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' Institution for some considerable time, Dr. Ewald employed him as his assistant, 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 amassed 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 entitled, "Principal 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' Institution 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 God 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 passed 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 Strassburg. 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 entitled, "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 Marseilles, 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 circumstances. 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 Principal 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 Glück. 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 für Politik, Handel, und Gewerbe." In 1843, he published at Paris, "Zür 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 passed away in 1883, in London.
Massena. All that is known about him is a tract, published at Strassburg, in 1859, entitled "Massena ein Wahrer Israelite oder die Kraft Gottes."
Massiah, 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 Fürth, 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 God." 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 Fürth for baptism in 1748. However, on account of the commotion created among the Jews, he went to Nürnberg, 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 classics. He was then sent to a Talmud School, but the Talmud did not satisfy his thirst for useful, solid knowledge, so he sent a petition 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 Nürnberg. "Beschreibung des Jüdischen Sabbath," 1750; "Die Verderbniss des heutigen Judenthums," 1752; "Beschreibung des Jüdischen Neujahrfestes," 1755; "Beschreibung des Jüdischen Purimfestes," 1758; "Beschreibung des Jüdischen Yom Kippur," 1760; "Sammlung Talmudisches Lehrsätze," Schwabach, 1763; "Abhandlung von der Verleumdung," 1765; "Sendschreiben an Rabbi Peloni aus der Stadt Lo-Theda," 1766; "Kurzgefaste Talmudische Lehrsätze von der Nothwendigkeit sich in den Ehestand zu begeben," no date; "Beweis von der Uebereinstimmung der alten Israelitischen Kabbalah mit der Lehre des Apostel Paulus," no date; "Beweisgrunde von der Uebereinstimmung der Altjüdischen Lehre mit der Lehre der Christen," 1770; "Kristliche gesinnte Erklärung der Kabbalisten über das Hohelied," 1776.
Mayer, Rev. W., was educated both in the school and college of the L.J.S. in London. In 1855, he succeeded his brother-in-law, the Rev. A. I. Behrens, at Jassy, where he was assistant missionary for some time previously. He had there a most flourishing school, containing about 300 scholars. Mayer, who was a very intellectual man, was somewhat affected by the criticism on the Bible by Bishop Colenso, and he also was of the opinion that the Jews ought to have their own Christian Church. This led to his severance from the Society. He, however, remained in Jassy all his life, and revised the Roumanian Bible for the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Mendelssohn, Abraham, second son of Moses Mendelssohn the philosopher, was born in Berlin in 1779. In 1804, he married Leah, a sister of Jacob Levi Solomon Bartholdi. The latter having become a Protestant Christian in 1805, influenced his sister and brother-in-law to follow his example. Whilst his father had resisted the arguments and persuasion of Lavater to take this step, he declared: – "Formerly I was the son of my father, now I am the father of my son." Accordingly, he had his children – Felix, Fanny, Rebecca, and Paul – baptized in the Evangelical Church, under the additional name of Bartholdi.
Mendelssohn, Dorothea, a daughter of the philosopher Felix, became a Protestant in Paris in 1802.
Mendelssohn, Felix Bartholdi, was born at Hamburg, February 3, 1809, and died 1857. When he was four years old his parents removed to Berlin. His father at once procured teachers in music for him, as he had begun thus early to show great talent in that direction. His teachers on the piano were Louis Bezer, and Zelter, the friend of Goethe. The chapel choirmaster, Mr. Hennings, gave him instruction on the violin. The father of the poet, Paul Heyse, who later became the celebrated philologist, was his private tutor in the home of the Mendelssohns, where the intellectual aristocracy of Berlin frequently assembled. When Felix was nine years old he appeared for the first time at a public concert, where his remarkable performances won him great applause. Two years later, we find him in a Berlin Musical Academy, where he studied church music under Zelter's direction. When he was twelve years old, Zelter placed him in the Olympic in Weimar, where he made remarkable progress. When he was fourteen, we find him a guest at Goethe's house, and his host wrote thus to Zelter: – "Felix's productions astonish everybody." No one was more delighted at the boy's success than his father, who took pride in gratifying his son's every wish regarding his musical education, and the latter's diligence amply rewarded any outlay. Before Felix was out of his teens he had written four operas. His father accompanied him to Paris, where he had the education of the best teachers of the time. Soon after he went to London, where he wrote an original overture founded upon Shakespere's "Midsummer Night's Dream," which attracted the attention of the celebrated singer, Henrietta Sonntag, and won a great triumph for its composer – he was then twenty years old. He became a member of a Philharmonic Society. He spent some time in Rome, where he composed "Die Walpinges nacht," and arranged the one hundred and fifteenth psalm to music. He also visited Naples. This Italian town made a lasting impression upon his mind. He played before many of the crowned heads of Europe. King Frederick William IV. of Prussia was greatly interested in the young composer, and employed him to write the music for the "Tragedy of Sophocles." His success greatly excited the jealousy of the older musicians, but the King became his dearest friend. Mendelssohn played in 1841 before Queen Victoria. He thus described the occasion in a letter to his "dear little mother." "I asked Prince Albert, the Queen's husband, to play something on the organ for me. He complied. His playing – so beautiful and perfect – many an organist might have envied him. Then I played and sang my chorus from "St. Paul," "How beautiful are the messengers." When I had finished the first stanza, the Queen and Prince Albert joined in the singing. The Queen asked if I had any new compositions; if so, she would gladly have them printed. We went into her salon, where there was a piano. I played and sang again. She praised my playing and singing, and when I bade them adieu said: 'I hope you will soon visit us in England again.'" This brilliant career was speedily cut short. The death of his dearly beloved sister Fanny, in the spring of 1847, affected him seriously. All his compositions thereafter were melancholy. He became nervous and irritable. He could not apply himself to his work, but would sit for hours with his hands folded. After a brief illness he died on November 4, 1857, when he was only thirty-six. Three days after, he was carried to his grave by the side of his sister Fanny Hensel, in Trinity Cemetery, Berlin. Felix Mendelssohn was a favourite of the German people – a musical genius like Weber and Schubert. He put his whole life and soul into his work. His early death confirms Neander's words – also a Hebrew Christian – "Whom the gods love die young." God gave him a musical gift, which he delighted to use for His glory.
Mendelssohn, Henrietta, daughter of the banker, Alexander Mendelssohn, was baptized in Berlin in 1822.
Mendelssohn, Nathan, the third son of Moses Mendelssohn, was born in 1782. In 1809, he was baptized by the Reformed Pastor Petiscus, assuming the name of Carl Theodor Nathanael Mendelssohn. He became a mechanic by profession, and was at the head of a large industry in Silesia. He was a sincere Christian, and took an interest in missionary work among the Jews. He requested the missionaries of the L.J.S. in 1826 to supply him with Bibles for distribution among his workmen. He died in Berlin in 1852.
Mensor, Rev. Dr. Meyer, studied theology in Berlin, where he received the degree of D.D. in 1846. He was subsequently chief rabbi of Chicago. After embracing Christianity, he was ordained by the Archbishop of York in 1861-2. After holding several curacies in the North of England, he was appointed Vicar of Stoke Mandeville in 1879, where he preached the Gospel for many years, and took a great interest in missions to the Jews.
Meyer, Friedrich Christian, born in Hamburg in the second half of the seventeenth century, died in Belgium about 1738. After having been baptized at Bremen, he became a missionary and travelled for thirty years. He was the author of the following works: (1) "Licht zu Erleuchten die Juden," exalting the glory of Christ (Leipzig, 1711). (2) "Meirath Enayim," a pamphlet written in German, in which the author drew a parallel between Moses and Christ, shewing the supremacy of the latter (Amsterdam, 1713). (3) "Der Abscheuliche Mord Christi," in which he endeavoured to demonstrate that the duration of the exile of the Jews can be attributed only to the Crucifixion of our Lord, Hamburg, 1719. (4) "Vera Immanuelis Generatio," written in Hebrew, and demonstrating the Deity of Jesus from the prophets, especially from Isaiah vii. 14.
Meyer, Hermann Edward, was born in Gross Glogau in Germany, 1796, and converted in 1817; he studied in Halle, and became professor of law and philology in Greifswald and in Halle. He wrote mostly about Greek laws, "Attischen Process," Halle, 1824. In 1828 he became editor of the "Allgemeine Literatur Zeitung," and especially contributed to the "Allgemeine Encyklopædie" of Ersch and Grüber. He died in 1855.
Meyer, Rev. Jonas Theodor, was born in Crivitz, a small town in Mecklenberg, January 30, 1819, and died in New Jersey, March 14, 1896. His early Hebrew education he received from a Polish Jew in the Cheder, and then he was sent to relatives in Schwerin, where he studied in the Gymnasium, so that at the age of fifteen he was in the first class. As far as religion is concerned, he was taught to fear God, but he knew very little of the love of God, so that he only lived to appease the divine wrath by ascetic practices and good works. This did not satisfy his soul, and he resorted to worldly pleasures, but neither did he find satisfaction in them. At this juncture he met with the writings of R. S. Hirsch, the then leader of orthodoxy, and with those of mystic Plessner, which awakened him somewhat from his spiritual slumber. He then began to study the Scriptures, and trusted to God's grace and mercy for the pardon of his sins, yet he found no peace. Thereupon he came in contact with Dr. Holdheimer, the leader of the Reformed Jews, and by him was appointed teacher in Schwerin, in 1841, and subsequently recommended as Reformed rabbi to a congregation in Butzow. But the Reform movement at that time went to extremes. The rabbis denied the belief in the Messiah at a congress, from which Meyer dissented. He was placed in a predicament between the extremes of Orthodoxy and Reform, in neither of which he could observe vital religion, so he began to study the New Testament. At first only its sublime ethics attracted him, but by and by it was the Person and life of Christ which drew him by the Holy Spirit to Himself. Then he met the missionary Dr. Schwarz, and from him he heard the Gospel, and attended the lectures of Neander on Galatians, and those of Hengstenberg, on the history of the kingdom of God, on the Old Testament, and on its Christology, and was baptized by Dr. Schwarz, July 18, 1847. In 1848 he left the University of Berlin and went to Scotland, and studied theology at the College of the Free Church at Aberdeen. Afterwards he became assistant Professor of Hebrew to Dr. Duncan in New College, Edinburgh. In 1857 he was ordained by Dr. Candish to do ministerial work among the Germans in Edinburgh. In 1858 he was sent as a missionary to the Jews in Galatz, Roumania, whence he was transferred in 1862 to Ancona, Italy. From there he was sent in 1867 to Amsterdam, to succeed Dr. Schwarz, who went to London. In 1871 he was requested by the English Presbyterians to take charge of their mission in London, in which he laboured ardently and successfully until his retirement in 1894.
Mollis, Rev. M. L., thus writes of himself: – "I was born in Russia of Jewish parents, and in the heart of Talmudical study, zeal for traditional observances, and great orthodoxy. My education was therefore thoroughly Jewish, and I sincerely and firmly believed in all I was taught, both at home and in school, as being the commandments of God, and that in the keeping of them there was great reward.
"Thus far a good foundation was laid, in which I gloried and thanked God that I was born a Jew and well brought up and instructed in the holy law of God and the prophets, and, moreover, in the Oral Law and the teaching of the wise men in Israel.
"I may also add here that I was likewise taught several modern languages, and received a fair secular education. For this I have to thank several members of my family at home, who cherished some higher plans in reference to my future career. My father and mother were dead, and it had been their desire that I should learn the banking business when I was old enough. This was not to my taste, and after trying it for awhile, I left home, and went first to Odessa and then to Roumania to visit my uncle. I did not stop very long with him, but left the country and went eastward.
"It was during my travels abroad that I first came into contact with Jewish missionaries, and heard of Jesus Christ. I had not read the New Testament before, or even heard of such a book, as far as I can now remember. I was therefore perfectly ignorant of Christianity, and knew nothing of the Gospel. Of course, I heard at home of Russian and Roman Catholic Christianity, but I was a Jew and forbidden to enquire into their religion, or to read their books. One thing, however, I remember, made some impression upon me, and that occurred when I was in Odessa. I saw there some Germans who were Lutherans, and noticed how different they were in their lives and manners from other people around them, but I never enquired where the change came from. And so it was at first when I heard of the missionaries, for I really did not quite know their religion and what they were teaching. I went one day out of curiosity to hear one of them read and expound some chapters on Isaiah the prophet. But when the reader asserted that Jesus Christ was the true Messiah, I felt indignant and strongly opposed him. It was an insult, I thought, to suppose that the Jews were in error in regard to Jesus of Nazareth, that the Christians were right, and that our holy religion was inferior to Christianity. I visited, however, the missionary several times afterwards, and argued with him. In the meantime the New Testament was put into my hands, and I was requested to read it. I did so, but I did not relish it, because of the Deity ascribed therein to Jesus Christ. This was the crucial point with me at the time. Still, I continued to read the New Testament; but, I confess it with shame, I often threw the book away from me, or dropped it down on the ground.
"Thus for two years the struggle went on, but I searched the Scriptures earnestly and diligently, and besought the Lord to help me, until, by the grace of God, I found the truth, and Jesus Christ was revealed unto me as the suffering, despised and crucified Messiah, who endured all for my sins, for the sins of my nation and of the whole world. The change that came upon me was indeed great; my pride vanished, my dislike of Christ disappeared, all opposition to the truth ceased, and I felt a wonderful love to Him who first loved me, and who gave Himself for me.
"I can only speak of it now as a new creation. But it was the view of Jesus Christ upon the Cross which melted my heart. I cannot explain it in words, but it was a reality, and held me fast and absorbed all my thoughts until I could almost realize the words of the prophet Zechariah, 'And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced and mourn.' And I did mourn too!