Ctbrarp of the 'theological ^eminarjp 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Jolm Stuart Conning, D.D. 
 
 BV 2623 .A2 A37 1923 
 Abrams, Julius H. 
 
 Out of the house of Judah 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2019 with funding from 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 https://archive.org/details/outofhouseofjudaOOabra 
 

 
 
 
Commandant JULIUS H. ABRAMS 
 
#v 
 
 Out of the House of 
 
 Judah: 
 
 A Story of Conversion to Christianity 
 
 By y 
 
 COMMANDANT JULIUS H. ABRAMS 
 
 of the Salvation Army 
 
 Introduction by 
 
 BISHOP JOHN W. HAMILTON 
 Methodist Episcopal Church 
 
 New York Chicago 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 London and Edinburgh 
 
Copyright, 1923, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 
 
“ Why was I made to hear His voice , 
 
 To see His Heavenly face t 
 While darkness like a mantle 
 Enshrouds God's chosen race ? 
 
 'T was the same love that spread the feast 
 That sweetly forced me in; 
 
 *T was the same power that made the worlds 
 That cancelled all my sin.” 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 I HA YE read this story of the author’s con¬ 
 version and ministry with the deepest feel¬ 
 ing and with far more than “ compensatory 
 interest ” for the time given to it. Like Terence, 
 “ I am a man,” and whatever is human compels 
 my sympathy. 
 
 If our Hebrew friends and Christian people 
 would read this simple story taken from the annals 
 of the poor in real life, as I read it, there would 
 be less room for the troublesome gulf between the 
 Old Testament and the New, between the Jews and 
 the Gentiles. “ Sympathy,” as Wilberforce said, 
 “ rules the world.” Here is a man whose life is 
 among the lowly, but who is sent as a prophet of 
 the Most High God to bring good tidings of great 
 joy to his neighbours. He bothers nothing about 
 the “ Historic Christ,” but preaches to the heavy 
 heart a personal Saviour. Once He is accepted, 
 His history is so much a fact that even prejudice 
 falls down to worship Him. 
 
 We have given the Jews a refuge from all their 
 foreign foes in the wide welcome thrown open to 
 them in America. They come with grateful hearts 
 to this Christian country and are thus prejudiced 
 
 in favour of so much that is Christian in their wel- 
 
 6 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 come. Now, if the Christian people will forget 
 their prejudice against these newcomers, and throw 
 open their hearts and their homes, as the country 
 has done, love their neighbours as themselves, 
 Jesus, who is both Jew and Christian, will come 
 unto all the Hebrew people in America and make 
 His abode with them. 
 
 John W. Hamilton, 
 
 Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 I AVING been urged by many to write the 
 story of my conversion from Judaism to 
 Christianity, I deem it a great privilege 
 to set forth the following account of my Christian 
 experience, from the time of my conversion to the 
 present,—a duration of twenty years. I am un¬ 
 dertaking this task with the earnest prayer that 
 this narrative may not simply gratify the over- 
 curious, but that it may accomplish the mission and 
 purpose for which it is intended, and bring forth 
 the much desired fruits of righteousness and praise 
 unto our God through His Son, Jesus Christ; to 
 whom be all the glory! 
 
 I venture to tell these experiences in the sincere 
 hope that by confessing my own weaknesses and 
 difficulties the power of God may be exalted, and 
 thereby inspire other burdened converts to Chris¬ 
 tianity to run with patience the race set before 
 them and at the same time, perhaps, show kind- 
 hearted Christians how best to help those whom 
 they long to benefit. 
 
 I would it were possible my confession of the 
 truth could abolish forever from the minds of my 
 dear people, the Jews, the utterly erroneous im¬ 
 pression that Jewish converts to Christianity are 
 
 7 
 
8 
 
 preface: 
 
 bought and paid for by the Christian Church, show¬ 
 ing in a measure, at least, those who read this 
 sketch what it still costs all who venture to become 
 real followers of Christ; proving also that centuries 
 of time, enlightenment, education, culture and 
 civilization have by no means been able to alter 
 the declaration Jesus made: “ Whosoever he be of 
 you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot 
 be my disciple.” “ Yea, and all that will live 
 godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 
 
 Yours in the Master’s Name, 
 
 Julius H. Abrams. 
 
 East Liverpool, O. 
 
Contents 
 
 » 
 
 I. 
 
 Birth and Early Life . 
 
 • • 
 
 11 
 
 II. 
 
 Arrival in New York . 
 
 • • 
 
 21 
 
 III. 
 
 Pastures New . 
 
 • • 
 
 29 
 
 IV. 
 
 Removal to California . 
 
 • • 
 
 33 
 
 V. 
 
 Conversion .... 
 
 • • 
 
 39 
 
 VI. 
 
 Searching the Scriptures 
 
 • • 
 
 47 
 
 VII. 
 
 Enduring Persecution . 
 
 • • 
 
 60 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Storekeeping in the Mojave Desert 
 
 75 
 
 IX. 
 
 Meeting the Salvation Army 
 
 • • 
 
 84 
 
 X. 
 
 Trials and Difficulties 
 
 • • 
 
 94 
 
 XI. 
 
 Soul-Winning Experiences . 
 
 • • 
 
 102 
 
 XII. 
 
 Joining the Salvation Army 
 
 • • 
 
 113 
 
 XIII. 
 
 First Appointments as Officer 
 
 • • 
 
 119 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Divine Healing 
 
 * • 
 
 130 
 
 XV. 
 
 Home Ties Broken—Cast Off by 
 
 Parents. 
 
 143 
 
10 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 XVI. Appeal to the Church 
 XVII. Appeal to Israel 
 
 Appendix . 
 
I 
 
 BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE 
 
 I N relating the story of God’s gracious work 
 upon my soul, I suppose it would be fitting 
 to give the reader some account of my pedi¬ 
 gree and bringing up. This, I believe, will advance 
 and magnify tbe bounty and goodness of God. It 
 will also furnish proof of God’s unfailing faithful¬ 
 ness to His word, that “ He raiseth up the poor of 
 the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dung¬ 
 hill, to set them among princes, and make them 
 inherit the throne of glory.” 
 
 To my descent, then, I have nothing to boast of 
 on this score. My father’s house was of that nation 
 and people commonly known as Jews, a race still 
 despised by all other nations. Beside coming out 
 of this stock, my people were all poor. Jews gen¬ 
 erally are accused of being rich, but of this 
 accusation my ancestry were not guilty. All things 
 considered, I believe my pedigree will rather tend 
 to magnify the heavenly Majesty since He saw fit 
 to bring me by this door into the world, to partake 
 of the grace and the life that is in Christ by the 
 Gospel. 
 
 ll 
 
12 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 For eighteen years my parents lived in a small 
 country place called Gross Neudorf, situated near 
 the city of Bromberg, in the Province of Posen, 
 Germany. Through diligence, thrift and strict 
 economy, my parents succeeded in acquiring some 
 land which they worked themselves, and in addi¬ 
 tion, they also had a country store. By this means 
 they were enabled to support themselves and their 
 family of eight children. 
 
 My father and mother were strictly orthodox in 
 their religion, in all their mode of living adhering 
 zealously to the traditions of the teachings of the 
 rabbis. 
 
 All food used in our home had to he strictly 
 Kosher —clean. Every fowl used at our table had 
 to he taken to the city twenty miles distant for 
 killing, as there was no one in the vicinity where 
 we lived ordained to perform this duty in accord¬ 
 ance with Jewish custom. 
 
 Neither parents nor children would eat any food 
 not prepared hy Jews. When going on a journey, 
 my father would take his own lunch with him, else 
 he would go hungry rather than eat food cooked 
 by Gentiles. 
 
 To my knowledge, my father never in all his 
 life ate his breakfast without first performing his 
 regular morning worship in connection with his 
 phylacteries. The Sabbath day was always strictly 
 observed at home. All food used on the Sabbath 
 was always prepared the day before. 
 
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE 
 
 13 
 
 As far back as I can remember, we always bad 
 a Gentile girl coming to the bouse on the Sabbath 
 morning to kindle the fire, as none of us were ever 
 allowed to touch it. 
 
 My mother was a great mother. I did not real¬ 
 ize this in my youth, but now as I observe the con¬ 
 duct and behaviour of girls and boys in the world 
 and see the lack of respect for either their parents 
 or for one another, and the utter disregard of their 
 moral conduct, I thank God for my mother. She 
 watched carefully over her brood like a hen 
 watches her little chicks. She took as much care 
 and precaution in regard to the morals of her boys 
 as she did in regard to those of her girls. 
 
 As to my education, this, through unavoidable 
 circumstances, had to be neglected. When I be¬ 
 came old enough to attend public school my parents 
 felt that, first of all, I ought to learn Hebrew so 
 that I should be able to read the allotted prayers 
 and the Bible. To this end I was sent to one of 
 the near-by cities, as there was no rabbi or teacher 
 in our neighbourhood. My instructor in this city 
 was a rabbi with white hair and yellow beard. I’ll 
 never forget him, he made such a deep impression 
 on me (that is, with his stick). He was a cross old 
 fellow, always out of humour. I feared him more 
 than I did a kicking mule. My eyes troubled me 
 a great deal, having been affected from childhood, 
 and objects looked “ double ” and blurred before 
 me. This was a great hindrance to me in my 
 
14 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 studies. I complained to the rabbi about it, and 
 the consolation I received was that be would cure 
 them for me with his stick. I complained to my 
 father and mother, and they looked at my eyes but 
 could see nothing wrong with them. Children did 
 not wear glasses in those days, only old people 
 being privileged in this respect, so there was noth¬ 
 ing I could do but endure my trouble patiently 
 until I got older. I was helpless, being only a 
 little over seven years old at the time. 
 
 One day my patience gave way. It was on a 
 Jewish holiday. In the Synagogue, I sat beside 
 an old man with a long white beard who used eye¬ 
 glasses, for reading only. I was very curious to 
 know just what those glasses were like. I watched 
 for a chance to try them, and the opportunity soon 
 came. During a recess in the service, which lasted 
 all day, the old man went out of the Synagogue for 
 a breath of fresh air and left his dirty, brass- 
 rimmed glasses behind him on the seat. Here was 
 my chance. I tried them on and found the effect 
 to be most wonderful. They magnified everything 
 to double its natural size. I could not only see 
 every letter plainly, but it seemed to me I could 
 almost feel them, they looked so large. Here was 
 what I needed—a perfect fit. I at once hid them 
 away carefully under some seats and then I, also, 
 went out for an airing. When he returned to the 
 Synagogue, the old man discovered that he had lost 
 his glasses. After searching for them without sue- 
 
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE 
 
 15 
 
 cess, lie decided that he must have lost them while 
 outside. This greatly relieved me. 
 
 In the joy of my gain, I was not much con¬ 
 cerned about the old man’s loss. I was very happy 
 in the thought that now I would no more have to 
 rub my eyes and blink trying to read, and, best 
 of all, with the aid of these glasses I would more 
 often escape the rabbi’s stick. 
 
 The next day I went to school with my glasses 
 in my pocket, thinking happily how well I would 
 now be able to see. I was in my seat that morn¬ 
 ing a little earlier than usual, and I immediately 
 put on my glasses to give them a good trial. I 
 found them a little large, but this deficiency was 
 more than made up by their wonderful magnifying 
 quality. I tried reading with them and they an¬ 
 swered my purpose splendidly. 
 
 By and by, the rabbi came in. I was naturally 
 a little uneasy and anxious to know as to what 
 would transpire within the next few hours. I had 
 my glasses on when he came in. I was afraid 
 to look at him through them for, so far as I was 
 concerned, he was big enough without them, so I 
 looked over them. “ Where did you get those 
 glasses?” he thundered. For a moment, my heart 
 failed me, nay, I think it left me. I was speech¬ 
 less. “ Those are my brother’s glasses,” he con¬ 
 tinued, “ he lost them yesterday in the Synagogue.” 
 With this my heart returned, I began to breathe 
 again. I saw the way open for my escape; so I 
 
16 OUT QU THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 immediately answered, “ I found them/’ and with¬ 
 out another word handed the glasses over to the 
 rabbi with a great sigh of relief. Ever since, I 
 have felt very thankful for my narrow escape. 
 
 Somehow circumstances were favourable to me 
 and I did not stay long at this school. The sani¬ 
 tary conditions in the town were bad beyond de¬ 
 scription. I was used to fresh air, and the odour 
 of new-mown hay, instead of the foul air and foul 
 smells I was subjected to here. I became very ill, 
 and after some weeks of sickness, I remember that 
 my parents came to take me home. They had the 
 wagon all fixed up with feather beds, and had to 
 drive very slow and carefully, for I was so weak. 
 It was a long, tedious journey for me. I felt, how¬ 
 ever, during that journey that Fd much rather be 
 sick and be at home, inhaling the pure atmosphere 
 of the country, than be well and live in that bad¬ 
 smelling city with the cross old rabbi. 
 
 After recovery from my sickness, the question 
 again came up of my attending a Hebrew school. 
 I strongly remonstrated with my parents against 
 going back to my former school. My parents 
 finally decided I should go to another city where 
 my married sister then resided. Here the school 
 was better, but the sanitary conditions, if anything, 
 were worse. The city being built on salt, all the 
 water used for cooking, or drinking purposes, was 
 brought to the city by teams in large water tanks 
 and sold to the consumers at so much a pail. Every 
 
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE 
 
 IT 
 
 family had a storage tank, or barrel, and the driv¬ 
 ers of the water wagons kept these vessels supplied. 
 How often these barrels were cleaned I would not 
 dare to vouch for. At any rate, after being here 
 about a year I again became very ill, and again 
 I was hauled home in a wagon on feather beds. 
 After my recovery, this time, my father decided to 
 give me the necessary Hebrew instruction himself. 
 
 How began my public school career, and with it, 
 my real trouble. I had always been aware of the 
 fact that I was born of Hebrew parentage, but in 
 the school my brothers and sisters and myself were 
 the only Jewish children. The Christian children 
 soon discovered the fact that we were Jews, and 
 they evidently feared we might forget it, so they 
 continued to remind us. We became the target for 
 their abuse, and on our way to and from school 
 we were kept in torment. At recess, when other 
 children enjoyed their play, we were obliged to 
 keep to ourselves, or else take chances of being 
 beaten. Complaining to the teacher or the parents 
 of the children did no good. That only made 
 things worse for us, so we stopped complaining and 
 endured it as best we could. On Sundays, when 
 we were alone at home, we had a good time together 
 all by ourselves, and thoroughly enjoyed it. When 
 the church bells tolled in the morning and the 
 people began going to church, my mother would 
 always call us in the house until after the services 
 began. If we were found outside, playing, when 
 
18 
 
 OUT Oi; THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 the Christian children passed by, they would throw 
 stones and call ns all manner of pet names, not very 
 complimentary to Jews. 
 
 When the time came for me to quit school and 
 to go to work at something in order to support 
 myself, I hailed the good news with great joy. At 
 the age of thirteen I was contracted out to a mer¬ 
 chant in the city for three years, to learn the mer¬ 
 cantile business. Here I had to rise at six o’clock 
 in the morning, and from that time until ten, and 
 often eleven, at night, I was kept going like a 
 steam shovel. And no pay, mind you, for three 
 years! The fourth year, so the contract read, if 
 I remained with the firm, I would receive the stipu¬ 
 lated sum of eighty-five dollars. 
 
 After the Franco-Prussian War, in which my 
 brother and a brother-in-law served, my mother 
 vowed that as long as she lived, none of her boys 
 should ever again serve in another war, for what 
 she had suffered during this one. Acting on this 
 resolve, my mother and father decided that before 
 I became eligible for service in the army, I had 
 better leave the country. It was agreed, therefore, 
 that as soon as my time expired with this business 
 firm that I go to that wonderful home of the free, 
 and the brave—America. Having already many 
 relatives there, this seemed to be the proper land 
 to which I should emigrate. 
 
 This decision of my parents pleased me greatly 
 for many reasons. First, because I would have a 
 
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE 
 
 19 
 
 chance of seeing the big ocean I had heard so much 
 about. Then the idea of actually traveling on one 
 of those monster steamers was quite inviting. Best 
 of all, however, was the thought of going to a 
 strange country where no one would know I was a 
 Jew. Thus (so I imagined) I would forever 
 escape the insults and persecutions endured at home 
 from rude German boys, and my expectations for 
 this new venture rose very high. 
 
 This journey to America, undertaken in the 
 company of one of my elder sisters, turned out to 
 be rather tedious after all, because there were no 
 trees to climb, or squirrels to chase. After four¬ 
 teen days, under trying conditions of fog, wind 
 and waves, we arrived safely at our destination. 
 Our relatives in New Y r ork received us kindly, and 
 did all they could in helping us to get settled in 
 our new surroundings, for which I am still 
 grateful. 
 
 After being in New York ten days (and, of 
 course, not being familiar with the English lan¬ 
 guage) my cousin, one day, sent me on an errand. 
 As I passed a group of boys dancing about the 
 street corner, I noticed them looking at me rather 
 suspiciously. Then, in a loud voice, they called 
 out, “ Rubenstein! ” I wondered at this, and when 
 I returned to my cousin I told him of my experi¬ 
 ence and asked for an explanation. To my sur¬ 
 prise he informed me that there was a Jew in the 
 Tombs Prison in New l r ork condemned for mur- 
 
20 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 der. His name was Rubenstein, and because of 
 tbis every Jew in New York was being called 
 Rubenstein. I was horrified at this, for I had al¬ 
 ways heard that Americans were all Christians and 
 not like the Germans. I now realized, to my utter 
 disgust, that so far as my escaping persecution was 
 concerned, my coming to America had profited me 
 nothing. 
 
II 
 
 ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK 
 
 M 
 
 Y sister and I became more attached to 
 one another since coming to America 
 than we had ever been before. Here we 
 
 were in a strange land, alone, severed from home 
 and loved ones by more than three thousand miles. 
 Home had been such a dear place to us, all our 
 childhood being spent together around our own 
 fireside, and all our family united together in a 
 sweet bond of love. On account of our race, inter¬ 
 course with strangers was limited. We were not 
 allowed to mingle freely with Gentiles. And so 
 our home was all in all to us. Now, however, we 
 had no home. Our cousin with whom we stayed 
 was kind to us, but still it wasn’t home. 
 
 There were no prayers ever said in the house, 
 and no Bible. The children were rude and dis¬ 
 obedient to their parents, so contrary to our old 
 home life. Theatres, dancing and other forms of 
 pleasure absorbed all their life. This almost broke 
 our hearts. When my sister and I were alone, she 
 would often say with tears in her eyes: “ They 
 live like Goijim ” —Gentiles. We felt uncomfort¬ 
 able and unhappy. 
 
 We would take long walks together frequently 
 
 21 
 
22 OUT OP THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 and talk over our new conditions in life. In our 
 lonely hours we would try and comfort one another 
 as best we could. Being a hoy, I soon became 
 familiar with the streets of the city, and the places 
 of interest and was able to take my sister about, 
 all of which was new and interesting to her. This 
 gave me great pleasure, because it made her 
 happy. 
 
 At the dinner table at the home of my cousin one 
 day, I asked what the word “ paint ” meant in the 
 German language, and they told me. Then they 
 asked me why I wanted to know, and I said every 
 time I go out with Johanna, my sister, I hear the 
 boys standing about the street talking about “ paint.” 
 At this, the children about the table with one ac¬ 
 cord all burst into loud laughter. 
 
 This made me more curious than ever. Then 
 they told me, that because of my sister’s rosy 
 cheeks, the boys believed she was painting her face. 
 I thought that was horrid. The poor girl never 
 saw either paint or powder such as women use, 
 and besides, we were told at home that only bad 
 women used paint and powder for their faces. My 
 sister did not have to resort to artificial adornment. 
 Nature had endowed her with a beauty all her own. 
 Her colour was natural. Her rosy cheeks had de¬ 
 veloped like the blush on the apple in the tree. 
 Plenty of fresh air, hard work, and the simplest 
 diet were the sources of our healthy condition and 
 robust constitutions. 
 
ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK 
 
 23 
 
 My sister’s rosy cheeks developed in walking be¬ 
 hind the plow, planting potatoes, raking hay, har¬ 
 vesting the rye and barley in their season. Every 
 one of my five sisters worked in the field like the 
 men. They milked the cows, churned the butter, 
 fixed the beds for the stock at night and got up at 
 five o’clock in the morning, and everyone of them 
 had cheeks like roses. I never remember any of 
 them being sick or complaining. 
 
 What surprised us when landing in New York 
 was the delicate, white, sickly-looking girls we saw. 
 We thought that they had either just come out of 
 hospital or else were on their way there. How¬ 
 ever, that word “ paint ” stuck to me and had a 
 bad effect. I became ashamed of my sister, and 
 for some weeks failed to take her out anywhere, 
 and she soon realized it. She had heard about 
 Coney Island and its wonderful attractions and 
 was anxious to see the place. One day she came 
 to me dressed all ready to go out, with a heavy 
 veil over her face, saying: “ I want you to go to 
 Coney Island with me. But you need not be 
 ashamed of me now; I have my face covered.” Of 
 course, I went with her. 
 
 The question of our support became a serious 
 problem. The little money we had dwindled. My 
 cousin, though very kind, could ill afford to keep 
 us, as he was a poor man and had a family of five 
 children to support. My sister, however, soon ob¬ 
 tained a very pleasant position with a Jewish lady 
 
24 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 who had two grown sons in business away from 
 home, and she, being alone, wanted a companion. 
 This just suited my sister. Here she stayed until 
 she got married, which was two years later. 
 
 With me, however, things did not fare so well. 
 Ho place could be found where I could fit in. My 
 greatest trouble was a lack of knowledge of the 
 language. After trying, looking and feeling in 
 every direction for suitable employment without 
 definite results, I heard there were thousands of 
 young people in Hew York supporting themselves 
 by making cigarettes, and that for this business an 
 acquaintance with the English language was not re¬ 
 quired. I was told that for the sum of fifteen dol¬ 
 lars I could learn the business in two weeks, and 
 that in six weeks’ time I could earn fifteen to eigh¬ 
 teen dollars weekly. Here was my opportunity. I 
 started at once, with results following such as had 
 been told me. This business answered two good 
 purposes. For one thing it was a good school for 
 me in which to learn English, such as it was, and, 
 secondly, it enabled me to become self-supporting. 
 But there was also a bad side to it. Becoming 
 separated from my sister wasn’t good for me, and 
 the new associations I was thrown into weren’t 
 good for me either. 
 
 I was soon earning more money than was neces¬ 
 sary for my support, and not being used to handling 
 money, it became a snare to me. I soon became a 
 target for all kinds of temptation. It wasn’t long 
 
ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK 
 
 25 
 
 before I, likewise, laid aside my sacred phylacteries, 
 the accustomed daily prayers, together with all the 
 other Jewish forms and ceremonies, and fell in line 
 with the life of other American Jews. Leaving 
 God out of the reckoning entirely, I gave myself 
 up to the stream of worldly pleasure-seekers, and 
 was soon caught in the whirl of excitement and 
 carried along with the multitude. 
 
 Goijim —Gentile—associations, which before were 
 repulsive and offensive to me were now sought 
 after, and enjoyed. I found Gentiles were more 
 liberal, freer and easier in sport and frolic than 
 were the Jews. Soon, my associates, both boys and 
 girls, were mostly all Gentiles. Our life flowed 
 together in one channel, I hardly ever realized 
 there was any difference between us. 
 
 Before long the very thought of religion became 
 irksome to me; I could neither endure it myself, 
 nor desired any other person should. On Jewish 
 feast-days, when our people assemble in their 
 Synagogues or other places to observe the accus¬ 
 tomed holidays, I avoided even passing such places 
 of worship. On ihe day of Yom Kippur —the Day 
 of Atonement—the most sacred of all days to every 
 Jew, I gave myself up to do the most sacrilegious 
 acts imaginable. 
 
 I soon learned to speak English, and also to read 
 and write it. And, oh, yes, I was now old enough to 
 have eye-glasses, properly fitted by an optician, and 
 they have been a great comfort to me ever since. 
 
26 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 I had a great love for reading—there was so 
 much I didn’t know. The library was full of the 
 best books and of all kinds of information. I read 
 some good books, and could have laid up in store 
 the very best of truth and knowledge, had my mind 
 been directed in the right channel. Instead, how¬ 
 ever, I became interested in infidelity and the most 
 of my reading tended in this direction. Bob In- 
 gersoll, Tom Paine, Voltaire, and the like became 
 my heroes. 
 
 In addition to this, I sank deeper and deeper into 
 sin and folly. As I became older, the theatre, 
 music and song failed to fill the bill; they did not 
 satisfy. I was told by more experienced young 
 men that to complete the life of pleasure, one must 
 know how to dance, and how to dance well. With 
 that accomplishment as stock-in-trade, nothing was 
 impossible. 
 
 I at once looked up the best and most prominent 
 dancing school in Hew York and began operations. 
 I learned to dance, and to dance well. This be¬ 
 came so fascinating and enticing that it kept me 
 going almost day and night, hut positively every 
 night. I soon became very proficient and had 
 pupils of my own. 
 
 A dancing school, by the way, is the devil’s ele¬ 
 mentary grade for the ruination of young women. 
 Hot that all girls who dance go to the devil, but 
 many thousands of girls would not have gone to 
 the devil had they stayed away from this tempta- 
 
ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK 
 
 27 
 
 tion. One who knows has said: “ Can a man take 
 fire in his bosom, and his clothes not he burned ? ” 
 
 Myself and two other young men once vowed 
 that we would dance until we dropped on the floor. 
 Both of these boys died of hasty consumption, con¬ 
 tracted from dancing, and passed away within a 
 few days of each other. I escaped, only by heed¬ 
 ing the warning of a sensible physician. 
 
 As for my own natural life, during the time that 
 I was without God in the world, it was indeed “ ac¬ 
 cording to the course of this world, and the spirit 
 that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” 
 It was my delight to he “ taken captive by the devil 
 at his will,” being filled with all unrighteousness, 
 wickedness and sin. 
 
 I prospered at the cigarette business, my wages 
 increased, and my pleasures increased in propor¬ 
 tion. After being with my firm about three years, 
 the proprietors surprised me one day by informing 
 me that I had been chosen to he assistant foreman 
 with an increase of salary. But earning more 
 money only meant more to spend. One day my 
 cup was full—I had been meditating upon my life, 
 reflecting upon my career, I saw it was nothing hut 
 a soap bubble. To remain in New York meant 
 gradual suicide. Without a word to anyone I be¬ 
 came missing. I had fully decided to go to some 
 place where no one knew me, and where in turn 
 I knew no one. 
 
 On the map I found Akron, Ohio. I knew noth- 
 
28 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 ing about Akron, but somehow the name appealed 
 to me. I went to the depot and bought my ticket 
 for that city. 
 
 The journey to Akron was really longer than I 
 had expected. I was glad, however, for the oppor¬ 
 tunity of being alone and quiet. 
 
 My life in New York had been one continuous 
 whirl of excitement, out of one thing into another. 
 I had hardly time to eat, and never took time to 
 sleep. 
 
 It was not unusual to come home from a dance 
 at an early morning hour, wash, change clothes, eat 
 breakfast, work during the day and then at night 
 go to another dance without sleeping. 
 
 I remember coming home one Saturday morning 
 at six o’clock and after eating a light breakfast I 
 went to bed; when I woke up it was dark. I natu¬ 
 rally thought that it was Saturday night, but to my 
 great surprise I found that it was Sunday, eight 
 o’clock in the evening. I could hardly realize that 
 I had actually slept 38 hours without waking. 
 
 Don’t you think it was time I had come to my¬ 
 self ? While on the train I reflected on my sin and 
 folly with shame. 
 
Ill 
 
 PASTURES NEW 
 
 O N my arrival at Akron, I picked up a local 
 paper and in the want ads noticed that 
 the Hotel Sumner wanted a night-clerk. 
 I immediately called on the proprietor, told him 
 my story, showed him my credentials, and secured 
 the position. This was the turning point in my 
 life, the switch at which the entire course of my 
 future was changed. 
 
 When I left the Hotel Sumner I engaged with 
 a clothing firm as salesman, and in this business 
 I remained for many years. When I had been in 
 Akron about three years, I became possessed by a 
 great desire to see other parts of the country. I 
 was living in a new world and here I intended to 
 make my future home, and I wanted to get better 
 acquainted with the country and its people. 
 
 On learning my intentions, and knowing the 
 difficulties a stranger would be likely to encounter, 
 my friends were anxious that I be supplied with 
 proper credentials, and they very kindly secured 
 for me a letter of identification from Mr. W. H. 
 Miller, the mayor of the city, and also from Mr. 
 
 W. B. Gamble, the postmaster. These letters, with 
 
 29 
 
30 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 those secured from my employers, served me well. 
 I had no trouble whatever in securing employment, 
 anywhere. 
 
 I enjoyed traveling, and the novelty of shifting 
 scenes and changing places. Besides, the coming 
 in contact with all manner of people under differ¬ 
 ent conditions of life proved a great means of edu¬ 
 cation to me. My school was practical experience 
 and in it I learned many valuable lessons. 
 
 I soon discovered, however, that no matter how 
 far away I traveled from Akron, my heart re¬ 
 mained there. The reason for this was “ a little 
 girl.” During my stay there, I formed the ac¬ 
 quaintance of a young girl, then but sixteen years of 
 age. During my absence a correspondence began 
 between us, which continued for seven years. Dur¬ 
 ing this time we became thoroughly acquainted 
 and I might add, much attached to one another. 
 When marriage was suggested it did not in the 
 least surprise either of us, but it was not until that 
 point had been reached that I fully realized that 
 this young lady was a Gentile, and knowing the 
 feeling of opposition on the part of my people in 
 the matter, I hesitated for some time to act. I saw, 
 however, that waiting did not change the attitude 
 of my people, nor did the lapse of time alter my 
 affection for the girl, so there was no alternative 
 but to marry. 
 
 After a happy union of two years, my wife one 
 day came to me with the astonishing news that she 
 
PASTURES NEW 
 
 31 
 
 desired to embrace the Hebrew religion, giving as 
 her reason that she did not expect to live on eartb 
 forever, and that as long as she lived, sbe desired 
 the satisfaction of knowing that sbe worshipped 
 my God; in so doing she hoped, also, to be with 
 me in tbe after life. Being moreover at this time 
 expecting shortly to become a mother, she added 
 that she desired likewise that our children should 
 be reared in the Jewish faith. 
 
 This greatly surprised me, as I did not know of 
 any God I really worshipped, nor of any place I 
 would be after this life was over. I tried my best 
 to discourage my wife taking this step, for it 
 seemed to me unnecessary and entirely uncalled 
 for, as at that time I was wholly indifferent toward 
 religion and had no hope beyond the grave. She, 
 however, was determined to carry out her inten¬ 
 tion, and in order to gratify her wishes, I consulted 
 Dr. Wasserman, the Jewish rabbi, and he informed 
 me that while the Jewish people do not seek prose¬ 
 lytes, yet if one of another faith is desirous of 
 professing their faith, he is accepted on the sole 
 conditions that he become thoroughly conversant 
 with the ancient law and customs of the race. I 
 arranged with him at once to give my wife the 
 necessary instruction, and after three months’ 
 training, the rabbi found her qualified. It was 
 found also necessary that we conform with Jewish 
 rites in our marriage, and, accordingly, were re¬ 
 married by the rabbi in the Temple at Akron, 
 
32 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 Ohio, where we then resided. When our boy was 
 bom, we arranged for the ordinance of circum¬ 
 cision in accordance with the Jewish law and cus¬ 
 toms. When eight days old the child was circum¬ 
 cised. 
 
 True to my wife’s newly acquired obligations as 
 a Jewess, she tried her best to fulfill all that was 
 required. She most faithfully attended the ser¬ 
 vices of the Synagogue. She bought from Jewish 
 butchers only, assuring herself beforehand that the 
 meat was duly marked by the seal of the rabbi as 
 “ Kosher,” and in accordance with the Hebrew 
 custom she soaked and salted all meats before 
 cooking them. She was most conscientious in ob¬ 
 serving all our various Fasts and Festivals; and 
 rigidly kept the feast of the Passover, using 
 throughout the week only unleavened bread. 
 
 “ Yom Kippur,” that great day of Atonement, 
 in which the Hebrews confess their sins openly be¬ 
 fore God in the Synagogue, was carefully observed 
 by her. We fasted during the day, reading the 
 prayers allotted to it in the Jewish ritual, and it 
 was the same with “Posh Hashana,” which of all 
 days in the Jewish calendar, is to every Jew the 
 dearest, being as it is, the Jewish Yew Year. 
 
IV 
 
 REMOVAL TO CALIFORNIA 
 
 A ETER two years, owing to my wife’s ill 
 health, a physician strongly advised our 
 going to a warmer climate. Being anx¬ 
 ious to bring about a speedy recovery, I resigned 
 my position at once and we went to San Francisco, 
 where our second boy was born. Unfortunately we 
 arrived during the rainy season, and, much to our 
 discomfort, we were compelled to go further south, 
 moving about from place to place, eventually set¬ 
 tling in San Bernardino. 
 
 I was now in my thirty-fifth year, and up to this 
 time had mercifully escaped any serious loss either 
 of fortune or kindred; but now all was to be 
 changed. 
 
 I had formed almost an idolatrous affection for 
 my youngest boy, a lovely, bright little child of 
 four, who up to that time had enjoyed excellent 
 health. One morning, however, he appeared to be 
 very ill and immediately I sent for a physician. 
 No improvement in the child’s condition being 
 effected in several weeks, I became seriously 
 alarmed, and calling in another physician for con¬ 
 sultation, I learned to my horror and grief that 
 
 33 
 
34 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 owing to an error in diagnosis, a fatal mastoid ab¬ 
 scess at the root of the brain bad been allowed to 
 go unchecked, and, in consequence, my precious 
 child could not possibly live longer than twenty- 
 four hours. 
 
 I was utterly distracted and never left him until, 
 in a few hours, he passed away in my arms. The 
 shock proved almost fatal. I was beside myself 
 with grief. I vainly appealed to the Almighty to 
 take me also, and for weeks remained in a state of 
 comparative apathy, doing my work half con¬ 
 sciously and mechanically. 
 
 Through this period of sorrow and grief my 
 stony heart became softened and I earnestly sought 
 relief in prayer. How true it is that “ God moves 
 in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform! ” 
 In this particular instance, a simple washerwoman 
 became the instrument of leading my wife to a 
 knowledge of Christ, and eventually through her 
 I, myself, became a Christian. Our conversion 
 came about in the following manner: This good 
 woman knowing our lost condition without Christ, 
 took advantage of every opportunity to drop the 
 good seed. Her zealous efforts for our conversion 
 became so aggravating to my wife that she said to 
 me one day: “ We shall have to forbid this woman 
 coming to the house.” I said, “ Why ? ”—for she 
 was an excellent worker and most kind. u Oh,” 
 replied my wife angrily, “ she never comes near 
 me now without bringing in her Christ and His re- 
 
REMOVAL TO CALIFORNIA 
 
 35 
 
 ligion, and I am heartily sick of the whole busi¬ 
 ness.” 
 
 This, of course, appeared to be most officious, 
 and unwarranted, and, seeing how seriously my 
 wife took the matter, I tried to console her, with¬ 
 out having to lose the woman. I therefore sug¬ 
 gested that in future we treat her with indifference, 
 letting her plainly understand that we were Jews, 
 and did not care to know anything about her Christ 
 or His religion. The next day my wife tried the 
 experiment, but this kind woman, already meek 
 and gentle, became only more so. 
 
 After several weeks had elapsed my wife said 
 to me one day: “ Do you know, dear, I did this 
 woman a great injustice in treating her unkindly? 
 She is the most beautiful Christian character I 
 ever met. This woman knows God.” The changed 
 attitude of my wife rather surprised me. For 
 some time past I had noticed that the Jewish form 
 of religion did not supply the comfort she had ex¬ 
 pected it to supply. At times she appeared rather 
 depressed, although she never complained. Now, 
 however, she appeared restful, satisfied, and happy. 
 In some way I felt, intuitively, that there was 
 something on her mind which she longed to tell 
 me, and waiting a favourable opportunity, I ques¬ 
 tioned her as to what it was. She immediately 
 opened her heart, and to my astonishment told me 
 that through the life and testimony of this woman 
 she had found Christ as her personal Saviour, 
 
36 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 adding that if she could only unite with a church, 
 her happiness would he complete. As I cared only 
 for her happiness, I told her by all means to do 
 so. Yet her face remained troubled and sad, and 
 with tear-filled eyes, and a tremor in her voice, she 
 said. “ But that is not all I wanted to say.’ 7 
 
 “ Well,” I said, “ what is the rest? ” 
 
 “ Oh,” she replied, “ I do so want you to join 
 the church with me.” 
 
 “ What,” I answered, “ I join a Christian 
 church? Never! I was born and raised a Jew, 
 and Ull die one.” 
 
 “ I do not care to join a church alone,” my wife 
 returned; “your God is my God, and my Christ 
 ought to be your Christ, and then when we die we 
 shall be where He is, for there is also our home. 
 I want you to be where I am, and you cannot un¬ 
 less we both believe in Christ.” 
 
 “ These eight years we have lived happily to¬ 
 gether without our religious views conflicting, so 
 do not let us permit our peace to be disturbed 
 now,” was my answer. “No, our peace shall not 
 be disturbed,” she replied calmly, “ but I shall con¬ 
 tinue to pray earnestly for your conversion until 
 God hears my prayer.” 
 
 No more was said about this matter for some 
 weeks, but it did not end there. The impossibility 
 of my ever becoming a Christian seemed to grow 
 upon me every day. 
 
 At this juncture, also, there came before me many 
 
REMOVAL TO CALIFORNIA 
 
 37 
 
 things I had suffered in childhood on account of 
 my being born of Jewish parents. This had never 
 entirely left my memory. I saw myself again as 
 a little hoy in far-off Germany, going to school 
 with my little sister by my side. At this school 
 we were the only Jewish children, and on that ac¬ 
 count became subject to attack and ridicule by the 
 supposedly Christian children. Often on our way 
 to and from school they howled all manner of in¬ 
 famy at us, frequently beating us and sending us 
 home crying, for no other reason or offense than 
 that we were Jews. When the question of becom¬ 
 ing a Christian agitated my mind, another occur¬ 
 rence, which had made a deep impression on me 
 in my youth, came before me like a frightful night¬ 
 mare. My parents, at this time, kept a country 
 store beside a public highway. One night while 
 my father was getting things ready to leave home 
 early the next morning to go to the city where 
 there was a Synagogue, in order to observe the 
 Jewish new year, there came suddenly a loud rap 
 at the door, with a demand to open. On my father 
 refusing to comply with the request, the door was 
 broken in and six men under the influence of 
 drink, entered, and while some began helping 
 themselves with what merchandise was nearest, the 
 others began beating my father with their fists and 
 heavy canes, crying, “ Kill the Jew!” 
 
 My mother’s screams for help aroused the whole 
 household, and soon five of us little ones were down 
 
38 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 from our sleeping apartments in our night cloth¬ 
 ing, terribly frightened, trembling and screaming, 
 while these murderous men were unmercifully 
 beating my father, who was entirely helpless in 
 their grasp, his body and face being covered with 
 blood. Not until they had fully satisfied their 
 bloodthirsty appetites, did they leave off beating 
 him. Then they departed, whistling as they went. 
 
 My parents knew these men, brought suit against 
 them, and they were tried before a justice of the 
 peace. At the trial, however, they produced ample 
 witnesses, proving their good moral, Christian 
 characters before the court, and thus cleared them¬ 
 selves of their guilt and scored another victory 
 over the Jew. Experiences of this character may 
 not appear as very important to people who are not 
 Jews. But to the people of this ancient race, they 
 form almost insurmountable obstacles to their be¬ 
 coming Christians, and my case was no exception 
 to the rule. 
 
 The more I reflected upon the matter, the more 
 it seemed to me impossible ever to become a Chris¬ 
 tian. I felt then, as every Jew, in all the so-called 
 Christian lands, at least, feels, that every one who 
 is not a Jew is a Christian—irrespective of whether 
 he goes to church, or without thought as to what 
 church he may attend. 
 
Y 
 
 COHVEBSIOH 
 
 T HE great struggle—the awful conflict—I 
 passed through in my own mind at this 
 time, is indescribable. Again and again, 
 the question arose before me, “ How can I ignore 
 my Jewish birth; forsake parents, brothers, sisters, 
 and all my Jewish friends and acquaintances and 
 affiliate with a people who, as I supposed, were the 
 enemies of our race % ” The idea appalled me. 
 
 One night I said indignantly to my wife: “ How 
 could you ever dream of asking me to become a 
 Christian? ” “I am still praying for you, dear,” 
 she calmly answered, “ and if it is God’s will, Ho 
 will make it all plain to you.” 
 
 My wife was ill at this time, and, after waiting 
 on her, I left her bedside about three o’clock one 
 morning, returning to my bed saying resentfully 
 to myself: “ You may pray all you like, it will 
 never do you any good, so far as I am concerned. 
 I was born and raised a Jew and I shall die one.” 
 
 Suddenly (sleeping or waking, I cannot say) it 
 seemed to me I sat in front of a table upon which 
 lay an open Bible with an unusually bright light 
 
 shining upon its pages. I read this one verse: 
 
 39 
 
40 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 “ So God created man in his own image, in the 
 image of God created he him; male and female 
 created he them.” After carefully reading this 
 verse over several times, I closed the Bible, and 
 gave myself to earnest meditation and reflection, 
 attempting, if possible, to solve the problem before 
 me, going over it in my mind line by line. “ So 
 God created man ”—these first few words seemed 
 to knock the props from under my preconceived 
 notion that Jews were a sort of superior creation. 
 I saw, for the first time, God created “ man ”; 
 not “ Jews,” that before God I was no better than 
 anyone else. “ He created man ” and He “ created 
 him in his own image ”—“ Then,” thought I, “ ac¬ 
 cording to His intended purpose my life ought to 
 reflect God in the attributes consistent with His 
 divine nature, such as love, mercy, truth, holiness, 
 long suffering and gentleness.” 
 
 Taking a retrospective view of my own life in 
 comparison, I saw how utterly depraved I was. As 
 the beauties of a life consistent with God’s divine 
 nature arose before me, an intense craving seized 
 me for such a life. In my distress I cried out, 
 “ Oh, how could I live that kind of a life in this 
 wicked world ? ” And the answer came, audible, 
 clear and strong, “ Live the life of Christ! ” 
 
 At the sound of the voice I looked up, and to my 
 surprise it appeared as though Christ stood before 
 me in spotless white. I stretched out my hands 
 in an attempt to detain Him, as He seemed to 
 
CONVERSION 
 
 41 
 
 move from me, but His robe was as vapour and 
 passed through my fingers. When the vision left 
 me I gradually came to and found myself in bed 
 with my hands still outstretched and with an in¬ 
 tense, unsatisfied hunger in my soul for the life 
 of Christ. As soon as I was sufficiently aroused, 
 I went to the bedside of my wife and told her that 
 henceforth I would be a Christian and that I would 
 join the church on the following Sunday. With an 
 expression of joy and wonder, she asked: “My 
 dear, why have you changed your mind so sud¬ 
 denly when only last night you said that it was im¬ 
 possible for you ever to be a Christian ? ” My 
 recent experience seemed too sacred to rehearse. I 
 simply said that a vital change had taken place in 
 my feelings since the night before. 
 
 The next morning I went to the store as usual, 
 attended to my duties in business, but the world 
 appeared to me in a new light. A great change 
 had taken place, an unsatisfied hunger possessed 
 me to learn more of the life of Christ. During the 
 day, whatever I did, or in whatever direction I 
 looked, I seemed to see Christ. When I got home 
 in the evening, the first thing I looked for was the 
 New Testament which I had formerly despised, 
 and wishing now to know all about the life of 
 Christ, I eagerly devoured page after page, as a 
 hungry man devours food, every page giving me 
 new hope, and new joy. 
 
 When Sunday came I called on Mr. Taylor, the 
 
42 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 minister of the Presbyterian Church which my 
 wife had previously joined, and requested to be 
 taken in as a member, which request was duly 
 granted, after an examination by the Session. 
 Having united with the Church, I tried my best to 
 live a Christian life and, as far as I understood 
 Christianity, thought I was doing well, knowing 
 only what I had seen casually of those about me 
 who claimed to be Christians, I attended the 
 church services regularly; this, I thought, was my 
 whole duty. My conscience, however, troubled me, 
 as my life during the week sadly lacked in measur¬ 
 ing up to the Christ life, as revealed in the Hew 
 Testament. I tried to excuse my weaknesses and 
 console myself with the imperfections I saw in 
 others. Yet the voice I heard in that night crying, 
 “ Live the life of Christ,” continually rang in my 
 ears, and impressing upon my soul the cry of that 
 night more and yet more forcibly, I read in my 
 Testament: “ He that saith he abideth in him 
 [Christ] ought himself also so to walk, even as he 
 walked.” “ He that saith, I know him and keepeth 
 not his commandments is a liar and the truth is 
 not in him.” This made me feel very miserable 
 indeed, as I saw how far short of the life of Christ 
 my life came. 
 
 In my struggle for victory over sin I often ex¬ 
 claimed in the language of the Apostle Paul, “ O, 
 wretched man that I am!” Yet, in the face of 
 temptation, I seemed perfectly helpless. 
 
CONVERSION 
 
 43 
 
 I neither had courage nor power to resist it. 
 Again and again I found myself sadly defeated. 
 Having struggled on in this unsatisfactory condi¬ 
 tion for about three months, thank God, victory 
 and deliverance finally came, and came in a very 
 unexpected way. Returning home one day from 
 town, I noticed my boy playing in the road, and, 
 as had been my custom, I attracted his attention. 
 He was soon in my arms, and when I kissed him 
 he drew back his little head and, looking at me in 
 amazement, said: “ Papa, you have been smoking, 
 and you promised mamma you would not smoke 
 any more, and you’ve told a lie. I am going right 
 in the house to tell mamma.” And he did. 
 
 This accusation of my child was true and it 
 struck into my heart like a sword. I never felt 
 so guilty or so despicable ! When I entered the 
 house, I avoided my wife and going to my room, 
 I shut the door, and falling prostrate before God, 
 heart-broken, cried for mercy. It was not the 
 smoking or my lying to my dear wife that now 
 confronted me; these, as it were, were only the 
 matches which set the whole city on fire. All my 
 sins from my youth up came before me like a pano¬ 
 rama. I stood face to face before God, my Judge 
 —a condemned soul. Never until now did I 
 realize what a miserable sinner I was, and I felt 
 guilty before God. But the merciful words of 
 Jesus unto the woman, in the Gospel: “ Neither 
 do I condemn thee; go and sin no more,” thank 
 
44 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 God, occurred to me also at this time, and com¬ 
 forted my heart. This relieved my soul from its 
 burden, immediately a flood of joy and peace 
 entered. 
 
 How for the first time I realized the meaning 
 of the Atonement of Christ f and experienced the 
 efficacy of His death on the Cross where “ He was 
 wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our 
 iniquities; where the chastisement of our peace was 
 laid upon Him, and with His stripes we are 
 healed.” Thank God, this proved my cure . I was 
 healed. I was saved! Hallelujah! 
 
 With this experience a wonderful change took 
 place. I say wonderful, because this seems the only 
 fitting word to express my feeling. A new spirit 
 possessed me—a spirit of love—a desire to please 
 God. Habits formed from childhood became dis¬ 
 tasteful and were dropped. Customs familiar from 
 boyhood were given up. Worldly pleasures and 
 amusements lost their charm, and an intense crav¬ 
 ing seized me to love and please God. My whole 
 being seemed flooded with the love of God. I 
 longed for prayer—a desire entirely new to me. 
 Often I walked miles in the darkness of night, in 
 order to talk with God uninterrupted. My spirit 
 was tender; and when alone with God tears brought 
 me great relief. Many nights my pillow was 
 bathed with tears. 
 
 The Christian life was all so new to me, having 
 come to me so very suddenly, and there were natu- 
 
CONVERSION 
 
 45 
 
 rally many things I did not understand. My 
 Jewish heart having been, pregnated from child¬ 
 hood with deep-rooted prejudices against Christ 
 and His followers, these prejudices could not he 
 obliterated from my mind at once. By degrees, 
 however, through prayer and the reading of the 
 Word of God, the darkness gradually vanished, and 
 the light came in. The great mysteries of God’s 
 heavenly repository opened. To me it was won¬ 
 derful ! Treasures I never knew existed came to 
 light. As a rosebud unfolds its petals and brings 
 to light its hidden beauty in the rays of the sum¬ 
 mer sun, so the mysteries of God’s wonderful sal¬ 
 vation unfolded in the light of the Holy Ghost. I 
 could now understand why David prayed, “ Open 
 Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous 
 things out of thy law.” The hunger in my soul 
 for God’s divine truth was very keen. I could 
 hardly await the end of my day’s labour to be alone 
 with my precious Bible. Often until the early 
 hours of the morning my famished soul would feed 
 on the heavenly manna, and drink of the waters of 
 life until overwhelmed with God’s blessing and 
 power, and unable to go on. Again and again, I 
 stood amazed at its wondrous revelation. 
 
 Something which surprised me above all else, 
 was the love which possessed me for all human 
 kind whether they were Jews or Gentiles. For¬ 
 merly my love had reached no further than my 
 home, and my kindred in the flesh. “ The powers 
 
46 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 of the world to come ” became real to me. I saw 
 that every one I met was destined to destruction 
 unless quickened by tbe Spirit. I felt my re¬ 
 sponsibility to warn bim to flee from tbe wratb 
 to come. 
 
 In tbe neighbourhood where I lived was an unused 
 schoolhouse. I obtained permission from those in 
 charge to hold services here. After cleaning the 
 place I secured seats enough for 40 people, then I 
 had bills printed, at my own expense, and adver¬ 
 tised that services would be held here Sunday af¬ 
 ternoon at 3 o’clock. Some Christian friends bor¬ 
 rowed song-books from a church near by and the 
 first Sunday service was attended by ten persons. 
 At the close of the service three of these accepted 
 Christ. The following Sunday every seat was oc¬ 
 cupied and every service thereafter was well at¬ 
 tended with the best interest manifested. As long 
 as I was able to hold these services, the results were 
 very satisfactory, and before I left I turned the 
 work over to the minister of a near-by church. 
 
VI 
 
 SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES 
 
 HROUGH the reading of the Scriptures, 
 I discovered that the great incorruptible 
 inheritance which is reserved in heaven 
 for us, is acquirable only through a life of “ holi¬ 
 ness x without which no man shall see the Lord.” 
 I determined, by the grace of God, to conform my 
 life to this condition in order to make my claim 
 to the inheritance sure in the end. 
 
 The many denominations, and their different 
 doctrines, puzzled me. I could not understand how 
 they could all he right in the sight of God, and yet 
 differ so widely one from the other in their teach¬ 
 ing. It became my earnest desire to find out for 
 myself what were the real essentials of salvation. 
 Eor this purpose I searched the Scripture, both of 
 the Old and New Testament. Here I discovered 
 that the foundation is laid in “ repentance toward 
 God and faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ.” These conditions I had already complied 
 with. I also saw, as Christians we are all under 
 the New Covenant, which God had promised to 
 make with the House of Israel, “ after those 
 days,”—that is, after the first Covenant which God 
 
 had made formerly with our fathers when He 
 
 47 
 
48 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 brought them out of the land of Egypt should have 
 become invalid. The invalidity of the Old Cove¬ 
 nant I clearly saw became effected, when the Jews 
 rejected and condemned Christ. The destruction 
 of Jerusalem which followed, completely and per¬ 
 manently annulled the Old Covenant. 
 
 Since that time, the keeping of the Jewish forms 
 and ordinances have been made impossible to the 
 J ews. 
 
 First. Because their Temple and the altar with 
 all its Mosaic belongings were destroyed. 
 
 Second. The Levitical priesthood as ordained of 
 God to intercede between God and the people has 
 since likewise vanished. 
 
 Third. With the destruction of Jerusalem, the 
 Jews themselves became dispersed among the na¬ 
 tions of the world. Under these conditions, we 
 can clearly see how utterly impossible it would be 
 for them to-day to carry out the prescribed forms 
 of worship in accordance with the first covenant. 
 
 Again: Since the destruction of Jerusalem the 
 very books of genealogy, the only means by which 
 the Jews could prove their lineage, are gone. The 
 priests in accordance with the law must all be 
 Levites of the family of Aaron, to make them 
 eligible to the office. This identity now, cannot be 
 established with any degree of certainty, in the ab¬ 
 sence of the ancient records. Thus the ruined and 
 desolate condition of the Jews is revealed, with the 
 Old Covenant broken and abolished. 
 
SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES 
 
 49 
 
 Can we wonder that Jesus wept, when He fore¬ 
 saw their utter ruin and desolation which awaited 
 them when they rejected Him, their only hope of 
 salvation? Can we wonder that He cried, when 
 He beheld the city, “ Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
 thou that killest the prophets and. stonest them 
 which are sent unto thee, how often would I have 
 gathered thy children together, even as a hen gath- 
 ereth her chickens under her wing, and ye would 
 not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, 
 For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth 
 till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the 
 name of the Lord.” Matt. 23: 38, 39. 
 
 It is pitiful indeed, to see these poor blinded 
 souls in their present form of worship, trying to 
 still cling to their old forms without the means of 
 the prescribed sacrifice offering of the blood for 
 their sins in accordance with the Old Covenant. It 
 reminds one of a poor broken-hearted mother, who 
 at the death of her child, will not be persuaded that 
 her child is dead, and in her sorrow and anguish 
 is blindly hugging to her bosom the cold, lifeless 
 form of her offspring. This is the attitude of the 
 Jews in their present form of worship. 
 
 You will ask then, if the Hebrews, to-day, have 
 no priest, nor sacrifice, nor altar. How do they 
 answer to God for their sins? For He requires the 
 shedding of blood as an Atonement for our sins 
 now as He did in the past. Well, their rabbis have 
 kindly accommodated them with a substitute. On 
 
50 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 the Passover night when the shedding of the blood 
 of a lamb is required, they offer unto God a dry 
 roasted shank bone, this the rabbi declares is all 
 God now requires since the destruction of Jeru¬ 
 salem. The Christians through the Atonement of 
 Jesus Christ are offering unto God the blood of 
 the Lamb God has provided as an Atonement for 
 our sins. “ The blood of Jesus Christ His Son 
 cleanseth us from all sin ” and all there is left for 
 the Jews to offer to God is a dry roasted shank 
 bone. 
 
 The New Covenant became established at the 
 cross of Calvary, and is entered into by everyone 
 who comes to God through repentance and faith in 
 Jesus Christ. This includes the Jews with all 
 other people, civilized and uncivilized. “ Whoso¬ 
 ever will, may come.” 
 
 This New Covenant I concluded, must now be 
 as obligatory to all Christians as was formerly the 
 Old Covenant to all Jews. And if we fail to live 
 up to the principles involved in this New Cove¬ 
 nant we shall, as did the Jews likewise, fail to in¬ 
 herit all God has promised to us. 
 
 I realized fully my danger and the importance 
 of walking in all the light of the gospel. I deter¬ 
 mined to profit by the failure of my fathers and 
 gain in my Christian experience by faith, what 
 they lost through unbelief. Faithfulness to God, I 
 saw was the essential requisite to gain our heavenly 
 
SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES 
 
 51 
 
 reward in Christ. “ Be thou faithful unto death, 
 and I will give thee a crown of life / 7 
 
 In evidence of my acceptance with God, I had 
 received the Holy Spirit, the promise of God—“ I 
 will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to 
 walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judg¬ 
 ments, and do them . 77 Through the Holy Spirit I 
 had now also received power as a Christian to carry 
 out the principles involved in this New Covenant. 
 This our fathers. lacked under the law. As a re¬ 
 sult of this experience, I realized there must also 
 follow a thorough separation from the world. The 
 outward evidence of this inner experience is mani¬ 
 fest in this—“ if any man love the world, the love 
 of the Father is not in him . 77 Nonconformity to 
 the world, became to me a natural leading of the 
 Spirit, since I had already conformed my life to 
 this rule. 
 
 I was troubled, however, when reading “ Be not 
 unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what 
 fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteous¬ 
 ness? and what communion hath light with dark¬ 
 ness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? 
 or what part hath he that helieveth with an infidel ? 
 —for ye are the temple of the living God; as God 
 hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; 
 and I will be their God, and they shall he my peo¬ 
 ple. Wherefore come out from among them, and 
 touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 
 and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my 
 
52 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.’’ II 
 Cor. 6: 14-18. Before my conversion I had become 
 affiliated with three different organizations, the 
 members of which were far from being Christians. 
 Our relationship was closely cemented by the 
 strongest oaths and obligations, and our fellowship 
 of the most cordial nature. 
 
 Beside the social bond there were material and 
 financial benefits to be derived, yet here I saw my 
 duty as a Christian. To decide this question in 
 accordance with the will of God meant that I should 
 have to “ come out from among them ” and sever 
 my connections with them. Be assured this was 
 no easy task. I realized how such a step would 
 be misconstrued by my friends and associates, and 
 would probably create for me new and additional 
 enemies. This I wished to avoid. After much 
 prayer and patient waiting on the Lord, however, 
 my duty became plain. I did not want the experi¬ 
 ence Esau had, “ who, for one morsel of bread, sold 
 his birthright. Afterwards' when he would have 
 inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he 
 found no place of repentance, though he sought it 
 carefully with tears.” I realized I could not af¬ 
 ford to take such chances with my inheritance. Ac¬ 
 cordingly, I decided to obey God and my own con¬ 
 victions. I came out from among them. 
 
 After these wonderful experiences through faith 
 in Christ I was naturally much interested to know 
 
SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES 
 
 53 
 
 just what the Old Testament had to say of the 
 Messiah. 
 
 From the Jewish point of view, my knowledge 
 of Christ had not been of a very helpful character. 
 It consisted of fabricated superstitions—fables 
 only—that had no foundation in history; nor were 
 there facts of any kind to establish their claim to 
 authenticity. My salvation I saw was based on the 
 revelation of the Bible; this, I concluded, must 
 also he the source of my information concerning 
 Christ. I therefore earnestly searched the Scrip¬ 
 tures of the Old Testament and was well compen¬ 
 sated for my trouble. 
 
 In the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah I saw such 
 a vivid likeness to the sufferings of Christ that I 
 marvelled. Here I saw a shadow cast seven hun¬ 
 dred years before the real object became visible. 
 I read this chapter over many times, shedding tears 
 every time, and thought to myself, “ How can any 
 Jewish man or woman read this chapter and not 
 see Christ? Or how can anyone else read it with¬ 
 out a broken heart and a contrite spirit ? ” 
 
 The whole chapter deals with one man without 
 a name. In every verse of the chapter reference 
 is made to him. At first it seemed to me rather 
 complicated. I could not see very clearly whether 
 the prophet speaks of himself or of someone else. 
 In order to clarify my vision, I rewrote the whole 
 chapter, setting forth every reference to Him, He 
 and His in capital letters at the beginning of every 
 
54 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 line without changing a single word or syllable. 
 To me the result was wonderful. 
 
 When I counted all the references made to Him 
 I found to my amazement that they numbered 
 forty-nine—just seven times seven. I thought this 
 could not he an accident for there are no accidents 
 with God. 
 
 I could see no other reason for this coincidence 
 except as it might have reference to the seven times 
 seven curses God had pronounced upon the children 
 of Israel in the Scripture if they failed to obey 
 and do all the commandments God had given 
 them. 
 
 These forty-nine references in this chapter I 
 thought must mean that “ He ” (this man) made 
 atonement for all the forty-nine curses when “ He 
 was wounded for our transgressions and bruised 
 for our iniquities.” “ The Lord hath laid on Him 
 the iniquity of us all.” That is—“ He was made a 
 curse for us all.” 
 
 The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah follows: 
 
 Who hath believed our report ? and to whom is 
 the arm of the Lord revealed ? 
 
 1. For he shall grow up before him as a tender 
 
 plant and as a root out of dry ground. 
 
 2. he hath no form nor comeliness; and 
 
 when we shall see 
 
 3. him there is no beauty that we shall desire 
 
 4. HIM 
 
 5. he is despised and rejected of men; a 
 
SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES 
 
 55 
 
 man of sorrows and acquainted with 
 grief and we hid as it were our faces 
 from 
 
 6. HIM 
 
 7. he was despised, and we esteemed 
 
 8. him not, surely 
 
 9. he hath borne our grief and carried our 
 
 sorrows; yet we did esteem 
 
 10. him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 
 
 But 
 
 11. HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRES¬ 
 
 SIONS 
 
 12. HE WAS BRUISED FOR OUR INIQUITIES *. 
 
 THE CHASTISEMENT OF OUR PEACE WAS 
 UPON 
 
 13. HIM AND WITH 
 
 14. HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED. All we 
 
 like sheep have gone astray; we have 
 turned every one to his own way and 
 the Lord hath laid on 
 
 15. HIM THE INIQUITY OF US ALL. 
 
 16. he was oppressed, and 
 
 17. he was afflicted, yet 
 
 18. he opened not 
 
 19. his mouth. 
 
 20. HE IS BROUGHT AS A LAMB TO THE 
 
 slaughter and as a sheep before her 
 shearers is dumb, so 
 
 21. he opened not 
 
 22. ins mouth 
 
56 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 23. he was taken from prison and from judg¬ 
 
 ment and who shall declare 
 
 24. his generation ? For 
 
 25. HE WAS CUT OFF OUT OF THE LAND OF 
 
 the living, for the Transgression 
 
 OF MY PEOPLE WAS 
 
 26. HE stricken. And 
 
 27. he made 
 
 28. his grave with the wicked and with the 
 
 rich in 
 
 29. his death, because 
 
 30. he had no violence, neither was any de¬ 
 
 ceit in 
 
 31. his mouth, Yet it pleased the Lord to 
 
 bruise 
 
 32. him he hath put 
 
 33. him to grief. 
 
 WHEN THOU SHALT MAKE 
 
 34. his soul an offering for sin. 
 
 35. HE SHALL SEE 
 
 36. HIS SEED 
 
 37. he shall prolong 
 
 38. his days, and the pleasure of the Lord 
 
 shall prosper in 
 
 39. his hand, 
 
 40. he shall see the travail of 
 
 41. his soul and be satisfied by 
 
 42. ms knowledge shall my righteous servant 
 
 justify many; For 
 
 43. HE SHALL BEAR THEIR INIQUITIES. 
 
SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES 
 
 57 
 
 Therefor© will I divide 
 
 44. him a portion with the great, and 
 
 45. he shall divide the spoil with the strong; 
 
 because 
 
 46. he hath poured out 
 
 47. his soul unto death; and 
 
 48. he was numbered with the transgressors; 
 
 and 
 
 49. he bake the sin of many and made in¬ 
 
 tercession for the TRANSGRESSORS. 
 
 To me it was indeed wonderful to find in the 
 Old Testament the narrative of Christ’s birth, 
 Christ’s works, Christ’s suffering, ClirisCs death 
 and His glorious resurrection of which I had read 
 so recently in the New Testament, so strongly 
 foreshadowed and confirmed by prophecy. It did 
 indeed arouse my surprise and wonder that this 
 Saviour of mankind, having all divine knowledge 
 and power at His command, should have chosen to 
 be born a Jew, of a people which, even at that time, 
 were hated and despised among all other nations. 
 I now also saw, very clearly, the reason my dear 
 people cannot recognize in this humble person 
 their own promised Messiah. 
 
 First, because “ the god of this world hath 
 blinded the minds of them which believe not;” 
 second, their preconceived prejudice against Christ 
 prevents their coming unto Him in true repentance 
 and faith to have unbelief, the cause of their blind¬ 
 ness, removed; third, because His new name being 
 
58 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 Jesus they cannot understand how this carpenter’s 
 son can he the son of David, at the same time also 
 the Son of God. Since this name is not mentioned 
 in the Old Testament although it is declared: 
 “ Thou shalt be called by a new name.” 
 
 Under this cloud I saw the Messiah, was hidden 
 from their view, and the very name given of God 
 to be a name of joy and a crown of blessing has 
 become unto poor, blinded Jews, a stumbling-block 
 and a rock of offence. Since, “ there is none other 
 name under Heaven given among men whereby we 
 must be saved,” the cloud remains upon our dark¬ 
 ened hearts until the heart turns to God in true 
 repentance and faith in His name. 
 
 Then, and not until then, does the cloud vanish. 
 The Messiah which was hidden then emerges and 
 comes to view, as the bright rising sun of the morn¬ 
 ing dispels the darkness of the night and ushers in 
 the dawning of the day, even so Christ becomes 
 clearer and plainer to those who obey Him, until, 
 finally, we behold Him in all His majestic glory 
 and splendour, like the bright shining sun at 
 meridian height. 
 
 This revelation stirred my soul to the utmost, I 
 saw now no reason why I should be ashamed of 
 the Gospel of Christ or be afraid openly to ac¬ 
 knowledge my precious Redeemer. 
 
 The realization of how closely our Lord became 
 related to us by having been bom of the flesh, and 
 how much closer still we become related to Him 
 
SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES 
 
 59 
 
 when conforming to His Holy will and being born 
 again of the Holy Spirit, created a strong desire 
 in me to spread the good tidings, in order that 
 others also might he induced to seek from the same 
 divine source, the consolation that I myself had 
 found. 
 
VII 
 
 ENDURING PERSECUTION 
 
 A T this time, I stood well in the estima¬ 
 tion of both Jews and Gentiles. That 
 favonrahle opinion I valued greatly, and 
 I must own to the severe struggle through which I 
 passed before I resolved to make open confession 
 of my conversion, and to do it without further 
 delay. 
 
 For three years I had been in the employ of a 
 Jewish firm, for which I was then working, and 
 our mutual relations up to this period had been of 
 the most cordial and even confidential nature. My 
 wife and I were invited to the homes of the heads 
 of the house, and on Jewish festivals and holidays 
 we met together in the same Synagogue. 
 
 But, alas! we were not only united in business 
 and socially, but also in racial rancour against 
 Christ and his followers. This animosity had been 
 specially aroused by some members of a Christian 
 Mission, who had persistently held their open-air 
 meetings in front of our store, and this had an¬ 
 noyed ns so much that we had combined in revil¬ 
 ing Christ and His followers, and I had often closed 
 
 co 
 
ENDURING PERSECUTION 
 
 61 
 
 our door in order that we might not hear the name 
 of Jesus mentioned. 
 
 All this came to my mind in my struggle for 
 victory, and I dreaded greatly to make my con¬ 
 version known to my employers. How could I con¬ 
 fess to them that this Christ, of whom I had spoken 
 recently with such hatred and contempt, was now 
 my acknowledged Lord and Master. 
 
 I plainly foresaw the scorn, the ridicule, the con¬ 
 tempt, such open confession of my sincere belief 
 in Jesus would arouse against me. I knew that I 
 would be forsaken by my kindred, and become an 
 outcast and stranger to all my old friends and 
 acquaintances. 
 
 I could not expect much help from the Church 
 of which I had so recently become a member, and 
 one could hardly hope for sympathy from the out¬ 
 side world. For weeks I struggled to overcome the 
 powers of darkness. It seemed to me like a real 
 fight with the devil; the Lord, however, stood by 
 me, revealing to my inward consciousness the fact 
 that “ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” 
 
 The spirit of the Lord burned in my soul like 
 a fire wanting vent. I felt constrained by an un¬ 
 seen power to confess Christ. Not being able to 
 endure the pressure any longer in silence, I sought 
 relief at a prayer meeting, but before I could stand 
 before the congregation it seemed as if all the fiends 
 of hell were present to oppose me. A voice seemed 
 to whisper, “ What use is it for you to tell these 
 
62 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 people that you are a Christian? They all know 
 yon to be a Jew, and they will never believe your 
 testimony.” 
 
 When at last I summoned courage to try and 
 speak, I trembled like a leaf, my knees fairly 
 knocked together, my lips quivered. At last I com¬ 
 pelled myself to stand, and with broken voice and 
 tears I testified before this congregation how Christ 
 had revealed Himself to me in the night, and that 
 I had accepted Him as my Saviour and my Lord. 
 
 My testimony struck like a thunderbolt, and 
 brought a hush upon that Christian congregation. 
 Instead of their not believing, as the devil had pre¬ 
 viously suggested, every eye was in tears for the 
 love of Christ constrained them. This news of my 
 Christian experience quickly spread among the 
 Jews. It ran through the town like a prairie fire, 
 and ere long I felt the returns coming in; in a day 
 or two after this eventful evening, the members of 
 my firm failed to bid me the usual “ good morn¬ 
 ing,” and not long afterwards Jewish friends failed 
 to see me when passing. 
 
 At last I was informed by the head of the firm 
 that the business of late had become so poor that 
 it did not justify them in keeping me in their em¬ 
 ploy any longer, and I was paid off. 
 
 Having been discharged, I failed to secure em¬ 
 ployment in the town, as my Jewish friends had 
 it reported that I was beside myself. Ho sane 
 man, they said, would declare as I had done, that 
 
ENDURING PERSECUTION 
 
 63 
 
 he had seen Christ, seeing that this man was cruci¬ 
 fied and buried nineteen hundred years ago. 
 
 Nor could I find in my heart to blame my 
 people for feeling thus against me. Having lived 
 for thirty-six years in compliance with their present 
 manners and customs, and having always behaved 
 myself as becometh one of our race, it must indeed 
 have been a great shock and surprise to them, to 
 see me suddenly stop in my accustomed course of 
 life and refuse to go on. 
 
 Not being able to secure employment in the 
 town, we left San Bernardino for Los Angeles. 
 Here I secured a position with the same firm that 
 I had been with some years before. This was also 
 a Jewish firm, but they had not as yet heard of 
 my conversion. In a few weeks, however, the news 
 reached them, and not long thereafter I was 
 told that the business of late had fallen off 
 and therefore it did not justify them in keeping 
 me in their employ any longer, and I was paid off 
 again. The following week I obtained another 
 position in a large clothing firm, but also composed 
 of Jews. 
 
 By this time I was fully convinced of my fate 
 as a Christian, and therefore determined that this 
 firm should not find out that I was a believer in 
 Christ if I could possibly prevent it. I was get¬ 
 ting on beautifully, and I was congratulating my¬ 
 self on my success when one Saturday evening all 
 the salesmen were notified to report for duty at 
 
64 OUT OF, THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 eight-thirty Sunday morning for the purpose of 
 getting the stock in shape for a special sale which 
 was to begin Monday morning. I had resolved 
 since becoming a Christian, not to desecrate the 
 Sabbath day if I could by any means avoid it. 
 Here came the test, and the question was, whether 
 to keep my word with God and confess Christ be¬ 
 fore these people, or else break my word and deny 
 my Lord? Just about this time I had been read¬ 
 ing about Joseph and Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, 
 and Abed-nego, and I saw when these men pur¬ 
 posed in their hearts that they would not defile 
 themselves but serve God and acknowledge Him, 
 God was with them and prospered them. I saw 
 plainly there was only one thing for me to do, and 
 that was to be faithful to God. 
 
 With this in my mind, I informed the manager 
 of my faith in Christ and my desire to be excused 
 from working Sunday in order that I might ob¬ 
 serve the Sabbath. He expressed great surprise at 
 my confession and told me that before he could 
 give a decided answer he would first have to con¬ 
 sult the head of the firm. He did so, and shortly 
 afterward informed me that my request was 
 granted, which greatly surprised me at the time, 
 but as soon as the special sale was over, my posi¬ 
 tion was over, as well, and I was paid off again. 
 
 I could ill afford to be out of employment, so I 
 immediately looked for another position. Failing 
 to secure one with the better grade clothing firms, 
 
ENDURING PERSECUTION 
 
 65 
 
 I overcame my pride in my need, and engaged with 
 a cheaper concern. This firm had known me when 
 I was employed with the largest business house in 
 the city, and naturally felt proud of their bargain 
 and thought that they had captured a prize when 
 they secured my services. They treated me most 
 kindly, wondering, of course, at my come-down. 
 Their curiosity, however, did not last long. The 
 second week I was with them I saw by their 
 changed attitude toward me that the secret of my 
 faith in Christ must have leaked out. Their warm, 
 kindly feeling toward me became chilled, the tem¬ 
 perature falling, during the week, to a very low 
 degree. By Saturday night, the mercury was down 
 to zero. 
 
 About closing time Saturday night, the proprie¬ 
 tor called me into his private office, and asking me 
 to he seated, took a seat beside me and engaged me 
 in a very social sort of conversation. He seemed 
 much interested in my family, and when he heard 
 about the sickness of my wife, he expressed great 
 sympathy. He inquired carefully about my chil¬ 
 dren, as to their ages and health. He wanted to 
 know how long I had been married, where I had 
 lived in the east before coming to California, and 
 all sorts of other questions. Had I been a single 
 man I would have been suspicious under these cir¬ 
 cumstances, that perhaps he had a marriageable 
 daughter to dispose of, or that he was getting too 
 old to manage his own business affairs and that he 
 
66 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 had in mind to deed his business over to me. For 
 it did seem from the trend of his conversation as 
 though he was aiming at some great proposal. 
 However, all this wildfire finally burned out, and 
 the conversation calmed down to this: 
 
 “ You know,” he said, “ we are not a concern 
 like the London Clothing Company, or like Jacoby 
 Brothers, and we can hardly afford to pay you the 
 wages you really are deserving. Our business is 
 small in comparison to those others and we cannot 
 very well afford to keep you.” He handed me my 
 pay and hoped I would soon secure a position 
 worthy of my service. Thus we parted the best of 
 friends. 
 
 The next morning I scanned over the want ads 
 in the Los Angeles Times, and there I saw that a 
 clothing firm wanted a salesman exactly of my 
 experience, the name of the firm not being given. 
 The application was to be made in person, and the 
 address given was at a private residence. This did 
 not appear strange, as frequently merchantmen 
 from near-by country towns would come to the city 
 to engage their help on Sunday and at the same 
 time visit friends in the city and thus save hotel 
 expenses. 
 
 I immediately cut out the ad. and called at the 
 given address, rang the bell, and to my utter amaze¬ 
 ment, when the door opened, I stood face to face 
 with the gentleman who had so very ceremoniously 
 paid me off on the previous Saturday night. 
 
ENDURING PERSECUTION 
 
 67 
 
 Ho was a very short and stout man with bald 
 head and smooth, clean-shaven face and rather fair 
 complexion, hut the moment he cast his eyes on 
 me you may conjecture what complexion he had—■ 
 he turned scarlet. His whole face and round bald 
 head presented the most perfect likeness of a full 
 moon in all its glory. No artist could have given 
 expression to this picture and have done it justice. 
 
 This time he did not treat me with the kind con¬ 
 sideration and tender feeling he had on Saturday 
 night. As soon as he recognized me he slammed 
 the door in my face with a terrific hang, telling 
 me at the same time to go to -. 
 
 I obtained several other positions, hut alas, alas! 
 with the same result. As soon as my employers 
 discovered that I believed in Christ, immediately 
 “ the business became poor ” and I was paid off. 
 I had eight such experiences in one year. By this 
 time I was well known to every Jewish firm in 
 the city, and every door was barred against me. I 
 was now left without position or friend, with a 
 very sick wife and child to provide for. 
 
 Bailing to get employment, I invested what little 
 money I had in a small stock of groceries in the 
 suburbs of the city. By this means we got along 
 fairly well financially, but very poorly spiritually. 
 The persecutions and insults received from the 
 Jewish people were almost more than we could 
 endure. 
 
 It was at this time that a lady with very pleas- 
 
68 OUT OU THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 ing manners and beautiful countenance brought the 
 news to us that Christians need not be sick, if they 
 would learn to deny the existence of sin. “ Sin 
 and sickness/’ she said, “ are all one, and the rea¬ 
 son men are sick is because they think so.” 
 
 My wife had been ill with tuberculosis for seven 
 years, and every physician we consulted had pro¬ 
 nounced her incurable. This lady, however, vowed 
 she could cure her if we would give ourselves over 
 to her method of treatment. As we had already 
 tried every new consumption cure on the market, 
 we thought it would be wrong not to avail our¬ 
 selves of this one. After a few more talks with 
 the pleasant lady, we inquired what we would have 
 to do to become that kind of Christian? She said 
 we would have to buy certain books written and 
 authorized by a Mrs. Eddy, who was the author of 
 this type of Christianity. After purchasing the 
 books, she would give my wife the required treat¬ 
 ments. The price of the books, a complete outfit, 
 was $3.50. Thinking this a much cheaper price 
 for Christianity than I had paid for mine, I or¬ 
 dered the books at once, and told her to begin her 
 treatment. 
 
 During the treatment she sat quietly with folded 
 arms and closed eyes, saying in a low tone of voice, 
 “ There is no sin nor sickness; there is no sin nor 
 sickness,” repeating the same for at least an hour, 
 possibly longer, the patient at the same time doing 
 likewise. Her regular fee for each treatment was 
 
ENDURING PERSECUTION 
 
 69 
 
 three dollars, but as we were poor people, she re¬ 
 duced the charges to two dollars and fifty cents. 
 She gave my wife two such treatments a week for 
 some weeks, without effecting the slightest improve¬ 
 ment. No doubt you will think it strange that we 
 should have fallen a prey to this theory so easily, 
 but when you consider that my wife had been a 
 sufferer for seven years and growing weaker and 
 weaker all the time, you will not be surprised at 
 our accepting any hope held out to us. A drown¬ 
 ing man, they say, will grasp at a straw. Besides, 
 we were both new and weak in the Christian faith. 
 
 But when you think of the thousands who are 
 strong, physically, and old enough to know better, 
 who fall down at this shrine you naturally won¬ 
 der! I am told there are to-day no fewer than 
 500,000 people, or even a far greater number in 
 this country alone who follow this teaching. 
 
 The influence of this woman’s books over the 
 minds of some people is really remarkable. I be¬ 
 lieve it has been the means of misleading thousands 
 from the right way of salvation in this Christian 
 land. Its victims, strange to say, are not the poor 
 and ignorant, as one might suppose. It captures 
 the rich, refined and the educated classes. Among 
 its adherents you will find doctors, lawyers and 
 professors; it gives them, nay, promises them, a 
 cheap salvation. It is to them, however, a salva¬ 
 tion without a crucified Christ; it promises them 
 life without the shedding of blood. Yet God says: 
 
70 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 “ The blood is the life,” u and without the shed¬ 
 ding of blood, there is no remission” [of sin]. 
 By denying the existence of sin, they have nothing 
 to repent of; not being sinners, they need no atone¬ 
 ment. Christ died for sinners only, and these He 
 redeemed with His own Blood. And the word of 
 God most emphatically declares that “ all have 
 sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” 
 “ That there is none righteous, no not one.” “ If 
 we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to for¬ 
 give us our sins, and to cleanse us from all un¬ 
 righteousness.” “ If we say that we have not 
 sinned, we ?nahe Him a Liar, and His Word is 
 not in us.” “ If we say we have no sin, we deceive 
 ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” “ Whoso¬ 
 ever will come after me, let him deny himself, and 
 take up his cross and follow me.” They, however, 
 claim to be followers of Christ without denying 
 themselves in any wise but denying instead the 
 Sacrificial Atonement of Christ. The Bible with¬ 
 out the Atonement of Christ is nothing but an 
 empty fairy tale. Yet Mrs. Eddy for some reason 
 called her invention u Christian Science ;” while all 
 the theory promulgated in her teaching is entirely 
 contrary to sound Christian doctrine. 
 
 The Lord, however, saw our danger, and came 
 to our deliverance. Two women we had met at 
 some of the church meetings, were visiting a sick 
 lady in our neighbourhood, and called also upon 
 us. We told them of our experience with Chris- 
 
ENDURING PERSECUTION 
 
 71 
 
 tian Science. Both of these dear sisters,—for 
 such they proved to he,—were horror-stricken, and 
 tearfully entreated us to forsake this so-called 
 “ new ” religion, assuring us that, in reality, it was 
 nothing but the devil’s work. They pleaded with 
 us to call upon the Name of the Lord, and then 
 opened the Word of God to us—and as they did, 
 the Lord opened our eyes. We all got down on our 
 knees before God in earnest prayer, and, bless 
 God! He heard our cries of repentance, and in His 
 mercy returned unto us the joy of His salvation. 
 
 Once more the devil was defeated. We burned 
 his books, paid off his agent in full, bade her adieu, 
 and she returned no more. Then, as the children 
 of Israel moved on when the cloud over the Taber¬ 
 nacle led the way in the wilderness, so the glory 
 of God appeared in our hearts and we moved on 
 in our Christian experience. 
 
 During the time of which I am now writing, it 
 pleased God, to my intense grief, to take unto 
 Himself my dear helpmate who for years had suf¬ 
 fered patiently, and who endured uncomplainingly 
 unto the end. I am fully persuaded that she went 
 home to receive her crown of life, which the Lord 
 promises to all them who love Llim and are found 
 faithful unto death. Shortly before passing away, 
 she suddenly opened her eyes, and with a gaze fixed 
 steadfastly toward Heaven, and a peculiar expres¬ 
 sion of radiant happiness overspreading her counte¬ 
 nance, she exclaimed in a tone of joy, “ Oh, I see 
 
72 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 Jesus! ” With this, her last testimony, she closed 
 her eyes and left our darling boy and myself until 
 we shall meet again on the bright and cloudless 
 morning when all the dead in Christ shall rise and 
 meet to part no more. 
 
 After the death of my wife, one of my neigh¬ 
 bours kindly asked me to make my home with him 
 until I could decide what I intended to do next. 
 This kind offer I gratefully accepted. 
 
 The family with which I went to reside consisted 
 of father, mother, and five children; they also pro¬ 
 fessed to be Christians. I shall never forget our 
 first meal at this home. It being supper-time, we 
 all took seats about the table. The plates were 
 soon filled and each in turn began to eat without 
 further ceremony. This procedure at the table was 
 contrary to my habits as a Christian, as it also was 
 to our Jewish customs in my father’s home, for we 
 never partook of any food until my father had first 
 thanked God for it, in prayer. In accordance with 
 my custom, I asked permission to say grace. The 
 request being granted, my little boy and I bowed 
 our heads in prayer. This seemed quite an amus¬ 
 ing feature to the children of the house. After 
 having been there a week, I spent my evenings in 
 the family circle, reading to the children stories 
 out of the Bible, emphasizing and explaining them 
 in such a way as to make them plain and easy to 
 be understood. The entire family would follow 
 
ENDURING PERSECUTION 
 
 73 
 
 each narrative with the utmost attention. Instead 
 of going to my room to pray, as I had done in the 
 beginning, we would all kneel in prayer in the sit¬ 
 ting-room with the deepest reverence of my audi¬ 
 ence. 
 
 The Lord graciously rewarded me for my testi¬ 
 mony and in this home He gave me the first soul 
 for His Kingdom. While I had been dealing with 
 many before, yet this one was the first who really 
 and definitely surrendered to God. 
 
 One morning, as I was about to leave my room, 
 there came a knock at my door. On opening the 
 door I found my hostess in tears. 
 
 “ I want you to pray with me,” she said, “ I 
 have been going to church all my life, but I never 
 realized until now that I have never been really 
 converted. I want to know Christ as my Saviour 
 as you do.” Right there we knelt in prayer, and 
 as best she knew, she called on God to save her, 
 and He heard her prayer and gave her the victory. 
 Oh, how she rejoiced when the revelation came to 
 her from God, that her sins were all forgiven! 
 She immediately prayed for her husband and her 
 children. She said grace, herself, at the table, and 
 prayed with her children at night. The joy I ex¬ 
 perienced in winning this one soul for Christ, more 
 than repaid me for all I had lost through accepting 
 Christ. 
 
 Much as I enjoyed the winning of souls I could 
 
74 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 not devote all my time to this work, as I had my¬ 
 self and child to support, so I sold what goods I 
 had, paid off what obligations were upon me, then 
 looked for a business position, and the way soon 
 opened. 
 
VIII 
 
 STOREKEEPING IN THE MOJAVE 
 
 DESERT 
 
 A MERCHANT in Los Angeles who al¬ 
 ready had several stores, wanted to open 
 another. A new mining town on the 
 Mojave desert seemed a promising venture. This 
 man wanted me to take charge of the business for 
 him. After talking the matter over, we agreed on 
 the terms, then got ready to buy the stock. The 
 agreement being made, it dawned upon me on my 
 way home that this gentleman was also a Jew, and 
 that he evidently did not know that I was a Chris¬ 
 tian, as I had not told him. Remembering well 
 my former experiences, I felt it would he more 
 honourable to let him know all about myself be¬ 
 fore the stock was bought, for I thought that per¬ 
 haps when he knew that I believed in Christ, he 
 might not want to trust me with seven or eight 
 thousand dollars worth of goods. This is because 
 converted Jews are looked upon by their uncon¬ 
 verted brethren as nothing but the lowest kind of 
 hypocrites, and rogues. 
 
 Therefore, I went back and told him about my 
 
 faith in Christ. He was rather touched with my 
 
 frankness, but told me it made no difference what- 
 
 75 
 
76 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 ever to him what God I worshipped; he knew I 
 was honest, and would attend to the business, which 
 was his only concern! 
 
 The next day we secured the store that had been 
 spoken for and started to do the necessary buying. 
 A relative of my employer, a man about forty 
 years of age, who had just come West, was going 
 with me as my assistant. All matters finally being 
 arranged, we started for the gold fields with our 
 new enterprise, reaching our destination on a 
 Saturday night. As the stage-coach, drawn by six 
 horses, ascended the top of the last hill, what 
 seemed already a good-sized town, suddenly came 
 to view, street lamps, brightly-lighted shops of 
 various kinds, and saloons, being visible every¬ 
 where. We stopped in front of the post-office, with 
 everything pretty well shaken out of us, over this 
 rough road, except our appetites. In front of the 
 post-office we found quite a crowd assembled, 
 awaiting the arrival of the stage. A shout went 
 up from the crowd, such as you hear in the city 
 during election time around the bulletin boards 
 when the returns come in. My companion, who 
 had just come from Chicago, pushed his hat back 
 from his forehead, then wiping the perspiration 
 from his face, remarked: “ This is the kind of 
 place I’ve been looking for.” 
 
 We arrived at the hotel just in time to secure 
 the last room with hut one bed in it. However, 
 we were thankful for that, for many found neither 
 
STOREKEEPING IN MOJAVE DESERT 77 
 
 room nor bed that night. After getting something 
 to eat, we prepared for a good night’s rest. 
 
 It had been my habit to kneel in prayer before 
 retiring, yet in the face of my companion I halted. 
 He was a very worldly man and very profane. I 
 had not the grace in his presence to perform my 
 duty as had been my custom. Instead, I resolved 
 to pray in bed, silently. I failed, however, in this 
 as well; my heart seemed cold and hard as stone, 
 and I could not pray. In this state I finally fell 
 asleep. In the morning I awoke feeling very much 
 condemned, with a strong conviction that I ought 
 to have knelt in prayer and should not have per¬ 
 mitted the presence of this man to hinder me in 
 acknowledging my Lord. However, instead of con¬ 
 fessing my wrong unto God and walking henceforth 
 in the light, I was thinking of going to church, 
 hoping the service might soothe my troubled con¬ 
 science. 
 
 Breakfast being over, my companion lit his cigar, 
 then invited me to walk up the road with him. I 
 begged to be excused, saying I would rather stay 
 at home and read. This, however, was not true; I 
 was ashamed now to acknowledge to this man that 
 I intended going to church. 
 
 I am relating these facts to show how cunningly 
 the devil works to deceive one who is trying to 
 serve God, hoping my experience may help other 
 young converts to overcome where I was defeated. 
 
 After my assistant had gone, I went out to look 
 
78 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 for a church. There appeared only one steeple in 
 the whole place and the bell was tolling at the time. 
 I went in. The place was still empty. I took my 
 seat, thinking that either I was too early for the 
 service or else the people here were so wicked they 
 did not go to church at all, for it was a very rough 
 place. 
 
 In a few minutes, however, a lady and a little 
 girl came in, making three in all, and we made 
 up the congregation. 
 
 In a short time a hell rang and a door opened in 
 the rear and the minister entered. Dressed in a 
 peculiar black garment, he came forward to the 
 pulpit, bowed, went back and bowed again, then 
 turning to the sides he did likewise; stepping to the 
 pulpit, he read something in a foreign language I 
 did not understand, then he read a Psalm in En¬ 
 glish. This kind of service was all new to me, and 
 from what I could judge of the other two it seemed 
 as new to them. 
 
 This church service brought me no comfort or 
 consolation, but to the contrary left me in a worse 
 state than I had been before. At the end of a very 
 miserable day, I heard there was another church, 
 and had no trouble in finding it. Long before 
 reaching the place at eight o’clock that evening I 
 heard the singing of a very familiar hymn, and, oh, 
 how good it sounded. It was to me truly like a 
 spring of refreshing water to a weary traveler in 
 
STOREKEEPING IN MOJAVE DESERT 79 
 
 a dry and thirsty land. When I came near enough, 
 I could hear the words of the last verse and chorus: 
 
 “And drops of grief can ne’er repay 
 The debt of love I owe; 
 
 Dear Lord, I give myself away, 
 
 ’Tis all that I can do. 
 
 At the Cross, at the Cross where I first saw the light, 
 And the burden of my heart rolled away, 
 
 It was there by faith I received my sight, 
 
 And now I am happy all the day.” 
 
 This song not only reached my ear, but my heart 
 as well, it brought the Cross with all its scenes be- 
 fore me; I saw my Lord again, dying in agony 
 for my sins, and I cried in anguish, “ How could 
 I ever deny Him ? ” 
 
 By this time I was at the door of the church. 
 It was a rough, wooden building of the crudest 
 sort, hut the glory of God that pervaded it made it 
 most beautiful. 
 
 It would accommodate comfortably perhaps two 
 hundred people, yet there must have been two hun¬ 
 dred and fifty crowded inside, besides a goodly 
 number on the outside. I could get no further than 
 the door. The minister, an old man with white 
 hair and beard, said, “ Let us pray.” The words 
 had hardly left his lips when three or four began 
 to pray at the same time, while others shouted, 
 “ Praise the Lord! ” “ Hallelujah! ” and I said, as 
 did my companion, when we reached the post-office, 
 “ This is the place I ? ve been looking for.” Here 
 I had a chance to pour out my heart before God 
 
80 OUT OE THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 in prayer. When the prayer service was over, sev¬ 
 eral more hymns were sung. The children sang 
 with their mothers; the fathers, most of them strong, 
 robust miners, joined in with their strong, bass 
 voices. It seemed to me I never heard sweeter 
 singing. My soul was blessed, my spirit revived in 
 this service. 
 
 The minister, an old man, and lame, leaning 
 upon his heavy cane, read from the twenty-sixth 
 chapter of Matthew: “ Peter said unto him, 
 
 Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny 
 thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.” 
 
 From the beginning of his sermon to the end, 
 this dear, old man seemed to relate my own experi¬ 
 ences. How strange, I thought, that he should take 
 that text! When he told how Jesus looked at 
 Peter when passing and how Peter’s heart was 
 broken, I felt Jesus looking at me, and, like poor 
 Peter, my heart was broken, and I wept. 
 
 I slept very little that night. The next morn¬ 
 ing, instead of going to my breakfast, I called on 
 this minister, introduced' myself to him and told 
 him of my peculiar experience. The kindly old 
 man listened to me very attentively, and then read 
 a portion out of the Bible, made a few remarks on 
 the portion of Scripture he had read, and asked 
 me to pray and told me to confess my shortcomings 
 to God. I did so and the Lord heard my prayer 
 because the joy and peace I had lost returned to 
 my soul. I immediately went back to the hotel, 
 
STOREKEEPING IN MOJAVE DESERT 81 
 
 told my Jewish friend how I believed in the Lord 
 Jesus. This more than surprised him, but our re¬ 
 lations from that moment became changed. The 
 devil was defeated, and I had the victory. I had 
 the liberty to pray before him, read the Bible, sing 
 hymns, or do anything else in the name of the Lord. 
 My new attitude had a wonderful effect on him. 
 To my utter surprise, he stopped his profanity in 
 my presence, and he became very inquisitive, want¬ 
 ing to know all about my conversion. This offered 
 me splendid opportunities. 
 
 We soon arranged our stock, and in a few days 
 opened our doors for business. Although very 
 different from the city, we soon accustomed our¬ 
 selves to the ways of the place. There were neither 
 law nor order here, though provision had been made 
 for both; drunkenness, revelry, screams of “ mur¬ 
 der/’ fights, and so forth, became very common and 
 ordinary; so much so that in a little while we would 
 scarcely look out of the window at the report of 
 pistol shots, or heed the screams of women. 
 
 To say the least, it was a rough life. Eor in¬ 
 stance, the constable of the place was also the pro¬ 
 prietor of two saloons, and the principal stock¬ 
 holder of two others. When you wanted this cus¬ 
 todian of the peace, you had to hunt for him in the 
 saloons, with slim chances of finding him, for he 
 was a very busy man. The judge, or the gentle¬ 
 man filling this office, also filled another important 
 position, namely, that of “ faro dealer ” in a gam- 
 
82 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 bling den; when not on duty on the bench in court, 
 he could always be found at his post in the back 
 part of a saloon, dealing out cards. 
 
 Neither was this state of corruption confined to 
 the town officials of law and justice, but a certain 
 head official of a church under the guise of min¬ 
 ister was wallowing with them in the mire. This 
 gentleman boarded at a French restaurant and at 
 meal-times could always be found with a bottle of 
 wine beside his plate. If you wanted to find him 
 between meals, you would have to look for him in 
 the saloons. It was not hard, however, to locate 
 him, on account of his corpulent figure, black 
 clothes and high collar. Then, too, a big dog was 
 his constant companion. 
 
 In conversation, one day, this minister gave me 
 his reason for spending so much of his time in the 
 saloons. u I have to visit the members of my 
 flock/’ he said; “ since I cannot find them at their 
 homes, I feel it is my duty to call on them where I 
 can find them; by having a social glass with them, 
 they are encouraged to keep in good faith! ” 
 Whatever he meant by this “ good faith ” I can¬ 
 not tell, and I doubt whether he knew. 
 
 My experience in this mining camp gave me a 
 little foretaste of what this world will be like when 
 the Christian spirit is taken out of it and the devil 
 allowed to have full sway without restriction. 
 
 Our business increased right along, and the 
 weekly reports to my employer showed up splen- 
 
STOREKEEPING IN MOJAVE DESERT S3 
 
 didly, giving him the utmost satisfaction. Ilis let¬ 
 ters to me were always of a pleasing, satisfactory 
 character. As I was working on salary and com¬ 
 mission, it was therefore to my interest, as well as 
 to his, that the business increased. 
 
 In the meantime I continued to attend the ser¬ 
 vices at the Church where the Lord had so wonder¬ 
 fully blessed me the first night. We met together 
 on Thursday and Sunday nights only. There was 
 a service Sunday mornings as well, hut only few 
 attended, as on that day everything here was wide 
 open, stores, saloons, and some of the mines were 
 running. Indeed, this was often the best day 
 financially. 
 
IX 
 
 MEETING THE SALVATION ARMY 
 
 A FTER we had been there six or seven 
 months a Salvation Army Band, directed 
 by Major George Wood, came and held 
 tent meetings. I had heard a good deal about these 
 people, had sometimes noticed them in the streets 
 of the cities, but until now had never come in touch 
 with them personally. They pitched their tent in 
 a field behind our store and “ opened fire,” as 
 they called it. Each person was a musician, a 
 singer, and a preacher. They marched through the 
 camp, and I thought that everybody who could 
 walk, followed them, for they had quite a long pro¬ 
 cession. When I saw our dear old minister, with 
 his white head and beard, taking up the rear of the 
 march, limping along leaning on his heavy cane, 
 I thought that even those that couldn’t walk were 
 following. Finally they halted before the notorious 
 dance-hall right next to our store. Here they had 
 an open-air service, with song, testimonies and 
 music. As I saw gamblers, harlots, saloon-keepers, 
 and some real devil-possessed people standing 
 around this open-air ring listening attentively, 
 
 and some whose hearts were touched at the testi- 
 
 84 
 
MEETING THE SALVATION ARMY 85 
 
 monies they had heard wiping the tears off their 
 cheeks, I said, “ Praise God! If the Salvationists 
 never do any more than hold this one meeting, 
 surely the Lord will amply reward them.” 
 
 I became intensely interested, and attended their 
 meetings in the tent. During their stay they were 
 frequently at our store, as I had given them per¬ 
 mission to leave their instruments with us. They 
 had heard my testimony at their meetings and 
 knew that I was a Christian; hence they wondered 
 at my handling tobacco and keeping the store open 
 on Sundays, though they said very little about it, 
 only this—Robert Griffith, first cornetist, leaning 
 over the counter one morning, said to me, in a low 
 tone of voice: “ Brother Abrams, how do you feel 
 about handling tobacco and keeping your business 
 open on Sunday ? ” Yet that little was enough. 
 The seed had fallen into good ground, the Lord 
 watered it, and before long it began to spring up. 
 
 My interest and my conviction increased. My 
 course had been contrary to my own conscience all 
 the time; I knew it was wrong. I had compro¬ 
 mised because everybody else did so here: now, 
 however, I began to close my store Sundays and 
 went to church. 
 
 After three weeks of closing our business on 
 Sundays I received a letter from my employer stat¬ 
 ing that it had been reported to him that I closed 
 the store on Sundays, was neglecting my business, 
 and had become a church preacher. I wrote and 
 
86 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 explained my position to him, told him that while 
 it was true that I closed the store on Sundays, he 
 had, nevertheless, been misinformed as to my 
 neglecting the business; my receipts proved to the 
 contrary. After receiving this letter, in a few days 
 he came to see me, to talk the matter over. He 
 tried his best to convince me that if I would give 
 up my “ church business/’ as he termed it, and 
 instead of attending the church, mingle freely with 
 the saloon-keepers, gamblers and fast women, he 
 was sure the business would double in a short time, 
 and before long I would have a business of my own 
 and be independent of anybody. Of course we 
 could not agree. I remembered how the devil 
 tempted Jesus in the wilderness on the same line 
 when “ he showed him all the kingdoms of the 
 world and the glory of them; and said unto him, 
 all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall 
 down and worship me.” 
 
 I saw only one thing, and that was: “Fear God 
 and keep his commandments, this is the whole 
 duty of man.” On this rock, I built my hopes, 
 and now after twenty years’ experience, I must 
 say that my attitude toward God has not changed 
 in the least, nor have I in any w*ay been disap¬ 
 pointed. 
 
 My employer left me in an unsettled state, since 
 we were unable to come to an understanding. In 
 a few days, I received quite a lengthy letter in 
 which he went over the ground again, winding up 
 
MEETING THE SALVATION ARMY 87 
 
 by saying that if I could not come to bis terms he 
 should then be obliged to make a change of man¬ 
 agers. As I could by no means comply with his 
 wishes, my resignation followed. 
 
 After two weeks he came down with a gentle¬ 
 man whom he introduced to me as my successor. 
 We took inventory, settled up, and I turned the 
 keys over to him. Once more the devil was de¬ 
 feated and I had the victory. “ Eor what shall it 
 profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose 
 his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange 
 for his soul ? ” 
 
 I started back for Los Angeles. On my way 
 there I stopped off at San Bernardino, the place of 
 my conversion, where, also, I had laid to rest my 
 dear wife and my precious little boy. Arriving 
 there at six o’clock in the morning, I at once made 
 my way to the cemetery. In my effort to locate 
 the burial plot I seemed rather confused as to 
 which were my graves. I could hardly believe 
 those before me all decorated with flowers were 
 mine, until convinced by the headboards bearing 
 their names. But who could have been so kind in 
 my long absence as to have placed here such beau¬ 
 tiful, fresh flowers? To me it surely proved a 
 most kindly token of love. As- I knelt there in 
 prayer my heart fairly overflowed with gratitude 
 and praise to God for all His mercies, and I espe¬ 
 cially asked His blessing upon the tender heart 
 and gentle hands who in kindness and love had re- 
 
88 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 membered my dear ones. On my return from the 
 cemetery I made my way down a narrow lane into 
 an alley; there among a lot of small wooden cot¬ 
 tages I located the poor washerwoman who was the 
 means of my conversion. Here we had a good 
 season of prayer and the Lord blessed our souls. 
 Here, also, I discovered that she was the one who 
 for a year or more had not ceased putting fresh 
 flowers on the graves of my departed wife and 
 little boy. True to the spirit of her Master, who 
 “ having loved his own which were in the world 
 he loved them unto the end.” I in turn felt 
 toward this woman for her kindly deed as did the 
 Lord toward the woman who had poured upon Him 
 the box of very precious ointment, saying: “ Wher¬ 
 ever this gospel shall be preached in the whole 
 world, there shall also this, that this woman hath 
 done, be told for a memorial of her.” 
 
 On my return to Los Angeles there followed a 
 long season of trials, hardships, misunderstandings 
 and humiliations. At times it did seem as though 
 the furnace had truly been heated “ seven times 
 hotter than it had ever been heated before.” In 
 my distress I often felt like saying with David, 
 “ Hath God forgotten to be gracious ? Hath he in 
 anger shut up his tender mercies ? ” 
 
 Yet through this experience I learned in a prac¬ 
 tical way that -our going through the fire is, after 
 all, good for the soul. It refines it and brings the 
 dross to the surface. 
 
MEETING THE SALVATION ARMY 89 
 
 This, I saw, is God’s purifying process through 
 which even the Lord Himself had to pass, 
 “ Though he were a son yet learned he obedience 
 by the things he suffered.” “And through suffer¬ 
 ing was the captain of our Salvation made per¬ 
 fect.” Of this suffering, we are told, all the sons 
 of God are partakers. “ For whom the Lord loveth 
 he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he 
 reeeiveth.” I therefore resigned myself submis¬ 
 sively, .and in the language of the poet I said: 
 
 “ So wash me, Thou, without, within, 
 
 Or purge with fire, if that must be. 
 
 No matter how, if only sin, 
 
 Die out in me, die out in me/’ 
 
 God is shaping our lives, moulding our charac¬ 
 ters, and making us Christlike, and ofttimes it is 
 better for us that the stress should not be lessened, 
 and the burden not be lightened, and that the storm 
 should be allowed to blow and the struggle go on. 
 
 In gloomy days and dark hours, I often won¬ 
 dered if Christ really loved me, and why He did 
 not come to my relief? But now, as I look back 
 I can see plainly that in this very delay He mani¬ 
 fested His great love for me. And the reason why 
 He did not answer me when I cried was the same 
 as why God did not answer Him when in His dark 
 hour He cried: “ My God, My God, why hast thou 
 forsaken me ? ” We are likewise to be crucified 
 in the flesh to the things of the world, and it is 
 hard for the natural man to die. He struggles 
 
90 
 
 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 against the thorns, the cross, and the nails. Oh! 
 how difficult it really is to attain unto that meek 
 and gentle spirit He manifested when “ He was 
 led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep be¬ 
 fore her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his 
 mouth.” 
 
 After I had been six months away from the busi¬ 
 ness I had left in the mining camp, I heard news 
 that did not at all surprise me. The young man 
 who had succeeded me as manager of the store 
 turned out to be the exact sort of man my employer 
 wanted me to he. He had freely mingled with 
 saloon-keepers, gamblers, and such like, and in con¬ 
 sequence after six months there was not much left 
 of the stock or of the business. This young man 
 had spent his time in saloons and gambling dens, 
 and his money, or rather his employer’s, in fast 
 living. The owner went down, discharged the 
 young man, sold what goods he could, packed up 
 the balance, and locked the door, being the loser of 
 a considerable sum. 
 
 In this time of perplexity, a friend heard of my 
 difficulty and came to offer me his assistance. I 
 had formed his acquaintance some years before, 
 when he, himself, was in great trouble, and really 
 helpless. I was, fortunately, at that time in posi¬ 
 tion to render him the assistance he sorely needed. 
 He was now in a prosperous business at a summer 
 resort, not far from Los Angeles, and he came to 
 
MEETING THE SALVATION ARMY 91 
 
 the city to look me up. He told me that he had 
 not forgotten my kindness to him in the past, and 
 was only waiting for a proper opportunity when 
 he could show his appreciation in a practical man¬ 
 ner. He insisted upon my going with him to his 
 home to rest awhile, for he saw that I was in need 
 of it for mind and body. I accepted the invitation 
 gladly. Both he and his wife, although not pro¬ 
 fessed Christians, did all they possibly could in 
 love and kindness, to make my stay with them com¬ 
 fortable and' pleasant. 
 
 He talked with me freely over the various de¬ 
 tails of his business, showed me his books, and then 
 made the splendid proposal that I come in with 
 him as partner, offering me half interest in the 
 business without a cent of investment on my part. 
 I thought surely no man could treat another more 
 generously than that. 
 
 I could see at once the help I could be to him, 
 and the alluring possibilities that there were before 
 us both for the future in this business. I did not, 
 however, give my consent at once, as I wished first 
 to consult the Lord in prayer before deciding. 
 
 When my friend showed me the various details 
 of the business, we came to the ice-cream parlour. 
 “ Here,” said lie, “ is the place where the money 
 is made.” This had originally been a large hall, 
 but was now divided by means of partitions into 
 small apartments, each apartment being entirely 
 private, where, however, not only ice cream but 
 
92 OUT OU THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 also beer, wine, or any other kind of strong drinks 
 could be indulged in. These beverages were being 
 supplied from the saloon next door by means of a 
 hole in the wall, so cunningly arranged with a slide 
 door that, when shut, it was invisible. When I 
 went before God in prayer that night, all the busi¬ 
 ness seemed to vanish except the hole in the wall 
 and the ice-cream parlour. This last remained be¬ 
 fore me and assumed an importance greater than 
 all the rest of the business combined. 
 
 This fact alone, however, would not have been 
 sufficient at this time of great need to restrain me 
 from entering into this temptation, as there ap¬ 
 peared to me various, and, from a worldly point of 
 view, excellent reasons for taking advantage of this 
 promising opportunity. First there was the perse¬ 
 cution of my own people, the Jews. Next there 
 were the ridicule and scorn of unconverted Gen¬ 
 tiles, and last, but not least, there was the support 
 of myself and child. Here before me I saw the op¬ 
 portunity of being relieved of all my troubles at 
 one stroke. Indeed, was it not God’s answer to my 
 prayers? For I had prayed earnestly 'to be deliv¬ 
 ered out of my financial difficulties, and what could 
 have been more reasonable than to suppose that this 
 friend’s kindly offer, just at this time, had really 
 come in answer to my prayer ? 
 
 The night before, however, God had, in a dream, 
 graciously revealed to me this very temptation, and 
 my great danger. I did not, however, understand 
 
MEETING THE SALVATION ARMY 93 
 
 my dream, although. I was deeply impressed with 
 it, and had reflected much upon it during the day, 
 —hut when I went before God that night in prayer, 
 I saw my dream of the previous night clearly, and 
 it required no Daniel to interpret it, for the inter¬ 
 pretation lay in this alluring business oppor¬ 
 tunity. 
 
 Realizing, unmistakably, how God had foreseen 
 my danger and had warned me against it, I was 
 fairly overcome with His wonderful love and could 
 do nothing but praise Him. I was, however, 
 “through” with this business opportunity; I had 
 the victory and the devil again was defeated. 
 
 I was sorry to disappoint my friend, but I told 
 him that under no condition could I accept his 
 offer, kind and promising though it was. Both he 
 and his wife regretted my action very much and 
 felt greatly disappointed at my rejecting their 
 offer, and still held out before me the alluring pos¬ 
 sibilities that were in store for us both. The grace 
 of God, however, was sufficient. He gave me the 
 power to resist temptation. 
 
 It was some time before I was able to secure 
 any position in Los Angeles, as by this time the 
 doors were not only barred against me by the Jews, 
 but the Gentile business firms, seeing I did not 
 hold a position long, became suspicious of me also. 
 
X 
 
 TEIALS AHD DIFFICULTIES 
 
 F OE me, these were very trying times. I 
 kept my heart right with God, however, 
 and waited patiently on the Lord for His 
 guidance. I saw that to he a Christian, this was 
 my only course to pursue, no matter what the con¬ 
 sequences. I had no trade I could take up, and 
 for manual labour I was physically unfit. Often 
 I wished I were a tentmaker, or had some other 
 profession I could follow, enabling me to go about 
 preaching the gospel, supporting myself by my own 
 handiwork, as did the Apostle Paul. In the mean¬ 
 time I attended every revival meeting which came 
 to my notice. Here I had the opportunity of in¬ 
 vesting what spiritual values I possessed where it 
 could bring forth returns for the Kingdom of God. 
 Helping others into the Christian life, greatly 
 helped me in my own soul and strengthened my 
 own faith in God; by its exercise I became stronger 
 in the Lord. 
 
 A very interesting experience came to me during 
 this trying time. Dr. Brazee, of the Hazarene 
 Church in Los Angeles, was holding a ten-day re¬ 
 vival campaign in his church; conducted by the 
 
 Eev. W. Morrison. These meetings I attended 
 
 94 
 
TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES 
 
 95 
 
 regularly. On Saturday morning of that week, I 
 invested the last five cents, all my capital, at a 
 bakery for buns. One of these I ate that morning, 
 reserving the remaining ones for some future time, 
 hiding them as the squirrel does his little nuts. 
 The following day, Sunday, I spent all day at theso 
 revival services. Souls came forward in all the 
 meetings to accept Christ. I had been kept busy 
 and interested in dealing with others, and had for¬ 
 gotten all about myself. At night, however, on my 
 way home from the meeting I realized that I was 
 hungry. On discovering this, I increased my pace 
 in order to get home the more quickly, remember¬ 
 ing the buns which awaited me. 
 
 As I went along, the devil overtook me; he 
 seemed to walk beside me, almost in human form; 
 he seemed much interested in me. He was very 
 anxious to advise me as to my best welfare for the 
 future. At first he sympathized with me for being 
 weak and hungry; then he began to accuse Chris¬ 
 tians for their indifference and lack of interest in 
 me. He intimated that if all those people who had 
 given such glowing testimonies in those church ser¬ 
 vices all day were really Christians, I should not 
 be going home hungry. 
 
 “ Don’t you see ? ” he said, “ that they are all 
 hypocrites; there is nothing real at all in this thing, 
 and with all the rest of them you are deceived.” 
 
 This, however, was no news to me at all. I had 
 always heard from childhood that Christ was a de- 
 
96 OUT OF, THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 ceiver and an impostor, and that the poor Gentiles 
 who were not familiar with the law of Moses, be¬ 
 came an easy prey to this deception; the Jews, he 
 said, were the only people who were right in their 
 religious views for they always had the law and 
 the prophets to guide them. For a moment it 
 stunned me, it looked plausible and seemed like a 
 temptation to me. I was weak and hungry. That 
 certainly was true. 
 
 Suddenly, however, recovering as if from a 
 dream, I realized the truth. I saw the devil was 
 a liar. He had overstepped his mark. There was 
 not a single soul among all those Christians in that 
 vast congregation that knew anything about my cir¬ 
 cumstances, while there were many with whom I 
 was well acquainted, yet not one of them knew any¬ 
 thing about my true condition. I always dressed 
 neat and clean while my clothes lasted, and to all 
 appearances there was no reason for anyone to 
 have even suspected my being in such dire need. 
 In fact, it was my earnest desire to prevent anyone 
 finding it out. Had my true condition been known, 
 there were scores of people who would most gladly 
 have done anything in their power to help me. I 
 had heard it said how some Christians had been 
 deceived and disappointed in Jews who had claimed 
 to be converted to Christianity. “ This,” I said, 
 “ shall never be said of this converted Jew.” I 
 actually feared some might discover my need and 
 would want to aid me. I was still too proud in 
 
TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES 
 
 07 
 
 heart to accept any help. God evidently had seen 
 my foolish pride and my need of humiliation and 
 had permitted this very experience to come to me 
 to teach me some lessons. Again the devil seemed 
 to say: “ You don’t have to be tortured like this, 
 going hungry. God never intended anyone to go 
 hungry for His sake. You still have your facul¬ 
 ties. Throw up the whole business of your Chris¬ 
 tian profession; go back to your Jewish friends; 
 tell them the awful mistake you have made. They 
 will be glad to take you back, and you will soon 
 again have a respectable position, earn your own 
 bread and butter and be independent of anyone; 
 don’t be a fool.” This was too much for me. I 
 stopped in the road, turned on my adversary, the 
 devil, and said audibly: “ You miserable devil! 
 That is the way you deceived poor Judas, who sold 
 his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, then went and 
 hanged himself.” At this juncture I again saw 
 my Lord as I had seen Him in the vision of that 
 first night. 
 
 I continued my journey home, heart-broken. I 
 remembered how my Lord had suffered for the re¬ 
 demption of my soul. How He again and again 
 had gone hungry, and had no place where to lay 
 His head, often spending whole nights alone in the 
 mountains. I said: u Lord, forgive me! ” Some¬ 
 how the devil left me and I had the victory. On 
 reaching my room I immediately dropped on my 
 knees beside my bed in prayer, before even light- 
 
98 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 ing the lamp. God wonderfully came to me and 
 •blessed my soul; I bad tbe victory. I remember 
 closing my prayer, saying: “ Lord, if I can better 
 glorify Tbee by starvation, Tby will be done.” 
 Arising from my knees I lit my lamp. To my 
 utter amazement and wonder I saw before me on 
 tbe dresser a plate of fruit and a plate of nice 
 sandwiches. This appeared to me to be a miracle, 
 as though an angel from heaven bad brought them. 
 I could hardly believe my eyes, and actually felt 
 tbe fruit to find out if it were real. I could not 
 understand bow these things could have come there. 
 Such a thing bad never happened before. 
 
 The next morning the mystery was solved. I 
 roomed with an old couple, an ex-minister and his 
 wife; they were most devoted Christians, most 
 kind and considerate, and very much interested in 
 my welfare. Yet even they did not know my real 
 need, as I had never told them. The next morning, 
 however, Mrs. Hallowell insisted that I have break¬ 
 fast with them. Breakfast, and the usual morning 
 worship being over, Mrs. Hallowell took me to task 
 and pressed me to ted her how long I had been 
 without food. I was shocked at her question, yet 
 I did not desire to be untruthful. She had always 
 shown the keenest interest in me and I respected 
 her very highly. I tried very hard to evade telling 
 her the real truth. 
 
 Finally I said to her: “ Why do you ask me this 
 question ? ” 
 
TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES 
 
 99 
 
 u Well,” she said, u I’ll tell you, my dear boy, 
 why I ask. Last night as I prepared for bed a 
 voice seemed to whisper, ‘Abrams is going hun¬ 
 gry.’ I could not believe it for a time, but the 
 whisper came again and again, and still I put it 
 from me. I finally retired for the night, feeling 
 assured that this could not be true. I could not 
 go to sleep, however, for the voice continued to 
 whisper, ‘Abrams is going hungry.’ 
 
 “ After tossing about for some time in bed, I 
 finally got up, saying, ‘ All right, Lord, if the boy 
 is hungry, I’ll see to it that he has something to 
 eat.’ I partly dressed, went to the cupboard, fixed 
 some sandwiches and a little fruit and took it to 
 your room. Did you get it ? ” 
 
 My heart was full, but I managed to answer: 
 “ Yes, Mrs. ITallowell, thank you, I did.” 
 
 On my return to Los Angeles I finally gave up 
 all hope of securing any position as salesman. I 
 therefore made up my mind to take any kind of 
 work my hands might find to do, and to do it with 
 all my might, as unto the Lord. I soon obtained 
 a position at a hotel at Echo Mountain, 3,000 feet 
 above sea level. This elevation, however, was no 
 hindrance to God’s power and presence, as we 
 shall see. 
 
 A family had volunteered to take charge of my 
 child until I attained to better circumstances, for 
 which, of course, I was very thankful. Filling this 
 position at the hotel for a few weeks, I dreamed 
 
100 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 one night I was in the spirit. My wife, who had 
 been dead some time, was also in the spirit, and 
 we were beside three little boys, one of which was 
 our own, and another belonging to the family 
 where he was staying at the time; the third was a 
 neighbour’s boy. These three little fellows were 
 on their way to Kindergarten, accompanied by my 
 wife on one side and myself on the other. We 
 did not walk, but I cannot say by what power we 
 traveled. My wife and I seemed to know that the 
 boys could not see us, but we saw them and heard 
 their conversation, and heard them as plainly as 
 if we had walked beside them in the flesh. They 
 were all using very profane language, and to hear 
 our child entering into such conversation was a 
 severe shock to us both. His mother looked very 
 sad and disappointedly at me. 
 
 I woke up at this point very much troubled, I 
 realized it was the voice of God showing me, in 
 the presence of my wife, the dangerous position in 
 which our child 1 was. I had no rest, much as I 
 needed the work and much as I wanted to keep my 
 position. I tried to make arrangements to have 
 my child with me, but failed in the effort. After 
 a ten-days’ struggle I resigned my position, unable 
 to endure the anguish any longer, and went down 
 the incline, from the mountain, but up in Christ 
 and love to God. 
 
 Beaching the house where my little boy was 
 staying, I saw him playing in the yard. At the 
 
TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES 
 
 101 
 
 sound of my whistle he looked up and was soon in 
 my arms. After greeting him I hinted at the con¬ 
 versation I had heard in my dream, without dis¬ 
 closing all of it. He looked at me in great sur¬ 
 prise, and with the expression of guilt stamped 
 upon his features. I recalled to him the day and 
 the time when, in my dream, this incident took 
 place, describing to him the clothes he and the other 
 hoys were wearing at the time. Then I asked him 
 to repeat the conversation exactly. Faltering, and 
 with great embarrassment, he gave me word for 
 word, the awful language. Every word was as I 
 had heard it that night. I realized that God, our 
 Heavenly Father, had loved me sufficiently to 
 actually reveal to me my child’s real condition and 
 danger. Needless to say, I looked for other quar¬ 
 ters for my child. Yes; God still lives to guide 
 His people. 
 
 At this time a Christian lady, who was com¬ 
 fortably situated, came to my aid. She had heard 
 of my desire to leave Los Angeles. This was true. 
 I felt I had been there long enough and was anx¬ 
 ious for a change. This lady offered to take charge 
 of my child, saying she was all alone, and that she 
 would be glad to take the responsibility and give 
 him the best of care. I consented to this kindly 
 offer, and went to San Francisco. 
 
XI 
 
 SOUL-WINNING EXPERIENCES 
 
 A CHRISTIAN friend in Los Angeles liad 
 given me a letter of introduction to a 
 prominent business man in San Eran- 
 cisco wbo was a Christian. The meeting with this 
 gentleman appeared to me providential. He will 
 perhaps never know what his kindness meant to 
 me at this time. 
 
 I had left Los Angeles feeling like a fugitive 
 fleeing from justice, full of fear and trouble, hav¬ 
 ing been hounded by persecution until I had no 
 rest for the soles of my feet. Yet the only crime 
 charged against me was a belief in Christ. The 
 very words of greeting extended to me by this man 
 acted like a balm to my troubled soul. He spoke 
 to me kindly, with a tenderness in his voice like a 
 father soothing his troubled child. This surprised 
 me, as I was unaccustomed to such kind treatment. 
 After inquiring as to my plans for the future, he 
 extended an invitation to me to go home with him. 
 This invitation was very acceptable. 
 
 His was a Christian home in the truest sense. 
 His dear wife received me kindly, and made me 
 
 feel, at once, th$t I was a welcome guest. And the 
 
 J0£ 
 
SOUL-WINNING EXPERIENCES 103 
 
 dear children! Of these there were no fewer than 
 forty or fifty, yet only one their own, the rest being 
 orphans for whom they cared. But you could not 
 discern this one from the rest—all being treated 
 alike. They were all so beautiful, so rosy, so 
 happy. A dozen or more of these little ones 
 climbed all over my host as soon as we entered the 
 place. Two fair-haired little girls were in his arms 
 at once. One succeeded in getting on his shoul¬ 
 ders, and the rest were trying to get up there. 
 
 As I watched this happy group, I wished for the 
 artist’s talent and brush that I might preserve a 
 memento of this beautiful scene before me. But 
 I also thought how kind it was of God to provide 
 for those fatherless ones such a loving father, and 
 such a beautiful home. 
 
 The inmates of the home, even to the servants, 
 all moved about in a quiet gentle manner. The 
 very atmosphere about the place seemed specially 
 adapted to such surroundings. The air was balmy, 
 soothing and refreshing. 
 
 The books I found in my bedroom were of the 
 best type of Christian literature, and during my 
 stay I just feasted on them. The pictures on the 
 wall and the mottoes all spoke of God. 
 
 The next morning, after breakfast, I joined in 
 family prayer. Then I took my Bible and started 
 out for a stroll among the beautiful hills, and for 
 a little season of being alone with God. The 
 scenes about the place were superb. As I gazed 
 
104 OUT OF, THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 over the vast fields all covered with the loveliest 
 golden coloured poppies, I felt as though the very 
 ground were sacred. Then I remembered that the 
 place was called “Beulah” (espoused). 
 
 I spent a very delightful week at this home, and 
 I often look hack to it with most pleasant memo¬ 
 ries. Shortly after leaving I secured a position 
 with a Christian firm in San Francisco, where I 
 remained for over three years. 
 
 As soon as I was properly located I sent at once 
 to Los Angeles for my hoy. Although not quite 
 nine years old, he made the trip to San Francisco, 
 a distance of five hundred miles, all alone. The 
 greater part of the trip he traveled on the engine. 
 After being a few hours on the road he found his 
 way to the engine and made the acquaintance of 
 the engineer. This man, seeing that the child was 
 traveling alone, in his kindness, asked him to ride 
 on the engine with him. 
 
 Of course, a hoy doesn’t need a second invitation 
 to such an experience. This was the greatest time 
 of his life. Weeks, nay, months afterwards, he 
 never tired telling me of the wonders of that en¬ 
 gine, and the kindness of the engineer and fire¬ 
 man. 
 
 Oh, the wonderful kindness of the Lord! I can 
 never repay Him for His great love. I want to 
 love Him more, live holier, and serve Him more 
 faithfully! 
 
 I had come to San Francisco a stranger, hardly 
 
SOUL-WINNING EXPERIENCES 105 
 
 knowing which way to turn. But the Lord, bless 
 His dear name, just opened the right door for me, 
 into the best kind of Christian home, where I could 
 have my boy with me, and every comfort to make 
 us happy. This was much appreciated by us both, 
 after our former disappointments and separation. 
 
 I realized something of what Peter must have 
 felt when after fishing all night and catching 
 nothing, toward morning, when cold, hungry and 
 discouraged, he saw a bright fire on the shore and 
 a kind voice saying, “ Come and dine! ” On land¬ 
 ing, he found it was the Lord I And He is the 
 same Lord still! 
 
 As stated above, I was now in the employ of a 
 Christian firm. The management of this firm al¬ 
 ways aimed, as far as possible, to secure Christian 
 help. Often this was impossible and they were 
 obliged to hire others. Some made profession of 
 being Christians just to obtain employment here, 
 because of the fair and just treatment given to the 
 employees, and also because the place closed on 
 Sundays, while others of like character kept open. 
 A splendid opportunity offered itself here to me 
 to use my Christian influence in behalf of my fel¬ 
 low work-mates, who were still unconverted, and 
 God graciously blessed these efforts to the salvation 
 of quite a few. 
 
 Indeed, this became my spiritual academy. I 
 have great reason always to remember it. Con¬ 
 siderations of space, however, do not permit my 
 
106 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 telling all that the Lord taught me, and how gra¬ 
 ciously He used me here. 
 
 Until this time I had been worshipping God 
 under trying circumstances, having had continually 
 to fear of being discovered by my employers of 
 being a Christian, which meant persecution and 
 loss of position, which I could ill afford. Now, 
 however, being employed by a Christian firm I was 
 released from this restraint, the chains of bondage 
 were broken, I was set at liberty, I could worship 
 God at will, without restriction, which was to me 
 a great privilege. 
 
 I was hungry in my soul for God, and wanted 
 to devote my innermost affection to my Lord, to 
 sit at Ilis feet and receive from. Him all the in¬ 
 structions I could obtain through His Word. 
 
 I craved to be saved from every wrong temper 
 and disposition, from every tendency in life which 
 was contrary to God’s holy will; I longed to 
 be grafted into the mind and spirit of Christ, to 
 be conformed to the likeness of God in whose 
 image I was now created through faith in Christ. 
 
 Here, in the employ of this Christian firm, my 
 soul expanded like a tree that is planted by a river. 
 I could have my little New Testament at my work, 
 and at noon while refreshing my body, I could also 
 refresh my soul. Thus my soul became truly 
 u like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, 
 whose waters fail not.” My spiritual experience 
 increased, and with it the love of God abounded 
 
SOUL-WINNING EXPERIENCES 10T 
 
 more and more. Here at my work, I found a lit¬ 
 tle room which served me well as a “ power house.” 
 This became to me, “ the secret place of the Most 
 High.” Here I fled for refuge in every time of 
 need, many battles were fought and won in this 
 room on my knees. It was a secluded spot, away 
 from the noise and confusion, very fitting and suit¬ 
 able for my purpose. 
 
 While I cannot possibly record all the Lord did 
 for me and others during my stay with this Chris¬ 
 tian firm, yet I want to record the following inci¬ 
 dent to show God’s guiding hand in the affairs of 
 man. 
 
 One of the bakers employed here was a source 
 of great annoyance and trial to me. He was one 
 of those jolly, happy-go-lucky kind of chaps. To 
 him nothing seemed really serious; whether of life 
 or death, all was a joke with him. He was full of 
 fun and laughter, nothing really troubled him, and 
 a wedding or a funeral was all the same to him. 
 If he heard of a man being run over by a train, 
 he would say, jestingly, “ What a fool he must 
 have been to think he could stop a train.” He had 
 a comical song to accompany every jest, and this 
 greatly amused the young men and the young girls 
 about the place. His many funny stories, generally 
 of double meaning, drew the young people around 
 him like bees around the honeycomb. What made, 
 it sorrowful to me was that he claimed to be a 
 Christian, and boasted of the fact that he was bet- 
 
108 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 ter than those Christians who profess great piety 
 and reverence. for God. Thus, he was setting up 
 a wrong standard and a poor example before these 
 young people. To me this man was a great of¬ 
 fence, and I believe an offence to God, for he not 
 only played the fool, but was a hypocrite and a 
 stumbling-block in the way of sinners. 
 
 I realized that as long as this man had the in¬ 
 fluence over these people he had, it was impossible 
 to reach them with the gospel of Christ and bring 
 them to think seriously of their soul’s salvation. 
 Yet how to remedy the condition without doing 
 any injury to either the baker or the young people 
 was a problem. I needed grace, power and wis¬ 
 dom, and these I realized God alone could supply. 
 So I gave myself up to Him and communed often 
 with my Lord. At this period my “ power house ” 
 served me well. 
 
 I had to exercise faith, patience and long-suffer¬ 
 ing until God’s fullness of time had come. Finally 
 it came, but in an entirely different way from what 
 I had either planned or expected. After four or 
 five weeks of patient waiting on the Lord, and won¬ 
 dering all the while how to approach the matter, 
 the time came when God opened the way. 
 
 One day at noon, while the baker and his help¬ 
 ers were eating their lunch in their room, I was 
 likewise eating my lunch in my room with only a 
 thin partition between us. As usual, I could hear 
 the baker’s tongue rattling along at a great rate, 
 
SOUL-WINNING EXPERIENCES 109 
 
 jesting and sporting with religious matters, caus¬ 
 ing peals of laughter to go up, which seemed to me 
 like the smoke of the burning incense by Korah, 
 Dathan and Abiram, who offered strange lire be¬ 
 fore God and were swallowed up by the earth for 
 their folly. I marvelled they were not afraid to 
 commit such sacrilege. 
 
 While I thought about these things, the Holy 
 Spirit brought to my remembrance a verse of 
 Scripture, and the Spirit said, “ Use it.” I at 
 once looked it up in my little Testament and read 
 it over carefully and found it most suitable for 
 the occasion. I immediately acted as the Lord di¬ 
 rected. I wrote the chapter and verse on a piece 
 of paper and took it in to where the men were still 
 jesting and having a good time. I laid the piece 
 of scrap paper before the baker. “ The Lord has 
 given me this for you, my brother,” I said, quietly. 
 “ When you go home, kindly look it up in your 
 Bible, read it carefully until you know it by heart, 
 and when you have learned the lesson, come and 
 tell me about it.” With this, I left the room. 
 
 The next morning when I came to my work I 
 met the baker, and as usual said “ good morning,” 
 but instead of giving me his usual friendly reply, 
 he made no response. He passed me several times 
 during the day, but seemed not to notice me, and 
 again at night he left without bidding me the usual 
 “good night.” Not a sound came out of the bake- 
 shop all the next day. Several people inquired as 
 
110 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 to what was the matter with -, but no one 
 
 seemed to know. Three times that day I ran into 
 my “ power house ” to praise God, for I saw the 
 leaven put into the meal was working and I was 
 asking the Lord not to let up, but to keep the fire 
 burning. I promised the Lord that I would do my 
 part in supplying the fuel. 
 
 Three weeks passed without any greeting being 
 passed between myself and the baker, and with 
 three weeks of silence in the bakeshop. It seemed 
 
 as though lockjaw had seized Mr. -, and 
 
 everyone wondered at the sudden change which had 
 come over him. They could not understand what 
 had happened. 
 
 One day while eating my lunch, the door of my 
 room opened gradually, I looked up and there 
 stood my baker, looking rather timid and shy. 
 a Brother A.,” he said, a may I come in ? ” “ Cer¬ 
 tainly, come in,” I responded. He did, and as ho 
 approached me his chin quivered and his eyes filled 
 with tears. Without a word he knelt down beside 
 my little table. I knelt down beside him, putting 
 my arm about him. He began to sob; then stam¬ 
 meringly he muttered, “ Oh, pray for me.” I did, 
 and finally he prayed for himself. Yes, with all 
 his heart, he cried like a child, and told the Lord 
 all about it. When relief came to his soul he told 
 me what he had suffered through those w T eeks. 
 “ Brother A.,” he said, “ I have read the verse of 
 'Scripture you gave me and I have learned its les- 
 
SOUL-WINNING EXPERIENCES 111 
 
 son, but oli, the price it cost me! ” Again he burst 
 into tears. He asked me to forgive him for his 
 unkindly treatment. And, of course, I did so very 
 gladly. He became a wonderfully changed man, 
 and a very sweet, tender-hearted follower of the 
 the Lamb of God. The verse of Scripture I gave 
 him was James 1 : 26 : “ If any man among you 
 seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, 
 but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is 
 vain.” 
 
 I opened my heart to him and told him of my 
 anxious desire for the salvation of those about us. 
 I engaged him to unite with me in prayer for them. 
 Often we went together before the Lord in our 
 little “ power house,” and, ere long, the showers 
 began to come down and souls were converted to 
 God. 
 
 The first one to come to God was this baker’s 
 helper, a young man about eighteen years of age, 
 raised in a good Christian home but now running 
 wild with a lot of other young men much older 
 than himself. 
 
 The next was a young man who had served in 
 the American army during the Spanish-American 
 War. When he was discharged from the service 
 he came to San Francisco with two other young 
 men who were also discharged soldiers. They each 
 had from five hundred to seven hundred dollars, 
 and wanted to see the town; and they surely did—• 
 in one night! The next morning they woke up in 
 
112 OUT OF, THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 a strange place. They could not remember bow 
 they bad ever got there, and to their surprise found 
 that, between the three of them, they had not money 
 enough left to buy one breakfast! One of the three 
 boys obtained work in our place as a dish-washer, 
 with the result that here he found Christ as his 
 Saviour and became a beautiful Christian. 
 
 And so the work went on, souls coming to God, 
 one by one. 
 
 / 
 
XII 
 
 JOIXIXG THE SALVATION ARMY 
 
 I HAVE already described bow I first met 
 with tbe Salvation Army while in business 
 in a mining town on the Mojave desert. In 
 San Francisco I came in touch with them again, 
 and this time through a Jewish Christian. This 
 young man was the son of a Hebrew rabbi in Hun¬ 
 gary, who had come to this country in his youth. 
 Not having a proper guardian, he formed the ac¬ 
 quaintance of wrong associates. Ere long he be¬ 
 came a professional gambler; he also acquired 
 every other evil habit common to men who follow 
 that profession. 
 
 This young man was formerly employed by a so- 
 
 called fashionable restaurant in Los Angeles, not 
 
 of the best moral character. One Sunday, while 
 
 walking down the street he was attracted by the 
 
 music of the Salvation Army, holding an open-air 
 
 meeting. He stopped, listened, and soon became 
 
 much interested in the testimonies he heard given. 
 
 When the Salvationists left their open-air stand 
 
 and marched to their hall, he followed them. 
 
 Here, again, the band played, the soldiers sang, and 
 
 testimonies were delivered, some of which appealed 
 
 113 
 
114 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 to His conscience. Here before him were men 
 whose former lives, in many respects, resembled bis 
 own. These men told how, through faith in Christ, 
 their lives had become changed for the better. 
 During this meeting he became convicted of his 
 own sinful habits; he felt certain that if God had 
 done so much for these people, he could see no rea¬ 
 son why the same could not be possible in his own 
 case. When an invitation was given at the end of 
 the service, to those desiring to accept Christ to 
 step forward, he, with others, obeyed; and sure 
 enough, the miracle which had been performed in 
 others became also vividly real in his own life. 
 
 The change in him was truly remarkable. All 
 his former evil habits and evil companions were 
 dropped at once. He immediately went back to the 
 place where he was employed and gave up a lucra¬ 
 tive position. When the manager asked the reason 
 he frankly told him that he had given himself to 
 God and joined the Salvation Army, and could not 
 serve God and liquor at the same time. 
 
 He at once became a soldier in the Army ranks. 
 When I met him again in San Francisco, I found 
 him a most faithful attendant at the Salvation 
 Army services,—a man clean and pure in charac¬ 
 ter, devoted to God and Christ, and as humble as 
 a child. 
 
 This one-time dissipated Hebrew gambler, with¬ 
 out stability of character, who could neither be 
 trusted and without strength to trust himself, has 
 
JOINING THE SALVATION ARMY 115 
 
 for years been filling a most responsible position 
 of trust, with credit and honour, enjoying the ut¬ 
 most confidence of all associated with him. His 
 conversion is no mere speculative theory, but an 
 experimental fact, a living, practical reality. Thus 
 he is another witness of the truth that “ the gospel 
 of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation 
 to every one that believeth,” and that Jews are no 
 exception to this rule. 
 
 Through this young man I became a regular at¬ 
 tendant at the Salvation Army meetings. The 
 Officers of the Corps became acquainted with me 
 and gave me many privileges. In their company 
 I visited the prisons and hospitals, and also fre¬ 
 quently accompanied them when visiting the poor 
 and needy in the slums of the city. Here I saw 
 scenes of poverty and destitution such as I never 
 knew existed in this land of plenty. When we 
 entered some of these homes (if such they could 
 be called) and saw the misery of the needy ones 
 dwelling there, a cry went up in my heart, “ Oh 
 for men and women to do the work of Christ! ” 
 
 What particularly impressed me in these visita¬ 
 tions was the thoroughness with which they were 
 carried out. Every tenant in the building was 
 called upon. The non-sectarian spirit manifested 
 by the Officers in dealing with the people made this 
 possible. And this expressed exactly my idea of 
 Christianity. I felt that if Christ died for the 
 salvation of all, then we, His followers, ought to 
 
116 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 live for the salvation of all. This I saw, was also 
 the doctrine of Christ. “ He died for all, that they 
 which live should not henceforth live unto them¬ 
 selves, hut unto him, which died for them, and rose 
 again.” II Cor. 5: 15. 
 
 In these house-to-house visitations, we met peo¬ 
 ple of every nationality and of every form of re¬ 
 ligion, yet they were all treated alike and all re¬ 
 ceived like attention. Where no objections were 
 made they were prayed with. Where it was pos¬ 
 sible and convenient those who acknowledged to not 
 being converted were urged to surrender to God 
 and to accept Christ as their Saviour. Many pre¬ 
 cious souls responded to the invitation and gave 
 their hearts to God. Great indeed were our privi¬ 
 leges and opportunities. 
 
 When I saw the appreciation and gratitude 
 manifested by those we were able to relieve mate¬ 
 rially, or help spiritually, the secret became clear 
 to me why the multitudes followed the Lord Jesus 
 three days’ journey into the desert, without even 
 eating, and why the common people heard Him 
 gladly. I became more and more interested in this 
 work, and after mingling with these people three 
 years, I decided to throw in my lot with them. I 
 became a soldier and later an Officer in their 
 ranks. 
 
 Here also a new experience awaited me. I had 
 lived a widower seven years and had fully deter- 
 
JOINING THE SALVATION ARMY 117 
 
 mined to spend the remainder of my days in that 
 condition of life. However, the Lord’s ways are 
 not always open to us beforehand—at any rate I 
 changed my mind. 
 
 Ensign Charlotte Matthis, an experienced and 
 devoted Salvation Army Officer, had just returned 
 from the Hawaiian Islands, where she had spent 
 three years in most self-sacrificing service for the 
 Master. In San Francisco we frequently met at 
 the public services, where our co-operation in faith 
 and prayers was most signally owned and blessed 
 of God. To us it became plain that our meeting 
 was providential. We became attached to each 
 other and after a year’s engagement, we were mar¬ 
 ried. My precious boy needed a mother. For 
 seven years I had done my best to be both father 
 and mother to him, but I fear my efforts in this 
 double capacity were hardly up to the mark. 
 
 There are things needful in a child’s life which 
 only a mother can supply. God was very kind, to 
 raise up such a mother for my boy, with her keen 
 knowledge and experience of the moral and spir¬ 
 itual, as well as the physical, needs of the child. 
 
 Much is due to her influence that our dear boy 
 is, to-day, an Officer in the Salvation Army, preach¬ 
 ing the gospel. 
 
 To this, God graciously added another blessing 
 to our union, giving us a little daughter, which by 
 His help we are trying to raise to the same end. 
 
118 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 The fact that my dear wife is an experienced Chris¬ 
 tian, and devoted to her work for God, greatly 
 added to our usefulness in our labours for the 
 Master. Many souls have been added to the 
 Church of God through our ministry. 
 
XIII 
 
 FIRST APPOINTMENTS AS OFFICER 
 
 A T my first appointment as Salvation Army 
 Officer I learned the real meaning of the 
 words of the prophet, “ The just shall 
 live by faith.” The Corps to which I was sent 
 had once been prosperous, with perhaps forty or 
 more soldiers, but through the unwise conduct of 
 one Officer, the influence of the Salvation Army 
 in the community had become ruined, and the work 
 greatly hindered. 
 
 My predecessor had been in charge for two years 
 under very trying circumstances; he was a devoted 
 worker, but physically unable to go on with the 
 task. 
 
 The Army owned the hall property. When the 
 hall was first built the location was good, but dur¬ 
 ing the lapse of time the business portion developed 
 its main interests in another direction so that bv 
 the time I went there our hall was deserted, al¬ 
 most outside the town proper. 
 
 There were no sidewalks on the street leading 
 to it, and in rainy weather it was difficult of 
 access. Nor were there any lights in this section 
 of the town. 
 
 119 
 
120 OUT OF, THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 The Salvation Army was looked upon with 
 scorn, its motives were not understood by the better 
 classes, and as a consequence the financial support 
 was far from good. 
 
 As a Captain of the Salvation Army I was en¬ 
 titled to $8.00 a week as salary, providing, how¬ 
 ever, all other expenses in connection with the 
 Corps had first been met. 
 
 The first few weeks of my stay here my salary 
 averaged from $1.63 to $2.75 a week, and there 
 were days when I wished for a corn field to pluck 
 the ears of corn, but found none. 
 
 Then, again, there were days when the Lord 
 would wonderfully surprise me. Eising one morn¬ 
 ing to prepare my breakfast I found my cupboard 
 was empty. The owner of the nearest grocery 
 store was not very friendly toward the Salvation 
 Army, and had always treated me as though I had 
 no right to live on the same earth with him. 
 
 I had never asked him for any favours and was 
 rather reluctant to ask him for any now, but in 
 my need I decided I would do so. 
 
 On opening my front door to go to him, I dis¬ 
 covered a nice new package of breakfast food stuck 
 in between the screen and the door. This, with 
 what milk I had left over from the night before, 
 made me a nice meal. As I ate my heaven-sent 
 breakfast that morning, I thought of the words of 
 the Master to His disciples: “ Therefore I say 
 unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye 
 
FIRST APPOINTMENTS AS OFFICER 121 
 
 shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your 
 body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than 
 meat, and the body than raiment ? Behold the 
 fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they 
 reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly 
 Father feedeth them.” 
 
 That morning after my sumptuous meal I called 
 on one of my most faithful soldiers, a dear Chris¬ 
 tian man who had lost a leg and was then in the 
 County Hospital. I spent a very profitable time 
 with him, and then visited the inmates of this in¬ 
 stitution with a result that two souls sought God. 
 
 On my way back, walking along the railroad 
 track for about three miles in the burning hot sun, 
 I wondered how I would get provisions sufficient 
 to carry me over Sunday. Praying and singing, I 
 went on my way, praising God for the salvation 
 of those two souls at the hospital. 
 
 Arriving at my quarters I opened the doors and 
 windows in order to get a good circulation of air, 
 as it was a very hot day. On trying to open the 
 back door I found it opened rather hard, as if 
 something were in the way. Looking around the 
 comer for the cause, I discovered that in my ab¬ 
 sence some kind man had left a box of eatables on 
 my back porch with everything in it that my cup¬ 
 board needed—a bountiful supply. What could I 
 do but fall at my Saviour’s feet and praise Him ? 
 
 Not having anyone to go with me to the open- 
 
 / 
 
122 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 air meetings, I went out faithfully every night, 
 alone, with a bass drum as my companion. 
 
 The open-air attendance was always good. In 
 this little town of perhaps 8,000 inhabitants we had 
 twenty-nine saloons. They were well patronized 
 at night, my open-air audience was made up largely 
 of this patronage. Being alone, the work was 
 naturally very hard on my voice, and what with 
 the winter months and the rainy season coming on, 
 the devil had a good chance of attack in trying to 
 discourage me. One night while alone in my quar¬ 
 ters he took occasion to pay me a friendly visit, 
 suggesting to me that if I continued in this work 
 during the rainy season I would soon wear myself 
 out and then I would have to retire from the work, 
 defeated. u Besides,” he continued, “ your audi¬ 
 ence consists mostly of foreigners, Mexicans, Portu¬ 
 guese and Japanese, and what is the use of preach¬ 
 ing to these ? ” I saw that the devil was really 
 interested in my welfare and that he was dealing 
 with me wisely, like a father cautioning his son, 
 and I agreed with him readily and saw that he was 
 right. It was a foggy night anyhow, and my room 
 was really more comfortable than the street corner, 
 so I stayed in. This was the first time I had ever 
 failed to go out into the open air. 
 
 How, what do you think happened? 
 
 That same night I dreamed that I was in a large 
 auditorium, not as a preacher, but as a spectator. 
 There was a preacher on the platform and he 
 
FIRST APPOINTMENTS AS OFFICER 123 
 
 preached a very effective sermon to an attentive 
 and interested crowd, although I could not tell 
 what he said. But by the manner in which his 
 sermon affected the people, I felt his talk was bring¬ 
 ing forth good results. 
 
 The audience was made up mostly of foreigners. 
 They were all bowed down with grief and weep¬ 
 ing. Upon waking, with the scene still real before 
 me, I knelt before God in deep repentance. I then 
 understood Peter’s vision of a “ sheet let down 
 from heaven by four corners, filled with all manner 
 of four-footed beasts and creeping things,” and I 
 said: “ Yes, Lord, I will go doubting nothing.” 
 
 I went out as usual that night to the open air, 
 stopping first at the hall to pray, and get my drum. 
 While kneeling in prayer beside my drum, the 
 door opened and a man stepped in. Seeing me in 
 the attitude of prayer he came and knelt beside 
 me and then in broken English, but in the Spirit, 
 prayed himself. 
 
 On opening my eyes I looked into the face of 
 the ugliest looking Mexican I had ever seen. He 
 seemed so pleased to meet me and related the story 
 of his conversion in Los Angeles on the Plaza (the 
 Mexican quarter) ten years before. 
 
 He was now a Salvation Army soldier. I took 
 him with me to the open air and as soon as he 
 began to speak I felt the power of the Holy Ghost. 
 He spoke in the Mexican language, and although I 
 did not understand a word he said, I was deeply 
 
124 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 affected. I saw that the people standing on the 
 sidewalk were all in tears. 
 
 When my Mexican brother was through speak¬ 
 ing, I asked him to invite the people to come to our 
 service. Five Mexicans came with us, and at the 
 close of the indoor meeting all five accepted Christ 
 as their personal Saviour. 
 
 USTot having many soldiers to look after, I spent 
 a good deal of my time in visiting and praying 
 with the sick. Eot being able to get the people to 
 attend the services in the hall, I organized cottage 
 prayer-meetings. God graciously blessed this ef¬ 
 fort. Souls became converted in these services and 
 the interest increased. Before long, the Methodists, 
 Baptists, and the Presbyterians, all held cottage 
 prayer-meetings. Previous to this time, there had 
 not been a prayer-meeting held in the town for 
 three years. So the Salvation Army did some 
 good, at least in awakening an interest in the 
 salvation of souls. 
 
 The influence of these meetings spread, not only 
 in town, but to the outskirts as well. Calls came 
 from different parts—a wealthy lady living in the 
 country, a beautiful Christian character, became 
 keenly interested in the salvation of her neigh¬ 
 bours who lived on ranches scattered over a large 
 area, without either a church or Sunday School 
 near. She built a church at her own expense, and 
 even paid the minister’s salary. 
 
 This lady invited me to help her in the services, 
 
FIRST APPOINTMENTS AS OFFICER 125 
 
 with the result that in three nights fifteen souls 
 came to God. A peculiar incident occurred to me 
 while on my way to this place. I was to get off at 
 a flag station and walk down the road to a certain 
 farmhouse and get further instructions. When I 
 got off at the flag station named, it was so foggy 
 that I could not see anybody of whom I might 
 enquire. I took chances walking down the road. 
 In about fifteen minutes I came to a farmhouse, 
 and in answer to my inquiry the lady directed me. 
 I expressed my appreciation for her kindness, and 
 before leaving I told her of my errand and invited 
 her to attend the services at the church. In reply 
 she told me with sorrowful expression that she was 
 not a Christian. This gave me the opportunity to 
 deal with her concerning her souls salvation, re¬ 
 sulting in her accepting Christ. She also prayed 
 for her unconverted husband. 
 
 I continued on my journey, crossing the fresh 
 ploughed field as I had been told, but not reaching 
 the little stream I was told to cross in order to 
 reach the place, I became uneasy, for this seemed 
 a large field, and it was rather difficult to walk. 
 
 The fog was still on, so I could not see any dis¬ 
 tance. Hearing someone talking to horses, I 
 started in the direction of the voice. Reaching the 
 place I saw the man, who was using most profane 
 language to his horses. The man was plowing 
 with a gang plow and twenty-four horses. I saluted 
 him in a friendly way; as he stopped I asked to 
 
126 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 be directed to the place. This he did very gladly. 
 In conversation I told him of my errand and asked 
 him if he would attend the services at the church. 
 He laughed heartily and then informed me that 
 there were already so many hypocrites about there 
 that he did not care to increase the number. I told 
 him God would surely love him for his sincere 
 intention and that because of the many hypocrites 
 in the world Jesus died and shed His blood that 
 they might be saved from their hypocrisy and re¬ 
 ceive power to live godly lives in sincerity and in 
 truth, and that it was these same kind of hypocrites 
 who put Jesus to death. I told him that after He 
 arose from the dead 3,000 of these hypocrites re¬ 
 pented of their sins and became converted, and that 
 came about through the life and testimony of one 
 man who was a real Christian. 
 
 “ How do you know,” I said, “ but that God may 
 use you as a witness to save these hypocrites around 
 about here ? ” I told him of my own Christian 
 experiences, and before long we were both in tears 
 kneeling beside the gang-plow in the fresh-plowed 
 field, and this dear man accepted Christ as his 
 Saviour. 
 
 When I reached my destination I was still in 
 tears; the lady met me at the gate and looking into 
 my face asked the reason of my peculiar joy. 
 When I told her my experience, she informed me 
 that this man was the worst blackguard in that part 
 
FIRST APPOINTMENTS AS OFFICER 127 
 
 of the country, and that the woman I had prayed 
 with first was his wife. 
 
 That night, at the first service in the church, 
 both the man and his wife were present and gave 
 their sincere testimony for Christ. 
 
 In Santa Rosa, California, one Saturday, while 
 War Cry selling in the business part of the city, I 
 entered a saloon and asked the bartender if I could 
 sell him a War Cry. He very gruffly answered, 
 “ No! ” I thanked him and was about to go when 
 a well-dressed gentleman who had just emptied his 
 glass called to me, “ Here, Captain, I’ll take a 
 War Cry! ” I handed him one and in return he 
 gave me two bits and would take no change. He 
 beckoned me to go with him to the rear of the 
 saloon. I followed him. When we were out of 
 hearing distance of the bartender he placed his 
 hands on my shoulders and looking me straight in 
 the face said: u Tell me, Captain, is there any 
 truth in this thing you preach about on the street 
 corner ? ” I assured him that there was, proving 
 the same with my own testimony. With tears in 
 his eyes he said: “ My boy, you’re the right man 
 for me.” He then handed me his card, saying: 
 “ Will you please call on me Monday evening at 
 seven-thirty ? ” I assured him that I would, and 
 left him. 
 
 In the evening meeting at the Citadel I inci¬ 
 dentally alluded to a tall, handsome man wearing 
 a green sweater whom 1 had met in a saloon. I 
 
128 OUT OF, THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 asked the comrades of the Corps to pray that God 
 might touch his heart and save him. Immediately 
 I had finished speaking I noticed that a lady sit¬ 
 ting in the audience bowed her head and cried. 
 
 At the close of the service this lady came to me 
 and said: “ That man you spoke of is my hus¬ 
 band; he has been on a spree for six weeks, and 
 please/’ she begged, “ won’t you come to see him 
 to-night ? ” 
 
 I was easily persuaded, and my wife and I ac¬ 
 companied her home. 
 
 Arriving there we found her husband sitting in 
 front of the fireplace trying to broil a large steak. 
 
 Turning his face he looked at me in surprise 
 and said quickly: “ Didn’t we agree to-day to meet 
 Monday evening ? ” I acknowledged that that was 
 true. 
 
 I at once took up the trend of the morning con¬ 
 versation, dealing with him kindly but faithfully. 
 
 In a few minutes we were on our knees in 
 prayer, with the result that this dear man gave his 
 heart to God. 
 
 When he realized that his sins were really for¬ 
 given, through faith in Jesus Christ, and that it 
 was a reality, the joy of the Lord came upon him 
 and embracing his wife he cried like a child. 
 
 From his hip pocket he drew a 42 calibre re¬ 
 volver, and opening up the center he threw out its 
 contents and gave them to me. Closing it up 
 again, he said in tears: “ This would have sent 
 
FIRST APPOINTMENTS AS OFFICER 129 
 
 'both myself and wife into eternity tbis night, bad 
 you not come here.” 
 
 He bad held a very prominent position with the 
 Metropolitan Insurance Company for many years, 
 but on account of bis many periodical sprees the 
 firm bad been obliged to dismiss him. After a few 
 months I was enabled by the grace of God to have 
 tbis man returned to bis former position. 
 
 Both be and bis wife became beautiful Chris¬ 
 tians. They united with a church in Oakland, 
 Cal., where they settled down. 
 
XIV 
 
 DIVINE HEALING 
 
 S INCE my conversion I liave enjoyed God’s 
 favour and power, and when the proper oc¬ 
 casion offered I have unhesitatingly exer¬ 
 cised my faith in praying for the sick with en¬ 
 couraging results. I have never considered it a 
 special gift or particular work, hut have looked 
 upon it as part of God’s merciful endowment in 
 Christ our Saviour. The healing of our bodily ail¬ 
 ments seem to be incorporated in the agreement as 
 the following Scripture would indicate: a Is any 
 among ye afflicted ? Let him pray. Is any merry ? 
 Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? 
 Let him call on the elders of the church; and let 
 them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the 
 name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall 
 save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and 
 if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven 
 him.” James 5:13-16. 
 
 The following few cases of God’s divine mani¬ 
 festations may prove a help and blessing: 
 
 Physicians Baffled 
 
 In the Corps where I became a soldier, we had 
 
 .a little girl ten years of age, who was gradually 
 
 130 
 
DIVINE HEALING 
 
 131 
 
 wasting away with consumption. Several eminent 
 physicians in San Francisco had tried their skill 
 for the recovery of this child, hut alas! their efforts 
 failed. The case was finally given up as incurable. 
 The mother came to me one day, broken-hearted 
 and in tears, telling me of her great sorrow. She 
 told me how this little girl came to her as an in¬ 
 fant, full of health and beauty, and was the joy 
 and gladness of their home until the terrible dis¬ 
 ease began its dreadful work. She told me how 
 she had tried every available means, but all in vain, 
 and that in spite of all her efforts she found the 
 little pillow on which the child rested at night al¬ 
 most every morning covered with blood. 
 
 I asked her if she had tried the Lord. She re¬ 
 plied, “ No.” Then I said: “ Let us pray and fast 
 to-morrow, and to-morrow night I will come and 
 anoint her with oil, in accordance with the Word 
 of God, which declares, ‘ the prayer of faith shall 
 save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.’ ” 
 Accordingly, I called the next evening at the ap¬ 
 pointed time. We prayed, and anointed her with 
 oil, and the Lord was faithful to His word—He 
 raised her up. 
 
 Surprise Picture 
 
 Four years later, while stationed as a Salvation 
 Army Officer in Santa Hosa, California, I received 
 the following letter from this little girl, enclosing 
 also her photo, which I would like to reproduce, for 
 
132 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 she certainly does not show in her picture that she 
 had ever been a victim of consumption. Her letter 
 follows: 
 
 “ Napa City, Cal., 
 
 “ April 15, 1905. 
 
 “ Dear Captain :—I thought I would drop you 
 a few lines to let you know that I am still in God’s 
 work. I feel it’s my place. I have not had a 
 hemorrhage of the lung since you anointed me with 
 oil. Surely God had a work for me to do. 
 
 “ I go to the jail meetings every Sunday morn¬ 
 ing with Captain Miron. I sing, and pray, and 
 testify. I try to get men saved. Mamma is now 
 working here. I send one of my pictures with 
 Captain Miron’s baby sitting on my lap. 
 
 “ Your little sister in Christ, 
 
 “ Myrene Bickford.” 
 
 May I speak of another case, the wife of a 
 Methodist minister? Pie and his wife had been 
 missionaries in Africa, but were obliged to give up 
 their work and come home on account of the wife’s 
 nervous breakdown. This minister, at the time, 
 had charge of a small church in a village not far 
 from where I was stationed. 
 
 I held several meetings in this village with most 
 satisfactory results. I was entertained at the min¬ 
 ister’s home. The wife up to this time had not 
 attended any kind of public service for eight 
 
DIVINE HEALING 
 
 133 
 
 months. She told me one day how much she would 
 like to attend one of my meetings, as she had never 
 before met a converted Jew, nor had she ever heard 
 one preach. I told her to come, and assured her 
 that this converted Jew was perfectly harmless. 
 She came, and I asked her to sing, and she sang 
 a solo very effectively. She went home that night 
 with no ill effect following her exertion. The next 
 day both her husband and I prayed and anointed 
 her with oil in the name of the Lord. The follow¬ 
 ing Sunday, while in the morning service, the 
 realization came to her from God that she was 
 healed, and there was great joy in the camp, I as¬ 
 sure you. She has remained healed ever since. 
 
 Given Up to Die 
 
 The case of another woman who was given up 
 by her physician to die might be of interest. A 
 comrade and myself came to this house (if the 
 place where we found this woman lying on a cot 
 could be called a house). When we entered the 
 scene was touching in the extreme. In a little 
 room, almost bare, lay this woman. Beside her cot 
 stood her three little girls, aged five, seven and ten 
 years, weeping as though their little hearts would 
 break. With them stood two neighbour women, 
 also weeping yet trying their best to comfort the 
 broken-hearted children. 
 
 After praying with them, and singing “ Jesus, 
 Lover of My Soul,” we left the room, unable to 
 
134 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 endure the sight any longer. My comrade, who 
 was an ex-pugilist, said to me, when we came on 
 the outside, that the tears of those little ones had 
 knocked him out more completely than the strong¬ 
 est opponent he had ever met in the ring. In the 
 evening meeting, that same day, a lady informed 
 me that the woman we visited in the morning had 
 been sitting up in bed that afternoon and taking 
 nourishment. Three days later this same sup¬ 
 posedly dying woman stood with us in the open 
 air, and in the presence of perhaps two hundred 
 people, told of her experience as to how the Lord 
 had saved her while we were praying and singing 
 at her bedside, and how the Lord had raised 
 her up. 
 
 Converted From Judaism 
 
 I want to add another experience, and this one 
 is especially interesting to me, and I pray it may 
 likewise bless all others who may chance to read it. 
 
 At the time of my conversion from Judaism to 
 Christianity I lived in southern California, while 
 my eldest brother lived in Oakland. During our 
 separation we corresponded regularly; neverthe¬ 
 less, I withheld from him the news of my con¬ 
 version to Christianity, hoping to retain his 
 brotherly love and friendship until such a time as 
 God would open the way for mo to disclose this 
 truth. 
 
 Having been a Christian about four years, I 
 
DIVINE HEALING 
 
 135 
 
 finally went to San Erancisco to live. Erom there 
 I frequently called on my brother, as Oakland is 
 hut a half-hour’s ride across San Erancisco Bay. 
 During these visits I gradually unfolded my Chris¬ 
 tian experiences to him. This, of course, greatly 
 surprised him, yet, seeing the change in my life, 
 he was obliged to acknowledge that something un¬ 
 usual had happened, though he could not under¬ 
 stand what it was. 
 
 One night I dreamed of being in a sick chamber, 
 where a young girl was lying in a dying condition. 
 A voice seemed to say: “ Pray in the name of 
 Jesus, and the Lord will raise her up.” At this 
 I awoke, wondering at my dream, for it all seemed 
 very real. The furniture in the room, the pic¬ 
 tures on the wall, the white enamelled bed, the 
 frail, beautiful, pale-faced girl with her eyes closed, 
 the mother standing beside the bed, weeping most 
 bitterly, covering her face with her hands, was all 
 before me in vivid reality rather than like a 
 dream. 
 
 During the day following I tried my best to un¬ 
 ravel the meaning of this dream. I tried to iden¬ 
 tify the place and the parties concerned in it, but 
 failed. The following Sunday I visited my brother 
 in Oakland as usual. In response to my knock, my 
 sister-in-law came to the door. 
 
 The Meaning of the Dream 
 
 I scarcely recognized her. Her face was swollen, 
 
136 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 her eyes bloodshot, and she could speak only with 
 great difficulty. In amazement I said: “ Why, 
 Eva, what is the matter ? ” With quivering lips, 
 hardly above a whisper, she answered: “ Our dear 
 Elsie is dying.” This was my niece, my brother’s 
 eldest child, a handsome girl of sixteen. Two emi¬ 
 nent physicians had given her up as hopeless that 
 night. With this reply, she led the way into the 
 sick room. There before me lay the sick girl, 
 merely breathing, her eyes closed. The mother was 
 standing at the foot of the bed, broken-hearted and 
 in tears, with her face buried in her hands. 
 
 I need not tell you that here before me was the 
 interpretation of my dream. I said to my sister- 
 in-law: “ Don’t cry; this sickness is not unto 
 death, in spite of the doctor’s decision. I will 
 pray. God is able to raise her up.” To this she 
 answered: “ Are you going to pray in the name 
 of Jesus?” I said, “ Yes. It is the only way I 
 can pray to be heard by God.” To this she replied: 
 “ You cannot pray in this house in that Uame.” 
 I answered : a Very well. I will leave this house, 
 but I will pray in the ISTame of Jesus.” 
 
 United Prayer 
 
 Leaving her, I walked down Broadway, where 
 the Christian and Missionary Alliance people were 
 holding a meeting. I requested them kindly to 
 unite in prayer with me for this child, which they 
 gladly did. 
 
DIVINE HEALING 
 
 137 
 
 My sister-in-law had promised to let me know 
 how Elsie was. Accordingly on Tuesday I re¬ 
 ceived a postal card informing me that Elsie was 
 better. I called there that evening, and (to the 
 glory of God I am bearing this witness) I found 
 Elsie sitting up in bed and her mother administer¬ 
 ing nourishment to her. 
 
 I said to my sister-in-law: “ This is the evidence 
 that God heard my prayer for Elsie in the Name 
 of Jesus.” To this she replied: “ If Elsie recov¬ 
 ers, I will make a nice party and invite all our 
 relatives and friends from San Francisco, and I 
 will prepare a nice dinner, and you must come with 
 Gus [my little boy], and we will all have a real 
 good time together.” 
 
 I said to her: “ No! God forbid you should do 
 anything like that. When Elsie is well again you 
 must get down on your knees before God and thank 
 Him, for it is He who raised up your child. Un¬ 
 less you do this, your child’s illness may come back 
 again. A thanksgiving service to God is the only 
 kind of feast I will have anything to do with.” 
 
 Elsie recovered from her sickness. Contrary to 
 the advice given her mother, a party was arranged 
 for. Friends and relatives were invited, and they 
 had a good time, with music and dancing. I, of 
 course, did not attend. Shortly after this feast 
 Elsie again took to her bed, from which she never 
 again arose, 
 
138 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 Dying Giri/s Secret 
 
 During her illness I visited her frequently. She 
 was much interested in the Old Testament Scrip; 
 tures, having studied Hebrew under a Jewish 
 rabbi, and knowing how I also was interested in 
 the Scriptures, she talked freely with me on the 
 subject. We discussed many passages of Scripture, 
 which her instructor, the rabbi, had told her to 
 omit reading, explaining to her that these passages 
 were not intended to be understood by us. The 
 Lord, however, helped me to understand them and 
 I, in turn, imparted what light I had to her. This 
 brought great joy and satisfaction to her. Almost 
 all of these forbidden passages alluded to Christ. 
 
 On one of these visits she confided to me, with 
 her face beaming with joy, “ Oh, uncle! ” she said, 
 “ I now see that this Jesus is truly the Messiah. 
 Isn’t it wonderful! ” Then she added, “ But 
 please don’t let mamma or papa know what I 
 said.” 
 
 This, however, proved to be the last opportunity 
 I had of seeing her in this world, for shortly after 
 I received a note from my brother containing but 
 one line, and that was, “ Don’t you ever dare to 
 cross my threshold.” I never have. I crossed the 
 Bay with my little boy every week, taking a bou¬ 
 quet of the choicest flowers I could find. These I 
 would send to the house of my brother for Elsie 
 by my little son, nine years old, while I remained 
 two blocks away from the house. 
 
DIVINE HEALING 
 
 139 
 
 This continued for some months, until one morn¬ 
 ing early my little hoy said to me: “ Papa, I saw 
 Elsie in my dream. I seemed to he playing in our 
 front yard, when suddenly I heard some one 
 calling, 6 Gussie, Gussie! 7 I looked around, and 
 by the gate stood Elsie, dressed in pure white; she 
 looked so beautiful and happy. She waved her 
 hand to me, saying, ( By-by, Gussie. I must re¬ 
 turn whence I came, 7 and off she skipped across the 
 street laughing, and I woke up. 77 
 
 Parents' Anguish 
 
 We crossed the Bay that day as usual with a nice 
 bouquet of flowers. I waited on the corner while 
 my little hoy went to the house. This time he re¬ 
 turned with the sad message: “ Uncle Isidor is 
 walking the floor with his hands clasped behind. 
 Aunt Elva took the flowers and told me that 
 Elsie was buried last Wednesday. They were all 
 crying. 77 
 
 Other similar cases might be given, but these 
 will suffice as a testimony to substantiate the truth 
 that the Lord is faithful to His promise: “ Lo, I 
 am with you always, even unto the end of the 
 world, 77 and that He is faithful to His disciples 
 now, as in the past, “ working with them with signs 
 and wonders following. 77 
 
 “ Comfort one another with these words—that 
 ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.— 
 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
 
140 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God 
 bring with him.” Before closing let me add just 
 one more experience. This is done with the prayer 
 that this message may reach some hearts in need of 
 comfort as was my own when the Lord sent it. 
 
 I have before alluded to my boy, four years old, 
 whom the Lord saw fit to take to Himself, whose 
 death occurred shortly before my conversion. I 
 loved this child very dearly, not only because I was 
 his parent, but because he was of such a sweet, an¬ 
 gelic disposition. This loss to me seemed irrepa¬ 
 rable. Although I had now been converted and my 
 hope and trust were in God, yet I could not be 
 reconciled. My heart was broken, and a loneliness 
 and desire for this child would steal over me at 
 times that seemed quite unbearable. 
 
 At the end of one very sad day of this kind, the 
 Lord gave me a very glorious night. Truly, 
 “ Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh 
 in the morning.” In my sleep I saw the sky cut 
 in half, the right side of which was rolled away, 
 the left side remaining a very clear blue. The 
 space where the sky had been was filled with the 
 most beautiful light; not glaring or painful to the 
 eyes, as excessive light generally is, but mellow, 
 soft and inviting. 
 
 While I was interested in this beautiful light, I 
 suddenly observed human beings coming from be¬ 
 hind the blue part of the sky into the light, and 
 then downward toward the earth on an angle of 
 
DIVINE HEALING 
 
 141 
 
 perhaps forty-five degrees. They came two and 
 three abreast, a sort of procession. They were of 
 different sizes, very much as one ordinarily sees in 
 a public gathering. Among the grown people were 
 also a goodly mixture of children, dressed alike in 
 pure white robes, but such white as I have never 
 seen in this world. Their faces and hair were still 
 whiter; snow in its purest state could not compare 
 with it. They did not walk, they glided along 
 gently. There was no sound of any kind but per¬ 
 fect stillness prevailed. None of them were known 
 to me, but they all looked happy, contented and 
 perfectly free from care. While I was most in¬ 
 tensely interested and enraptured with the sight, 
 a voice said: a The first one is Jesus! ” I quickly 
 looked down the line and caught a glimpse of Him, 
 and just as quickly after I awoke surprised and dis¬ 
 appointed to find myself in bed. I tried to shut 
 my eyes and see it all again, but the curtain had 
 dropped, the scene was past, but not forgotten—it 
 never can be. 
 
 Some to whom I told this experience wanted to 
 know what Jesus looked like, and perhaps you 
 would like to know. Well, He looked like all the 
 others, or rather, they looked like Him. I would 
 not have known Him from the rest, except for the 
 voice which said: “ The first one is Jesus.” In 
 the morning I could only weep for joy and praise 
 the Lord. From that moment all my grief and 
 sorrow for my child left me, and to this hour I have 
 
142 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 had no anxiety for him, knowing that he is in a 
 better world than this, and in better company. 
 
 Hot until I had this experience did I fully com¬ 
 prehend the meaning of the words of the Lord: 
 “ He came to comfort all that mourn, to give the 
 oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for 
 the spirit of heaviness.” 
 
XV 
 
 HOME TIES BROKEN-CAST OFF BY 
 
 PARENTS 
 
 E that loveth father or mother more 
 than me is not worthy of me.” From 
 the beginning of my Christian experi¬ 
 ence I longed to tell my dear old father who was 
 then living with my sisters in New York the news 
 of my wonderful salvation, hut I could not bear the 
 thought of the results I knew must follow. It 
 nearly broke my heart even to think of the conse¬ 
 quences, so I put it off from time to time, until 
 two years had elapsed. 
 
 During this interval I had often died in my 
 heart and mind, so the message from my loved ones 
 bearing the news that I was dead and buried to 
 them should not have been any surprise to me. I 
 finally wrote, telling them that I had found Christ 
 really to be the Messiah. The result was as ex¬ 
 pected. I received a letter in which the sentiment 
 of the whole family was summed up. They set 
 forth what seemed to them my folly and delusion, 
 then they tried to show me their right way. 
 
 Winding up their letter hoping to hear at once 
 
 that I had recovered my senses, and that I would 
 
 143 
 
144 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 hold to the belief of my fathers. If, however, I 
 did not retrace my steps, and give up my belief in 
 Christ, they would then be obliged to separate 
 themselves from me forever. 
 
 In reply to this letter I showed them plainly 
 from the Jewish Bible that this Christ whom I 
 worshipped was the real Messiah, promised unto 
 us by God in the Old Testament and reve&led to 
 our forefathers in due time in the person of Jesus 
 Christ. I proved to them that He is the substance 
 of things hoped for, in the form of the Jewish re¬ 
 ligion, and that Moses and the prophets were only 
 the guiding stars that lead to Him. I assured them 
 that in Him I had something tangible to lay hold 
 on which is not possible in the form of the Jewish 
 religion. While it would he very hard for me to 
 sacrifice my own flesh and blood, which was so dear 
 to me, yet in the face of what I now knew, through 
 the experience I enjoyed I could by no means give 
 up my faith in Christ, the Kingdom of God, and 
 eternal life. 
 
 After this letter I received another, which was 
 the last. This contained the final sentence of 
 death, stating that henceforth they should all con¬ 
 sider me dead and buried, and should sit in mourn¬ 
 ing for me according to the Jewish custom. 
 
 Although there had been two years in which to 
 prepare for this ordeal, yet when the final blow 
 came it struck the tenderest chords of affection in 
 my soul, and the pain was great. 
 
HOME TIES BROKEN—CAST OFF 145 
 
 There were memories of childhood, 
 
 And of mother’s gentle care; 
 
 There was the home and its fireside, 
 
 And my father’s daily prayer; 
 
 There was love, and there was sorrow, 
 
 In which our hearts as one would share. 
 
 And this and more rose before me. On the other 
 hand, I again saw Jesus hanging on the Cross in 
 agony and pain with His precious blood flowing 
 for my sins. Afresh I saw that “ He was wounded 
 for our transgressions, he was bruised for our in¬ 
 iquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon 
 him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Finally, 
 I realized that he who would follow Him must also 
 take up his cross daily. 
 
 At this time and by these circumstances, the 
 Lord, Who was always so gentle and kind, drew 
 me much closer to Himself. He supplied the neces¬ 
 sary grace to bear the cross, and I bore it patiently, 
 praising Him for the privilege of sharing His suf¬ 
 ferings, “ For if we suffer with him we shall also 
 reign with him ”; thus by actual experience I 
 learned the meaning of the words of the Apostle 
 Paul: “ Who shall separate us from the love of 
 Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecu¬ 
 tion, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
 —Hay, in all these things, we are more than con¬ 
 querors through him that loved us.” 
 
 Having spent about five happy and, I believe, 
 useful years in the Salvation Army work on the 
 
146 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 Pacific 'Coast, we received orders one day to fare¬ 
 well and proceed at once for Boston, Mass. 
 
 Colonel William Evans, who formerly had 
 charge of the Pacific Coast and the Hawaiian 
 Islands, was now in command of the Hew England 
 Province with Headquarters at Boston. It was 
 through his kindly solicitation our transfer was ef¬ 
 fected. We spent three very blessed years in 
 various capacities during his command in this 
 Province, having charge of Prison work, Free Em¬ 
 ployment Bureau, Fresh Air Home, Special Ef¬ 
 forts, and various other responsible duties of trust, 
 beside preaching every week end at the different 
 Corps. 
 
 When seven years ago Colonel Evans farewelled 
 from here for other parts, Colonel and Mrs. Gifford 
 took command. This change in administrators did 
 not, however, in any way affect our appointment 
 or labours. We continued right on in our regulai* 
 course of duties. Neither did this change in any 
 way affect our faithfulness to God, or our loyalty 
 to the principles of the Salvation Army. 
 
 Under the able leadership of Colonel and Mrs. 
 Gifford, we have now spent twelve very gratifying 
 years of practical service for God in the Hew Eng¬ 
 land Province, and I am glad to say, that during 
 all this time our relations and Christian fellowship 
 under all circumstances have always been of the 
 sweetest and most cordial nature. 
 
 A year ago Colonel Gifford decided to relieve me 
 
HOME TIES BROKEN—CAST OFF 147 
 
 from office duties entirely and change my work to 
 that of “ Spiritual Special / 7 henceforth my work 
 was to be that of holding revival meetings through¬ 
 out the New England Province, while Mrs. Abrams 
 was still to continue the work at our office. 
 
 This change of work naturally involved new 
 obligations and more sacrifice on the part of both 
 of us. But how can we either think or speak of 
 any sacrifices on our part, when we are “ looking 
 unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our 
 faith; who for the joy that was set before him en¬ 
 dured the cross, despising the shame / 7 that He, 
 through His suffering, might bring us unto God. 
 Both Mrs. Abrams and myself accepted this change 
 of appointment with its additional privileges and 
 opportunities most joyfully with thankfulness to 
 God, that we were found worthy of Him and the 
 Salvation Army for this new field of usefulness. 
 
 Thus in my new sphere as the “ Hebrew Evan¬ 
 gelist 77 I have been going about from place to 
 place, holding special campaigns, resulting, we 
 hope, in much good. I pray my labours for the 
 Master in the preaching of the gospel may con¬ 
 tinue for many more years to come. 
 
 There is no work under heaven to be compared 
 to that of winning souls for God. Neither is there 
 anything dearer or more precious to me. 
 
 “ I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy Voice, 
 
 And it told Thy love to me; 
 
 But I long to rise in the arms of faith, 
 
148 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 And be closer drawn to Thee. 
 
 Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, 
 
 To the cross where Thou hast died! 
 
 Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, 
 
 To Thy precious bleeding side.” 
 
 Not having seen one of my sisters for twenty 
 years, I was, naturally, very desirous of doing so. 
 Despite the fact that she with my other relatives 
 had written me that henceforth, since becoming a 
 Christian, I would be considered dead and buried, 
 I thought I would venture calling on her. I ob¬ 
 tained relief from duty to go to New York for this 
 purpose. With the aid of the city directory I had 
 no trouble in finding her. 
 
 In the directory I saw she was in business in 
 the Bronx. I made my way there. Arriving on 
 the designated street corner, I saw the name of the 
 firm—a Notion Store. I wanted first to get a gen¬ 
 eral survey of the situation before making my 
 presence known. 
 
 I went into the store, walked up to the gents 
 furnishing counter, and asked my brother-in-law, 
 who I saw stepped forward to wait on me, to show 
 me some handkerchiefs. He at once laid out a 
 quantity of different quality to select from. I was 
 purposely hard to please, but finally decided and 
 made my purchase. 
 
 I had noticed him casting looks of suspicion at 
 me, but I pretended not to see it. Before leaving, 
 I turned and asked for the privilege of writing a 
 postal card; this request was courteously granted, 
 
HOME TIES BROKEN—CAST OFF 149 
 
 and a pen and ink-well were handed me for that 
 purpose. 
 
 While writing my brother-in-law stepped to the 
 rear part of the store and called upstairs for my 
 sister to come down quickly; shortly both were 
 standing in the rear part of the store talking in 
 the German language. He was saying to her: 
 “ That man writing there looks just like your 
 brother.” She replied: “No; that cannot be, for 
 he is in California.” But her husband insisted, 
 saying: “ You watch his face when he turns.” 
 
 Just then I was through writing and turned to 
 return the ink-well and thank him for the use of 
 it. My brother-in-law looked me in the face, and 
 with quivering voice said: “ Pardon me, but you 
 very much resemble my brother-in-law who years 
 ago went to California.” 
 
 “ Is that so ? ” I said, “ I have been in Cali¬ 
 fornia, and have only lately returned.” 
 
 His face lit up as he asked for my name. I told 
 him and he seemed very happily surprised and 
 greeted me kindly. 
 
 My sister, however, was not so easily convinced. 
 She said: “No, this is not my brother.” I con¬ 
 vinced her before long, however, that I was. After 
 greeting me she said: “ Is it true that you are a 
 Christian ? ” I said: “ Yes, my dear, I am a 
 Christian.” 
 
 “ Oh,” she exclaimed, “ how can you be a Chris¬ 
 tian, when the Christians murdered your brother ? ” 
 
150 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 I had not known that my brother in Germany 
 was dead. This was a great shock and surprise to 
 me. I was not in correspondence with my people 
 and therefore did not know that my brother had 
 died. 
 
 Amid sobs and tears my sister related to me the 
 story of his death: 
 
 When the Poles, she said, in the Province of 
 Posen arose in rebellion against Germany, seeking 
 their independence, they immediately raised a 
 pogrom against the Jews. 
 
 Bands, numbering from twenty-five to hundreds, 
 traveled through the country from town to town 
 equipped with all manner of weapons. They en¬ 
 tered every home suspected of being inhabited by 
 Jews. They first ransacked the house for valu¬ 
 ables, then they unmercifully cut, slashed and most 
 cruelly murdered men ? women and children; they 
 outraged women and maids of tender age. My sis¬ 
 ter wept most bitterly as she related some of the 
 most ghastly incidents of cruelty. “ Oh,” she said, 
 “ if they had only killed them outright as a butcher 
 kills pigs it would have been a mercy.” 
 
 But in their brutality they first tortured them in 
 the most cruel and heartless manner. They seemed 
 to enjoy hearing the awful screams of frightful 
 horror and distress, and the heartrending agonies 
 of these poor, helpless victims. 
 
 “ Your brother,” she said, “ was tortured to 
 
HOME TIES BROKEN—CAST OFF 151 
 
 death by these Christian wretches. How can you 
 be a Christian ? 77 
 
 “ My dear sister / 7 I said, “ these people who are 
 guilty of such outrageous crimes were not Chris¬ 
 tians, they were brutes . 77 
 
 “ But , 77 said she, “ they carried crosses to prove 
 that they were Christians, and by these crosses dis¬ 
 played in the homes of Christians, these mobs dis¬ 
 tinguished the Jewish homes from those of Chris¬ 
 tians . 77 
 
 I tried my best to show her what constitutes a 
 Christian, by showing her first the beautiful char¬ 
 acter of Christ, that He was “ Holy, harmless, un¬ 
 defiled and separate from sinners , 77 and told her 
 that Christians are Christlike in their character, 
 for we are partakers of His divine nature and can¬ 
 not do evil, and especially would Christians not 
 harm Jews for they love the Jews above any other 
 people, but, poor soul, she could not understand 
 me. She maintained I had joined this murderous 
 gang of cutthroats and with her head bowed on my 
 breast, she sobbed most bitterly. 
 
 Again I thought, “ Oh, if our people could only 
 more frequently come in contact with real Chris¬ 
 tians, what a difference it would make if they could 
 learn to distinguish between the unconverted Gen¬ 
 tiles and those who really are converted through 
 faith in Jesus Christ. How much easier it would 
 be for my dear people to accept Christ as their own 
 Saviour . 77 
 
XVI 
 
 AX APPEAL TO THE CHUECH 
 
 E VEE since I first came into the light of the 
 Gospel, and realized fully what the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, through His atonement, had 
 done for me and what He is able and willing to 
 do for all who will come unto Him, a great desire 
 sprang up in my heart to publish this wonderful 
 news of salvation to my dear people. In the lan¬ 
 guage of the poet, I felt: 
 
 “ Oh! that the world would taste and see 
 The riches of His grace, 
 
 The arms of Love that compass me, 
 
 Would all mankind embrace.” 
 
 In San Francisco this long-cherished hope was 
 realized. I found a Mission here to the Jews. 
 This Mission I visited regularly and did all in my 
 power to help. My labours were not in vain. Sev¬ 
 eral Jewish brethren came into the light through 
 this effort,—some who are now, in turn, preach¬ 
 ing the Gospel to others. 
 
 There was, however, much lacking to make this 
 work the success it might have been. First, it was 
 without adequate financial support, and, secondly, 
 
 the Christian people of the community failed to 
 
 152 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 153 
 
 give it the moral support it deserved. Christians 
 of all denominations were supposed to have an 
 equal share of interest in its financial obligations 
 and general success. But, alas! only a few re¬ 
 sponded. The heavier responsibility was left to a 
 Mr. Chester, himself a converted Jew, and a few 
 faithful friends interested in the cause. This 
 neglect resulted, finally, in the work being closed. 
 
 This lack of interest in the salvation of my 
 people became a great burden and sorrow to me. 
 I saw them perishing all about me, without any 
 knowledge or hope of salvation, and no effort being 
 put forth to save them. I spent months in prayer, 
 and nights in tears, over the matter. !Not seeing a 
 door open where I could invest what little talent 
 I possessed in helping toward their salvation, I 
 planned how best I could open one for myself. By 
 the grace of God I did not want to be that unprofit¬ 
 able servant, who, because he only had received one 
 talent went and hid it in the earth, and unto whom 
 the Lord said: “ Thou wicked and slothful servant 
 —take, therefore, the talent from him,—and cast 
 ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; 
 there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 
 
 After much prayer and meditation on the sub¬ 
 ject, a project gradually unfolded in my mind, but 
 it was of such a rare and contrary character, 
 humanly considered, that it cost me a great strug¬ 
 gle before undertaking it. Often I wished I could 
 give it up. I saw the only way for me to reach 
 
154 OUT OF, THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 my people single-handed and alone, was the street 
 comer, How the question arose, how to get their 
 ear ?—how to attract their attention ? I had no 
 music, not being able to play an instrument myself, 
 nor had I the means to procure such assistance, 
 supporting myself and child as I did by washing 
 dishes in a restaurant. Finally, I had a coat made 
 for myself and one for my little boy, then ten 
 years of age, of black cloth, with fire-red breasts, 
 on which I had embroidered, with rich coloured 
 silk, in large, attractive letters: “ Holiness unto 
 the Lord . 77 This more than answered the desired 
 purpose. Dressed in these novel garments, my 
 boy and I took our stand on the street corner. By 
 this means we had no trouble whatever in getting 
 a crowd. In the eyes of the world we must have 
 appeared like simpletons, but with the help of God 
 I accomplished the desired end. In a few minutes 
 we had a fair-sized audience. On mounting a lit¬ 
 tle folding platform I carried for the purpose, I 
 looked into the eyes of a most anxious and ex¬ 
 pectant audience, often holding the attention of 
 from two to three hundred people for two hours 
 and sometimes longer, until too weak and exhausted 
 to go on. Having an ordinary street crowd con¬ 
 sisting of a mixed congregation, afforded me 
 greater liberty and advantage to address the Jews, 
 it had the effect of bridling their inward indigna¬ 
 tion and holding their wrath within limit. It did 
 provoke some to great anger to hear one of their 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 155 
 
 own people preaching unto them Christ, as their 
 only hope of salvation. 
 
 Some of the more ignorant, rude fellows seemed 
 to fairly foam at the mouth for madness. They 
 gnashed their teeth, they cursed and swore at me 
 in Yiddish and in Russian or Polish so that the 
 Gentiles present would not be able to understand 
 what they said. But the fear of the law and the 
 populace kept them within limit, and thus, in spite 
 of themselves, they heard the Gospel and my testi¬ 
 mony, and by this light they shall he judged on 
 that “ Great Hay of the Lord.” 
 
 Thank God for this Christian country, and for 
 the Yame of Jesus Christ who purchased this lib¬ 
 erty for us on the cross of Calvary with TIis own 
 precious blood, making us worthy to bear testimony 
 in His name before this wicked world. 
 
 Many thousands heard the Gospel preached in 
 this way, as I kept these meetings up for about a 
 year, preaching every Sunday afternoon, weather 
 permitting. 
 
 Hor did the Jews alone hear the Gospel by this 
 means, but many others as well. Some of my 
 street experiences were most touching and pathetic. 
 I took up no collections, nor did I accept money 
 from anyone, but often, after closing the meeting, 
 men came to me with tears, offering me money for 
 which I thanked them heartily, but told them I was 
 well provided for and had no lack of anything. 
 (Of course these people were not Jews.) 
 
156 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 On several occasions I had men follow me, say¬ 
 ing they wanted to find the Christ and the experi¬ 
 ences they had heard me talk about. Having no 
 other place, I took them into a hallway or some 
 other accessible place of retirement and there 
 knelt with them in prayer. The most insulting 
 infamies were often hurled at me in those public 
 gatherings by coarse, ignorant Jews, who called 
 out in loud voices that some church had hired me 
 for a large sum of money to do this work. Again, 
 others said I had married a rich Christian woman, 
 who was supporting me; still others declared that 
 I was beside myself and I had just come out of 
 prison after serving a term of years for robbing a 
 Jewish banker. 
 
 But none of these false accusations moved me 
 in any way, as by this time I was dead to persecu¬ 
 tion. I had faced it on my knees before God long 
 before I ever dared to step out on the street cor¬ 
 ner—and so had died to it all by that time. What 
 I needed, now, was the grace of God; and this He 
 most wonderfully supplied. Never once in all my 
 experience did the Lord ever fail me or let me be 
 confounded before my audience. Often most awk¬ 
 ward and difficult questions were put to me, but 
 the Lord never failed in providing a proper answer. 
 On the other hand, I had some very pleasant and 
 interesting opportunities among some of the better, 
 more intelligent Jewish people. These would call 
 on me in my leisure hours, bringing their own 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 157 
 
 Bibles with them. I would go over the Scriptures 
 with them, searching out and proving to them the 
 things they had heard me preach in the street. 
 Among these inquiries I found many earnest, hun¬ 
 gry souls. I prayed with quite a few who accepted 
 Christ. What results really followed all these 
 meetings, only eternity will disclose. 
 
 I became thoroughly convinced, since God in 
 His mercy had so graciously saved me from my 
 sins, and brought my darkened sin-bound soul into 
 the marvelous light and liberty of the sons of God, 
 that He is abundantly able to do the same for all 
 the rest of my people. I read in my Bible: “ Be¬ 
 hold! the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it can¬ 
 not save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot 
 hear.” The hindrance to their salvation, I saw 
 very clearly, is not with God, nor with the Jews 
 themselves, because they are blind and helpless, but 
 with those who hold the key to their salvation. 
 That key is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “ It is the 
 power of God unto salvation to everyone that be- 
 lieveth.” But how shall they believe in Him, of 
 whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear 
 without a preacher? “ For faith cometh by hear¬ 
 ing and hearing by the word of God.” 
 
 I became thoroughly convinced if, in addition to 
 preaching the Gospel, our Christian friends would 
 only more carefully exemplify the teachings of 
 Christ unto their Jewish neighbours in a practical 
 way by their daily life and conduct, proving unto 
 
158 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 them their faith in God by their works, “ Love 
 their neighbours as themselves/ 7 Jews would soon 
 come to recognize in the life of Christians the faith 
 and character of their own fathers and become con¬ 
 vinced that Christ must, in very deed, be that seed 
 of Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth 
 are to be blessed. As a result, Jewish Christians 
 would “ spring up as among the grass, as willows 
 by the water-courses. 77 Isaiah 44:4. The Chris¬ 
 tian Church, on the other hand, would become con¬ 
 vinced that Jews to-day do not particularly have 
 to go to Palestine to become converted, as the 
 opinion of many seems to be. Thank God, we are 
 living in the day of grace, and Christ is to be found 
 in every place, and by everyone who will seek for 
 Him with all the heart. 
 
 What Is Heeded: 
 
 One of the most important things at all times, 
 and especially just now, when the hearts and minds 
 of our people are being stirred as never before in 
 all history, is the proper presentation of the truths 
 of salvation. 
 
 What is necessary in this respect, is, first, to live 
 the life of Christ by the professed followers of 
 Christ so that the Jews may see the practical side 
 of Christianity. Hext, the ardent proclamation of 
 the eternal truth that they may hear it. 
 
 Then constant and urgent following up of liv¬ 
 ing, and by co-operation with the Holy Ghost in 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 159 
 
 the work of personally persuading men and women 
 to accept Christ, thus by seeing and hearing they 
 may be led to definite decision. 
 
 Too often, I fear, do those who are indifferent 
 to salvation, altogether, base their non-regard for 
 it upon the attitude of some professors. This is 
 true of Tews as well as Gentiles. 
 
 Unfortunately, the only difference which can be 
 discerned between some professing Christians and 
 the ordinary respectable worldling is the verbal ac¬ 
 ceptance of a creed, the performance of some rites. 
 Salvation as a genial warmth, a fervour, a trans¬ 
 forming fire, changing them into new creatures, 
 they have never known. 
 
 Showing up the faults of the Tews will not save 
 them, neither will it help them to God to exploit 
 their virtues. The saying that “ people who live 
 in glass houses ought not to throw stones,” may be 
 well applied here. We are all bad enough by 
 nature. “ There is none good, no not one.” “ It 
 is of the Lord’s mercies that w r e are not [all] con¬ 
 sumed, because his compassions fail not.” 
 
 I verily believe if the Gospel which, in the be¬ 
 ginning of Christianity, brought salvation to the 
 thousands of Tews in Terusalem and in Tudaea 
 were preached again to the Tews in the same man¬ 
 ner in these latter days, the same results would 
 again follow. “ To as many as received him them 
 gave he power to become the sons of God,” and 
 to as many as receive Him now, thank God, there 
 
160 OUT OU THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 is given the same power. Of this I—with thou¬ 
 sands of other converted Jews—am a living witness 
 —to the Church, to the Jews, and to the world. 
 
 But some will say, “ the Jews don’t want Christ.” 
 That is quite true, hut that is likewise true of all 
 other people wdio are not Jews. As a preacher of 
 the Gospel for the past eighteen years unto the 
 Gentiles, my experience has been that the uncon¬ 
 verted present in every evangelistic service, as a 
 rule, don’t want Christ. It is through the preach¬ 
 ing of the Gospel we try to persuade men to accept 
 Christ. To this end we pray, entreat, encourage, 
 and by Holy Scripture, and personal experience, 
 strive to convince them of their great need. 
 
 In our anxious endeavour to win them for 
 Christ, we deal with them lovingly and kindly, and 
 like a mother weeping over her erring children, so 
 we often plead with them in tears before they sur¬ 
 render and accept Christ as their Saviour. 
 
 Whatever souls God has enabled me to win for 
 His Kingdom have been won through the Spirit, 
 which worketh by love. My experience has taught 
 me that the means which can reach the heart of the 
 Gentile, can also reach the heart of the Jew. For 
 we read: “ He fashioneth their hearts alike.” My 
 experience you will find is the testimony of every 
 true-hearted evangelist. The excuse, therefore, 
 that “ Jews don’t want Christ,” is in my estima¬ 
 tion no reason at all as to why the Gospel should 
 not be preached to them just as it is being preached 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 161 
 
 to all others who, equally with them, don’t want 
 Christ. These poor souls being blinded to the 
 truth through the deceitfulness of sin, cannot see 
 their danger and do not realize their perilous con¬ 
 dition without Christ, no more than does a child 
 playing on a brink of a dangerous precipice, or a 
 blind man standing on a track in front of an on- 
 rushing train. 
 
 Jesus knew their danger, and while in life He 
 constantly warned them, and by every means in 
 His power tried to save them. I am confident He 
 did not like their ways, and I am sure He did not 
 approve of their conduct, but He loved them. 
 When after three years of ceaseless effort and toil, 
 they as a nation finally rejected Him, even then 
 He did not give them up, but in mercy still prayed 
 for them, even on the Cross, saying, “ Father, for¬ 
 give them for they know not what they do.” Then 
 out of devotion and love to their never dying souls, 
 He laid down His life to save them. 
 
 The Jewish people having for centuries suffered 
 the most unjust and cruel treatment at the hands 
 of both those professing to be Christians and those 
 who make no profession of religion at all, have, as 
 a result, no confidence in either. Hot knowing how 
 to distinguish one from the other, they look upon 
 all Gentiles alike with suspicion. Only when some 
 Gentiles prove their Christian character by exhibit¬ 
 ing the spirit of love towards their neighbours, and 
 their sincere devotion to God, will Jews know how 
 
1G2 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 to distinguish Christians from those who are still 
 unconverted Gentiles. Neither is it reasonable to 
 expect others to believe in Christ unless we demon¬ 
 strate to them that the Christian life is superior to 
 the A own form of living. Christ proved His doc¬ 
 trine by the manner of His life. He practised 
 what He preached. His life testified of His pro¬ 
 fession, it was of that character that He could face 
 the people among whom He lived and say unto 
 them, “ Which of you convinceth me of sin ? ” 
 Strange as it may appear, while “ salvation is 
 of the Jews,” they are to-day wholly unacquainted 
 with the true meaning of salvation. To them, it 
 means no more than a mere change of opinion. In¬ 
 stead of attending services at their own orthodox 
 Synagogue, and following the teachings of their 
 orthodox rabbis, they may if they will, change 
 their mind and attend instead the services at a Re¬ 
 formed temple, where the Reformed rabbis ignore 
 the “ Thus saith the Lord ” of the Bible entirely, 
 and from their pulpits discourse mainly social re¬ 
 form, modern science, ethical culture or some other 
 new thought or theory. Such of the Christian 
 Churches as deny the sacrificial atonement of 
 Christ are patronized also by Reformed Jews. The 
 atonement of Christ is the offense; this being re¬ 
 moved, in these churches the offense ceases, and 
 Jew and Gentile again become one. It was on this 
 same ground Herod, the king of the Jews, and 
 Pilate, the Roman governor, made friends, who 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 163 
 
 formerly were at enmity. The reason Jews ex¬ 
 change their Synagogue for such churches, is not, 
 as is commonly supposed by many, that they have 
 become Christians. Far from it, but rather be¬ 
 cause the members of these churches have departed 
 from the faith of the Son of God, and have fallen 
 to the level of the unbelieving Jews substituting 
 culture, education and refinement for the salvation 
 of God which comes through faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. In other words, they try to save 
 themselves by the wisdom of men, instead of being 
 saved through faith in the death of Christ. The 
 Apostle Paul declared long ago: “ After that in 
 the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not 
 God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach¬ 
 ing to save them that believe. For the Jews re¬ 
 quire a sign, and the Gentiles seek after wisdom 
 [education]. But we preach Christ crucified, unto 
 the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles 
 foolishness; but unto both of them which believe, 
 Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 
 
 To the Jews this reformation means salva¬ 
 tion. We know, however, that exchanging rabbin¬ 
 ical orthodoxy for modern ideas, does by no means 
 change the human sinful heart from a state of de¬ 
 pravity and death, to a state of purity and life, 
 as is implied in the salvation which is of God, in 
 accordance to the Scriptures of the Old Testament, 
 and in accordance also with the teachings of the 
 Hew. 
 
164 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 While the opinion of the mind may become new 
 through education, and to all appearances, a man 
 may become refined and polished on the outside, 
 yet his heart remains the same sinful heart, sin is 
 sure to break out in some form or other. Neither 
 can a permanent change in the heart be effected 
 until the spirit of Christ comes in. “ For this 
 purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he 
 might destroy the works of the devil.” 
 
 Christ destroys inbred sin in the heart—the 
 work of the devil—and creates within a clean 
 heart, and renews within a right spirit. This is 
 salvation. “ In this the children of God are mani¬ 
 fested, and the children of the devil.” u Whoso¬ 
 ever is born of God doth not commit sin.” “ He 
 that committeth sin is of the devil.” This the 
 Jews ought to be made acquainted with. 
 
 We must compel them to see by our consistent 
 Christian character that to-day we, who are Chris¬ 
 tians indeed, and not they, are the people of God. 
 They must see that by rejecting Christ, they have 
 forfeited the claims to the privileges their fathers 
 were destined to enjoy. 
 
 We must make them feel that every one of them 
 will have to stand before the Great White Throne, 
 and unless their sins are pardoned here through 
 faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator 
 between God and man, they will certainly be pun¬ 
 ished with all other unbelievers. We must show 
 them that God is full of compassion for them; that 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 165 
 
 He had given His Soil to die for them; that He is 
 quite willing to forgive and blot out all their past, 
 and take them into His favour, providing they 
 comply with the condition required for their recon¬ 
 ciliation with God, when they have realized the ex¬ 
 perience of salvation, then will they, as did Simeon, 
 testify in the Temple of Jerusalem, when the child 
 Jesus was brought in, saying: “ Now lettest thou 
 thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; 
 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” 
 
 When coming to our shores, the Jews’ misun¬ 
 derstanding arising from the persecutions of false 
 Christianity, should arouse a sense of responsibility 
 in our hearts to set them right as to the real re¬ 
 ligion of Jesus Christ. To them this country is 
 a real haven of rest, a ISTew Jerusalem. Indeed, 
 many call it their Promised Land. Here, they 
 find a field in which they again breathe the clear 
 atmosphere of freedom and liberty. Here their 
 long pent-up energies again relax and 1 expand; 
 their peculiar traits of character unfold; their in¬ 
 exhaustible fountain of ingenuity, thrift and en¬ 
 terprise open up like flood-gates, and their influ¬ 
 ence flows out abroad in the land and is felt every¬ 
 where as a result; our cities have become veritable 
 beehives of enterprise, energy and thrift. 
 
 Greater ISTew York is now the largest Jewish 
 city in the world. It contains 1,750,000 Hebrews. 
 Every fourth person is a Jew. The American 
 Jew, as previously stated, is not following the 
 
166 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 orthodoxy of his fathers. He is a free-thinker. 
 That means, he has no religion at all. Jews are 
 neglecting the light they have, and becoming athe¬ 
 ists by the thousands; they are also being impreg¬ 
 nated with socialistic ideas. 
 
 Immorality and crime, formerly so rare, is 
 spreading among them like a plague. This is 
 largely the result of the fact that in this land of 
 liberty all restraint of Jewish law by which the 
 Jews were protected in the old countries in their 
 Ghettos, has been removed and the new generation 
 is left without necessary moral and spiritual sup¬ 
 port. Is it, then, not clear what the only possible 
 remedy is, and what our Christian duty is ? 
 “ Salvation ” is their only hope. Jesus Christ re¬ 
 stores the soul to its original state of purity and 
 holiness, and empowers poor, weak humanity 
 against the mighty influence of the evil there is 
 in the world. This experience restores the Jew to 
 his noble, ancient past, and makes him a son of 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,—an Israelite, indeed. 
 The Hebrews finding themselves as they do among 
 the Gentiles in an embarrassing position to-day, 
 stripped of all their former independence and na¬ 
 tional glory, feel their abasement and weakened 
 condition very keenly. Having, for centuries, un¬ 
 dergone the constant strain of oppression and 
 humiliation among the Gentile nations, has natu¬ 
 rally made them timid and very sensitive. The 
 least trace of suspicion manifested in one’s attitude 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 167 
 
 toward them will drive them away. To get near 
 them with the Gospel is like getting near the wild, 
 hounded deer of the forest; great care and precau¬ 
 tion have to be exercised. 
 
 The Lord surely made no mistake when He com¬ 
 manded the one Gospel to be preached to every 
 creature. But it rests entirely with the preacher 
 to adapt himself and his message to the kind of 
 creature to whom he is preaching. 
 
 The Apostle Paul, telling the Corinthians of 
 how he won them for Christ, says: “ Being crafty, 
 I caught you with guile/’ Paul evidently was a 
 good fisherman, for he not only carried with him 
 a good supply of bait, but a great variety as well. 
 He says: “ I am made all things to all men/’ 
 “For though I be free from all men, yet I made 
 myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more, 
 and unto the Jews I become as a Jew, that I might 
 gain them that are under the law; to them that are 
 without law, as without law (being not without law 
 to God, but under the law of Christ), that I might 
 gain them that are without law. I am made all 
 things to all men, that I might by all means save 
 some.” 
 
 If we fish for Jews, we shall catch Jews—and 
 they are not at all a bad catch either. I have 
 heard it said: “ Jews only hold out as Christians, 
 so long as there is money in it.” But I have 
 proven by my twenty years’ experience, as a fol¬ 
 lower of Christ, that the devil is still a liar. When 
 
168 OUT OF_ THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 converted to true Christianity, Jews hold out as 
 Christians, identically the same as do converts of 
 any other race. Their perseverance, you must re¬ 
 member, is in the face of the most hitter and cruel 
 persecutions,—first of their own people; second, at 
 the hands of unconverted Gentiles. Yet in spite of 
 this hindrance in the way of their progress, they 
 remain loyal, faithful Christians to the end. 
 
 The prophets of the Old Testament are evidence 
 that the fidelity of the Jews can be relied upon. 
 At any rate, God wonderfully trusted them. For 
 we read: “ Surely the Lord God will do nothing, 
 hut he revealeth his secret unto his servants and 
 prophets.” Again, in the Yew Testament, we see 
 the Lord Jesus wonderfully trusted Jews. Unto 
 them He revealeth all the hidden mysteries of God, 
 kept secret from the creation of the world. From 
 among all the great and wise nations of the earth 
 in His day, the Lord chose Jews as His apostles. 
 Them He made the foundation stones of the 
 Church. Them He entrusted with the tremendous 
 responsibility of spreading His salvation among the 
 Gentiles. Judging by the results seen among the 
 Jews in the world, to-day, the early Jewish con¬ 
 verts to Christianity must have been very faithful 
 to their charge and liberal in the extreme, for they 
 seem to have given all the spiritual light and life 
 they possessed to the Gentiles and have left nothing 
 in reserve for the Jews. 
 
 “ For His name’s sake they went forth preach- 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 169 
 
 ing the gospel, taking nothing of the Gentiles.” 
 “ But as we were allowed of God to he put in trust 
 with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing 
 men, but God which trieth out hearts. We were 
 gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her 
 children. So being affectionately desirous of you, 
 we were willing to have imparted unto you not the 
 gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because 
 ye were dear unto us.” 
 
 Why so Neglected? 
 
 Is it not more than strange that the people who 
 so faithfully preached the Gospel to the Gentiles 
 in the past should so sadly be neglected by them in 
 the present? This people, who at the sacrifice of 
 their own lives rolled the stone from the well’s 
 mouth to open the channel for the waters of life 
 to flow out unto all men, for the salvation of all 
 nations, are, to-day, sitting at this very fountain 
 thirsty, with few or none to help them. 
 
 The well is deep and they have nothing where¬ 
 with to draw up the life-giving draught. 
 
 Many conflicting doctrines are promulgated 
 to-day concerning the Jews. In some of these 
 theories it is claimed that the time for the salva¬ 
 tion of the Jews has not come. We are told that 
 this is the time of the Gentiles, and that when this 
 dispensation closes, the Lord will come, and will 
 first reveal Himself to the Jews of Palestine and 
 at this epoch all Jews will be saved as a nation. 
 
170 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 This idea they try to support with Scripture— 
 especially this one: “ They shall look on me whom 
 they have pierced/ 7 Yet John declares this Scrip¬ 
 ture was fulfilled when the Homan soldier pierced 
 the side of Jesus. John 19:34-37. The news 
 that many of the persecuted Jews are actually re¬ 
 turning to Palestine, is by them interpreted as con¬ 
 firming their own theory. They add also the Zion¬ 
 ist movement. This project being Jewish, seems 
 altogether to be the climax of their expectation. 
 
 Thus, if these theories were true that Christ will 
 save all Jews in Palestine as a nation, there would 
 be no need of doing anything for them now, nor 
 would there be anything left for Christians to do. 
 This doctrine that Christ is to reveal Himself to 
 the Jews in Palestine, is not new, but is the same 
 the rabbis preached to the Jews in the time of 
 Christ, which at that time, was a means of blind¬ 
 ing their eyes to the truths of the Scriptures. Con¬ 
 sequently they failed to recognize in the humble 
 Hazarene their own Messiah. They had been led 
 to look for the coming of their Messiah in pomp 
 and splendour, with great power and glory, and 
 set up again their kingdom in Palestine, inde¬ 
 pendent of the Homans, with Himself on the 
 Throne. As such, they were willing to accept 
 Him. 
 
 Because of this, many of the Jews, which be¬ 
 lieved in Jesus, were anxious to make Him King. 
 “ When Jesus, therefore, perceived that they would 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 171 
 
 come and take him by force to make him a King, 
 he departed again into a mountain by himself, 
 alone. 7 ’ John 6:15. Jesus proved to he a great 
 disappointment to them by Ilis preaching the 
 Kingdom of God and not the Kingdom of the 
 Jews. He discouraged their Jewish prospects of 
 being saved as a nation entirely. 
 
 It does seem strange that this old doctrine, which 
 Christ in His day condemned, should be preached 
 in this day. Ko wonder the Jews are confused as 
 to the right standard of Christianity. The wolf, 
 finding the shepherd sleeping, carries off these 
 Christless souls, as trophies of his victories. Yet, 
 while these theories are making their round, the 
 Lord is graciously saving Jews through every 
 means available, while the Church is wondering 
 where all these converted Jews come from. Like¬ 
 wise God, in the beginning of Christianity, sur¬ 
 prised the first Jewish Christians by converting 
 some of the Gentiles. The Jews, then, did not be¬ 
 lieve that it was the time for the Gentiles to be 
 saved. For this reason the Christian Jews of Jeru¬ 
 salem threatened to kill Paul, because they heard 
 that he had preached the Gospel to the Gentiles and 
 had brought a Gentile into the temple. The con¬ 
 version of Jews began to take on new life, perhaps 
 fifty years ago, and since then has been growing 
 until now converted Jews number thousands, and 
 are to be found in all lands. 
 
 Thank God, there are those in the Church to-day 
 
172 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 who not only pray earnestly for the immediate 
 salvation of the Jews, but also employ every means 
 to bring Jews to Christ. May God abundantly 
 bless and sustain them in their faithful labour of 
 love, and may the Lord speedily increase their 
 number. “ For the harvest truly is great, but the 
 labourers are few .” 
 
 Many professors of Christianity do still insist 
 that Jews are a separate people, though “ All have 
 sinned and come short of the glory of God.” They 
 comfort themselves with the thought that in the 
 end all Jews will be saved in Jerusalem. But 
 Christ is the J Resurrection and the Life, and His 
 doctrine is very plain. “No man cometh unto the 
 Father, but by me.” The Lord commanded His 
 Disciples to preach the Gospel to every creature, 
 and there is no record that Jews are to be saved in 
 any other manner than that provided for all. 
 
 At His coming we are told: “ He shall send his 
 angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
 shall gather his elect from the four winds, from 
 one end of heaven to the other.” Matt. 24:31. 
 Having gathered these, the door shall be shut, 
 and great tribulation shall come upon the earth, 
 to punish all them who have either neglected or 
 rejected God’s offered mercy of salvation, while 
 the door was open. This destruction shall come 
 upon all alike, Jews as well as Gentiles. 
 
 However, despite the indifference manifested on 
 the part of many toward the salvation of the Jews, 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 173 
 
 and the strong aversion of the Jews against Chris¬ 
 tianity, a “ remnant ” of them shall be saved. 
 Paul believed the word of God in the face of the 
 Jewish unbelief. He believed through the preach¬ 
 ing of the Gospel, the “ remnant ” would return 
 according to the election of grace. Because of this, 
 he did all he could to pave the way for their com- 
 ing, by breaking down the prejudices in the minds 
 of his Gentile converts. Paul realized that the 
 Gentile people did not have the same advantage of 
 knowing the Scriptures, as had the Jews, and he 
 took special care to enlighten them, proving to 
 them by the Scripture that Christ had become our 
 peace. He also proved to them how through the 
 atonement, God’s love is extended impartially 
 toward all people alike, saying: “ As concerning 
 the gospel, they (the Jews) are enemies for your 
 sake; but as touching the election, they are beloved 
 for the father’s sake.” Rom. 11: 28. “ For as ye 
 (Gentiles) in times past have not believed God, yet 
 have now obtained mercy through their (the Jews) 
 unbelief; even so have these (the Jews) also now 
 not believed, that through your mercy they also 
 may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them 
 all (Jews as well as Gentiles) in unbelief that he 
 might have mercy upon all ” Rom. 11:30, 31-32. 
 
 He further instructed them, how through the 
 death of Christ the Gentiles had become adopted, 
 into the family of the Israel (of God), hoping 
 thereby to safeguard them in the future against 
 
174 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 any spirit of boastfulness or pride against their 
 Jewish brethren. u How, therefore, ye are no more 
 strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with 
 the saints, and of the household of God.” Eph. 
 2:11, 12, 19. 
 
 With these words the apostle closes his lengthy 
 argument in which he shows that Israel, under the 
 dispensation of grace, is not the same Israel that 
 was formerly under the old dispensation, but that 
 the “ All Israel ” spoken of now embraces all peo¬ 
 ple of every nation under heaven who have come 
 to God through repentance and faith in Jesus 
 Christ. Thus, the apostles’ wise climax was, 
 “ And so,” through these means, a all Israel shall 
 be saved.” Horn. 11: 28. 
 
 We can see God never intended that His act of 
 grace extended to the Gentiles, should have become 
 a means of shutting the door against the Jews, as 
 would appear from the teachings we receive to-day 
 from some Christian teachers. 
 
 God throughout the Old Testament continually 
 pleads with His people to be reconciled to Him, 
 saying: “ Return, 0 back-sliding children, for I 
 am married unto you, only acknowledge thine 
 iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the 
 Lord thy God.” Jer. 3:13-14. The only thing 
 which separates Jews from God is sin, the same 
 that separates all others from God. “ Your iniq¬ 
 uities have separated between you and your God, 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 175 
 
 and jour sins have hid his face from you, that he 
 will not hear.” 
 
 To the Church God has entrusted this special min¬ 
 istry of reconciliation, “ To wit: that God was in 
 Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself 9 not im¬ 
 puting their trespasses unto them.” II Cor. 5:18, 
 19. If all others in the world are included in this 
 favour, then surely the Jews must be, first, because 
 of the sacred marriage relation existing between 
 them and God; secondly, because out of this sacred 
 relation sprang our precious Redeemer, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 The Virgin Mary, who of the Holy Ghost con¬ 
 ceived and brought forth the child Jesus, was of 
 God chosen of the House of Israel. The Angel 
 Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, 
 named Hazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man 
 whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, 
 and the virgin’s name was Mary. The Angel came 
 unto her, and said: “ Hail thou that art highly 
 favoured, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou 
 among women; the Holy Ghost shall come upon 
 thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow 
 thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be 
 born of thee shall be called the Son of God 
 Luke 1:26-35. At this Jewish bosom was this 
 child nourished, the milk which supplied the body 
 of the world’s Redeemer with its blood, was drawn 
 from a Jewish breast. Yes, Jewish hands rocked 
 the cradle of the Author and Giver of our eternal 
 
176 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 life, and the blood shed for the remission of the 
 sins of the world was Jewish. Here was the 
 foundation laid of our present and our eternal hap¬ 
 piness and glory, and upon this foundation is built 
 the entire House of God. Will God forget this? 
 He says, no. “ Behold, I have graven thee upon 
 the palms of my hands.” Ought not we, who 
 through faith in the Blood of Christ attained eter¬ 
 nal life, ever to remember this? 
 
 While we are drinking of the well of life, ought 
 we not to have compassion upon them who opened 
 this well for us? The Church is God’s only com¬ 
 missioned agency through whom the message of 
 salvation is to be proclaimed. 
 
 If Jews are to be converted at all, they must 
 become converted through the Church preaching 
 the Gospel unto them, as it is being preached to all 
 others. My contention is that it is our duty to 
 lead the Jews to Christ and not to Palestine. 
 What will the Church do with this responsibility ? 
 What excuse has the Church to offer for neglecting 
 it? I pray the Church may truly discern the 
 signs of the time, and realize that the day is far 
 spent, and that the night is coming. The morning 
 will soon break forth and all shadows flee away. 
 
 “ My beloved spoke, and said unto me, Eise up, 
 my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the 
 winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flow¬ 
 ers appear upon the earth, the time of the singing 
 of the birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is 
 
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH 
 
 177 
 
 heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her 
 green figs, and the vines with their tender grapes 
 give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, 
 and come away.” Solomon’s Song 2:10, 13. 
 
XVII 
 
 AN APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 T O MY Brethren and Kinsmen in the Flesh: 
 
 I fully realize with you that we are 
 living to-day in an age essentially of in¬ 
 quiry, and every man must think for himself, un¬ 
 trammeled by any traditions of the past, in order 
 to keep pace with the present rapid advance in 
 intellectual development or else be left behind in 
 the race. 
 
 You have evidently recognized the need of this 
 in your own experience, and for this reason have 
 already departed from the somewhat antiquated 
 forms of Judaism, and have adopted instead the 
 more prevalent and liberal forms, in harmony with 
 the spirit of the times. 
 
 However, in going over the record of our fore¬ 
 fathers, whose past experiences we cannot alto¬ 
 gether ignore, for, to us, this must ever remain a 
 guide to govern our future, we find that it is not 
 sufficient to simply throw off the empty forms of 
 Judaism, unless we are prepared to practice with 
 additional zeal those fundamental principles which 
 are the basis of our Hebrew religion, namely, 
 “ Judgment, Mercy and Faith.” 
 
 Our forefathers in the past experimented with 
 
 178 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 179 
 
 this matter of departing from their orthodox forms 
 in exchange for those of their heathen neighbours 
 again and again; as a result, they were always de¬ 
 feated, made shipwreck of their faith, and brought 
 misery and disaster upon themselves in the end. 
 
 If we take a retrospective view of Jonah’s ex¬ 
 perience whilst sailing to Tarshish, we shall note 
 that everything on the ship had been thrown over¬ 
 board in the attempt to calm the troubled sea; yet 
 all those efforts failed to restore rest to the sea or 
 peace to Jonah. Not until the Hebrew himself 
 was thrown over, did the sea cease raging, the ship 
 right herself and made for port. 
 
 Jonah’s experience is but an allegory of the Jew¬ 
 ish nation. We, like Jonah, are sailing through 
 troubled seas. Simply throwing off the empty 
 forms of Judaism can by no means bring peace to 
 us nor will this in itself ever calm the troubled 
 nations through whom we are sailing in our course 
 of life, while, like Jonah of old, we are journeying 
 in a course out of harmony with the will of God. 
 
 Having reached the place in your journey where 
 many roads meet, and realizing you must decide 
 for yourself as to which, in the sight of God, is the 
 right one, why not stop and read as indicated in 
 the Word of God? 
 
 “ Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the 
 old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, 
 and ye shall find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 
 6 : 16 . 
 
180 OUT OF, THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 Instead of forsaking your own Jewish forms of 
 religion and conforming your life to that of the 
 irreligious multitudes about you, thus becoming 
 Gentilized, neither Jews nor Christians, why not 
 at once throw the Jew himself overboard, accept 
 Christ, your own Messiah, and King, and become 
 real Christians? 
 
 The Scripture declares: “ This man shall he the 
 peace.” Micah 5:5. We have also this promise: 
 “ When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh 
 even his enemies to he at peace with him.” This 
 has been so truly verified in my own Christian ex¬ 
 perience, and you will find this to he the testimony 
 of every real Hebrew Christian. Since I have ac¬ 
 cepted Christ as my personal Saviour, I am at 
 peace with God and with all nations. 
 
 The Christian life is a beautiful life; it is a life 
 of peace and rest; a life from sin set free, and 
 therefore a happy life. It is that manner of life 
 of which the prophet speaks when he says: “ The 
 work of righteousness shall he peace, and the effect 
 of righteousness, quietness and assurance for¬ 
 ever.” When once the evidence is received in the 
 heart through the Holy Spirit of being pardoned, 
 that all our sins are forgiven us, that we are recon¬ 
 ciled to God, it brings with it a solace and a con¬ 
 solation which is truly wonderful; it is a joy un¬ 
 speakable and full of glory. 
 
 I find absolutely nothing in the Christian life 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 181 
 
 to which, any of onr Jewish brethren could possibly 
 object. Hay, rather, this is the life to which every 
 man and woman that is a Hebrew should aspire, 
 since it is that manner of life which God in the 
 law of Moses requires every man to live. Through 
 the law God reveals the fact to us that we should 
 he pure and holy. “ Be ye holy, for I, the Lord 
 your God, am holy.” 
 
 It is through the law we discover our weakness ; 
 for when we come to comply with the demands of 
 the law, we discover, to our sorrow, that there is 
 another law working in us, a law which is stronger 
 than we; that is, the law of sin. This law is war¬ 
 ring against the law of God, and is conquering us; 
 keeping us like slaves in subjection to sin. Thus, 
 in our own strength, we never could comply with 
 the demands of the law; for when we would do 
 good, the evil which is in us hinders us from car¬ 
 rying out our good intentions. 
 
 This surely has been amply demonstrated to us 
 Jews again and again on every “ Yom Kippur ” 
 (Day of Atonement). When, after we had fasted 
 and prayed with hitter tears of remorse on account 
 of our sins, year by year we found to our great 
 sorrow and disappointment when the Day of Atone¬ 
 ment was over and the stars again appeared on the 
 horizon, that our sins likewise appeared, awaiting 
 only another Day of Atonement, with but alas! the 
 same result. 
 
 God, however, foresaw this gap in our nature, 
 
182 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 and He made provision for onr soul’s escape out 
 of this bondage of sin, as formerly He made a way 
 through the Red Sea, to bring our forefathers out 
 of the bondage of the Egyptians. Therefore, what 
 we were unable to do for ourselves on account of 
 our weakness in the flesh, and what the law was 
 powerless to do on account of the strength of the 
 law of sin in the flesh, God sending His own Son 
 in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, con¬ 
 demned and executed sin in the flesh by the sacri¬ 
 fice of Himself on the Cross, “ that by the grace 
 of God he should taste death for every man ” so 
 that in His flesh was summed up the sin of all 
 human flesh. The flesh being dead, the law of 
 sin has lost its power. u Likewise,” the Apostle 
 says, “ reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed 
 unto sin.” “ Let not sin reign in your mortal 
 bodies that ye should obey it in the lust thereof.” 
 Romans 6: 11-12. In evidence of His victory over 
 the law of sin, Christ arose from the dead the third 
 day, and bodily ascended on high in the presence 
 of many witnesses, where he entered in behind the 
 veil into the Holy of Holies to appear before God 
 as our High Priest forever. 
 
 “ Wherefore he is able also to save them to the 
 uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he 
 ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 
 7 : 25. How, if we confess our sins unto God in 
 His Name, we find “ He is faithful and just to for¬ 
 give us our sins ; and to cleanse us from all un- 
 
Appeal to Israel 
 
 183 
 
 righteousness.” In evidence of this kind of “ Yom 
 Kippur ” such a Day of Atonement, we now re¬ 
 ceive the Holy Ghost as a witness, an evidence by 
 which we know that His promise unto ns has been 
 fulfilled. “ They shall all know me, from the least 
 of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; 
 for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remem¬ 
 ber their sins no more A Jeremiah 31: 34. 
 
 Through the Holy Spirit, we now also receive 
 power henceforth to overcome our enemy, the law 
 of sin . Hallelujah ! This power our fathers lacked 
 under the law. How, with the aid of the Holy 
 Spirit in us, we are enabled to keep the law and 
 serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteous¬ 
 ness all the days of our life. Luke 74: 75. 
 
 Finally, having overcome the world, the flesh, and 
 the devil by the blood of the Lamb and the word 
 of our testimony, we, in the spirit, likewise also 
 ascend on high into heaven itself where Christ, the 
 forerunner and High Priest, has for us entered. 
 This is Christianity; and this is the rest, the Sab¬ 
 bath of which the Seventh Day in the Law is the 
 pattern. 
 
 Surely, no pious Jew, no real Jew, could pos¬ 
 sibly object to such an experience, since the attain¬ 
 ing to this “ Scholum ”—this heavenly rest, has 
 been the constant hope and prayer of our people 
 ever since they became a nation. This experience 
 also is the refreshing God had promised our fathers 
 should receive, if they would comply with His will 
 
184 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 to keep His cominandments. “ To whom he said; 
 this is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary 
 to rest; and this is the refreshing; yet they would 
 not hear.” Isaiah 28:12. And because they re¬ 
 fused to comply with the will of God and finally 
 also rejected their Messiah, Israel as a nation of 
 their own will forfeited all claim to all the precious 
 promises of God and disinherited themselves. 
 “ As many as received him, to them gave he power 
 to become the Sons of God.” The rest, being 
 blinded, fell from their estate to the level of all 
 unbelieving souls, and there, I am sorry to say, 
 they remain unto this day. 
 
 For a Jew to become reinstated to the family 
 of God and become an Israelite indeed, he needs 
 the same kind of Day of Atonement as do all 
 others. A time when he really and truly repents 
 of his sins and believes in the “ Atonement of 
 Christ ” as his substitute. This act reconciles him 
 to the favour of God and he enters into rest. Hav¬ 
 ing had this kind of Atonement, “ we receive the 
 end of our faith, even the salvation of our soul.” 
 I Peter 1:19. 
 
 When our allotted time on earth is expired, we 
 enter into the “ Hiding Place ” Christ has gone to 
 prepare for us, there we await the time when all 
 the Israel of God shall have been safely gathered 
 and sheltered, and God shall have taken vengeance 
 upon all those in the earth who spumed His love 
 and mercy, in rejecting Christ. Then shall Christ, 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 185 
 
 our Leader and Guide, bring us forth from our 
 hiding place and lead us safely into our God- 
 appointed destination—the promised land. 
 
 In like manner did God bring forth Noah with 
 all who were with him in the Ark ? after He had 
 brought the flood upon the ungodly. “ And God 
 spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the Ark, 
 thou and thy wife and thy sons and thy sons’ 
 wives with thee.” This also is in accordance with 
 His word, “ Come my people, enter thou into thy 
 chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide 
 thyself as it were for a little moment, until the 
 indignation be overpast. For behold, the Lord 
 cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants 
 of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall 
 disclose her blood and shall no more cover her 
 slain.” Isa. 26: 2021. 
 
 The Promised Land 
 
 Therefore, let us not be alarmed nor stagger at 
 the promise of God through unbelief, as did our 
 fathers in the past, questioning the wisdom and 
 the power of God as to whether He shall ever bring 
 us into possession of our land because the time is 
 long, or because of the people who are in possession 
 of it now. 
 
 Neither let us be confounded because of the 
 bloody World War through which we have passed 
 as though it could change the promise of God, nor 
 let us be driven from our hope by seeing the Turks 
 
186 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 driven out and the Allies in turn coming; neither 
 confuse “ Zionism ” with God’s promises, for the 
 Lord says: “ I will have mercy upon the house of 
 Judah and will save them by the Lord their God, 
 and will not save them by bow nor by the sword, 
 nor by battle, nor by horsemen.” Hosea 1 : 7. 
 
 Not through any wars, nor through influences of 
 kindly statesmen, nor through the kindness of any 
 nation, or the nations combined, will the people of 
 God come into possession of their divinely prom¬ 
 ised land, but through faith in our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ only. 
 
 “ He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ” 
 (evidently at the foolishness of mankind, attempt¬ 
 ing to realize by means of human power what God 
 intended should be acquired spiritually), “ the 
 Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he 
 speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his 
 sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my 
 holy hill of Zion, I will declare the decree; the 
 Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son;—thou 
 shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt 
 dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Psalm 
 2:4-9. 
 
 Neither let us be perplexed by any geographical 
 or other changes, this or any other war is likely to 
 make in the land of promise, or changes that may 
 be made through other great national, social or 
 economic upheavals; they will all surely come, but 
 none of these disturbances, however great and im- 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 187 
 
 portant they may be, will in anywise disturb tbe 
 purposes of God. “ Tbe foundation of God stand- 
 etb sure.” These changes are all but parts of His 
 great plan; shifting scenes in the great world 
 drama, until the final act upon the stage of time 
 has passed, and the curtain has been rung down 
 for the last time. We have been foretold by the 
 Lord as to what we are to expect in the world in 
 the latter days, and we ought not in the least to be 
 surprised when we see these changes coming into 
 fulfillment. 
 
 “ Nation shall rise up against nation, and king¬ 
 dom against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall 
 be in divers places, and famines and pestilences 
 and fearful sights, and great signs shall there be 
 from heaven ”—“ and upon the earth distress of 
 nations, with perplexity,—men’s hearts failing 
 them for fear, and for looking after those things 
 which are coming on the earth—and when we see 
 these things begin to come to pass,” we are told 
 to “ look up, and lift up your heads for your re¬ 
 demption draweth nigh.” Luke 21. Wars were 
 to be the beginning of sorrows, the prelude to the 
 still greater tribulations which are to follow before 
 the Lord comes. The world, we are told, would be 
 perplexed by these eruptions coming upon the 
 earth, but unto us, who are saved and believe the 
 words of the Lord, these changing conditions were 
 to be the signal that the coming of the Lord draw¬ 
 eth nigh, and that therefore we ought to be pre- 
 
188 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 pared and ready, for our redemption draweth nigh 
 as well. We are told to look up, when we see these 
 signs. Wherefore, let us not worry about the peo¬ 
 ple in possession of our land, either past, present 
 or those who may yet take possession of the land 
 at any future time. Be they Turks, Mohamme¬ 
 dans, Arabs, English, Russians, Jews, or whoever 
 they may be who come into possession of the land, 
 they are all but our servants, coming into the land 
 to work for our interests. They are preparing the 
 land for our habitation, while at the same time, 
 God, through His servants the Christian people in 
 the preaching of the Gospel, is preparing a people 
 for the land. If God, in His love and mercy, is 
 exercising such wonderful patience and long-suf¬ 
 fering toward poor humanity that they might be 
 saved, surely we ought to he patient with God dur¬ 
 ing His time of maturing His purposes and until 
 the fullness of His time has come. Deliverance is 
 sure to come in the end. For the Lord says: 
 “ Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring 
 forth ? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth, 
 and shut the womb? saith thy God.” Isaiah 66: 9. 
 
 The people in possession of our land are not 
 idle during this time of waiting, they are making 
 wonderful progress in developing and improving 
 the land. They are building railroads, digging 
 canals, establishing irrigation, fertilizing and en¬ 
 riching the soil, cultivating and preparing the 
 ground, planting vineyards and orchards; building 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 m 
 
 schools and colleges; they are making the desert to 
 blossom as the rose, and are causing the streams 
 to flow in the wilderness. 
 
 The following clipping will show with what won¬ 
 derful rapidity the promised land is being pre¬ 
 pared. The matter seems to be very urgent: 
 
 (Official Report of Palestine Development Council, 
 New York; Julian W. Mack, Chairman.) 
 
 A corporation with a capital of $5,000,000 to 
 finance the project of Pinhas Rutenberg, the well- 
 known Russian engineer, to harness the water-falls 
 of the Jordan River for the purpose of generating 
 and distributing electric light and power in Pales¬ 
 tine, is to be organized in England. The Palestine 
 Development Council, of which United States Su¬ 
 preme Court Justice Brandeis is honorary chair¬ 
 man and Judge Julian W. Mack chairman, is tak¬ 
 ing immediate steps to aid in the financing of this 
 great undertaking. 
 
 This project, based on concessions to Mr. Ruten¬ 
 berg by the British Government, the mandatory 
 power in Palestine, for the utilization of the 
 waters of the Auja, the Jordan and the Yarmuk 
 rivers and their affluents, even outside the present 
 boundaries of Palestine, has been described in the 
 British House of Lords by the Government spokes¬ 
 man, the Duke of Sutherland, as the most prac¬ 
 tical, substantial contribution so far made by Juda¬ 
 ism to the restoration of prosperity in Palestine. 
 
 The concession, which includes Trans-Jordania 
 as well as Palestine as at present constituted, cov¬ 
 ers a period of seventy years, includes the exclu¬ 
 sive right to build the generating stations, trans- 
 
190 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 mission and distribution lines, electric tramways, 
 railroads, telegraph and telephone systems. Under 
 the terms of the concession no other electrical in¬ 
 stallments will be permitted and no similar con¬ 
 cessions granted in Palestine during that time. 
 
 The first undertaking of the corporation will be 
 to build dams and generating stations to utilize the 
 falls of the Jordan between Lake Tiberias and 
 Jisr-el-Mujamyah, a distance of eight miles in 
 which there is a fall of forty metres. Generating 
 stations and power-houses are to be erected at 
 Jaffa, Haifa and Jerusalem. It is estimated that 
 seventy million kilowatt hours can be made avail¬ 
 able by the initial project, or three times more than 
 the present needs of the country. 
 
 The first phase, alone, of the Eutenberg plan, 
 which has been checked up and endorsed by leading 
 engineers of four countries and has been approved 
 by the British and Palestine governments, will give 
 direct employment to 3,000 men, and indirect em¬ 
 ployment to many thousands more. It will make 
 possible the carrying out of many industrial under¬ 
 takings, for many of which capital has already 
 been subscribed in private corporations, or contem¬ 
 plated by private individuals, which could not be 
 carried out because of Palestine’s lack of fuel. It 
 will materially solve the problem in Palestine 
 caused by the influx of thousands of “ Chalutzim,” 
 and will help toward lowering the immigration bar¬ 
 riers set up by the Government because of prevail¬ 
 ing lack of employment. 
 
 Putenberg’s plans have been checked up by Dr. 
 L. C. Lowenstein, consulting engineer of the Gen¬ 
 eral Electric Company of Schenectady, N. Y., and 
 other engineers on the staff of that company; by 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 191 
 
 the Electricity Commission of the British Govern¬ 
 ment; by Dr. L. W. Majerczik, consulting engineer 
 of the German Electric Company, known through¬ 
 out the world as “ Die Allgemeine,” who made his 
 investigations in Palestine, and by the experts of 
 Baron Edmond de Rothschild, of Paris. 
 
 When they shall have finished their good work, 
 the Lord has promised to drive them all out from 
 before us. As He formerly first drove out the 
 heathen nations before He brought in our fore¬ 
 fathers. 
 
 The land having been rid of them and having 
 been cleansed from its defilement through the shed¬ 
 ding of their own blood upon it, then shall we, who 
 have been cleansed from our sins through faith in 
 the blood of Christ, come down with our Lord and 
 take possession of the land promised to our Father 
 Abraham and to his seed, “ and if ye be Christ’s, 
 then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according 
 to the promise.” Galatians 3: 29. Then shall we 
 enjoy the fruits of their labour a thousand years, 
 Halleluj ah! 
 
 “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and 
 will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own 
 land; and the strangers shall be joined with them, 
 and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And 
 they shall take them captives, whose captives they 
 were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.” 
 Isaiah 14: 12. 
 
 “ Cometh this blessedness then upon the circum- 
 
192 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 cision only or upon the uncircumcision also ? For 
 we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for 
 righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When 
 he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not 
 in circumcision but in uncircumcision. And he 
 received the sign of circumcision, a seal of right¬ 
 eousness of the faith which he had yet being uncir¬ 
 cumcised, that he might he the father of all them 
 that believe, though they be not circumcised, that 
 righteousness might be imputed unto them also; 
 and the father of circumcision to them who are not 
 of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the 
 steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which 
 he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, 
 that he should be the heir of the world was not to 
 Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but 
 through the righteousness of faith . For if they 
 which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void 
 and the promise made of none effect. Therefore 
 it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end 
 the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to 
 that only which is of the law, but to that also which 
 is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of 
 us all.” Homans 4: 9-17. 
 
 Isaiah, the prophet, who, 700 years before Christ 
 foresaw His crucifixion and ascension, foresaw 
 also His descent with all those who are His; at the 
 sight of which he exclaimed: u Who are these that 
 fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows ? ” 
 Isaiah 60: 8. The answer to this question evi- 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 193 
 
 dently is that which John, the Revelator, records: 
 “ These are they who have washed their robes and 
 made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” 
 Rev. 7:4. Those, evidently, who have lived and 
 died in the faith of Christ and who went np to be 
 with Him, these same the prophet Isaiah saw com¬ 
 ing down to take possession of the land promised 
 to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 
 
 “ For the Lord himself shall descend from 
 heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch¬ 
 angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead 
 in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive 
 and remain shall be caught up together with them 
 in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air.” 
 I Thess. 4:16-17, 
 
 There we shall remain with the Lord until He 
 has finished His work upon the earth. 
 
 “ Because a short work will the Lord make upon 
 the earth.” Then will be fulfilled this much 
 abused and often misused Scripture: “Who hath 
 heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? 
 Shall the earth he made to bring forth in one day f 
 Or shall a nation he horn at once ? For as soon as 
 Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” 
 Isaiah 66:8. The earth will be in pain like a 
 woman in travail at the time when the children of 
 God are brought forth. 
 
 Through the atonement of the blood of Christ, 
 the seals of the Old Testament are now broken and 
 the Testament is open to every legal heir, and 
 
194 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 every one can read for himself and see just what 
 the Father has bequeathed to him in His will. 
 Concerning the land of promise, we read as fol¬ 
 lows : “ Thus saith the Lord, Son of man, they 
 that inhabit these wastes of the land of Israel speak, 
 saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the 
 land; hut we are many, the land is given us for 
 inheritance. 77 Ezk. 33 : 24. 
 
 Here the prophet foresaw that the people who 
 would come into possession of this land would lay 
 claim to it on the ground that God had promised 
 it to Abraham and his seed, and his seed was to be 
 the stars of the firmament for multitude. Thus 
 they reasoned: “ Abraham was one and we are 
 many/ 7 and because they were many they concluded 
 they must be the rightful heirs, not knowing that 
 by the promise the heirs with faithful Abraham 
 not only will be many in number, but will likewise 
 also have to be of the same faith and character as 
 faithful Abraham. 
 
 The True Characters of the Heirs 
 
 Such, namely, “ Who have purified their souls 
 in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto un¬ 
 feigned love of the brethren; who love one another 
 with a pure heart fervently; being bom again, not 
 of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the 
 word of God which livetli and abideth forever. 77 
 I Peter 1: 23. 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 195 
 
 The Character of the Illegal Heirs and 
 
 Their Fate Disclosed 
 
 u Wherefore, say unto them, Thus saith the 
 Lord Jehovah, Ye eat with the blood, and lift your 
 eyes towards your idols, and shed blood, and shall 
 ye possess the land? Ye stand upon your swords, 
 ye work abomination, and ye defile everyone his 
 neighbour’s wife and shall ye possess the land? 
 Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord Je¬ 
 hovah: As I live, surely they that are in the 
 wastes) shall fall by the sword and him that is in 
 the open field will I give to the beast to be de¬ 
 voured and they that be in the forest and in the 
 caves shall die, of the pestilence. For I will lay 
 the land most desolate, and the pomp of her 
 strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel 
 shall be desolate that none shall pass through.” 
 Ezek. 33: 24-39. 
 
 Concerning the Mountains and Valleys 
 
 “ Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; because the 
 enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient 
 high places are ours in possession; prophesy there¬ 
 fore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto 
 the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and 
 to the valleys; Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Be¬ 
 hold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, 
 because ye have borne the shame of the heathen, 
 therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah; I have 
 lifted up mine hand. Surely, the heathen that are 
 
196 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 about you, they shall bear their shame. But ye, 
 O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your 
 branches, and yield your fruit to my people of 
 Israel for they are at hand to come.” Ezek. 
 36:2-8. 
 
 Thus the Lord has most clearly set forth in His 
 Testament the disposition of the inheritance and 
 the disposition also of them who have illegally ap¬ 
 propriated the inheritance; in like manner, also, 
 He has designated the manner and character of the 
 rightful heirs with faithful Abraham. If our un¬ 
 derstanding has been opened by the Lord to the 
 truths of His word, the devil cannot cheat us out 
 of our God appointed portion; neither will anyone 
 be able to deceive God in claiming for his own that 
 to which he has no right. God Himself holds the 
 records of everyone born into His Kingdom; He 
 knows the heirs everyone by name and every man’s 
 genealogy will be traced. As could the Israelites 
 under the law trace their lineage back to the very 
 tribe out of which they originally sprang, so, also, 
 do we read, shall it be said of Zion: “ This and 
 that man was born in her, and the highest him¬ 
 self shall establish her and the Lord Jehovah shall 
 count, when he writeth up the people, that this man 
 was bora there.” Psalms 87: 5-6. 
 
 You see how very important it is to be bora 
 again and why Jesus said: “ Except a man be bom 
 again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” This 
 is necessary in order that our name might be re- 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 197 
 
 corded in the “ Book of Life ” and thus make our 
 calling and election sure. 
 
 For the same reason, also, He said unto His 
 disciples when they returned rejoicing because 
 demons were subject unto them, saying: u In this 
 rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; 
 but rather rejoice, because your names are written 
 in heaven.” Luke 10: 20. Showing that to have 
 our names recorded in heaven is the most important 
 of all. 
 
 This record, evidently, also is the book in which 
 Moses had his name recorded, which he offered to 
 God as a sacrifice for the sins of his people, since 
 he could offer nothing greater, saying: “ Yet now, 
 if thou wilt forgive their sin: and if not, blot me, 
 I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast writ¬ 
 ten.” Exodus 32: 32. 
 
 Is your name recorded there? Thank God, it 
 can be. This is the day and now is the time when 
 God is fulfilling that good thing promised unto us 
 Jews: “ I will take you one of a city, and two of 
 a family, and will bring you to Zion.” Jer. 3:14. 
 This is that Mount Zion which is above; “ the city 
 of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and 
 general assembly and church of the first born, 
 which are written in heaven.” Heb. 12: 22-23. 
 
 Those that enter there in the Spirit of Christ 
 are the same who will come down with Him in 
 their redeemed bodies and take possession of the 
 land promised to our father, Abraham, and his seed 
 
198 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 forever. Abraham believed God, and in that faith 
 he died; “ He being full persuaded that what God 
 had promised, he was able also to perform.” 
 Homans 4: 21. 
 
 The Promise 
 
 “ Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: behold, O my 
 people, I will open your graves, and cause you to 
 come up out of your graves, and bring you into 
 the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am 
 the Jehovah when I have opened your graves, O 
 my people, and brought you up out of your graves, 
 and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, 
 and I shall place you in your own land; then shall 
 ye know that I, the Jehovah, have spoken it and 
 performed it, saith the Jehovah.” Ezek. 37:12-14. 
 
 The Fulfillment 
 
 Of this resurrection of our bodies and our re¬ 
 uniting again with our spirits, God has given us 
 positive assurance by the resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ from the dead. Thereby also He has as¬ 
 sured to us our inheritance in the promised land. 
 Thus: “ Christ is become the first fruits of them 
 that slept; afterwards, they that are Christ’s at his 
 coming.” I Cor. 15:23. “ For the Jehovah, my 
 
 God, shall come and all the saints with thee.” 
 Zech. 14: 5. It was for the joy that was set be¬ 
 fore Him (Christ) of accomplishing this resurrec¬ 
 tion for us which caused Him to “ endure the 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 199 
 
 cross, despising the shame.” Heh. 12:2. The 
 corn of wheat was willing to fall into the ground 
 and die, that it might bring forth the harvest. 
 
 By faith He already saw the ten thousand times 
 ten thousand and thousands of thousands standing 
 before the throne of God and the Lamb singing the 
 new song, saying: “ Thou art worthy to take the 
 book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast 
 slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood 
 out of every kindred, and tongue and people and 
 nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and 
 priests; and we shall reign on the earth” Rev. 
 5: 9, 10-11. It is the hope of attaining unto this 
 glorious resurrection through Him which makes us 
 willing to forsake all and take up our cross to fol¬ 
 low Him. 
 
 This resurrection is the fulfilled promise of God 
 to our fathers in the Old Testament: “ Thy dead 
 men shall live; together with my dead body shall 
 they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the 
 dust of the earth; for thy dew is as the dew of 
 herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” 
 Isaiah 25:19. 
 
 A Cloud of Witnesses 
 
 To be partakers in the resurrection of the just 
 was the constant joy and expectation of all the 
 apostles and prophets, and in all their trials and 
 conflicts, in all their persecutions and sufferings, 
 
200 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 the hope of attaining unto the resurrection of the 
 dead proved their chief comfort and consolation. 
 
 It was the earnest expectation to attain unto this 
 resurrection, which spurred on the Apostle Paul in 
 his untiring endeavours for Christ. And in the 
 midst of all manner of fiery trials, persecutions, 
 hunger, nakedness and in the face of death itself, 
 we hear the voice of Paul resounding like echoes 
 of pealing thunders: “Hone of these things move 
 me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so 
 that I might finish my course with joy, and the 
 ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, 
 to testify of the gospel of the grace of God.” 
 Acts 20:24. “ I have suffered the loss of all 
 
 things,” he adds, “ and do count them but dung 
 that I may win Christ—that I may know him and 
 the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship 
 of his sufferings—if by any means I might attain 
 unto the resurrection of the dead.” Phil. 3:10, 
 11. “ In the hope of this resurrection, Abraham, 
 
 when he was called to go out into a place which he 
 should after receive for an inheritance , obeyed; and 
 he went out, not knowing whither he went. By 
 faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in 
 a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with 
 Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same 
 promise.” Heb. 11: 8-9. In this faith they all 
 died, not having received the promise but believing 
 God was able to raise them up from the dead to 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 201 
 
 fulfill His promise and give them their inheri¬ 
 tance. 
 
 In the hope of this resurrection, “ Moses when 
 he was come to years refused to he called the son 
 of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer 
 affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy 
 the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the 
 reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures 
 of Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense 
 of the reward . 
 
 Job, in his day, foresaw this resurrection and 
 testified concerning it in life and in this faith he 
 died, saying: “I know that my redeemer liveth, 
 and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the 
 earth; and though after my skin worms destroy 
 this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I 
 shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, 
 and not another.” Job 19:25-26. 
 
 David also lived in this faith, and died in the 
 firm assurance of this glorious resurrection, leav¬ 
 ing his testimony on record for our consolation, 
 saying: “As for me, I will behold thy face in 
 righteousness: I shall he satisfied, when I awake 
 with thy likeness.” Psalms 17: 15. 
 
 In the hope of this resurrection Jacob also, when 
 he was dying, blessed the sons of Joseph under the 
 sign of the cross, believing that through the death 
 of Christ all His children will he gathered to¬ 
 gether into the bond of peace. “ Others had trials 
 of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of 
 
202 OUT OP THE HOUSE OP JUDAH 
 
 bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they 
 were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with 
 the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and 
 goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 
 they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in 
 dens and caves of the earth.” Heb. 11: 36-39. 
 These all died in faith, not having received tbe 
 promises, but having seen them afar off, they were 
 persuaded of them and embraced them, and through 
 their faith confessed that they were strangers and 
 pilgrims on the earth “ and died in hope of this 
 resurrection.” u Others were tortured, not accept¬ 
 ing deliverance that they might obtain a better 
 resurrection.” 
 
 It was the revelation of Israel in her new resur¬ 
 rected state which caused Balaam, the heathen 
 prophet, to exclaim: “ Who can count the dust of 
 Jacob, and number the fourth part of Israel ? Let 
 me die the death of the righteous and let my last 
 end be like his! ” Numbers 23: 10. 
 
 Not only is this bodily resurrection the hope of 
 all believers in Christ now living, but this bodily 
 resurrection likewise is the earnest expectation of 
 all the redeemed souls already in heaven. John, 
 the Bevelator, declares: “ They sung a new song, 
 saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to 
 open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and 
 hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every 
 kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 203 
 
 Last made us unto our God kings and priests, and 
 we shall reign on the earth” Rev. 5: 9-10. 
 
 The Apostle Paul says: “ For we know that the 
 whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain to¬ 
 gether until now and not only they, but ourselves 
 also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even 
 we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the 
 adoption, to-wit: the redemption of our body.” 
 Romans 8:23. And again, “ Blessed and holy is 
 he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such 
 the second death hath no power; but they shall be 
 priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with 
 him a thousand years ” Rev. 20: 6. 
 
 “ Behold, I will gather them out of all countries 
 whither I have driven them in mine anger, and 
 in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring 
 them again unto this place and I will cause them 
 to dwell safely.” “ Yea, I will rejoice over them 
 to do them good, and I will plant them in this land 
 assuredly, with my whole heart and with my whole 
 soul. For thus saith the Lord, like as I have 
 brought all this great evil upon this people, so will 
 I bring upon them all the good that I have prom¬ 
 ised them.” Jer. 32:27-42. 
 
 “ They shall no more be a prey to the heathen, 
 neither shall the beast of the land devour them, but 
 they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them 
 afraid, they shall dwell safely in the wilderness 
 and sleep in the woods.” Ezek. 34: 25-28. 
 
 With the fulfillment of this bodily resurrection 
 
204 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 will be fulfilled tbe accusation Pilate wrote on a 
 placard in Hebrew, Greek and Latin and nailed to 
 the cross of Christ: “ This is Jesus of Nazareth, 
 the King of the Jews.” 
 
 For then, “ the Lord of Hosts shall reign in 
 Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his 
 ancients gloriously.” Isaiah 24: 23. “ And should 
 one say unto him, What are these wounds in thine 
 hands ? Then he shall answer, those with which I 
 was wounded in the house of my friends.” Zech. 
 13:6. His enemies will then be clothed with 
 shame, but upon Himself shall His crown flourish. 
 Then, also, will our long looked for expectations 
 have been realized. “ They shall sit every man 
 under his own vine and under his fig tree; and 
 none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the 
 Lord hath spoken it.” Micah 4: 4. 
 
 Peace—Our Expected End Realized 
 
 The question the disciples asked Jesus after He 
 was risen from the dead, “ Lord, wilt thou at this 
 time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? ” will be 
 answered at that time. The prayer of ages, “ Thy 
 Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as in 
 heaven,” will have been answered at this time. 
 Peace, the desire of all nations, will be enjoyed 
 by all them who accepted the “ Prince of Peace.” 
 Now, also, will be fulfilled tbe prophecy, “ They 
 shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their 
 spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 205 
 
 sword against nation, neither shall they learn war 
 any more ”—for the space of a thousand years, at 
 least. 
 
 At that same time also, “ There was silence in 
 heaven,” the cry of the saints, “ How long, 0 Lord, 
 holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our 
 blood on them that dwell on the earth ? ” will have 
 been answered for the time of tribulation will then 
 have passed and their cry for vengeance will have 
 ceased. 
 
 Palestine, the land of promise, the land of rest, 
 the land of joy and gladness, is now safely in¬ 
 habited as towns without walls, having neither 
 bars nor gates. Jerusalem is now called the City 
 of Righteousness, the City of Truth, the City of 
 the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 
 “ The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick, the peo¬ 
 ple that dwell therein shall be forgiven their 
 iniquity.” 
 
 “ There shall no more be an infant of days, nor 
 an old man that hath not filled his days.” 
 
 “ In that day shall there be upon the bells of the 
 horses, Holiness to the Lord” 
 
 “ He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, 
 and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” 
 
 “ Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the 
 first resurrection; on such the second death hath 
 no power, but they shall be priests of God and of 
 Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” 
 Rev. 20:6. Hallelujah. 
 
206 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 Then will be fulfilled the words of Jesus to His 
 disciples on the night of the last Passover: 
 “ Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of 
 the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink 
 it new in the kingdom of God.” St. Mark 4: 25. 
 
 Then shall we, who are resurrected with Him, 
 also understand the answer Jesus made to Pilate 
 to the question, “ Art thou a king then ? ” “ Thou 
 
 sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born 
 and for this cause came I into the world that I 
 should bear witness unto the truth.” And should 
 one say to Him (in that day), “What are these 
 wounds in Thine hands ? ” then He shall answer, 
 “ Those with which I was wounded in the house of 
 my friends.” “ His enemies will then be clothed 
 with shame, but upon Himself shall His crown 
 flourish.” 
 
 Christ the Only Means of Restoration 
 
 “ See ye refuse not him that speaketh.” For 
 this may be the last time you may hear His voice, 
 and your last chance of entering into the promised 
 land. Yes, “ Strive to enter in at the strait gate 
 (Christ is the door); for many, I say unto you, 
 shall seek to enter in and shall not be able.” Luke 
 13: 24. Do not wait any longer for the Messiah 
 to come for your waiting is vain, the Messiah has 
 come and He is now waiting for your coming to 
 Him, and I fear your time is short. Jesus is the 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 207 
 
 Christ—the Messiah. He will come to you when 
 you meet the required conditions. 
 
 The Lord, foreseeing our rejecting Him when 
 He was here, spoke of it before through the mouth 
 of the prophet, “ I will go and return to my place/’ 
 then adding when we shall see Him again, “ Till 
 they acknowledge their offence and seek my face.” 
 
 Hot in Palestine at some future time, hut 
 through repentance toward God, and faith in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ will you find Him. 
 
 Heither has the Lord given us any reason to sup¬ 
 pose that Jews will be saved in any other way, or 
 by any other means than those provided commonly 
 for the salvation of the whole world, “ whosoever 
 believeth in him shall be saved,” and “ Behold now 
 is the accepted time, behold now is the day of 
 salvation.” 
 
 “ To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not 
 your heart.” “ Ye shall seek me and find me, when 
 ye shall search for me with all your heart, and I> 
 will be found of you.” “ For there is no differ¬ 
 ence between the Jews and the Greeks (Gentiles), 
 for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call 
 upon him.” “ Whosoever shall call upon the name 
 of the Lord shall be saved.” 
 
 These, and these only, are God's conditions of 
 peace and salvation, and the only means provided 
 for our restoration to the promised land. 
 
 My dear brethren, let no man deceive you in 
 any wise with any vain and unscriptural hopes, for 
 
208 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 we read “ the god of this world hath blinded the 
 minds of many.” We are also warned “ not to 
 believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether 
 they are of God.” The apostle also exhorts us 
 u not to be carried about with every wind of doc¬ 
 trine,” since there are divers and strange doctrines 
 in the world. 
 
 If we take into consideration the many doctrines 
 that are being taught and compare them with the 
 “ one doctrine ” of Christ, it would truly seem as 
 if the false doctrines had almost crowded truth out 
 of the world. “ Yea, truth faileth; and he that 
 departed from evil maketh himself a prey.” Be- 
 cause of the false teaching our forefathers in the 
 past became blinded to the truth and failed to 
 recognize Him, who is “ the way, the truth and the 
 life” sad to say, they missed their soul’s salva¬ 
 tion, the kingdom of God and eternal life. 
 
 Wherefore, seeing how very dangerous it is for 
 us to trust this all-important question, the salva¬ 
 tion of our souls to others, let us be wiser to-day 
 tiian were our fathers in the past, let us believe 
 God rather than men, and do His will; for “ if any 
 man will do his will, he shall know of the doc¬ 
 trine whether it be of God or whether I speak of 
 myself.” 
 
 Wherefore, my brethren, after having accepted 
 Christ, the Son of the Living God by faith, do not 
 rest nor be content until you receive the revelation 
 from God through the Holy Spirit and can with 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 209 
 
 Simon Peter exclaim “ Thou art the Christ, the 
 Son of the Living God.” Christ has promised to 
 reveal Himself unto each individual soul that ear¬ 
 nestly seeks Him. 
 
 “ He that hath my commandments, and keepeth 
 them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth 
 me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love 
 him, and will manifest myself to him.” John 
 14:21. 
 
 “ Soon as my all I ventured on the atoning hlood 
 The Holy Spirit entered, and I was born to God; 
 
 My sins are all forgiven, I feel His blood applied, 
 
 And I shall go to heaven, if I in Christ abide.” 
 
 In conclusion, I would suggest to every one of 
 my Jewish brethren to lay aside all preconceived, 
 inbred, Jewish prejudice against the name of Jesus 
 Christ, then carefully and prayerfully read the 
 fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. This chapter is alto¬ 
 gether Jewish, and can therefore in no wise con¬ 
 taminate your pure Jewish mind. 
 
 Here you will clearly see that atonement was 
 made by One who was wounded for our transgres¬ 
 sions and bruised for our iniquities, that through 
 His stripes we are healed, to Whom the Prophet 
 Isaiah makes allusion forty-nine times in this one 
 chapter. 
 
 In connection with this chapter, I suggest you 
 carefully read with unbiased mind the record of 
 the death and resurrection of Christ in the Hew 
 Testament. Then intelligently compare the two. 
 
210 OUT OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH 
 
 Will you give this case the same earnest and honest 
 consideration and impartial decision that you would 
 to any case in court, if called on to serve as a 
 juror? That is, try the case entirely on its own 
 merits. If, after close examination, you find that 
 the Christ spoken of in the New Testament did not 
 possess the attributes accorded Him and spoken of 
 in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and also that 
 the death of the Christ spoken of in the New Testa¬ 
 ment does not accord with the description given in 
 the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, then of course it 
 is your duty as a fair-minded and rational man to 
 publish the true evidence which will condemn the 
 Christ of the New Testament, and brand Him as 
 the greatest fraud and impostor in all history. 
 
 On the other hand, if after close examination 
 and careful consideration of the evidence given on 
 both sides, you find that the Christ in the New 
 Testament possessed all the attributes described in 
 the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, certainly accords 
 with the death scene of the Christ in the New 
 Testament, then I am sure you will be honest and 
 fair to your own judgment and acknowledge the 
 truth, and in compliance with your reason, fall 
 down before God and confess the mistake of your 
 life and accept the Christ of the New Testament as 
 your atonement. 
 
 Whatever your previous opinion might have been 
 of Christ, I would caution you to be very careful 
 as to how you decide in this matter. For He that 
 
APPEAL TO ISRAEL 
 
 211 
 
 is spoken of being our Christ, our Saviour, is also 
 spoken of being our Judge. 
 
 If we err in judgment, and condemn the Christ, 
 that “ was wounded for our transgressions and 
 bruised for our iniquities,” then are we in peril of 
 being condemned by Him, when brought before 
 Him for judgment. 
 
 “ Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, 
 yet judgment is before him, therefore trust thou 
 in him.” 
 
 “ For at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, 
 of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
 under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that 
 Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
 Father.” 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Prom Bev. W. M. Tufts, D. D., Pastor of the 
 First Presbyterian Church, Boston, Mass.: 
 
 Dear Adjutant Abrams: 
 
 I have read with the deepest interest the 
 account of your experience, and I can truly 
 say that no manuscript has ever come into my 
 hands which moved me as this autobiography 
 of yours has done. You and your wife passed 
 through everything to be faithful to the Mes¬ 
 siah, and you followed the star even to a 
 manger of humiliation and amazement. You 
 found no easy way, and the joy and the power 
 you have to-day is due in no small measure, 
 we must believe, to the fierce and searching 
 test you endured at the hands of men who 
 hated you and hated your Master. May God 
 bless you and greatly enrich you in the experi¬ 
 ence of the grace of Christ and in the work 
 you have undertaken for Him. 
 
 From Col. Samuel L. Brengle, D. D., Interna¬ 
 tional Evangelist of the Salvation Army, to Adju¬ 
 tant Abrams: 
 
 I have read your manuscript with deep in¬ 
 terest. It is a wonderful story and strangely 
 warmed and moved my heart. I hope you 
 
 may have it published, for I am sure it will 
 
 212 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 213 
 
 do much good. If it does not reach the Jew 
 directly, it will reach him indirectly by stir¬ 
 ring up Christians to love him, and to pray, 
 and work, and sacrifice for his salvation. 
 
 From the late Dr. Daniel Steele, Milton, Mass.: 
 
 The manuscript Adjutant Abrams has pre¬ 
 pared has been read to me by its author, and 
 I wish to commend it to both Jews and 
 Gentiles. 
 
 Especially will it be of profit to Christian 
 people who desire the salvation of the Jews 
 now coming to our shores in such large 
 numbers. 
 
 Every Christian should be acquainted with 
 the religious conditions of their Jewish neigh¬ 
 bours and the best way of preaching Christ to 
 them. This Adjutant Abrams does by show¬ 
 ing from the Old Testament Scriptures how 
 Christ is foretold and revealed in various 
 types and prophecies. His own conversion 
 demonstrates how much it costs a Jew to ac¬ 
 cept Christ. 
 
 It meant the loss of all his kindred, even 
 his father, brothers and sisters, regarding him 
 as dead and holding a funeral service in con¬ 
 formity with Jewish rites. 
 
 All of this is detailed in very vivid and 
 affecting manner, the hearing of which was a 
 means of grace to me, with thanksgiving to 
 God that I was bom of Christian parents. 
 
 Let everybody read this book. I predict for 
 it a large circulation, resulting in much good. 
 I most heartily commend this article to all 
 
214 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 who desire to hasten the time when the Jews 
 shall accept Christ as their Messiah King. 
 
 From Kev. O. P. Gifford, Brookline, Mass.: 
 
 I have read the spiritual autobiography of 
 Adjutant Abrams. It stirred my soul. I 
 wish it might be put in permanent form. I 
 am sure it will do much good. 
 
 From Mrs. Staff-Captain Wm. Palmer, formerly 
 Major Agnes L. Page, Secretary to Commander 
 Evangeline Booth: 
 
 I read your book with great interest. It is 
 clearly and convincingly written, and the story 
 that it conveys of your experience of the won¬ 
 derful salvation of God is likely to prove of 
 real and rich blessing to the hearts of every 
 reader. 
 
 From Dr. A. Z. Conrad, Park Street Church, 
 Boston, Mass.: 
 
 I have read the clear statements of experi¬ 
 ence and the earnest appeal of Adjutant 
 Abrams. It is a revelation of the power of 
 Christ in a human soul. It reveals what 
 Truth will do in a life when it has a fair 
 chance. It attests to the great realities and 
 verities of religious experience and Inspired 
 Revelation. The appeal in behalf of the 
 Hebrew is well grounded, intense and logical. 
 It is abundantly worthy of publication and 
 will certainly have a wide reading and will 
 exercise a powerful influence for good. 
 
 From Dr. Charles J. Fowler, Editor of The 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 215 
 
 Christian Witness and President of the National 
 Holiness Association, Boston, Mass.: 
 
 I have read with interest and profit tho 
 matter Adjutant Abrams has prepared, and 
 which I hope may be put in book form for the 
 public. 
 
 It is thrilling. It shows what it still costs 
 to turn to Christ and follow Him, especially 
 what it costs a Jew. 
 
 This should be in the hands of the Church, 
 and should encourage all to see that what has 
 been done in this case can be again and 
 often. 
 
 This matter should get into the hands of 
 the Jew, here is a preacher, and by it the Jew 
 can “ hear ” and “ believe.” 
 
 From Bev. Prof. Luther T. Townsend, D. D., 
 LL. D., Brookline, Mass.: 
 
 We have read the story of Mr. Abrams’ 
 conversion from Judaism to Christianity, and 
 have found it full of pathetic interest. 
 
 His trials, his abiding loyalty to his convic¬ 
 tions, his triumphs and joys in adversity 
 through his faith in Christ are such as will 
 arrest the serious attention of Jews and be 
 very helpful to Christians who may read the 
 story. For the good it would be sure to do, 
 we hope it may find a publisher. 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
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DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 HIGHSMITH 
 
 5230 
 
 
 Printed 
 
 In USA