Dworkowicz in Warsaw and Pastor Weber in Neudeklslau. From 1874 to 1879 he laboured as a missionary of the Berlin Society in Berlin. He then was for a time in Russia, whence he went to Leipzig in 1885, where he was afterwards appointed to be one of the tutors at the Inst.i.tutum Delitzschianum. He is the author, besides the above-mentioned, of the following Hebrew works:--"Chizzuk Emunah Emeth" (A defence of Christianity against the Jewish book "Chizzuk Emunah,") 1879; "Toldoth Jeshua," a refutation of the book under that name, 1883; "A Short Rabbinic Commentary on the whole of the New Testament," published gradually. Lichtenstein also translated the whole of the Old Testament into Yiddish for the British and Foreign Bible Society, of which parts have appeared.
LICHTENSTEIN, Johann Daniel, son of the above, who was baptized in his youth, became afterwards a very devoted Pastor in Frankfort. It is recorded that he displayed self-sacrificing activity, especially among the sick and the prisoners. He died in 1862, and in allusion to his name "Lightstone," the people said of him that "he was a light which consumed itself."
LICHTENSTEIN, Moritz, born 1824, embraced Christianity in 1842 together with his mother and brothers and sisters. Moritz became a preacher of the Gospel in 1855, and died 1876.
LICHTENSTEIN, Rabbi J., is one of the most remarkable converts to Christianity in the nineteenth century. The story is briefly this: Finding one day a New Testament in the school under his charge, he took it away, and hid it in his library. Then during an anti-Semitic agitation in Hungary he, thinking that there must be something in the teaching of the New Testament, which excited enmity against the Jews, examined it carefully, and was convinced of the contrary, and more, he began to admire and to love the Lord Jesus, and gradually to quote pa.s.sages from the New Testament in his sermons in the synagogue of Tapio Szele, of which he had been minister for forty years. He also wrote three pamphlets--"Der Talmud auf der Anklage Bank," Budapesth, 1866; "Mein Zeugniss," 1886; "Die Liebe und die Bekehrung, ein sehr ernstes wort zu sehr ernster Zeit." At last some of his congregation accused him to the chief rabbi of Budapest of heterodoxy. Rabbi Lichtenstein then confessed his faith in Jesus Christ crucified. The result was that he had to resign his office, and to the end of his life he lived as a Christian, constantly preaching the Gospel in Pesth though not baptized. He died in the Lord in 1908.
LIPSCHITZ, Benjamin, a convert to Christianity, died 1876, in Vienna, leaving to the inhabitants of his birthplace, Kriegshaber, near Augsburg, 70,000 gulden, to be equally divided between Jews and Christians. Besides this he bequeathed 35,000 gulden to the Jewish Congregation of Augsburg, 100,000 gulden for the Jewish Home at Munich, and 100,000 gulden for the Jewish Home at Vienna.
LIPSHYTZ, Christlieb T., Director of the Barbican Mission to the Jews, London. Born in 1858 at Warsaw, the capital of Poland, he was brought up in strict Judaism, according to the principles of his orthodox Jewish parents. It was essential that he should undergo a Talmudical Jewish training, and in addition he was given a thorough secular education.
When he was five years of age, his eldest sister became a Christian, and for this she endured severe persecution. Her testimony made a deep impression on the mind of her brother, and awakened a desire in his heart to know what it was that Christianity really taught. So strong was this desire that while at the secular high school in his native city, he embraced every possible opportunity of listening to the religious instruction given to the Gentile pupils. For this he was chastised by his father, but the severe punishment inflicted was of no avail, for the Spirit of G.o.d had directed the message of the Gospel home to his heart, and within a short time he surrendered to the Lord. The bitter persecution through which his sister had pa.s.sed was a vivid and painful memory, and it is not surprising that Lipshytz hesitated to incur the same suffering by making a public confession in his native place.
Eventually he went away to Konigsberg. Here, after a course of instruction by a missionary of the London Jews" Society (Mr. Skolkowski) and the Rev. Konsistorialrath Dr. Kahle, he was baptized on the 19th October, 1878. After further study and preparation he worked under the auspices of the home mission in the North of Germany, and afterwards in connexion with the mission among Jews in the West of Germany. Coming to England, Mr. Lipshytz was for some time superintendent of the Wanderers"
Home, under the direction of the late Rev. J. M. Eppstein. At the close of 1887 he became a.s.sistant missionary to the Rev. Paul Warschawski.
When the latter relinquished the mission on account of failing health, the work was in danger of coming to an untimely end. At this crisis Prebendary Gordon Calthrop, who became the first President, called together a number of friends, with the result that Mr. Lipshytz was asked to undertake the re-organization of the work. After prayerful consideration, the invitation was accepted. For two years and a-half the mission was housed in London Wall, thence a removal was made to larger premises in Finsbury Square, which were occupied for seven years. From the first, Mr. Lipshytz exercised remarkable tact and ability, and it became increasingly evident that under his able direction the mission was destined to become a powerful agency in proclaiming the Gospel to the Jews and winning their allegiance to Christ. Prebendary Gordon Calthrop had now pa.s.sed to his rest, and Archdeacon Sinclair succeeded as President, to be followed after a time by Prebendary H. W.
Webb-Peploe, a life-long friend of Israel. With his unfailing energy and enthusiasm, Mr. Lipshytz set about raising a memorial to the memory of the first President of the mission, and in this he had from the first the hearty co-operation of the devoted men who formed his council. The outcome was the erection of the perfectly equipped and commodious headquarters of the Barbican Mission situated on the main thoroughfare of Whitechapel, and known as "The Gordon Calthrop Memorial," which was dedicated and opened in the spring of 1901. Besides the mission house and church, the property includes a s.p.a.cious open-air preaching ground, with a stone pulpit. The entire scheme involved an outlay of 13,000, the whole of which sum was soon raised. Having succeeded in this matter, Mr. Lipshytz realized the necessity for providing a Home for Converts and Enquirers, and a permanent residence for the head of the mission.
This he was also able to accomplish, and the Home at Mitcham, which cost 3,500, was soon freed from debt. With all his undertakings Mr. Lipshytz was careful to see that the spiritual work of the mission was not neglected. "First things" were given first place: hence the mission abundantly prospered in his hands.
LoBEL, Carl Friedrich Raphael, a native of Lissa, in Prussian Poland, was baptized by Pastor Ha.s.selman in Soran, in 1825. He studied Pedagogy, became a very effective schoolmaster, and wrote:--"Gebete fur die Schule," 1836; "Erklarungen der Episteln," 1859. He founded a Rescue Home, and died in 1869.
LOBGOTT, Abraham Meyer (sometimes called Gottlob), a native of Posen, was instructed and baptized by Pastor Schultz in Berlin in 1769. He studied theology in Halle. He translated Elias Levita"s "Ma.s.soreth ha Ma.s.sorah," which Dr. Semler published in 1773. He also translated the first three chapters of Mendelssohn"s Judaeo-German Pentateuch into German, Erlangen, 1786. He published in 1775, during the time of his studies, "Sententiae Rabb. de successione ab intestato et testimentaria collectae a R. Joseph Karo" (Schulchan Aruch).
LOPES, Sir Mana.s.seh Ma.s.sey, Bart., was born in Jamaica in 1755, and died 1838. He belonged to the Sephardim Jews. Both he and his father Mordecai Rodriguez Lopes embraced Christianity in 1802. In that year Mana.s.seh was returned to Parliament as member for New Romney and was created a baronet in 1805. At the next election, he was returned as member for Barnstaple, and lastly, for Westbury, where he held also the office of Recorder, in addition to being a magistrate for two counties.
LOTKA, Rev. J., a native of Russian Poland, where he was brought up by his parents in strict orthodoxy, but as he arrived at the age of discretion, he somehow managed to study, besides Hebrew and the Talmud, the Polish and the German languages. Becoming acquainted with much Christian literature he had a great desire to read the New Testament, and this led him to give up the position of a Jewish teacher and to come to London for the purpose of receiving further Christian instruction by Dr. Ewald, who baptized him on November 22, 1863. About two years later he went from the Operative Jewish Converts" Inst.i.tution to Basel, studied theology, and was sent out to labour as a Pastor among the Germans in Illinois, U.S.A. In 1879 he was appointed Professor of Hebrew in an Episcopal Seminary near Chicago, where he did also missionary work among the Jews. In 1872, he joined the L.J.S. and was sent to Lemberg, where he laboured for ten years, and visited many towns in Galicia. In 1881, after he had been on a tour of enquiry with the Rev. Frederick Smith in the Crimea, he was sent to Persia, where he remained from two to three years, and laid, so to speak, a solid foundation for the revived mission there. He subsequently laboured for a few years at Posen and Bucharest, and much longer in Birmingham, and then succeeded the Rev. J. C. S. Kroenig at Hull. He was the author of several tracts.
LoWE, H. G. F., a Hebrew Christian living in Hamburg. With a view to make known, both to Jews, and Christians, the nature of rabbinic Judaism, he wrote the following works:--1. A translation of the first chapter of Berachoth (Benedictions), with preface, introduction, and three appendices, 1836. 2. A translation of four parts of the Shulchan Aruch Aben Ezra, Hoshen Hamishpat, Orach Hayim and Yoreh Deah, 1836-1840.
LoWEN, Moses Gotthold (Pseudon, Hananiah Berliner), was born August 8, 1859, just at the time when his father, dressed in mourning, was sitting on the floor in the synagogue, bewailing the destruction of Jerusalem.
When the father returned home, a near relative presented him with his firstborn son. His parents educated him after the manner of orthodox Jews, and he studied diligently the Talmud and the "Shulchan Aruch," but very little the Old Testament. When the boy was fifteen years of age, he was employed by the rabbi of Sombar, in Galicia, as a copyist, and for this he received from him instruction in rabbinical writings, in the Bible, and in religious philological literature. This distinguished savant, Joshua Hullas by name, was liberal-minded and exercised a salutary influence upon the boy. Later on he perceived the untenableness of the rabbinic views of the world, and gave up the idea of becoming a rabbi as his parents wished. He then devoted himself to commerce, but found no pleasure in it. Then he met the Rev. J. Lotka, missionary of the L.J.S. at Lemberg, and for the first time learned to know the New Testament and other Christian literature; and after an inward struggle, lasting ten years, in which the late Professor Franz Delitzsch encouraged him to persevere, he threw himself at the feet of Jesus, and became His faithful disciple. He was admitted into the Church of Christ by baptism, by the Rev. P. E. Gottheil, in Stuttgart, in 1886. Two years later he entered the service of the Berlin Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, under whom for years he laboured with great blessing upon his efforts. Lowen"s work was mostly of a literary character. In 1888, he wrote a useful booklet in Yiddish, ent.i.tled "Siach l"Elohim," through which he introduced the jargon of the Eastern Jews into Christian literature. A year later he joined Chr. Theophilus Lucky, in editing the Hebrew monthly periodical, "Eduth l"Israel." This was and remained the first Jewish Christian periodical in the sacred language. He worked at this difficult post for only two years, but continued in co-operation with Professor Dalman for fifteen years in the publication of his monthly Yiddish periodical, "Berith Am." He also contributed numerous articles, poems, narratives, etc., to "Nathanael"
and to "Messiasbote," publications of the Berlin Society. On Lowen"s suggestion, the International Jewish Missionary Conference at Leipzig in 1897, resolved to offer a prize for a life of Christ in Yiddish. Amongst the compet.i.tors was the well-known Joseph Rabinowitz, but the umpires, Professor Strack and the Rev. A. Bernstein, adjudged the prize to Lowen"s work, which is ent.i.tled "Podeh Umazil," which has found great acceptance among the Jews. In 1901 a collection of essays appeared from his pen, under the t.i.tle, "Brod und Salz" (bread and salt), which was gladly read. He also brought out a series of booklets ent.i.tled "Orchim,"
which was of the greatest missionary value. Lowen was stationed in Berlin, Lemberg, Posen, and Vienna, where he continued to testify to the Jews of the unsearchable riches of Christ, and the Lord crowned his work with success, in that he was permitted to witness a spirit of enquiry among the Jews, not a few of whom acknowledged Him as their Lord and Saviour through his labours.
LoWENTHAL, Rev. Isidor, a native of Posen, where he received a liberal education, finishing his studies at the Gymnasium at the age of seventeen. His father wished him to enter into business, but he had no taste for such a life. With companions of the same age, he founded a liberal political union, and owing to a poem of a radical character, which he recited in public, he was arrested by the police. For this reason he emigrated to New York in 1846. On his arrival he tried to get employment, but failed. He was then obliged to become a pedlar. One cold November day he offered his goods to the Rev. S. M. Gayley, of Wilmington, Delaware, who, noticing his poor plight, invited him to his house, where in conversation he soon learned that Lowenthal was well educated. He then offered him hospitality until he should find a situation as teacher of German and French. This he procured for him in Fayette College at Easton, Pa., in 1847. There Lowenthal was indefatigable in his studies of the English language and literature. His iron will and his excellent memory enabled him soon to overcome all difficulties. Hitherto he had not revealed to Mr. Gayley his Jewish nationality, but now he not only did this but also told him that the family prayers and the services which he had attended had led him to study the Scriptures, and that he was convinced of the truth of Christianity. He was then baptized by Mr. Gayley in the Presbyterian Church. In 1848 he became teacher of languages at Mount Holly Collegiate School, where he remained several years. Mr. Philipps, of the First Presbyterian Church, New York, advised him to study for the ministry, and he entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey in 1852. During his course there he contributed articles to the "Biblical Repository." When about to leave the Seminary, he gave a lecture on Indian missions and then offered his services to the Board of Foreign Missions. The Board sent him in 1856 to Afghanistan. He acquired the language in one year, so that he could preach in it fluently; but he was only permitted to labour there seven years. During this short time he translated the whole of the New Testament in Pushtu and printed it, and compiled a dictionary of that language which he left in ma.n.u.script. He preached easily in five languages, and none knew the East better than he did. He possessed the largest collection of Asiatic MSS. and rare books that ever was the lot of a European. He was beloved by the natives and Europeans alike. Sir John Lawrence, especially during the mutiny, consulted him as a friend. He preached uninterruptedly in Afghanistan and in the Khyber Pa.s.s. At the last, he was shot dead by his own servant, it is said through a mistake, who, seeing him walking on the roof at night, took him for a thief. This was in 1864, when he was only thirty-eight.
LOWITZ, Rev. J., laboured for years as a missionary of the British Society at Algiers, where he also acted as agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society. In 1872 he succeeded Davidsohn as princ.i.p.al of the British Society"s Home for Converts and Enquirers, at 28, Alfred Place, Bedford Square, London.
LUCKY, Rev. C. Theophilus, a native of Tisminitz, in Galicia, and a most remarkable convert to Christianity in the nineteenth century. He was known not only as a great Hebrew scholar, writing Hebrew in cla.s.sical style as a living language, and as thoroughly conversant with the whole range of Jewish literature, but also as possessing a wide knowledge of Christian literature. Having studied at the Berlin University and High School for the knowledge of Judaism, and making researches in philosophical and religious subjects, he was led to become a believer.
Lucky received Evangelical ordination in New York. In 1887 he first published a Hebrew periodical, "Eduth le Israel," which he continued for some years, when he returned to Galicia and took up his residence in Stanislau. There he lived and laboured among his brethren, preaching by the written and spoken word, but above all by his example, scarcely receiving any help from men. He was a living ill.u.s.tration of a Hebrew Christian of the first century; though thoroughly Orthodox as to the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, yet he believed that it was inc.u.mbent upon him to observe the Jewish Sabbath and all other Jewish festivals and the dietary laws, not for the sake of being justified by the works of the law, but for the sake of satisfying his own conscience, and that he might be more useful as an evangelist amongst his brethren in Galicia.
MAAS, Dr. M., was a teacher at Breslau in the nineteenth century, and wrote the following works, advocating amalgamation of the Jews with Christians: "Die Sociale Stellung der Juden in Deutschland und das Ceremonial Gesetz," Lobau, 1876; "Die Mischehe das Einzig wirksame mittel einer dauernden Vereinigung zwischen der judischen und christlichen Bevolkerung Deutschland"s," ib.
MACKHAN, Beatus Christian (Nehemiah Cohen), after having travelled in three continents, and held the office of Rabbi at Avignon embraced Christianity, in the Baltic Provinces in 1672. In 1690 he published in the German language: "Schriftma.s.siger Jesus--Palmbaum oder Klarer Beweissthum wider die Juden, da.s.s Jesus der wahre Messias sei" (Riga), Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraica 3. N., 1648.
MAGATH, Rev. Julius, some time after his baptism became Professor in the Wesleyan College in Oxford (Georgia, U.S.A.) Later on he was requested by the Conference to do missionary work among the Jews. In 1886 he published a periodical ent.i.tled, "The Hebrew Missionary," and this was changed in 1888 to "The Hebrew Messenger." He also translated a treatise, written by the Roman Catholic Jewish convert M. M. Leman, ent.i.tled, "Jesus before the Sanhedrin," 1887.
MAIMUNY, Rabbi Mordecai, was born at Bona, Algeria, in 1817. His father was a well-to-do goldsmith, who had settled in Tunis in 1823, where Maimuny received a strict rabbinical education. When Dr. Ewald was stationed at Tunis, Maimuny was his great opponent and used to blaspheme the name of Jesus. Later on he went to Jerusalem, where his fanaticism became more excited when he observed the activity of Bishop Alexander.
However, the bishop"s calm and gentle disposition made a great impression upon him, and he received a Hebrew New Testament, which he studied diligently and became a changed man. His wife seeing that he visited Nicolayson and the other missionaries was very angry with him.
To pacify her, and in the hope that she would change her mind, he left Jerusalem with her, and they wandered through Asia, North Africa, and Europe, and then returned to Jerusalem, where he had to undergo great persecution, and was obliged to return to his native place. Finally, in 1853, he was baptized by the Scotch missionary, the Rev. Benjamin Weiss.
MAMLOCK, L. C, a native of Kalisch, was instructed and baptized by Dr.
Ewald in 1863. After being in the Operative Jewish Converts" Inst.i.tution for some considerable time, Dr. Ewald employed him as his a.s.sistant, and he became a parochial lay reader. Subsequently he was appointed by the L.J.S. as missionary in Manchester, and was transferred to Paris after the Franco-German war. There he laboured faithfully the rest of his life, spreading the Gospel far and wide during several exhibitions, and had the privilege to see many sons and daughters trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation.
MARCUS, Moses, born in London, 1701, was sent by his father to Hamburg for his education. There he had intercourse with Christians, read the New Testament, and came to a saving knowledge of the truth. In 1721 his father returned to England from India, where he had ama.s.sed a fortune, and summoned him to come home. Marcus then told his father of his religious convictions, when the latter was shocked, and threatened to disinherit him if he should be baptized; he once even threw a long knife at him. Marcus, however, persevered and was baptized in 1723. In 1724 he wrote a pamphlet ent.i.tled, "Princ.i.p.al Motives to leave the Jewish Faith." In defence of Christianity, against the then prevalent rationalism, he translated into English the second part of Dr. J.
Gottlob Carpzov"s "Critica Sacra," adding his own notes (London, 1729).
MARCUSOHN, Rev. J. W., was sent by the Scotch Church as a missionary to Constantinople, at the request of the American Board of Missions, in 1859. He subsequently preached the Gospel to the Jews in the United States of America.
MARGOLIOUTH, Ezekiel, was a very remarkable man, a typical Jew, and a typical convert to Christianity. As an Hebraist he was equal to any of his day. He had a profound knowledge of the Talmud, rare even amongst Talmudists. It was, however, in the composition of modern Hebrew that his chief talent lay, and competent scholars often spoke enthusiastically of the elegance of his rabbinic writings. Like his namesake, Dr. Moses Margoliouth, he was a native of Suwalki in Poland, where he was born in November 1816. His father, Abraham, had been thirty-three years chief rabbi of the town, and his mother could trace twelve rabbis amongst her ancestors. It was natural that Ezekiel should study the Talmud and practise all the precepts of the rabbis with the utmost vigour. After he had become bar mitzvah, he studied with his father, and later on went to Brody, in order to perfect himself in rabbinic lore. There he met enlightened Jews, and often disputed with R.
Solomon Kluger. He began to study the Bible, and philosophical works in Hebrew, like those of Maimonides; his desire for knowledge being fostered under Michael Perl of Tarnopol, the first Jewish reformer in Galicia. Later on he went to the rabbinical seminary at Warsaw, where he first met missionaries of the L.J. Society, through whom he was irresistibly drawn to Christ, His Person, and His teachings. At the age of twenty-seven he confessed faith in Christ as his Saviour, though his wife, whom he had married the previous year, for a long time refused to become a Christian. He then came over to England, where she afterwards joined him, and in 1848, also became a Christian. In the same year he entered the Operative Jewish Converts" Inst.i.tution to learn bookbinding.
In 1852 he was appointed a missionary of the L.J.S. in London, and worked as such almost to the end of his life. It was not as a popular preacher that he excelled, though his faith in, and knowledge of, the Word of G.o.d always profoundly attracted his audiences. His chief labours were literary, and in these he had no rival. His "Derech Emunah" and "Nethivoth Olam," in Hebrew, are masterpieces. His greatest work was the revision of the New Testament in Hebrew in 1865. On May 2, 1894, he pa.s.sed away in a gentle and peaceful death, greatly mourned both for himself and for the loss of his learning and piety. His son is the Rev.
Professor David S. Margoliouth, D.Lit., Laudian Professor of Arabic at Oxford University, and examining chaplain to the Bishop of Liverpool.
MARGOLIOUTH, Rev. George, a nephew of Dr. Moses Margoliouth, was converted to Christianity at Stra.s.sburg. He studied philology at the University of Bonn, and theology at Cuddesdon College, was ordained in 1881-1883, held the curacy of St. Thomas", Leeds, when he was also missionary of the Parochial Missions to the Jews; then at Carleton, Yorks., 1883-84; then again missionary curate of Holy Trinity, Stepney, 1884-87; then at St. Mary the Less, Cambridge, 1887-89; St. Botolph, Cambridge, 1889-91, when he took his degree in Semitic languages, at Queen"s College. He is the author of "Descriptive List of the Hebrew and Samaritan MSS. in the British Museum," 1893; "The Superlinear Punctuation," 1893; "The Liturgy of the Nile, Palestinian, Syriac and English," 1896; "The Palestinian Syriac Version of Holy Scripture, four recently Discovered Portions," 1896. He also contributed valuable articles to the "Jewish Quarterly Review."
MARGOLIOUTH, Rev. Dr. Moses, was born at Suwalki in 1820, and died in London, 1881. He was no relation to Ezekiel Margoliouth, though from the same town. Coming to Liverpool in 1837 he met the missionaries of the L.J.S., Lazarus and Rev. H. S. Joseph, and as a result of intercourse with them he was baptized in 1838. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1840, and became curate of St. Augustine, Liverpool, January 30, 1844. Much later he was curate of St. Paul"s, Onslow Square, London, and lastly, Vicar of Little Limford, Buckinghamshire. He took the degree of Ph.D. at Erlangen in 1857. In 1847 he started a Hebrew Christian monthly magazine ent.i.tled, "The Star of Jacob." In the seventies he was editor of "The Hebrew Christian Witness." He also wrote the following works, all published in London: "Modern Judaism" (1843), "The History of the Jews of Great Britain" (1851), "A Pilgrimage to the Land of my Fathers"
(1855), "The Curates of Riverdale"(1860), "The Spirit of Prophecy"
(1864), "The Poetry of the Hebrew Pentateuch" (1871). Margoliouth was one of the revisers of the English version of the Old Testament. He wrote also a considerable number of minor works.
MARGOLIOUTH, Naphtali, baptized in 1603 under the name of Konrad Otto, became professor of Hebrew in Altorf. He wrote "Grammatica Hebraica"
(Nurnberg, 1605), a part of a "Dictionarium radicale" of rabbinic and Talmudic words, "Gale Razia or Revelatio arcanorum ex Daniel ii. 29," in Latin and German.
MARKHEIM, H. A., was one of the most gifted missionaries of the L.J.S.
in the nineteenth century. As a great linguist he suitably occupied the following stations: In 1840, he succeeded Lewis at Smyrna; in 1850, he laboured at Oran and Tangier; in 1860, at Gibraltar; in 1863, at Turin; from 1861-63, at Ma.r.s.eilles, and then until the siege of Paris by the Germans, he laboured there. He died in 1889.
MARIA was born of English Jewish parents, in affluent circ.u.mstances.
When yet a child she fell down a steep flight of stairs and seriously injured her spine, so that she became a permanent invalid. A Christian lady used to visit her, and got permission to read to her the Psalms.
She asked her father to buy her a Bible, who instead of doing so bought her some narratives, but seeing her disappointment, complied with her request. From this Bible, which contained the New Testament, she learned to know and to love the Saviour, believing that Jesus made a perfect atonement for her sins. Becoming gradually feebler and losing her sight, she said to Miss P. that she enjoyed great tranquillity of mind, and had learned to understand Isaiah xxvi. 3, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee." Prayer was never a weariness to her. She influenced her sister to read to her the Bible. She then bore witness from her sick bed to the faith which was the source of her calm resignation and happiness before those friends, both Jews and Gentiles, who visited her. When her life drew to a close, she said to her father: "Dear father, I have one request to make; remember! it is my dying request, the last favour I shall ever ask you, father." With much kindness he enquired, "What is it, my dear?" "It is, father, that you will consent to my baptism." "No, Maria, I cannot do that, you were born a Jewess and you must die one." "Father! that is impossible, for I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus is the Saviour and without Him we should perish everlastingly." She then explained that by being a Christian she had not ceased to be a Jewess. She was then permitted to receive both sacraments from the curate of the parish. Before her death she said to her brother: "My dear brother, be good, and never, never despise the Messiah Jesus Christ. I am going to heaven, and may I not hope to meet you there? I have prayed for you and all my family, and it is my belief the Lord will answer my prayers, and shew His salvation to you all."
(_Jewish Intelligence_, October, 1841).
MARKS, J. D., a convert was at first in 1819. It was owing to his influence that a missionary society in Switzerland was founded. This is emphasized in a letter from Basel to the L.J.S. in 1820, whose missionary he then was. At that time there seems to have been an important movement among the Jews of Frankfort and its neighbourhood towards Christianity, in which he was to some extent instrumental, and the result was that in three years ninety Jews embraced Christianity. He died as missionary at Offenbach in 1841.
MARKS, Rev. John Ebenezer, D.D., of Canterbury, 1879, laboured as a missionary at Moulmein, India, 1863-67; as Chaplain at Rangoon, 1867-68; Irrawaddy, 1869 and 1876-83; Mandalay, 1869-76; Tavoy and Mergui, 1883; as missionary of the S.P.G. and Princ.i.p.al of St. John"s College, Rangoon, from 1876-96.
MARX, Adolf Bernard, was born in Halle in 1779. From his youth he was very fond of music, and Handel"s "Messiah" led him to become a Christian. His father, though indifferent to religion, was very angry with him, and he was obliged to prosecute his studies of law and music under great deprivations. He finally became a judge at Wittemberg, but he had more taste for music than for the law. He then relinquished his office and went to Berlin, and devoted himself entirely to the study of music. He made there the acquaintance of the English musician Logier, and got from him some new ideas, which he was not slow to put into practice. In 1837, he published a work on the principles of harmony. He did much for the proper understanding of Beethoven, Sebastian Bach, and Gluck. He is said to have been the founder of modern musical literature.
He died in 1866.
MARX, Karl, born at Treves, in 1818. He was baptized with his father, his brother, and five sisters in 1824. In 1842, he became editor of "Reinische Zeitung fur Politik, Handel, und Gewerbe." In 1843, he published at Paris, "Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechts Philosophie." In 1848 he edited the "Neue Rheinische Zeitung." He is known as the founder of the political theory called Socialism, and on account of that he came in conflict with several governments, and he sought refuge in England.
He married the sister of the minister, von Westphal. She died in 1881, and he also pa.s.sed away in 1883, in London.
Ma.s.sENA. All that is known about him is a tract, published at Stra.s.sburg, in 1859, ent.i.tled "Ma.s.sena ein Wahrer Israelite oder die Kraft Gottes."
Ma.s.sIAH, Rev. J. P., was curate of Holy Trinity, Stepney, in 1883, when he received some Jews into the Church.
MATHAI (Shimon), Adam Rudolf George Christoph, was born at Furth, Germany in 1715, and was instructed in the Talmud by his father Jaidel, a teacher in the Beth-hamedrash there. At the age of sixteen, he went to Prague to continue his studies, and on returning home he, too, became a Talmudic teacher. Just then he narrates, in the preface of his "Description of the Jewish Sabbath": "When I considered the corruption among my people, doubts arose in my mind about the rabbinic system of religion, and I began to study its doctrines, rites and ceremonies, and found that they did not agree with the Word of G.o.d." The name Jeshua sar happanim, in the service for the New Year, struck him as very mysterious, and he began to enquire as to which of the angels this name referred. At last, after long enquiry, he became convinced of the divine origin of Christianity and applied to a pastor in Furth for baptism in 1748. However, on account of the commotion created among the Jews, he went to Nurnberg, where he was baptized the same year.
MATTHEWS, Rev. Aaron, after embracing Christianity with his wife, was appointed a missionary of the British Society in London in 1867, where he laboured successfully for some years. Then he accepted a call to be minister of a Baptist Chapel in Liverpool, which position he only held for a few years. Then he opened a mission to the Jews at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and afterwards laboured amongst them in Glasgow with considerable blessing on his labours, attracting the Jews by his fervent and devotional spirit as well as his Hebrew learning.
MAYER, Samuel Morum, was born in 1797 at Friedenthal; and died in 1862.
His father was a rabbi, his grandfather was appointed by King Friedrich grand rabbi, who gave the grandson a good Jewish education, so that at the age of ten he could repeat the Psalter in Hebrew with Mendelssohn"s translation. A pastor also privately taught him cla.s.sics. He was then sent to a Talmud School, but the Talmud did not satisfy his thirst for useful, solid knowledge, so he sent a pet.i.tion to the King asking for permission to enter the Gymnasium. This was granted in 1815. He studied there and subsequently became a celebrated lawyer. Government offices were offered him on condition of his embracing Christianity, which he repeatedly refused, but held a professorship unconditionally. However, he investigated the doctrines of Christianity himself, and was baptized in 1834. He was then persecuted by his relations, but he rendered them good for evil. The following is a list of his works in their chronological order; with one exception they were published at Nurnberg.