The New York Jewish Chronicle and its Agents

(Concluded from p. 464.)

During her sickness no minister ever visited the house, she never requested any to be sent for. The Rev. Caleb H. Key was the M. E. minister; he never was sent for, and I believe did not know her. The Rev. Mr. Godfrey and family were particular friends; he never visited or saw her; his family was quite attentive in alleviating her sufferings. Though we heard that Mr. G. made a request of the church to pray “that the life of a young lady of his acquaintance who was lying on a bed of death might be spared,” this request was voluntary upon his part and made without the knowledge of the family of the deceased, and was not known to us until after her death. From the time she was taken sick till the last sod covered her grave, there were visitors of all persuasions (for she was generally esteemed); they could testify that no request of the kind as above stated was ever made, but that she desired prayers of the Hebrew persuasion. Her attendants were ladies of both professions, and I am certain had she spoken or made a request as stated in the journal of ——, it would have been known and spoken about. I therefore say the informer of —— has written a base libel on the living and the dead, and I call upon him to name his author; as the hypocrite under the garb of religion has played upon the credulity of the reverend gentleman, and misled the public, and told four distinct and deliberate falsehoods:—1st, That Miss H. died a Christian. 2d. That she sent for the Methodist minister. 3d. That she told her father she was no Jewess. 4th. That she requested every Christian to pray for her who visited her. An act of justice demands that Mr. —— should expose the name of the individual who has been guilty of uttering such falsehoods, as the reverend gentleman has been imposed on in more instances than this one, which places him in an awkward situation.

Levi S. Hart

Since the receipt of the above, the Chronicle, of a later date, has announced the establishment of missionary stations at Philadelphia and Baltimore, in the persons of two apostates, besides the one in New York. We are surprised at the folly of such appointments. The utter failure of the efforts hitherto made, by men like these, in this country, <<551>>ought to have long since impressed upon the minds of the managers of the various conversion establishments, that it is entirely hopeless to succeed by means of such missionaries. Their shamelessness in entering the houses of the poor is well known, at least if we may take their own words for it; and then their intrusion in our places of worship and schools is also confessed by themselves; what else they accomplish remains to be discovered, except that of drawing their pay for their unfulfilled missions. We trust that, whenever these men may appear in a Jewish house, they will be ordered to quit it; and that no Israelite who values himself will hold the least conversation with them; not because they are to be dreaded, but because the most innocent expression is reported and preserved for the Jewish Chronicle to amuse its pious and zealous readers. Whether the conversations took place or not is of no importance, and places no obstacles in the way of the instrument of the society in New York and those abroad, from making a report of something. Therefore, it would be best to say nothing whatever to the hired preachers, who come unbidden to Jewish houses, and to order them out without ceremony or hesitation. Would you not chase an incendiary from  your door? How much more then a man who comes with evil intent to your religion. No intercourse, no friendly greeting, no grasp of a brother’s hand should they receive, till they have accepted penance, and become again converted to Judaism. We have patience to listen to an honest Christian,  however wrong and erroneous we may deem him; but an apostate is intolerable, and then he appears more venomous by far than an original opponent of our faith. We have ample means to prove all that we say; and we can bring living witnesses to testify to the correctness of our remarks, and we are willing to bring the proof whenever the Editor of the New York Jewish Chronicle may demand it. We stop for the present.