Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ

Helic, Lucas, was a member of the Moravian brethren in 1570, when, owing to his excellent Hebrew scholarship, he was elected as co-translator of the Kalitzir Bible. He received Moravian ordination, and preached the Gospel till 1858; also printed his sermons for circulation.

Hellmuth, Isaac. The fact that the subject of this sketch was one of the three Hebrew Christian Bishops of the last century – Bishops Alexander and Schereschewsky being the other two – invests his life and memory with a special interest for all workers for Israel.

Whilst Alexander spent his life in actively seeking "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" in various lands of their dispersion, and Schereschewsky the "other sheep" of the Redeemer's fold in the heathen Empire of China, Bishop Hellmuth's career was mainly associated with the promotion of the spiritual and intellectual interests of the sons and daughters of the Greater Britain beyond the seas.

Isaac Hellmuth was born at Warsaw, Poland, on December 14th, 1820, and was from early childhood instructed and trained "according to the perfect manner of the law of his fathers," in Rabbinical schools of high repute, where he acquired great proficiency in Biblical and Talmudical learning. His parents gave him a thorough religious and secular education. He was sent at the age of sixteen to the University of Breslau, where he continued with success his studies in classical and Oriental literature. At that time Dr. S. Neumann, a Hebrew Christian, and a missionary of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, was stationed at Breslau. Being also a professor at that University, he was more especially brought into contact with learned Jews and students, over whom he exercised great influence. It was through him that young Hellmuth had his attention drawn to Christianity. In 1841 he came to England, and was baptized in All Saints' Church, Liverpool, by the Rev. H. S. Joseph, a missionary of the same Society. Isaac had two brothers. When he was baptized his father cut him out of his will altogether. But, on his father's death, his two brothers, although they themselves remained Jews, generously restored to their Christian brother his share of their father's property.

After remaining some three years in England, studying English theology under Hugh McNeile, Haldane Stewart and others, Hellmuth left for Canada in 1844, taking with him commendatory letters from many eminent clergymen, including one from Dr. Sumner, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. Hellmuth's ministerial life was principally spent in Canada, where he had a distinguished career, for many particulars of which we are indebted to "Bishops of the Day," which particulars were most likely furnished by himself. Hellmuth was ordained both deacon and priest in 1846 by Dr. Mountain, Bishop of Quebec. He received the Lambeth degree of D.D. in 1853, and the honorary degrees of D.C.L. from Trinity College, Toronto, and D.D. from the University of Lennoxville in 1854. He spent eight years as rector of Sherbrooke, Quebec, and as professor of Hebrew and Rabbinical Literature at Bishop's College, Lennoxville, of which institution he was also vice-principal. His views were strongly Evangelical. He resigned his posts in Quebec on being made general superintendent of the Colonial and Continental Church Society in British North America. The Bishop of Huron, Dr. Cronyn, had been much troubled about Provost Whitaker, of Trinity College, Toronto, whose teaching he considered unsound, although the other Bishops of the province, on being referred to, upheld it. The Bishop, not satisfied, decided to establish at London, Ontario, a college more under his own control. This resulted in the formation and partial endowment of Huron College, which was opened in 1863 under the presidency of Dr. Hellmuth, who was also made archdeacon of Huron. His educational enthusiasm led him to start a college for boys, called Hellmuth Boys' College. Recalling his efforts in its behalf, he said: "Twice I visited England to plead its cause, and through the liberal gifts of friends in the mother land, the grounds and buildings for the Divinity College were secured. Amongst the benefactors of this College, one valued friend, the Rev. Alfred Peache, endowed the Divinity chair with the munificent sum of £5,000 sterling.

"Huron College faithfully fulfilled its trust and served its designed end. Over one hundred devoted ministers of Christ's Gospel have been trained within its walls, the majority of whom are labouring with success in our own Diocese, while the remainder have been called to occupy prominent positions in various other parts of our Dominion."

In 1867 Dr. Hellmuth was made rector of St. Paul's Cathedral and Dean of Huron. He used his large private means unsparingly in advancing the cause of higher education. In 1869 he launched the Hellmuth Ladies' College.

The venerable Canon Christopher, rector of St. Aldate's Church, Oxford, thus alludes to this institution: – "He found that Canadian Protestants were sending their daughters to convent schools, because they did not know of any good Protestant ladies' school. He established an excellent school for young ladies near his own house. I addressed nearly a hundred young ladies in this school in 1872. Some of these had to travel twelve days and nights from their homes to their school, in the absence of a railway from British Columbia."

Dr. Hellmuth was chosen on July 19, 1871, by a large majority of the diocesan synod to be Bishop Coadjutor of Huron, with the title of Bishop of Norfolk and the right of succession. Dr. Cronyn died in the following September, and Dr. Hellmuth became Bishop of Huron. He had been consecrated in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Ontario, on August 24, 1871. In 1877 the Bishop formed a scheme for a Western University in connexion with Huron College, subscribing no less than 10,000 dollars towards it. In the following year he attended the Lambeth Conference, and took confirmations for the Bishop of London in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. He came to England again, in 1880, to obtain funds for the Western University, which was opened on October 5, 1881, with a medical faculty in connexion with it. By 1881 the Bishop's exertions had proved so successful that the S.P.G. aid was no longer required, and the diocese could rely on its own resources.

During the Bishop's episcopate, which lasted from 1871 to 1883, great progress was made in every department of diocesan work. The number of livings increased from 34 to 65; the number of churches from 149 to 207; and the clergy from 92 to 135. The Sunday schools rose from 110 to 166; and the communicants from 4,390 to 8,910. Dr. Langtrey, in his "Colonial Church Histories,"14 says that the Bishop "devoted himself with great earnestness to his work, and soon became very popular throughout the country." The Rev. Dr. Hurst, a resident of twenty years in Huron, thus referred to the Bishop's labours: – "I can speak from personal knowledge of his liberality, zeal, and self-denying efforts to make his diocese an active mission field, and a model for higher Christian education – much at his own personal expense – in both of which God greatly blessed his instrumentality. His indefatigable and successful labours have been acknowledged by all parties in the Church."15

The Bishop resigned the see of Huron in 1883 under somewhat peculiar circumstances. The Bishop of Ripon (Dr. Bickersteth) desired to have Dr. Hellmuth appointed his Suffragan under the Act of Henry VIII. Dr. Hellmuth, being informed that his title was to be Bishop of Hull, and that the letters patent could not be executed till he had resigned the see of Huron, formally resigned that see on March 29, 1883.

In his last charge, delivered before the Synod of the Diocese, the Bishop's broad and loving sympathies found vent in the following expressions: – "I am fully persuaded, as I said on a former occasion, that the glory of the Church is her assimilation to Christ. And never will her usefulness and her splendour reach their meridian until the love of a common Saviour shall bind together every heart and unite every hand. Envy, jealousy, evil surmisings and uncharitableness can only tend to weaken and scatter the resources of the Church and palsy her exertions; but, when through the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit, arm shall be linked to arm, and heart to heart, and prayer to prayer, – when to love and serve Christ, and to anticipate heaven, and to save immortal souls, – when these shall be the grand and all absorbing terms of Christian communion, – oh, then, what a firm and powerful phalanx shall go forth from the Church of the living God against the powers of darkness and the enemies of men! For this oneness of aim I would again repeat, Pray, strive and labour."

The news of the Bishop's resignation was received with great regret throughout the Dominion, and a service of plate was presented to him with an address from the standing committee of the diocese.

On March 21, 1883, the Bishop of Ripon issued a Pastoral to his diocese, in which he formally announced the Royal assent to the appointment of Dr. Hellmuth as Bishop Suffragan of Hull. In the following May, nearly two months after Dr. Hellmuth's resignation of the see of Huron, the law officers of the Crown discovered that the Act of Henry VIII. did not apply to any one already in Episcopal orders, and that therefore Dr. Hellmuth could not become Bishop Suffragan of Hull. Bishop Hellmuth, who was thus placed in an extremely anomalous position, appealed to the then Governor-General of Canada, Lord Lorne (the present Duke of Argyll), who made representations to Mr. Gladstone, at that time the Prime Minister. In reply, Mr. Gladstone pointed out that the Bishop of Ripon still intended to avail himself of Dr. Hellmuth's services as his Assistant Bishop or Bishop Coadjutor. Bishop Hellmuth then took up his work in the diocese of Ripon as Assistant Bishop, although the position was obviously very different from what he had been led to expect when he resigned the see of Huron. With the consent of Bishop Bickersteth, further representations were made to Mr. Gladstone, who replied expressing regret for the error which had been committed. By the death of Bishop Bickersteth, in 1884, Dr. Hellmuth's position became still more trying, for his commission as Bishop Coadjutor ceased, and he made another appeal to Mr. Gladstone for some suitable preferment, but without success. He was rector and rural dean of Bridlington from 1885 to 1891, and perpetual curate of Bessingby from 1888 to 1891. In the latter year the Colonial and Continental Church Society gave him the chaplaincy of Holy Trinity, Pau, which he held for six years. He was subsequently rector of Compton-Pauncefoot, Somerset, from 1897 to 1899, when he retired owing to failing health. He passed away within two years, on May 28, 1901, at the advanced age of eighty-one.

Bishop Hellmuth was the author of "The Biblical Thesaurus" (1884), a literal translation and critical analysis of every word in the original languages of the Old Testament, with explanatory notes and appendices; and "The Divine Dispensation," a critical commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures. Amongst his minor contributions to literature may be mentioned two articles in "The Everlasting Nation"; one on "The Authenticity and Genuineness of the Pentateuch," (1867) and the other on "The Spirit of Prophecy," a luminous paper on the allusions in the Old Testament to the Messiah of his race.

The Bishop married, first, Catherine, daughter of the late General Thomas Evans, C.B., who died in 1884, and secondly, in 1886, Mary Louisa, second daughter of Admiral the Hon. Arthur Duncombe, son of the first Baron Feversham, and widow of the Hon. Ashley Carr Glyn, son of the first Baron Wolverton.

The Bishop, as was natural, ever evinced hearty and unbounded interest in the spiritual welfare of his brethren according to the flesh, and on many occasions advocated, from pulpit and platform, their claims to the Gospel. In the work of the London Jews' Society he was especially interested. Towards the end of his life he frequently presided over the meetings of its Committee, amongst whom he was ever a persona grata. His solid learning, acquaintance with the languages and modes of thought of his own people, sound common sense, wise and prudent counsels, as well as his urbanity and courtesy, made him an ideal chairman. He had unlimited sympathy with those engaged in what he regarded as a great and important work, for he could enter fully into its arduous character and numerous difficulties. Many a time did he pay a friendly visit to the Society's House, – a delightful interlude in official routine – to encourage and to sympathize; on one occasion narrating the thrilling story of how, in early youth, he had found Him whom his soul loved. The Bishop's sterling qualities of heart and mind, his confiding nature and buoyant temperament, and his bright and happy face, always infused sunshine wherever he went.

One who knew him writes: – "We cannot forego one personal word in grateful appreciation and loving remembrance of the charming personality of one, whom, during the latter period of his long and honoured life, we were privileged to call our friend. To know him was indeed to love him as well as to honour and esteem. His sweet and gentle nature, his amiable disposition, his beautiful character, his fatherly attitude, and his unfailing tenderness and sympathy, have indelibly associated him in our mind with the beloved disciple St. John, whose last words would have been natural indeed upon his lips, 'Little children, love one another.'"

Heyman, Heinrich Wilhelm David, son of a shochet (slaughterer) in poor circumstances. When he was only ten years old, he was obliged to give lessons to peasant boys in order to help his father. He was fond of reading, and read Lessing's and Mendelssohn's works, and this caused him to get new ideas of the world, and to keep aloof from the Talmud. Coming in contact later on with Dr. Heinrich Ditmar, the author of a universal history, he learned from him to know the Gospel, and he and his wife and three children were baptized in 1833. Then his mother and wife refused to have anything to do with him. Then a son and daughter got very ill, and he was tempted with the thought that he was punished for his apostasy, yet he persevered in prayer, and could triumphantly exclaim in the midst of his troubles, "Lord Jesus, Thou art still my Lord and my Saviour." At last, in 1844, he was called by the friends of Israel in Basel, to be the principal of the house for proselytes in that city, which office he held faithfully, with great ability and usefulness in many directions, till his death in 1868. One of his sons became pastor at Altbayern, and the other, Frederick, who was formerly pastor in the Pfalz, succeeded him as principal and agent of the Basel Mission to the Jews, and became a professor in the University there.

Herschell, Moses (Christian Moritz), was born at Breslau, September 13, 1754. In 1804 he embraced Christianity, and at his baptism assumed the name of Christian Moritz. Among his works, the following deserve mentioning: "Kampf der Jüdischen Hierarchie," Breslau, 1784; "Jüdische Intoleranz und Fanatismus in Breslau," ib. 1789; "Patriotische Bemerkungen," ib. 1790; "Ueber die Allzufrühen Ehen der Jüdischen Nation," 1790; "Apologie der Menschenrechte," Zurich, 1793; "Biographie des Jüdischen Gelehrten und Dichters, Ephraim Moses Kuh," ib. 1791.

Herschell, Rev. Ridley Hayim, born at Stozelno (Posen), April 7, 1807, was strictly brought up, together with his four brothers, in Jewish orthodoxy. When quite young he had a desire to become a rabbi, and left home seeking to enter some rabbinical school. In his wanderings he was overtaken by robbers, but escaped. At the age of fourteen, he came to Rabbi Aron in the town where his grandfather Hillel resided; there he remained two years among the Chassidim, seeking, after their manner, in vain to become perfectly righteous before God. How he came to the knowledge of Him who is the Lord our Righteousness, he has himself recorded in the following pages:

"Having been favoured by God with pious parents, their great care was to impress my mind from childhood with a profound reverence for God, and for the Holy Scriptures. I was taught to repeat the morning and evening prayers with great solemnity; and on the feast days my attention was particularly drawn to the impressive confession in our Liturgy, 'It is because of our sins we are driven away from our land,' &c. On the Day of Atonement I used to see my devout parents weep when they repeated the pathetic confession that follows the enumeration of the sacrifices which were appointed by God to be offered up for the sins of omission; and many a time I shed sympathetic tears as I joined them in saying, that we have now no temple, no high priest, no altar, and no sacrifices. As I advanced in years and understanding, my religious impressions became stronger; fear and trembling often took hold upon me; and what was then my refuge, – what the balm for my wounded spirit? Repeating more prayers, and asking God to accept the calves of my lips. This satisfied my mind at the time; but the satisfaction arose from ignorance of the character of God as a holy and a just Being, and of my own state as a guilty sinner, whose prayers proceeding from unclean lips, could not be accepted as a sweet savour by the thrice holy Lord God of Sabaoth.

"I continued in this state of mind until I was about sixteen years of age. During this period of my life, I often spent three sleepless nights in the week, studying the Talmud, and other Hebrew works. I also committed to memory several chapters of the prophets every week, in order that I might become sufficiently familiar with the Hebrew language to correspond in it. At this period I became acquainted with a Polish Jew, who had studied several years at the University of Berlin, and consequently had become acquainted with Gentile literature. He strongly advised me to give up the study of the Talmud, and devote myself to the study of German and secular literature. After a hard struggle of mind, I resolved to follow his advice, and accordingly went to – . Here there was not only a change in the character of my studies, but an entire change in my habits and mode of life. Many things that I formerly regarded as essential parts of my religion, were considered by my fellow-students alt modisch (old fashioned), quite unfit for the aufgeklärten (enlightened). At first my conscience was much disturbed, and I was often very unhappy; but, after a time, these feelings wore off; I conformed to the manners of my fellow-students, and I also 'lived like a Christian,' as the Jews in those parts are wont to say of such of their brethren as have no fear of God before their eyes. I formed acquaintance with many young Gentiles; and this I could now do with impunity, as neither they nor I troubled ourselves about each other's religion; neither of us, in reality, having any, although they called themselves Christians, and I was a Jew. The only thing that reminded me what people I belonged to, was the look of contempt I received now and then from Christians; and the little children in the streets calling after me, 'Jew, Jew.' Then, indeed, I realized that I belonged to the people who have become a proverb and a by-word among the Gentiles.

"I well remember the first time I ever heard of one of my brethren becoming a convert to Christianity. It was a young Jew, who was apprenticed to a tradesman in the town where I studied. My idea of Jewish converts to Christianity was, that they renounced their national privileges and obligations; that they separated themselves from the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and publicly joined themselves to the ungodly Gentiles, who live without God, and without hope in the world. Although at this time I had laid aside many of the outward observances of the Jewish religion, I had still a strong attachment to the fundamental doctrines of the Jewish faith, because I believed them to be of Divine origin. The idea of any Jew becoming a Christian, therefore, seemed to me a dreadful apostasy; and I regarded the youth above-mentioned with mingled pity and contempt, as one who had forsaken God, and given up all hope of eternal life.

"I pass over in silence several years of my life, which were devoted to the world, and the things of the world; during which time I kept up such a measure of conformity to the customs of my religion as I considered respectable and consistent; but my early convictions and impressions were faded and forgotten; and I belonged to that class whom the Psalmist designates 'men of the world, which have their portion in this life.'

"In process of time the Lord laid His afflicting hand upon me. The death of my beloved mother, whose tenderness to me I remember to this day with the deepest gratitude and affection, was a heavy stroke to me, and plunged me into the utmost grief. I was then visited with sickness, and my conscience became much disturbed. What I then endured can only be expressed in the language of the sixth Psalm. I solemnly vowed to become very religious; I resolved to fast one day in every week, to repeat many prayers, and show kindness and charity to the poor. But this could not pacify my guilty conscience, as the study of German literature had weakened my confidence in religious observances, – had driven me from my own religion, and given me nothing in its place. One day I was in acute distress of mind, feeling, as David expresses it, that I had sunk 'in deep mire, where there is no standing'; that all my own efforts to free myself were of no avail, my struggles only made me sink deeper and deeper. For the first time in my life I prayed extempore. I cried out, 'O God! I have no one to help me, and I dare not approach Thee, for I am guilty; help, O help me, for the sake of my father Abraham, who was willing to offer up his son Isaac, have mercy upon me, and impute his righteousness unto me.' But there was no answer from God, – no peace to my wounded spirit. I felt as if God had forsaken me; as if the Lord had cast me off for ever, and would be favourable no more. I fully understood the words of the Psalmist, 'Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart faileth me' (Psalm xl. 12); and I felt that all my devotional exercises were what the prophet Isaiah was instructed to declare the sacrifices and offerings of the Jews in his days to be, – vain oblations, an abomination in the sight of God.

"I was far from my home and relatives; and my gay companions, seeing I was depressed in spirits, though ignorant of the real cause of this depression, earnestly urged me to frequent the theatres, and other public amusements, to cheer my mind. At first this partially succeeded; but the merciful kindness of God left me not thus to my own devices, but graciously interposed, and again roused me to seek after more solid happiness.

"God, in his tender mercy, had again disturbed and disquieted my conscience so much, that I fully realised the words of the Psalmist, 'I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly, I go mourning all the day long, for my loins are filled with a loathsome disease, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken; I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart' (Psalm xxxviii. 6-8). I had no peace nor rest; but wherever I went, or however I was employed, I carried about with me a sense of misery that was intolerable. I could say with Job, 'The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit' (Job vi. 4).

"One morning I went to purchase an article in a shop, little knowing that God had there stored up for me the 'pearl of great price,' which He was about to give me 'without money and without price.' The article I purchased was wrapped up in a leaf of the Bible, which contained a portion of the Sermon on the Mount. The shopkeeper was, probably, an infidel, who thought the Bible merely waste paper; but God over-ruled the evil for good. As I was walking home my eyes glanced on the words: 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.' This arrested my attention, and I read the whole passage with deep interest.

"'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their's is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for their's is the kingdom of heaven.' (St. Matthew v. 3-10.)