1840] FIRST BAPTISMS 181 Pieritz (and Levi, too, by accompanying Mr. Gerstmann on his visits) has had his hands full again of direct missionary work with the Jews; and I am thankful to God that the appearance of things is very promising at present. On the second Sunday after Easter, April 14th, Nicolayson had the privilege of baptizing an Israelite family named Rosenthal, probably the first Jewish family received into the Church at Jerusalem since early Christian times. Mrs. Rosenthal afterward became quite a missionary amongst Jewesses. This was followed, on Whitsun-Day, by the baptism of Paul Hyman Sternchuss, who later on entered the service of the Society. According to the Rev. W. R. Fremantle, subsequently the revered Dean of Ripon, who visited Jerusalem at this time, there were about 12,000 Jews in Palestine, of whom 5,000 were in the Holy City. He spoke very highly of the labours of Nicolayson, and his four Hebrew Christian fellowworkers. On February 10th, 1840, the church was commenced on the old foundation of a high wall built on the solid rock of Zion, and by the end of March the building was raised to the first story. Shortly afterward, the work was interrupted by the death of Mr. Hillier, the surveyor and architect, who had recently been sent from London to conduct the building operations: whilst hostilities between the European Powers and the Viceroy of Egypt compelled the British Consul, and almost all the mission staff, to quit Jerusalem on September 8th, Nicolayson and his family only remaining. Progress was now stopped for a time. A little later, Nicolayson came to London, but left again for Palestine on April 22nd, with Mr. J. W. Johns, the newly-appointed architect, a farewell service having been held in the Episcopal Jews' Chapel the preceding evening. Bergheim, the medical assistant, returned thither on August 31st, with the good tidings that Dr. E. Macgowan, who, in a spirit of devotion to the cause, was resigning a lucrative practice at Exeter, would shortly arrive to take charge of the hospital. The new church was to be called, "The Apostolic Anglican Church at Jerusalem." CHAPTER XIX. ARABIA VISITED BY DR. WOLFF. Pioneer Work-Necessity and advantages-Arabia-Provinces and peopleJews of Yemen-Wolff's and Stern's descriptions—Introduction of Christianity - The Koran or the Sword-Jewish victims-Conquests of Islam-Wolff in Yemen— His preaching-Baptisms. E must now turn to the very interesting remnant WE of Israel inhabiting Arabia. Here, as elsewhere, Dr. Wolff, and later on Dr. Stern, did yeoman service. They went here, there, and everywhere, and in fact very few Jewish communities in the East were not visited by one or other, or both, of these distinguished missionaries of the Society. It is absolutely necessary for a missionary society to have some one in its ranks able to act the part of explorer and pioneer to regions as yet beyond the scope of its operations. The Rev. A. A. Isaacs makes some very relevant and apposite remarks on this kind of work: The inadequacy of the agency, through which an attempt is made to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, is a fact which no one can gainsay. The fields of labour which are continually presenting themselves to the attention of missionary committees, are not only numerous, but they occasionally offer new, or changed aspects, which demand new, or increased effort. These exigencies cannot be met with the very inadequate resources over which such Committees have control; and they sometimes necessitate the relinquishment of one sphere of operation, in order that another may be occupied. Nor is it always possible to form definite conclusions on the wisdom of these changes, until the trial has been made. It is possible, that the new base of operation may not prove as advantageous and successful as there may have been reason to anticipate. To meet the necessities of these cases, missionary journeys are an almost invariable characteristic of missionary work. The many towns and villages which may be accessible are in this way reached, even when they cannot be occupied. The living voice of the messenger arrests and instructs if only for a time; and the circulation of Bibles, books, and tracts, are the precious seed when the messenger has withdrawn, which in the hand of the Lord, is oft times fruitful in blessing. 1830-40] YEMEN DISTRICT 183 Nor is this mode of operation without its distinctive advantages. Continued aggression on any one of the strongholds of Satan very generally leads to combined and organised effort to resist and undermine. Rabbinical intolerance gathers together its forces, and uses its influence to destroy the effects of the Gospel. But when the soldiers of Christ pass in rapid succession from one stronghold to another, the enemies of the truth are not always prepared for the assault. An interest in their message, and an anxiety to become better acquainted with revealed truth, very often are the results of these desultory operations, and before any prejudicial influence can be exercised, the agents pass on to another part of the field. From every missionary station, arrangements are almost invariably made for these periodical campaigns. Old ground is revisited, and new ground is broken.* A brief description of this ancient land and its peoples, is necessary. Arabia, called by the Turks Arabistan, and by the Arabs "The Island of the Arabs," forms the most westerly peninsula of Southern Asia, with an area of 1,172,000 square miles, length, 1,500 miles, and breadth, 800 miles. The division of Arabia into three provinces, viz., Arabia Petræa (the stony), Arabia Felix (the blest), and Arabia Deserta (the desert), dates from the time of the Greek geographers, Strabo and Ptolemy. The chief ports are Jeddah and Hodeida, on the Red Sea. Islam is the religion of the country, which, with its holy cities of Mecca and Medina, is the very centre of Mohammedanism. The followers of Mohammed, who was born at Mecca in 571, conquered the whole territory, and Mohammedanism had displaced Judaism and Sabaism, the previous prevailing forms of worship, by the end of the sixth century. The Koran was written in Arabic (622-632). Arabia was conquered by the Turks (1518-39). Yemen is the southern and most fertile part of Arabia Felix, bordering on the Red Sea from Jizan to the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, with an area of 77,000 square miles, and a population of about three-quarters of a million. According to E. Stanley Poole, in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Yemen embraced originally the most fertile districts of Arabia, and the frankincense and spice country. Its name, signifying "the right hand" (and therefore "south" cf. St. Matthew xii. 42), is supposed to have given rise to the appellation evdaíuwv (Felix), which the Greeks applied to a much more extensive region. Sana, or Sanaa, is the capital, about 88 miles north-east of Hodeida. The present population is from 40,000 to 50,000, of whom 20,000 are said to be Jews. The first mention of these in the Society's literature occurs in the Journal of Dr. Wolff, for 1825, who was then visiting Persia. He says: The acquaintance of the Jews of Yemen must be of the highest importance to all the friends of Israel. They are the descendants of those Jews who were taken from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and then settled themselves in Yemen. . . . No Jews whom I ever saw have such Abrahamic countenances, and manner of expressing themselves, as those few Jews of Yemen whom I saw at Bussorah and Bushire. According to Dr. Stern, the time when the Jews first settled there is involved in uncertainty: their own tradition asserts, that, during the invasion of Palestine by Nebuchadnezzar they fled to Egypt, and subsequently wandered farther southward, till they came to the mountains of Arabia. where they permanently established their homes. The fertility of the soil, the salubrity of the climate, and the picturesqueness of the scenery, rapidly augmented the little colony by attracting fresh immigrants, who, on those distant plains and woody slopes, found that peace and quiet, which their own fated and distracted country no longer afforded. Inured to hardships, and nurtured in war, these foreign colonists, by a dexterous application of their prowess and valour, soon gained an ascendency over the wild tribes by whom they were surrounded; and the exiles from Judæa in a very short time reigned, where at first they had only been tolerated. For nearly six hundred years the power and religion of the Hebrews predominated throughout Arabia : trade, under their sway, increased; agriculture flourished, and the flocks and herds multiplied on every tract of pasture-land. * Christianity was introduced into Southern Arabia toward the close of the second century, and about a century later it * Dr. Stern in Journal of a Missionary Journey into Arabia Felix, Jewish Intelligence, 1857, p. 146. 1840] JEWS OF ARABIA 185 had made great progress. It flourished chiefly in the Yemen, where many churches were built, and also rapidly advanced to other portions of Arabia through the kingdom of Hîreh and the contiguous countries, Ghassân, and other parts. The persecutions of the Christians, and more particularly of those of Nejrân by the Tubba' Zu-n-Nuwâs, brought about the fall of the Himyarite dynasty by the invasion of the Christian ruler of Abyssinia. Judaism was propagated in Arabia probably during Biblical times, and became very prevalent in the Yemen, and in the Hijâz, especially at Kheybar and Medîna, where there are said to be still tribes of Jewish extraction. In the period immediately preceding the birth of Mohammed, another class had sprung up, who, disbelieving the idolatry of the greater number of their countrymen, and with leanings toward Judaism, looked to a revival of what they called 'the religion of Abraham.' The promulgation of the Mohammedan religion overthrew Paganism, and also almost wholly superseded the religions of the Bible in Arabia.* The Jews of Arabia were the earliest victims. Milman thus relates the wars against them : Dean The Jews were among the first of whom Mohammed endeavoured to make proselytes the first opponents-and the first victims of the sanguinary teaching of the new Apostle. For centuries, a Jewish kingdom, unconnected either with the Jews of Palestine or Babylonia, had existed in that district of Arabia called, in comparison to the stony soil of one part and the sandy waste of the other, Arabia the Happy. . . . Though they had lost their royal state, the Jews were still numerous and powerful in the Arabian peninsula ; they formed separate tribes, and maintained the fierce independence of their Ishmaelitish brethren. Mohammed manifestly designed to unite all those tribes under his banner. While his creed declared implacable war against the worshippers of fire, it respected the doctrine of the Jews. . . . But the Jews stood aloof in sullen unbelief; they disclaimed a Messiah, sprung from the loins of Hagar, the bondwoman. Nothing remained but to employ the stern proselytism of the sword; the tone of Mohammed changed at once.t Tribe after tribe was defeated; their castle-fastnesses could not sustain the * Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, sub verb. "Arabia." + History of the Jews, Bk. xxii., p. 85 et seq. |