OF AN ENGLISH JEWISH CHRISTIAN HEART. BY MARK LEVY, PRESIDENT CHRISTIAN JEWS' PATRIOTIC ALLIANCE. Presented with the Author's Fraternal Greetings. LONDON: PRINTED AT THE OPERATIVE JEWISH CONVERTS' INSTITUTION 1892. BV 2623 PREFACE. THERE is an almost universal opinion, honestly entertained by the Jews, that no one of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob truly believes in Jesus as the Son of God, the promised Messiah. In my boyhood, youth, and early manhood, this idea was firmly fixed in my mind; and, whilst possessing a kindly feeling for almost everyone, a very tidal wave of loathing would surge through my heart toward a Jewish convert to Christianity, submerging in its overflow of repulsion the noble feeling of tolerance, the only beacon in the passion-tossed sea of human nature to warn us where to steer clear of the cruel rocks of bigotry, off the sullen coast of religious fanaticism, upon which so many of God's children have been wrecked, but whereon the love-light of mercy never shines. Ought it to be a matter of wonderment that many Hebrews, knowing nothing of the sweet teachings of Jesus, and being entirely ignorant of the fact that the writers of the New Testament were Jews, should regard with aversion one of their own race who becomes a Christian, when we remember how cruelly so-called Christians have treated God's ancient people during many centuries? It truly seems that he has gone over to the ranks of the enemy, and has become, in the vilest possible sense, an apostate and a renegade. I recall the time when, as a child, all my inner nature responded to the lullaby the nurses at home sang to my baby brothers and sisters— "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child." But I came to almost hate His name when, on going to school, the boys, whom I was told were His followers, taunted me with being a Jew. This happened less than thirty years ago in our own dear native land. In the following pages I have endeavoured to give an absolutely true statement of my reasons for now believing the Lord Jesus to be the promised Messiah, and in so doing have laid bare the inmost workings of my heart. Thank God, the gain I expected to make in becoming a Christian has been fully realized, viz., to be at peace with Him, and to lead a better, purer, and holier life. I will briefly sum up my experience by saying: Whilst moving in Jewish circles, my social pleasures were great, but my spiritual joy was small; in Christian circles my social pleasures have been small, but my spiritual joy has been great. May the central thought of these pages be found to breathe the pure harmony of "Peace on earth, goodwill to men," as an echo of those sweet tones that resounded through the world on that glad morn nearly two thousand years ago, when Jesus was born in the far-off favoured village of Bethlehem. Kind faces in a vision rise, The Christian and the Jew I see, In peace, the Christian and the Jew And as they sing the joyous lay, Time-worn barriers tumble down, As prejudices die away That blotted our dear Lord's renown. And sweetest buds of purest love Bloom forth upon the face of all, The fragrant leaves of kindness fall. Any portion of this work may be reprinted, MARK LEVY |