We must, however, first speak of his early years. Selig Ca.s.sel, to give him his Jewish name, was born at Glogau, in Silesia, on February 27th, 1821, of Jewish parents. He was educated at the Gymnasia of Glogau and Schweidnitz, and subsequently at the university of Berlin, where he made a special study of history as a pupil of the famous historian, Dr.
Ranke.
Ca.s.sel took his degree at Berlin and Licentiatus Theologiae in due course, and received the faculty for headmaster for all cla.s.ses of the gymnasium in Latin, Greek, theology, history, geography and German literature. He then, for a time, was on the journalistic staff of the "Const.i.tutionelle Zeitung" in Berlin. Afterwards, in 1850, Ca.s.sel went to Erfurt, where he was the editor of the "Erfurter Zeitung" from 1850 to 1856.
His Christian friends, and especially, according to his own statement, his study of the history of Israel, led him to Christianity, which he embraced in 1855, being baptized at Bussleben, a village near Erfurt, on May 28, and receiving the names "Paulus Stepha.n.u.s." Every year subsequently he was wont to celebrate this "second birthday," as he called it, amidst his friends and congregation.
We now come to the second period of Ca.s.sel"s life, as a renowned Christian writer, preacher and orator. For a few years Ca.s.sel remained in the town, where the great change in his life had taken place, and became custodian of the public library and secretary of the "Erfurt Academy." He was then called to Berlin by the Prime Minister, who entrusted him with the editorship of the official "Deutsche Reform." He resigned this post in six months" time to return to his beloved books and studies at Erfurt.
At this time honours were showered upon him. King Frederick William IV.
of Prussia honoured him with the t.i.tle of "Professor." The University of Erlangen conferred on him the degree of "Licentiatus Theologiae."
Afterwards, in Vienna, Ca.s.sel obtained that of "Doctor Theologiae"
(Doctor of Divinity). In 1859 he returned to Berlin and delivered public lectures, which were more and more largely attended and appreciated by both Jews and Gentiles. These lectures made him known throughout the capital and the country.
Dr. Ca.s.sel was elected a member of the "Landtag," the Prussian Parliament, in 1866, and became a prominent member of the Conservative party. As this took him too much from his literary work, he soon laid this mandate down.
In 1868, the third and most famous portion of Ca.s.sel"s life commenced, when the Society appointed him their missionary in Berlin and minister of Christ Church, a stately Gothic building, with over a thousand sittings, erected by the Society in the Wilhelmstra.s.se, in 1864.
For twenty-three years many children of Israel heard the Gospel from Dr.
Ca.s.sel"s lips both in Berlin and other places of Germany, and indeed of Europe. The good done by means of his sermons and lectures can never be fully estimated; and, in addition to this, numbers of Jews were influenced in a Christian direction by his numerous publications.
It would be impossible for us to follow the indefatigable missionary in his multifarious activities in Berlin and in Germany generally during these busy years; but we may be allowed to quote from a published letter which he addressed in 1887 to English friends, ent.i.tled, "Thoughts on the Jewish Mission":
"Invitations came to give lectures in places at a distance. A dear friend of mine shewed me in 1860 a map of Germany, on which he marked all the towns in which I have lectured. Since then I have delivered over a thousand original lectures in Berlin and elsewhere. G.o.d"s hand has guided me everywhere. My journeys have extended from Amsterdam to Buda-Pesth. I always had an attentive audience, and the poorer people in both large and small towns heard the Word with gladness--nay, even with enthusiasm.
"During the anti-Semitic agitation, such journeys for the purpose of delivering lectures were more extensive. I had then become known through my defence of Gospel charity, even in circles which were not outwardly known as Christian. The meetings which were held at the period resembled more nearly the ideal at which I aimed. A considerable number of persons listened to the lectures, who had completely turned their backs on the Church."
Speaking of his ministerial and missionary work in Christ Church, the doctor said:
"The special blessing of the Church consisted in the regular exposition of the _Old_ Testament. It has been my custom to expound the Old Testament every Sunday evening, from the first Sunday I came into office (Jan. 5th, 1868) up to the present time. It was the first time in Berlin that this was made a practice. There were, therefore, from the very beginning hearers, consisting of Jews and earnest Christians. Those expository sermons have been the greatest blessing, and have specially united me to the congregation."
Professor Ca.s.sel baptized 262 Jews in Christ Church; amongst them doctors, authors, merchants, nearly all educated persons. But, as he said, "I am not fond of statistics. I sow the seed, but do not stop to ask how much may be the fruit."
Dr. Ca.s.sel was an ardent lover of his own people. "Though he has left us, he was by no means our enemy. He still fights against those who hate the Jews," said the "Jewish Chronicle." It was he who raised his voice against Stocker in Berlin, and endeavoured by voice and pen to soften down the excitement and anger of German Protestants, and to secure the peace of his former brethren in the faith.
In the spring of 1891, when he retired from his duties, Dr. Ca.s.sel did not cease to preach, wherever an occasion offered, and he continued to write. So great was his love and zeal that he could not forego instructing and baptizing Jews who wished to become members of the Church of Christ through his instrumentality. The number of his converts must exceed some hundreds. Many of them were in high positions, and residing in various parts of the world.
Dr. Ca.s.sel"s death took place, after great sufferings, on December 23rd, 1893, his last words being, "Wo ist denn das Himmelreich?" His funeral was held on December 27th in the afternoon. In Christ Church, where the coffin had been placed before the communion-table, a funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Pastor Weser from St. John i. 12. The Rev. Dr.
Dryander, the General Superintendent of the Lutheran community, also addressed the congregation. After the service within the sacred edifice the obsequies were completed, in the presence of a large concourse of friends, at the old Jerusalem Cemetery, where Dr. Ca.s.sel"s mortal remains lie in their last resting-place.
We append a few testimonies to the life, example, and powerful influence of Dr. Ca.s.sel:
Mr. C. Urbschat, of Konigsberg, who for several years worked under Dr.
Ca.s.sel in Berlin, wrote of his labours:--
"Professer Ca.s.sel was a highly educated missionary, and showed extraordinary ability in influencing the higher cla.s.ses of Jews in favour of Christianity by his lectures and by his pleadings on their behalf. He was a man of profound learning, of great diligence, and of restless zeal in propagating the Gospel of his Master amongst Jews and Christians."
The "Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums" said:--"When the anti-Semites began to show themselves, Ca.s.sel remembered his origin, and opposed the leaders, Stocker, Wagner, and others with great decision and manliness.
It was this manly action that gives us some satisfaction for his desertion of the parental religion. We have to judge this apostasy very differently from that of many others in former and present times, as he did not forsake his old creed for any worldly reason, or to get honours and position, but rather because he followed a mystical line of thought.
G.o.d alone can judge the veracity and purity of his life; we dare not.
"Peace be to his ashes!""
Of the two brothers who, though divided in life, died about the same time, the _Jewish Chronicle_ remarked:--"The deaths of David and Paulus (formerly Selig) Ca.s.sel remove two brothers, both of whom had won a place for themselves among the honoured names of Jewish scholarship....
Paulus was the greater man of the two, a scholar and writer of a higher type, and his works will live. He took a worthy part in the struggle against anti-Semitism. Paulus Ca.s.sel was perhaps the first man to recognise what was really meant by writing a history of the Jews."
One of Dr. Ca.s.sel"s numerous converts, baptized by him in 1870, sent the following most touching tribute to his memory:--"There was no way of his life in which he failed to shine. Study and knowledge sealed in his heart the great truths of religion. His was the faith which is clothed in wisdom; his the wisdom which is hallowed by faith. His faith was to him, as it should be to all of us, an armed angel. His affectionate heart not only throbbed with love for his own kindred, but was alive to sympathy with those who needed it. I always found him benevolent and singularly gentle. He taught the world that the Jew, hitherto despised, must be despised no more; he conquered a place in society, in the highest society--the intellectual circle--for the people of his faith.
And this victory he won, not by dint of clamour, or falseness, or obstrusive self-a.s.sertion, but by the force of his own intellectual powers, his unsullied integrity, his admirable character. Dr. Ca.s.sel gave mankind a useful lesson, a touching example, a glorious spectacle: he showed how a Christian Jew lives! His knowledge was the altar on which he stood to worship the great G.o.d-man! History confirms the truth, which the Psalmist, whose music he loved, taught mankind ages ago--that, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.""
The industry of Dr. Ca.s.sel was truly prodigious, and was especially evidenced by the large number and character of his writings.
A complete list of all his books and pamphlets would fill a large s.p.a.ce, so mention can be made only of his more important writings, namely:--"Juden Geschichte" in Ersch and Gruber (1847), "Magyarische Altertumer" (1848), "Von Warschau bis Olmutz" (1851), "Thuringische Ortsnamen" (1856-58), "Eddische Studien" (1856), "Rose und Nachtigall"
(1860), "Weihnachten, Ursprunge, Brauche und Aberglauben" (1862), "Die Schwalbe" (1869), "Drachenkampfe" (1869), "Vom Wege nach Damascus"
(1872), "Name und Beruf" (1874), "Lowenkampfe von Nemea bis Golgotha"
(1875), "Das Buch Esther" (1878), translated by the Rev. A. Bernstein into English and published by T. and T. Clark of Edinburgh (1888), "Vom Nil zum Ganges" (1879), "Christliche Sittenlehre" (1880), "Aus literatur und Symbolik" (1884), "Sabbatarche Errinerungen," "Die Hochzeit von Cana" (1884), "Aus Literatur und Geschichte" (1885), "Aus dem Lande des Sonnenaufgangs" (1885), "Kritische Sendschreiben uber die Probebibel"
(1885), "Wie ich uber Judenmission denke" (1886), "Das 900 jahrige Jubilaum der russischen Kirche" (1888), "Aletheia, Vortrage" (1890), "Das 1000 jahrige Reich" (1890). For Lange"s Bible-Commentary he wrote the expositions on the books of Judges and Ruth. His works against anti-Semitism were "Wider Heinrich von Treitschke fur die Juden" (1880), "Die Antisemiten und die Evangelische Kirche" (1881), "Ahasverus"
(1885), and "Der Judengott und Richard Wagner." Dr. Ca.s.sel composed many poems under the t.i.tle, "Hallelujah," containing 188 hymns, and also some dramas (Vom Konige, Das neue Schauspiel, Der Weiner Congress, Paulus at Damascus, Paulus at Cyprus, &c.)
From 1875-91 Dr. Ca.s.sel edited and published a weekly paper, "For Christian life and knowledge," ent.i.tled "Sunem."
Such, in conclusion, was this truly wonderful son of Israel, and follower of Christ. His gigantic intellect, marvellous ability, persuasive oratory, brilliant pen, were alike consecrated to the service of his Lord and Master, and to the spiritual welfare of his brethren.
Sage, philosopher, scholar, author, preacher and missionary, he was a king amongst his fellow-men. His name will live immortal in the annals of Jewish and Jewish missionary literature.
CERF, Karl Friedrich, born in 1782, died 1845, embraced Christianity.
Friedrich Wilhelm IV. conferred upon him the t.i.tle of Royal Commissionsrath for services rendered.
CERF, Friedrich Rudolf, with his wife, Angelica Henrietta, _nee_ Israel, belonging to Mendelssohn"s circle, were baptized at Schoneback in 1818, and their daughter in 1822.
CHERSKIER, a convert in Warsaw, translated the Book of Common Prayer into Hebrew in 1836, since when 26,000 copies have been issued by the L.J.S.
CHERSKI, Reuben, a native of Thorn, was brought up in Leipzig. When quite a youth he entered a Christian Church, for which offence he was locked up by his father in a cupboard. Sometime after he heard Biesenthal and Poper speak to the Jews about Christ at the Leipzig book fair. Then he found a New Testament among his father"s books, and read St. John iii., and was punished by him for doing so, forbidding him to read it again. After this he received another New Testament from a colporteur of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and read it with a p.r.i.c.ked conscience for disobeying his father. Then, after he and his father were saved by Christians from a fire at Eisenach, he, being now seventeen years of age, left for Frankfort to seek a livelihood there.
Through a paternal friend he got employment in the office of the "Freund Zeitung." The chief editor, Israel Harsch, one day in a walk pointed out to him a man in clerical costume, wearing gold spectacles, with a countenance of great gentleness, by saying, "He is a Meshummad, a missionary to the Jews." Cherski now recollected that he had seen him once at Leipzig, and was warned to keep aloof from him. However, from that time he began to attend Dr. Poper"s meetings, at one of which he met Dr. Biesenthal too, listened to their lectures, and left for Paris apparently unimpressed. Then he met Poper again, received from him the tract "Messiah, the Son of David, is also the Son of G.o.d," became a changed man, wrote to his father a confession of his faith in Christ, returned to Frankfort, where he found that his fiancee, Lydia, had in the meanwhile also been converted.
CHRISTIAN, Gustav Christopher, baptized at Nuremberg 1719, and died there about 1735. He was the author of two Judaeo-German works--"Yesod Emunath Yeshua" (The basis of the Faith of Jesus), Berlin, 1712; and "Die Bekehrung"s Israel," Schwabach, 1722.
CHRISTIANI, Friedrich Albrecht, was born in the middle of the seventeenth century, died at Prostnitz at the beginning of the eighteenth century. He was baptized in 1674 at Stra.s.sburg, having formerly been the Chazzan (Precentor) at Bruchsal. After having occupied for twenty years the chair of Semitics at the university of Leipzig, he retired to Prostnitz. Christiani"s works comprise the following, all published at Leipzig. (1) "Zebah Pesah" (The sacrifice of Easter), an account of the Jewish celebration of Easter in the time of Jesus, and at the present. (2) "Seudath Purim" (The meal of Purim), 1677, a description of Jewish fasting and feasting. (3) "Zahakan Melumad Umethareth" (The Scholarly Gambler repenting) 1683, a German translation of the work of Leon of Modena on gambling. (4) "Abravanel"s Commentary on the first prophets, with a Latin index," 1686. (5) "The text of Jonah with the Targum Ma.s.sorah and the commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Kimchi and Abravanel, and a Hebrew Latin Vocabulary," 1683. (6) "Iggereth"
(Letter) 1676, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews, translated from the Greek into Hebrew. (7) "Traktat von dem Glauben und Unglauben der Juden," 1713.
CHRISTIANI, Moritz Wilhelm, born at Altorf at the end of the seventeenth century, died at Prague, 1740, probably a member of the Keyser family of Schleusingen, Bavaria. He claimed to have been a rabbi at Schleusingen before his baptism in 1715. Christiani wrote: (1) "Kurze Beschreibung einer Judischen Synagogue und eine Beschreibung der Synagogalen Gebrauche," Regensburg, 1723. (2) "Die Schlacht und Visiterkunst, _ib._, 1724." (3) "Ausgang von dem verstockten Judenthum und Eingang zum wahren Christenthum," an account of his conversion, his profession of faith, and several orations, Erfurt, 1720. (4) "Rede zur Einladung fur Rabbinische Studien," written in Hebrew and German, inserted in "Johann David Kohler"s Program," Altorf, 1785. (5) "A German translation of the Sefer ha Minhagim of Jacob Levi (Matta Ril)," published at Bremen, 1733.
CHRISTIAN, Friedrich Ernest (as a Jewish teacher called Abraham Saul), was baptized with his wife and two grown-up sons by Pastor Stemnitz in 1772.
CHRISTMANN was baptized in 1775.
CHRISTLIEB, Wilhelm, declared that it was a sermon which he heard preached to the Jews by Pastor Dekan Solda.n.u.s in the town hall of Ca.s.sel which convinced him of the truth of the Gospel. He was baptized in 1785.
CHRISTLIEB, Friedrich Wilhelm, another convert, made himself particularly obnoxious to the Jews by attacking the Talmud in a bitter spirit. He wrote: "Greuel der Verwustung des heiligen Jerusalem durch den judischen Talmud," Ca.s.sel, 1681. "Lasterungen der Juden gegen Christum," _ib._, 1682. A theological treatise: "Jesus Christ und Sohn Gottes nach Kabbalistischer Art erwiesen," Rinteln, 1697.
CHRISTHOLD, Christian Albert, born in 1687, was baptized when young with his mother. He had great talents, so that at the age of 23, in 1700, he was appointed Rector of the Gymnasium in Oettingen, when he wrote a Latin treatise advocating toleration and liberty to the Jews. He was afterwards a faithful minister of the Gospel till his death in 1772.
Schulze said of him, "I have hitherto not found anyone like him."