David Baron

“ The missionary must be acquainted with the religion of the Jews. Without this knowledge he will find it impossible to set forth our holy religion to Jews in such a way as to commend it to them, or even to be understood by them, much less to bring it home to heart and conscience. Those who are not cognizant of the world of Jewish religious thought, cannot conceive how unintelligible the terminology of our holy faith is to the Jew. ”

“ Our testimony to-day to the Jews is with regard to Jesus Christ, that "this Jesus," whom they crucified and think to be dead, is Israel's true Messiah, exalted to the right hand of God, a prince and a Saviour. If time permitted, I should like to speak of the peculiar methods which we should adopt in our testimony to the Jew ; and also as to the right kind of witnesses who should be sent forth by the Church, because I believe that, to this day, God has His instruments adapted for this work, and for that work, and it is not every one who is called of God to be a missionary to the Jews. ”

“ But, speaking generally, it is the boast of modern Jews that they are not a missionary people. Thousands of times have I had it thrown in my teeth by Jews in various parts of the world, who have said, "Why do Christians trouble themselves with trying to convert us ? We do not try to convert anybody." ”

“ What is needed at this juncture above all things are the right kind of labourers men of God and with the fitness and ability for this peculiar work ; men with the faith of Abraham, and with the sincerity, and missionary zeal, and unquenchable love for Israel which charac- terised the Apostle Paul ; men who from the present darkness can look to the coming dawn when " all Israel shall be saved " and " the glory of the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." ”

“ After being permitted to serve the Lord in the evangelisation of my people for over twenty years, I am more and more convinced that in the Jewish mission, as in the Lord's work generally, it is not sensation, but self- sacrificing hard toil, and patient continuance in well- doing that will accomplish anything of permanent value for the glory of Christ. ”

“ As a matter of fact, it is not due to the testimony to the unity of God, as given by the synagogue, that Gentiles have been brought to believe in one living and true God, but to the more truly Jewish testimony as given by the Jewish Apostles of the New Covenant, who went about preaching one God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; one Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ the righteous ; and one Holy Spirit, by whom the know- ledge of God is communicated to man ”

“ There is also a great lack of knowledge of the peculiar people, and of God's present and future purposes in and through them, which is accountable for certain methods in some Jewish missions, which, how- ever much momentary sensation they may create, and however much interest they may arouse among Gentile Christians, can only work disastrously as far as the Jews themselves are concerned. ”

“ In this part of the Lord's vineyard more particularly, we need not only the spirit of love and of wisdom and power, but also of a sound mind, a spirit of Scriptural sobriety, not dissociated from a true Holy Ghost enthusiasm, for the salvation of a people in whom is bound up the hope of the world, but in whose midst Satan is entrenched more powerfully at the present day than in any other nation. ”

“ Until this century, until the Jewish mission saw to its translation and printing, there was no Hebrew New Testament for use among the Jews.
II. Secondly, anti-Semitism and the grosser forms of persecution to which the Jews have been subjected in Russia and other countries, have contributed indirectly to bring about this spirit of change in the Jewish world in relation to the Gospel. Our God ever brings good out of evil and causes the wrath of men to praise Him. ”

“ A training that may fully qualify a man to go out and proclaim the Gospel to the uncivilised heathen world, is utterly insufficient for a worker among the Jews, although we would never have ourselves or others forget, that technical qualifica- tions and even Scriptural knowledge are worthless, unless accompanied by a living faith and the burning desire to promote the interests of Christ's kingdom among His brethren according to the flesh. ”

“ The missionary must be conversant with the history of the mission to Israel, its nature, aims, and methods, and the lines on which the work has hitherto been carried on. Practical knowledge and insight is best obtained by commencing work under the super- vision of experienced missionaries. ”

“ Blindness in part is happened to Israel." It is true that certain leaders among modern Jews claim still to have a mission, even at this present day, in their dispersion among the nations a mission, as they say, to bear witness to the unity of God. ”

“ Putting aside the vague, exaggerated reports based on no solid foundation, which lead those unacquainted with the facts of the case to believe that untold thousands of Jews are now pressing into the Church, and that we are on the verge of the entire nation becoming Christian, I have no hesitation in saying that the tone and attitude of large numbers of Jews in relation to Christ, in coun- tries where hard, persevering Gospel work has been carried on for some time, have undergone a remarkable change. ”

“ The whole movement, based for the most part on shallowness, lies, and inhumanity, by which these already apostate nations are hastening the filling of the cup of their iniquity, has nevertheless served to remind backslidden, apostate Israel of the long-standing con- troversy between them and their God, and has caused some to ask themselves what the sin can be which has brought upon them the retribution of so many long centuries, and in this indirect way their hearts have been to some extent prepared to listen to the claims of Christ. ”

“ Not far from here there lives a good man and his wife. They have one son, whom they love as their own lives. They did everything possible for him, but the son turned out most unworthy of his parents' love ”

“ As a rule, his knowledge of Jewish and Hebrew matters is insufficient and incomplete, in spite of his former sur- roundings, and though his own faith be firm and clearly evinced, yet in the nature of things his grasp of Scripture truth cannot be such as to fit him, without any further training, for the work of an evangelist among his brethren. We cannot fix a high enough standard of attainment for those who desire to devote themselves to this work. ”

“ It is not my intention to enter into a review of Jewish missions, and into what has been accomplished within this century, so eventful in the history of Jewish emanci- pation and evangelisation. All I can do now is just briefly to remark on the great change in relation to the Gospel which is at present undoubtedly passing over the Jewish nation. ”