at Smyrna, and in the interior of Asia Minor. When his death became known many Jews said, "He was a good man, and loved our people." He had friends amongst the rich as well as the poor, whilst learned and unlearned looked up to him for his great learning and Talmudical knowledge."
In 1885, on the death of Dr. Stern, he was appointed head of the Society"s mission in London, a post for which he was singularly fitted.
He knew English, German, French, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, Greek (both modern and cla.s.sic), Latin, Syriac, Chaldee, Felachi (the Nestorian dialect of Chaldee), Persian, Italian, and Turkish. In 1893 he removed to Bristol, in charge of the "Wanderers" Home." Here his work was greatly blessed, as many as eighty-two Jews being baptized by him up to 1902. During his missionary career he baptized 262 Jews and Jewesses.
At last, in May, 1903, his call came to higher service. Shortly before his death, though suffering greatly, he said he was "the happiest man in the world," and again, "I thank G.o.d that He enabled me to lay hold of the Pearl, and to lay hold of it with both my hands." The Society suffered a great loss when Mr. Eppstein pa.s.sed away to his eternal rest.
As a missionary he was to the end most able and faithful, and his life and life work will ever be remembered with heartfelt grat.i.tude to the Almighty G.o.d for all that he was able to do through a life so fully dedicated to His service, as was that of the late John Moses Eppstein.
EWALD, Rev. Dr. F. C.[12] In the middle of last century there was no name more familiar to the friends of Israel than that of Dr. Ferdinand Christian Ewald; and no missionary to the Jews was more highly honoured for his work"s sake than this distinguished son of Abraham.
[12] "Biographies of Eminent Hebrew Christians," W. T. Gidney.
It is somewhat difficult to write a memoir of one who was too modest and retiring to say or to write much about himself: and who left but few materials from which to frame a biography, for it was his express wish that no lengthened life should be written. He felt that his record was in Heaven, and that his works would follow him. As he has been at rest for over thirty years, we think that the time has come when an account of his life should be added to that of other labourers in the same field, in which he was by no means the least conspicuous worker.
Ewald was born of Jewish parents, on September 14th, 1801, at the village of Maroldsweisach, near Bamberg, Bavaria. His parents were poor, and the education which the village offered was all they could command.
Such, however, was his ability that his friends raised a fund sufficient to send him and his brother (mentioned on page 215) to a better school, where he evinced a great apt.i.tude for languages. Later on he entered the missionary college at Basle. Whilst there he was baptized, in 1824, at the age of twenty-three, by the Rev. Dr. Von Brunn, adding the name of Christian to his patronymic. He remained at Basle for a few years longer, during which the Society paid a part of his training expenses.
He subsequently graduated at the University of Erlangen. In 1829 he was accepted as a student in the Society"s College, and in 1832 he entered the service of the Society. He took Lutheran orders in the same year, being ordained at Lorrach, near Basle, by the Deca.n.u.s Hiltzig. These he subsequently laid aside, when he was ordained by the Bishop of London, in 1836.
In the early part of 1832, he visited his native country for the purpose of seeing his mother, his sister and her husband, who resided at Bischberg, near Bamberg, and were still of the Jewish faith. His sister told him, before he parted from her, that she believed that Jesus was the Messiah and Redeemer. His brother Dr. Paulus Ewald, had already renounced Judaism, and was Lutheran Pastor at Merkendorf, Bavaria.
Ewald"s missionary career naturally falls into three periods: the first, 1832-41, spent in the Barbary States; the second, 1841-1851, in Jerusalem; and the third and last, 1851-1874, in London. His work was thus both wide in extent and lengthened in duration.
Ewald commenced his work in Africa on September 17th, 1832, by opening a mission at Algiers. The Rev. John Nicolayson, of Jerusalem, having visited that city in the spring of that year, and having met with a cordial reception, came to the conclusion that the newly-emanc.i.p.ated Jews (_i.e._, from the Moorish to the French dominion in 1830), were ripe for a missionary effort. Consequently Ewald was sent out in the autumn. His reception, however, was chilling in the extreme.
The moment he landed he was told by the Custom House authorities, when they saw the Bibles which he had brought with him for distribution, "You have chosen the worst part of the world for your good intentions; there is nothing to be done in that way here." His answer was, "This book, the Bible, has already done great things, and I trust the Lord will bless it also in this country." Discouragement crossed Ewald at every turn, for he wrote: "All those whom I met with, and to whom I stated the object of my mission, told me that there was nothing to be done here, because the people are too bad--that the Jews are the worst set of people that exist in the world--and that most of the Europeans who have come over are the outcasts of human society. I believe this to be true, but I think, because this is true, I am in my proper place; the Gospel of Christ is able to convert man, to convert even publicans to righteousness."
Ewald commenced to work amongst the Jews speaking to them and selling his Hebrew Bibles. On one day he sold as many as nineteen copies for twenty-six francs, a large sum from poor Jews; but they would not take the New Testament. He also hired a house, intending to have services there for Jews, when the French Governor-General sent him a letter forbidding him to preach. This was a great blow, virtually suspending missionary operations, and Ewald left Algiers.
His next attempt to found a mission in the Barbary States was more fortunate, and he had the honour of establishing the Society"s mission in Tunis, in 1833, laying the foundation of the extensive and encouraging work now carried on by the Rev. C. F. W. Flad, the son of the Society"s veteran Abyssinian missionary, Mr. J. Martin Flad.
At the time of Ewald"s appointment to Tunis, which was before the days of the French occupation, the Jews were greatly oppressed by the native population. Indeed his very first experience, gained before his actual arrival, gave him an insight into the way in which this persecution was carried on. At Goletta, the port of Tunis, he met more than 300 Jewish men, women and children, who were seeing some of their friends off to Jerusalem. He says:--
"I saw a specimen of the cruel treatment the poor Jews meet with in this country. Some of those who accompanied their brethren to the Goletta sat down upon a bank, from which they could look to the ships where they embarked for Jerusalem; but soon there came a Moor with a stick in his hand, and drove them away. An old Jew, with a white beard, spoke some words to the man which I could not hear, as I was standing too far off; on this the Moor got into a pa.s.sion, and smote the poor Jew repeatedly in his face. I cannot express what I felt when seeing this--"O! that the Salvation of Israel would come out of Zion; O! that the Lord would bring back the captivity of His people; then," and only then, "will Jacob rejoice, and Israel be glad!" Now poor Israel is oppressed everywhere more or less."
Ewald made a very successful beginning amongst the Jews of Tunis, and found an open door in that dark and benighted country. Within three months he had sold 398 Bibles, New Testaments, and portions in Hebrew, Arabic, Italian, Greek, Spanish and French, for in so many different languages had the work to be carried on.
He inst.i.tuted a service on Sunday, and had much intercourse with Jews, including several rabbis, one of whom was excommunicated for visiting him. Ewald used to visit the Jewish quarter with his pockets full of tracts.
In July of 1834 Ewald visited Monastir and Susa, at both of which places he was able to proclaim the Gospel to numbers of Jews. He was back at Tunis in September, and at once resumed his intercourse with Jews. He says:--"I have from morning till night every possible opportunity for preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus our Lord to Jews and Mahometans, sometimes in my own dwelling-place--at other times in their habitations, or shops, synagogues, or in the market-place. The desire to read and to possess the Word of G.o.d is daily increasing among the remnant of Israel in this country. Even the very poor save a few shillings in order to buy the pearl of great price. Others who are even too poor to follow their example, made an agreement to pay a few pence every week. Doors have been opened for the circulation of the Scriptures along the coast and in some places in the interior."
In 1835 Ewald visited the Jews along the northern coast of Africa--Solimon, Nabal, Hammamet, Susa, Monastir, Medea, El-Djem, Sfax, Gabes, Menzel, Shara, the Island of Gerba, and Tripoli were visited, and the Gospel preached to many thousands and thousands of copies of the Bible were placed in their hands, and tens of thousands of tracts circulated. Most interesting records of this visit remain, to one of which we cannot refrain from referring. Ewald was preaching on the wild sh.o.r.es of Gabes, where the Jews had never so much as heard of Christ, but where the general cry was, "Give me a Bible; give me a Bible; here is the money for it!" so that he had none left for other places, at which the poor Jews cried out for the Word of G.o.d, like children perishing with hunger.
In 1836 Ewald made a visit to England for ordination, but was soon back at his work again. We cannot follow this devoted and faithful missionary in his untiring efforts for the lost sheep of Israel in Africa, and must be content with giving his own summary of his labours. On the last day of the year 1838, he wrote:--
"I have now been since 1832 on the coast of Africa. It has been my privilege to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to many thousands of the sons of Abraham during that period. To thousands I have been permitted to present the oracles of G.o.d, and tens of thousands of tracts have been put into circulation among the great ma.s.s of the Jewish population of this country. The effect produced by these various means of grace may be thus described: The greater part of the Jews know now that Christianity is not a system of idolatry, but a revelation of G.o.d built upon the Scriptures; that the precepts of the Gospel are very good and beneficial to mankind. They acknowledge, for the most part, that the only difference which exists between the Christians and the Jews is, that the former maintain the Messiah is come, and Jesus Christ is the Messiah, whilst the latter deny both, which may, however, fairly be decided by the Word of G.o.d. They perceive that true Christians are not the enemies of the Jews, but, on the contrary, their well-wishers, who provide them with the Scriptures, and pray for their real welfare. The greater part of them are now acquainted with the written Word of G.o.d, and we are able to appeal with more effect to the testimony of Scripture without being constantly told, "These pa.s.sages do not occur in our Bibles, but are a fabrication of yours, in order to make us believe that Jesus is the Messiah.""
For three years more Ewald carried on the work, and then, owing to repeated attacks of ophthalmia, he had to return to England in 1841, after a residence of some eight years in the Barbary States.
He did not, however, long remain idle, for he was within a few months appointed to a.s.sist in the Society"s Mission in Jerusalem, and he and his wife were members of the party which accompanied Dr. Alexander, the first Anglican Bishop, to the Holy City. They sailed from Portsmouth on December 7th, 1841, and reached Jerusalem on January 21st--being six weeks on the journey, which is now accomplished in nine or ten days.
For ten years Ewald laboured earnestly in the work of the conversion of the Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem, being also chaplain to Bishop Alexander during that prelate"s occupation of the see.
One of the most interesting incidents connected with Ewald"s labours in the Holy City was the instruction and baptism of certain rabbis. Three, named respectively, Abraham, Benjamin, and Eliezer, had placed themselves under Christian instruction. A deputation from the Jews of Tiberias arrived to enquire whether the report was true, that fourteen rabbis of Jerusalem had embraced Christianity. The Jews of Jerusalem, very much exasperated on that account, did all in their power to avoid coming in contact with the missionaries, and removed all the books which they had previously received through the mission, in order that they might not be suspected.
Shortly afterwards two of the rabbis, Eliezer and Benjamin, known henceforth as Christian Lazarus Lauria and John Benjamin Goldberg, were baptized with two other enquirers, Isaac Paul Hirsch and Simon Peter Frankel. The Rev. John Nicolayson, the head of the Society"s mission, referring to the event, wrote: "It is not a small thing, that the apparently impenetrable phalanx of rabbinism at Jerusalem has thus actually been broken into; and two Jerusalem rabbis been incorporated into the restored Hebrew Christian Church on Mount Zion. How sore the Jews felt on this occasion you can easily conceive. They were, in fact, after all, taken by surprise, and felt sadly disappointed in having to yield up at last any lingering hope they might have had of their return."
Of the third rabbi, Abraham, Mr. Ewald said: "There was, indeed, something which marred my joy on that occasion, which was the absence of rabbi Abraham. For years had he been the faithful companion of rabbi Eliezer and rabbi Benjamin; he had the same convictions, but he could not leave his wife; the struggles between natural affection and spiritual blessings were too hard for him, and he returned." Ewald witnessed other interesting missionary events at Jerusalem, which had a great bearing upon the subsequent history of the Society; namely, the baptism of John Moses Eppstein, and the ordination of Messrs.
Tartakover, A. J. Behrens, Sternchuss, Murray Vicars, and Henry Aaron Stern.
During the early part of his sojourn there, Ewald had the great misfortune to lose his wife, who died on January 16th, 1844. He brought his motherless children to London, but returned to Jerusalem in 1846, just after his second marriage. In the same year he published a "Journal of Missionary Labours in the City of Jerusalem, during the years 1842-4," which are exceedingly interesting reading, even after this lapse of time.
It is striking to note that at that time the Jewish population of Jerusalem was only 6,000, out of a total of 18,000; whereas the Jewish population now [1909] numbers 60,000, out of a total of 80,000.
Ewald was compelled to leave the East, owing to ill-health, in 1851, when he became the Society"s senior missionary in London. He at once made his way into the hearts and homes of many Jews, and founded, in November, 1853, an inst.i.tution for poor enquiring Jews, called "The Wanderers" Home." Such was its success that within five years 303 Jews and Jewesses had availed themselves of its benefits, no less than 150 being baptized; 76 entered the Operative Jewish Converts" Inst.i.tution, and six went to the Society"s College. In 1858, owing to lack of financial support, the Home was closed. It was, however, re-opened in 1860, and has, under Dr. Ewald"s and successive management, been the means of influencing large numbers of Jews in a Christian direction.
Ewald"s reports of his work are full of encouraging missionary facts. He was in labours "most abundant," both for the Society and the "Wanderers"
Home." For nineteen years he was at the head of affairs, and at least forty Jewish families in London were brought through his means to faith in Christ. He was one of the ablest missionaries who ever served the Society.
In 1858 Ewald thus wrote of the work: "Certainly, mighty changes have taken place amongst those Jews to whom the missionary has not been debarred an access. If you go into their houses, you find on their table the Bible, the Old and New Testament, just as you see it on the table of Christians, and I have seen the authorized version of the Bible not only in private houses, but in the synagogue. When you converse with intelligent Jews, you soon observe that they have read the New Testament, and other Christian books and that they know what the fundamental doctrines of Christianity are, namely: the fall of man; the redemption of mankind through the Lord Jesus Christ; the atonement; the Deity of Christ; the doctrine of the Trinity, &c.; and they know also that every true Christian believes these doctrines. Then, much of the animosity towards converts has been gradually removed, by the number of Jews who have embraced Christianity. You cannot meet with many Jewish families who do not count among their relatives some converts. I have myself heard Jews defending their friends, not for having embraced Christianity, but from the alleged imputation of having embraced it through impure motives. The more Christianity gains ground in the Jewish community, the more will friendly feelings arise towards those of their number who conscientiously look upon the Lord Jesus as the Christ.
Amongst fifty thousand Jews in England we reckon three thousand converts. In London alone there are eleven ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ who are converted Jews, preaching the Word of Life to perishing sinners, whose ministry the Lord owns by granting them many souls for their hire. These thousands of converts are as a salt in the earth, and through their instrumentality a work is carried on silently and quietly in this country. They have all acquaintances and friends, to whom they speak occasionally of the Lord Jesus; and thus true religion is spread among the Jews."
When, in 1870, Dr. Ewald, owing to increasing years, retired from the mission, he could thankfully look back upon a successful career, whether pa.s.sed in North Africa, Palestine, or London. During his residence in the metropolis hundreds of Jews were baptized, out of some thousands instructed by him.
Dr. Ewald died at Gipsy Hill, London, on August 9th, 1874, at the age of 73 years.
Ewald published in 1856 a German translation of "Abodah Zarah"
(Idolatrous Worship), the name of one of the treatises of the Mishnah, of the Tosefta, and of the Babylonian and the Palestinian Talmud, for which his University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. A distinction which he valued still more highly was the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, which honour was conferred upon him by the Patron of the Society, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in consideration of, as the diploma stated, his proficiency in the study of divinity, of Hebrew and Oriental languages and literature; and also of his missionary labours and eminent services in the promotion of Christianity amongst the Jews.
The then Bishop of Carlisle (Dr. Montagu Villiers) described Dr. Ewald as a "missionary genius," a description fully deserved for his ability and devotion to the work to which he gave his life.
EWALD, Dr. Paulus, a brother of the preceding, also embraced Christianity. He was lecturer at the University of Erlangen, and later became Pastor of Pappenreuth, Bavaria. He published a translation of the Talmud tract, "Pirke Aboth" (The Ethics of the Fathers), in 1825.
EZEKIEL, Hakim David, a physician and famous Talmudist at Bagdad, and son of a rich Jew, was baptized there in 1850, and subsequently laboured as a colporteur in the mission.
FALK, Max, Hungarian statesman and journalist, born at Budapest in 1828, became a Christian as a student at the University. He displayed great talent as a writer and politician. In 1866 he was appointed as instructor of Hungarian to the Empress Elizabeth. The next year he became editor-in-chief to the "Pester Lloyd," raising that paper to a high level of excellence. In 1869 he was elected a member of the Hungarian House of Representatives. The Emperor of Austria has decorated him with the Komthur Cross of the Order of St. Stephen.
FANTA, Kendy, together with Beru and I. Jasu, were indefatigable in proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to their brethren during the captivity of the missionaries in Abyssinia.
FARO, Aharon Gabai Rodriguez, a rich Portuguese Jew living in Holland in the seventeenth century, was converted through reading Ragstatt de Weile"s tract, "de Heerlykheyd Jesu Christi," and having heard of an attempt that was made by a Jewish teacher to murder the author, he decided to be baptized by him. Ragstatt himself mentioned the case in the sermon which he preached on the occasion on Ps. ii. 6.
FAUBER, of Gran, a highly respected Jew in Pesth, was baptized in 1847.
FAY, I. L., was won for Christ in 1820 by the L.J.S. missionary L. D.
Mark, who laboured at Offenbach. Fay studied theology and became Pastor in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland.
FELS, Christian Leberecht, born in 1640, became eventually Rabbi in Prague. After embracing Christianity at Cothen, he returned to Prague and claimed his patrimony, but the Government authorities refused to sanction it unless he became a Roman Catholic. So he had to seek his livelihood by teaching Hebrew and rabbinics in various schools and Universities. To convince his brethren of the truth of Christianity, he wrote in German a treatise under the t.i.tle "Hodegus Judaeorum" (Frankfort and Leipzig, 1703), in which he, besides the Scriptures, adduces proofs from the Targums and the Talmud in favour of Christianity. He published a Latin Hebrew Grammar under the t.i.tle "Brevis et perspicua via ad linguam sanctam" (Sunderhausen, 1696). Also "Brevis et perspicua via ad accentionem," 1700. No less than 52 Jews were influenced by him to accept the Gospel. He held a Professorship at Wittenberg, but on account of war he had to leave, and went to Verden and Lubeck, where he gave lessons. He died in the faith at Hamburg in 1719.
FERDINAND, Philip: "Hebrew teacher; born in Poland about 1555; died at Leyden, Holland, 1598. After an adventurous career on the Continent, during which he became first a Roman Catholic and afterward a Protestant, he went to Oxford University, and later removed to the University of Cambridge, where he was matriculated Dec. 16th 1596. He claimed a pension from the "Domus Conversorum," which was paid Feb. 3rd, 1598, and receipted for by him in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. The same year he was attracted to Leyden by Joseph Scaliger, who obtained a professorship for him. Scaliger himself acknowledges having learned much from Ferdinand, in the short time he was at Leyden. Ferdinand"s only publication was a translation of the six hundred and thirteen commandments as collected by Abraham ben "Kattani" in the Bomberg Bible (Cambridge 1597.)