Saturday, February 28, 2009

On Rev Jeffrey Wolf, missionary to the Jews

The following portrait of this very interesting character was drawn by one who intimately knew him.:—

" A man who, at Rome, calls the Pope ' the dust of the earth,' and tells the Jews at Jerusalem that the Gemara is a lie ;* who passes his days in disputation, and his nights in digging the Talmud; to whom a floor of brick is a feather bed, and a box a bolster; who finds or makes a friend alike in the persecutor of his former or present faith ; who can conciliate a pasha, or confute a patriarch; who travels without a guide, speaks without an interpreter, can live without food, and pay without money; forgiving all the insults he meets with, and forgetting all the flattery he receives ; who knows little of worldly conduct, and yet accommodates himself to all men, without giving offence to any; such a man,—and such and more is Wolff,—must excite no ordinary degree of attention in a country, and among a people, whose monotony of manners has remained undisturbed for centuries. By such an instrument, whom no school has taught, whom no college could hold, is the way of the Judean wilderness preparing." Wolff, for laboriousness has been classed with Wesley and Whitefield, and for eccentricity has been ranked with Ber- ridge of Everton, and Eowland Hill.

From Letters on Palestine

S. has a great post on Wolf (here).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

his name was Joseph Wolfe, not Jeffrey Wolf.

 
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