Stern not only worked in London, but also held special services for Jews in many other towns. He combined with his mission work the supervision of the "Wanderers' Home," a most useful institution for the reception of converts and enquirers.
In 1874, on the thirtieth anniversary of his ordination, his Hebrew Christian and other friends presented him with a testimonial – a silver tea and coffee service – as a slight token of their esteem; and in 1881 the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1884 he was elected a member of the Committee of the L.J.S., where his vast and varied experience was of the utmost use; and he was also elected an Associate of the Victoria Institute.
Stern's work in London was carried on to the time of his death, which occurred, after much suffering, on May 13, 1885. The funeral service was held in the Episcopal Jews' Chapel, Palestine Place, on May 18, in the presence of a large and sorrowing congregation, and his mortal remains laid to rest in Ilford Cemetery. He was twice married: first, in 1850, to Miss Charlotte Elizabeth Purday, who died in 1874; and secondly, in 1883, to Miss Rebecca Goff, daughter of S. D. Goff, Esq., of Horetown, Co. Wexford.
As a preacher Stern was eloquence itself; as a writer he had a most charming and picturesque diction. His published journals and books, like those of Dr. Wolff, are full of the most romantic incidents of missionary experience. His published works were: "Dawning of Light in the East" (1854), being an account of his work in Persia, Kurdistan and Mesopotamia; "Wanderings amongst the Falashas in Abyssinia" (1862); and "The Captive Missionary" (1868), both narratives of his Abyssinian experiences.
That he was of the spirit of which martyrs are made, the following extracts from his letters, written during the long and dreary days of his captivity in Abyssinia, clearly demonstrate: —
"Thank God, in the midst of my troubles, cares and anxieties, I enjoy the profoundest calm and resignation. It is true there are days when the heart pulsates with gratitude and joy, and there are days when it throbs beneath the mortifying agonies of despondency. Sometimes I feel as if I could not endure another week the fetters which encircle my limbs, and confine me in painful inactivity to this desolate rock. Such rebellious sentiments I generally try to suppress, and if this is impossible, I seek comfort in the thought, that all is ordered in wisdom and infinite love. Our heavenly Father hath, no doubt, an object in this protracted captivity, and when once the veil of mystery is lifted up, every incident and circumstance which hath wrung a prayer or extorted a groan from the grieved soul, will prove to have been in harmony with the designs of a gracious Providence, and fraught with inestimable blessings."
And again, "Our nerves were horrible shattered, and our minds, too, would have been unhinged, had not religion, with her solacing influence, soothed the asperities and hardships of our existence. The Bible, prayers, and a morning and evening exposition of an appropriate passage were the exercises in which we regularly engaged. No bitter gibes, no harsh expressions, no unbecoming word characterised our intercourse; religion formed a wonderful bond of harmony, and when I looked on the devout countenances that there hung over the inspired page, as I commented on the selected text, I cherished the pleasing hope that the clouds, so big with wrath, had been charged with showers of everlasting mercy. At such a period – I say it solemnly – the punctured head, the riven side, the pierced feet, and the heavy cross of redeeming love, is a sight that nerves and supports the drooping and desponding spirit. In my distress and sorrow, I threw myself on the bosom of a sympathizing Saviour, and if I was not happy, I was at least resigned."
No one can estimate the abundance of spiritual harvest from the long life of toil and labour which Stern spent to the honour and glory of his Master. He sowed in tears, he led captivity captive, he turned many to righteousness, and of him it may confidently be said, that he will shine as a star for ever and ever.23
Stern, Herman, gives the following sketch of his history: – "My father was a rabbi and teacher of the Talmud at Prague, at Strakenitz, and somewhat later at Bamberg. I had the happiness to be instructed by him in the Bible and in the Talmud, from my tenth to my twenty-first year, and during this period of eleven years, I also attended some Christian schools. On the decease of my father, who died in his seventy-sixth year, duty no longer demanded my residence at Bamberg, and having applied to the then 'Court Commission' (Hofcommission) at Würzburg, for the situation of Jewish teacher at Höchburg, which was at that time vacant, I obtained it. The Jewish inhabitants of Höchburg were pious, and previous to my coming there the children of the rich had been instructed by private tutors. But as the former had been unwilling that the children of the less fortunate Jewish parents should share this instruction, these felt themselves obliged to petition the authorities for the appointment of a public teacher, which was answered, quite unexpectedly to the rich, by my installation. It was, therefore, to be expected that the wealthier Jews would not be pleased with the new school; and when at last the authorities would no longer suffer the private tutors to remain at Höchburg, obliging the rich Jews to send their children to the public school, the latter became to them an object of hatred. This hatred to the school was now transferred to me, and I was persecuted in every possible way. The wealthier Jews complained of me, because I permitted the boys to sit bare-headed; because I kept no wash-basin in the school-room, and what gave me most trouble, though it was not raised into a point of accusation, because I had often inculcated the duty of love to Christians, whom the 'Shulchan Aruch,' denominated idolaters.
"I endeavoured to conform in my religious instruction to the letter and spirit of the Holy Scriptures, and could not avoid alluding to the defectiveness and emptiness of the synagogue ceremonial, as taught in the Talmud and the Jewish code 'Shulchan Aruch.'
"This course was complained of before the chief rabbi of the district; and for my own security, I requested the Government that the rabbi be instructed to superintend the religious instruction of my school, and to subject it to one or two examinations annually. Mr. Bing, the chief rabbi, however, begged to be excused from doing so, stating that my religious instruction did not please him. The Government then demanded of the rabbi either to propose one of the existing religious compendiums as a text-book for schools, or else to write one himself.
"The rabbi offered to do the latter. In the third year of my public services, the Government sent me to the town of Heidingsfeld, and before leaving Höchburg, I received a testimonial from the royal school-inspector of the district, expressing the satisfaction my labours had given to the Government.
"I had been nearly two years in the school at Höchburg, when the Government sent me, and all other Jewish teachers of the kingdom, the new text-book of the Mosaic religion which the rabbinical candidate, Dr. Alexander Behr, had written, under the surveillance and direction of the chief rabbi, Mr. Abraham Bing, and which the rabbi at Fürth, and many other influential Jewish ecclesiastics, had adopted; Government signifying at the same time that it was the desire of His Majesty the King to have this book introduced in all Jewish schools. I received joyfully this book, which promised to meet the urgent necessities of the schools. But I was doomed to severe disappointment; the 160 octavo pages which this volume contains, were almost entirely filled with ceremonial laws, treating of phylacteries, inscriptions, fringes, circumcisions, meats, the prohibition of shaving, the creed, &c. Not a word, and much less an exposition of morality, of conscience, of virtue, of holiness, of the condition and destiny of man.
"In that portion of the book which treats of God, there was an entire omission of His power, His wisdom, His goodness, His mercy and holiness, and of all the lessons derived from these attributes and perfections. Not even the Decalogue found a place in this work.
"The Messiah (as well as many other similar predictions) it explained to signify a period of time when all men should know God and serve Him.
"I directed the attention of the Government to this dead skeleton, shewing that I could not receive this book as my guide in religious instruction. I prayed for permission to follow my own course of instruction, and pledged myself to have my lessons printed and submitted to the chief rabbi.
"My petition was granted; and this was the beginning of trouble. My book on the 'Confirmation of Israelites' followed in 1829. It was the more gladly received by the public, since I confirmed all my positions by quotations from the Talmud, which I translated literally. The second volume, which I published in 1835, under the title of the 'Tree of Life,' was as kindly received. Both these books continue as standards in many schools of various countries, and prove that even the Talmudists of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries drank from the evangelical source of life. In like manner also, 'The Confession of Faith of the Israelites,' as delineated in my works, the 'Confirmation,' pages 140-46, and the 'Tree of Life,' pages 226-243, remain in full credit among the Jews to this day, nor have the rabbis ventured to say ought against it, although it refers to the New Testament both in the text itself and in the notes.
"Five-and-twenty years have I been openly inculcating these principles in my schools and in the synagogues, and never have either the Jewish deputies delegated by the Government to attend my public examinations, nor the great number of Jews who assisted on such occasions, uttered an objection; this is a proof that my religious principles were not a baseless fabric, or, as is too often the case in the statements of our rabbis, the result of mere whim or conjecture.
"The kindly, but often misconstrued feelings of His Majesty, Ludovic I., towards the Jews of his realm, which had been manifested by his establishment of national schools for them, by the appointment of regularly educated rabbis, the free admission of the Jews to all the existing Christian scholastic institutions, and the manifold favours enjoyed by Jewish mechanics, &c., were again shewn in the year 1836, by his convoking of Jewish committees.
"These consisted of rabbis, Jewish teachers, and delegates of communities. They met in all the provincial capitals of the kingdom in the public edifices, where they held regular sessions, under the presidency of a royal commissary, to solve such questions in theological, scholastic, and social matters, as had arisen during the then contemplated Jewish emancipation; and to give the Government their advice.
"One of the questions before the Committee at Würzburg was – Whether the Jewish doctrines acknowledge or reject the belief in the Trinity, as contained in the Old Testament. The rabbis consulted on this weighty point in private sessions, which I attended, having been chosen by a majority of votes as one of the referees; and they thereupon declared in the public session briefly that the doctrine of the Trinity is not contained in the Old Testament, on which account also the Jews did not acknowledge this doctrine.
"The president then demanded that every one agreeing with the declaration of the rabbis should rise. All the rabbis, all the teachers, and all the delegates (116 individuals) arose. I only remained sitting, and then handed to the president a written notice, stating that I should beg the rabbis, in a circular which should be printed, to give me an explanation of various difficulties that I entertained on this point, before I could accede to the declaration made by them.
"My circular, entitled 'Israelitism in its Excellency and its Burden' ('Israelitenthum in seiner Würde und Bürde) was printed during these sessions (which lasted six weeks), and produced a universal sensation. The rabbis took it very ill that I had ventured on this step, notwithstanding I had been shewn, as in a camera obscura, in glaring colours, my prospective misery; but they did not answer my circular. Only Dr. Romann, the chief rabbi at Cassel, and Mr. J. Heidegger, a teacher of the Talmud at Fürth, wrote each one a pamphlet against me. Both of them, however, scarcely touched upon the point, and were contented with abuse, cursing, and persecution.
"My school at Heidingsfeld was advised to institute a complaint against me, as having, through my circular, shaken the basis of my religion, and to found thereon a request for my removal. The Government, however, declined entertaining the complaint; since, by issuing my circular, I had adopted the very course which the rabbis themselves had pointed out when asked how a Jew should proceed in case that religious doubts should arise; since there was no supreme religious tribunal in existence to whom the case might be referred; the rabbis having declared that in such an event a circular letter stating the question should be addressed by the enquirer to all Jewish theologians.
"These reasons were too weighty to encourage an appeal to the royal 'Ministerium,' although my opponents anticipated a favourable decision from this event for themselves, notwithstanding their unholy aim.
"They, however, preferred to accuse me anew as having transgressed my religion, namely, by having taught in my schools that in case of necessity the Jews were permitted to break the laws relating to the Sabbath in order to relieve a fellow-man.
"I was cited and heard, and having confessed the truth of the charge, the royal 'Ministerium' resolved on my penal removal to the school at Main-Stockheim.
"This severe penalty could not have been inflicted, if the rabbis had not represented that Jews were not permitted to violate the Sabbatical laws in order to relieve a fellow-man.
"I was therefore obliged to leave a town where so many persons and objects were dear to me, and where I had enjoyed that rare happiness of teachers – to instruct the children of my former pupils. I was forced to leave two pretty little gardens which I had gradually raised on desert spots, and the trees which I had planted at the birth of each of my children.
"I departed; my wife and children followed me weeping, and the tears of many others comforted me.
"In November, 1837, I arrived in the village of Main-Stockheim, the place of destination, as the appointed Jewish teacher of religion. The Jewish community belonged to the orthodox or pious class. I was shewn to three small rooms as my residence, and their gloomy appearance was little calculated to cheer my mind.
"I observed that this dwelling could not accommodate myself and family; and begged the Jewish School-Community (Schulgemeinde) to grant me other rooms, or else to enlarge these; but it was in vain. I was obliged to convert the lobby into a dormitory for my children. The little rooms, owing to their disproportionate loftiness, were cold and uncomfortable, and so damp that we had thick ice within, near the windows. My wife and some of my children fell sick; and I felt myself obliged, and in duty bound, to petition the royal land-tribunal for the enlargement of my dwelling, and my petition was shortly granted.
"But the Jewish Warden appealed to a higher tribunal, the Government; and when the former decision was confirmed, they appealed to the Ministerium. Much time was thus lost, and I obtained at last an additional room and a cellar.
"My salary was so small that I had to live partly on my own means; and yet the Jewish School-Community withheld from me part of the amount of firewood granted me by law. Out of love of peace, I offered to relinquish part of the withheld quantity of wood, if they would but give the rest, so as to obviate the necessity of complaining to the Government; but I was forced to complain.
"The suit passed again all the various Courts as before, and was decided in my favour; the lawful quantity of wood was to be given me, and for that which had been unjustly withheld I was to be indemnified. Although I had declined to accept the indemnification granted me by law – a refusal very cheerfully accepted by my rich community – yet they did not neglect to avenge themselves upon me on the grounds of piety; being aware that this was the likeliest way to compass their end. I was accused of the following sins, which I had actually committed.
"1. That I had not only permitted my female scholars to come to the synagogue on Saturdays, but had commanded them to do so, in order to attend to the religious instructions which I there imparted.
"2. That I had cut my beard in Omer.24
"3. That, on one occasion, being called up to the reading of the Torah, I had appeared with gloves on.
"4. That I kept a Christian servant.
"5. That on the anniversaries of my parents' death, I did not lead the synagogue service: and,
"6. That, although I would not allow my wife to use the 'dipping bath' (Tauchbad), I would persist in giving her my arm.
"They stated that they could no longer suffer a man among them who was so immoral, so irreligious, and who excited so much scandal; and since no Christian court could decide on these Jewish sins, it was requested that the chief rabbi should be heard, and that I should be discharged. I replied: and respecting the last two points on which most stress seemed to be laid, I observed first, that it had been my father's dying request that I should neither fast nor lead the synagogue service on the anniversaries of my parents' death, as the custom had originated in a superstition; and, secondly, that according to a medical testimonial which I laid before the court, my sick wife had been prohibited from using the 'dipping bath;' but the decision of the chief rabbi was, that as I had confessed my wife neglected the bath, while, at the time, it was proved that she had taken my arm in walking, I was worthy of death according to Levit. xx. 18, and must be discharged from my office forthwith. I protested against this barbarous decision, and prayed to submit it to another Rabbinat. My petition was granted, but the rabbi of the district, Mr. L. B. Bamberger, of Würzburg, declared that he fully agreed with the chief rabbi, and added that my wife also was worthy of death.
"In consequence, I was discharged, lost the salary yet due to me, though the Government had approved of my official labours, and I was adjudged as having forfeited even my claim upon the States Institution for the Relief of Orphans and Widows of German School Teachers, as well as my right to the 133 florins which I had already paid into that Institution. With this bitter experience, and provided with most satisfactory testimonials from my immediate superiors, I left my native country, and went with my wife and children to the free town of Frankfort, where I enjoyed perfect peace in the capacity of a private tutor. From this brief sketch it will sufficiently appear that the rabbinical Jewish religion leads to and justifies the most revolting injustice and cruelty, a reproach which cannot be brought against Christianity."
Stern, Joseph Paul, a native of Hungary, where he had been a teacher and then a merchant, came to Jerusalem in 1851, at the age of thirty-five. Becoming ill he was admitted on application to the L.J.S. hospital, where, one may say, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was truly converted, and was baptized on Good Friday of that year. Henceforth he devoted his life to preach the grace of God as manifested in Christ Jesus, to his brethren in season and out of season. He was only a Scripture reader, but few could resist his entreaties to accept salvation through Christ, and the Jews feared him as well as respected him, for he often rewarded them good for evil. In 1860 he visited his relatives in Hungary, when he preached Christ to them, and escaped being poisoned. In 1872, when the Rev. A. Bernstein visited him in his sickness and administered the Holy Communion to him, he asked to be dressed in his best clothes, for he expected to go to the marriage of the Lamb. But he lingered yet for a while and died in 1873, uttering with his last breath – "Christ is all."
Stern, Maximilian Christian Heinrich, was baptized by Dr. Poper at Frankfurt, in 1846, when two of his brothers became Christian preachers in America. He was then fifty-two years old. His family followed his example two years later. In 1856 he published "Die Jüdische Zeitrechnung." He died in 1861. (See "Jewish Missionary Intelligence," 1846, page 123).
Sternchuss, Rev. P. H., after a course of preparation in the L.J.S. Missionary Training College, was sent, together with A. J. Behrens, to open a mission at Safed in 1843, where they held a daily service and tried to have intercourse with the fanatical Jews, but were boycotted by them. In 1844, they were both ordained in Jerusalem, and Sternchuss accompanied Stern to Bagdad, whence he itinerated to Mesopotamia, visiting Hillah and Ezekiel's tomb twice, he also visited Persia. The trying climate, the galling reproaches and persecutions, and the hardships which those early missionaries in the East endured, soon told upon Sternchuss, so that he had to resign on account of ill-health in 1850, but continued still for a short time to labour for the Society in the West of England.
Tartakover, Rev. E. M. Very little information can be obtained about this servant of Christ, but that little is most interesting, inasmuch as it embraces a reflective comment on a long period of Church history in which Palestine and the Jewish residents there had no Hebrew Christian minister of the Gospel. On October 30th, 1842, Tartakover was ordained in Jerusalem by Bishop Alexander. Such an event as the ordination of a Jewish convert had not been witnessed in the Holy City since Apostolic times.
Tomory, Rev. A., after finishing his theological studies at Edinburgh, was appointed by the Free Church of Scotland as a missionary at Pesth in 1853. In 1864 he was transferred to Constantinople, where he carried on a most faithful and fruitful work, both evangelistic and educational, during the remainder of his earthly pilgrimage, and left a worthy memorial in the home for enquiring Jews which he founded at Galata.
Tremellius, John Immanuel, was born at Ferrara in 1510; and died at Sedan, October 9th, 1580. He was educated at the University of Padua, and baptized in the Roman Catholic Church about 1540, through the influence of Cardinal Pole, but embraced Protestantism in the following year, and went to Strasburg to teach Hebrew. Owing to the wars of the Reformation in Germany, he was compelled to seek refuge in England, where he resided at Lambeth Palace with Archbishop Cranmer in 1547. In 1549 he succeeded Paul Fagius as Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge. On the death of Edward VI. he revisited Germany, and, after some vicissitudes, became Professor of the Old Testament at Heidelberg in 1561. He ultimately found a home in the College of Sedan, where he died. His chief literary work was a Latin translation of the Bible from the Hebrew and Syriac. The five parts relating to the Old Testament were published at Frankfurt between 1575 and 1579; in London in 1580, and in numerous later editions. Tremellius also translated into Hebrew Calvin's Catechism (Paris, 1551), and wrote a Chaldaic and Syriac grammar (Paris, 1569).
Turckheim, Rev. Ernest Julius, had been, at the age of twenty-one, master of a Jewish school at West Hartlepool, where he gave great satisfaction to the parents of the children, so that they wished him to become their minister. In order that he should be able conscientiously to discharge his duties, Turckheim applied himself to a diligent study of the Old Testament. This in itself made him more serious than he had been before. Meeting with Mr. J. Alexander, then agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society at the Crystal Palace, he received from him a New Testament, and through reading it earnestly he became convinced of the truth of Christianity, and was baptized in 1873. He then studied at the London College of Divinity, and was ordained at York in 1875-6 to the curacy of St. Thomas there. In 1878 he was curate of All Saints', Derby. In 1879 he became curate of All Souls', Langham Place, London. In 1882 he was appointed to the living of Hale Magna, in Lincolnshire, where he did good work until his death in 1907.
Speaking at the L.J.S. anniversary meeting in 1893, he said: – "A Jew by birth, a Jew by training and practice till I was twenty-four years old; a Jew still by every feeling of national loyalty and sympathy, I thank God that I can say, nevertheless I am also a Christian. And it is as a Jew and a Christian I have responded to your invitation, and am standing here to-day and make this solemn confession of my faith. It is due to the grace of God, it is due to the power of His Word, which is the power of God unto salvation, unto every one that believeth – to the Jew first. It is due, I must add, to the patience and forbearance, to the love and labours, to the life and death, to the mediation and sufferings for me of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is due to the prayers of God's people, it is due to this Society. It is due to all of you who labour and pray, and make substantial sacrifices for the promotion of Christianity amongst the Jews. It is due that we Christian Jews who have, by the grace of God, been brought out of Jewish darkness into the blessed and happy position of pardoned sinners by the blood of the Cross, that we should fearlessly declare with no uncertain sound, that whilst we are Christians by grace, we are still Jews by nature, by race, and by sympathy, and thus take a humble part in testifying to the blessed and everlasting truth that God has not cast away His people, that there is still a remnant according to the election of grace. It is twenty years since I ventured my eternal welfare with Jesus of Nazareth. After twenty years of mature deliberation and trial, I once more take my stand beside the Ethiopian eunuch, and declare to-day, with my heart full of thankful gladness and humble faith, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' Twenty years, we must observe, is a period wherein a man can make a test of a step that he has taken, and I never, never, for one moment, have wavered in my conviction that 'there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,' than the name of Jesus Christ."
Vambrey, Hermann, was born in 1832 at Szerdahely, on the Island Schütt, Hungary. He studied at Pressburg, especially modern languages, and became a member of the Reformed Church after his baptism. At the age of twenty-two he became tutor in a Turkish family in Constantinople, and later he travelled through Asia Minor, Armenia, Persia, Turkestan, Bokhara, Samarkand and the regions of the Oxus. Dressed as a dervish he passed through all these countries unhurt, but was often in danger. He then published his experiences and acquisitions in these journeys, in the following works: "German-Turkish Dictionary" (Constantinople, 1858). "Dsagataic Dictionary" (Hungarian), (Pesth, 1861). "An Etymological Dictionary of Torkatartaric Languages" (Leipzig, 1877). "The Russian Power in Asia" (ib., 1871). "Central Asia" and "Anglo-Russian Relations" (ib. 1873). "Travels in Central Asia" (ib., 1865). "Sketches from Central Asia" (ib. 1868). "Wanderings and Experience in Persia" (1867). "Niguric Linguistic Documents" (Innsbruck, 1870). "History of Bokhara" (Stuttgart, 1872). "Islam in the 19th Century" (Leipzig, 1875). "Moral Pictures from the East" (Berlin, 1876); and a number of other works. He wrote his autobiography under the titles, "Arminius Vambrey, His Life and Adventures" (London, 1883), and "Struggles of my Life" (ib., 1894).
Vanorden, Rev. E., a Dutch Jew, who was baptized by Dr. Ewald in 1863. He afterwards studied for the ministry in America and was sent as a missionary to Brazil, where he laboured at San Paulo for many years.
Venetianer, Pastor A., son of a Jewish rabbi, was converted through the preaching of the Rev. C. A. Schönberger. He afterward studied theology in Serftom. In 1879 he became Pastor in Panseora, Hungary, and afterwards in Trieste, where he wrote a book entitled: "Die Evangelische reformite Kirche Cristo Salvatore zu Triest" (Trieste and Leipzig, 1887); and also an epistle to Rabbi J. Lichtenstein in Tapio Szele, entitled "Zum Zeugniss" (Vienna, 1886). Later on he became Pastor at Rohrbach, South Russia, where he supported the movement of Rabinowitz.
Vicars, Mrs. Murray, was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant, and was brought to a knowledge of the Saviour through her intercourse with a Christian nurse. Her father, when attending the dedication of a new synagogue, took cold and became dangerously ill. His Jewish friends of the synagogue came to visit him, but were afraid to tell him that he was on the brink of the grave, and he died soon after. This brought her serious thoughts and led her to question the reason why the Jews shrink from mentioning the subject of death to a sick man. She had afterward to appear before a Court in reference to the property which her father had left and to take an oath before the magistrate. An Old Testament was then handed to her for that purpose, when she exclaimed before the whole assembly of Jews and Christians: "The New Testament is for me." This raised a great commotion, but having taken this decisive step, she did not hesitate to become a member of the Church by baptism. She afterward married the Rev. Murray Vicars, and went with him to Bagdad to labour amongst the Jews there. On their journey back to England on account of ill-health, her husband died at Marseilles, in 1850, and she settled at Brighton, where she founded a school for ragged children. It must be added that her sister, too, embraced Christianity, and she left three sons, clergymen of the Church of England, two of them are especially well known – the Rev. Charles Neil and the Rev. James Neil. The latter was incumbent of Christ Church, Mount Zion, from 1871-74.