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| In 1864 the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel served as Curate of Christ Church, Pentonville (renamed St Silas in 1867). Image from The History of Clerkenwell by William John Pinks (1865) |
The
following article - 'Rev. Maxwell M. Ben Oliel' is from the Clerkenwell Dial & Finsbury
Advertiser, Saturday, 26 March 1864, which is written in the form of
a biography, amazingly at a time when Maxwell Ben-Oliel was only 32 years old.
The author gives high praise for the charismatic Maxwell’s preaching and
churchmanship. The author suggests that Maxwell is the natural successor of the late Alexander
McCaul, D.D. (1799-1863), the great Irish Hebraist, theologian and missionary.
Throughout
Maxwell’s life, apart from his time in the USA, he never rose from
the ‘ranks’ of Curates within the Church of England.
In 1872 his ministry took a seismic change, when he moved from
the ‘Low Church’ Evangelical wing to the
‘High Church’ Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England, after coming under the influence of the Oxford
Movement.
This change of direction in his ministry and
his campaigning for the Disestablishment of the Church of England,
did not endear him to the Church of England’s ‘establishment’
and probably accounted as to why he never progressed to a high position in the Church of England.
Rev. Maxwell M. Ben Oliel
The following is an abstract of a very comprehensive and deeply interesting sketch of the much esteemed curate of Christ Church, Pentonville, which appeared in the Church Standard of Friday last :-
The Rev. Maxwell Machluff Ben Oliel was born in November 1832, at Tangiers, North Coast of Africa, of Jewish parents. His ancestors are believed to have migrated from Spain in the 15th century, settling in Tangiers, Gibraltar, Tetuan and other places. They formed part of the expatriated Sephardim, and are thought to belong to the tribe of Judah. The name Oliel (my yoke is God, or my Exalter is God) is pure Hebrew, and this, with the prefix Ben, would seem to point as far back as the days of Ezra for its origins.
The father of Mr. M. M. Ben Oliel spent many years of his life in the court of the Emperor of Morocco, and attended the late Sultan Abdu-al-Rachman, when prince, in his travels and studies, as physician, European interpreter, and general adviser.
Being intended for a Rabbi by his parents the education of young Ben Oliel was conducted with great care. After preliminary tuition in the Jewish schools at Tangiers he was, at the age of fourteen, admitted to the Yeshiva, or Rabbinical College, of the town, where he spent five years in the study of the Talmud, Maimonides, and rabbinical literature generally.
His religious instructions was attended to with scrupulous fidelity, so that the juvenile catechumen became exceedingly strict in the observances of Judaism. Having good intonation, he was often selected, when only fifteen years of age, to read prayers in the synagogue, and at eighteen was called to deliver a funeral oration on his mother before a large Sabbath congregation in the same place.
His eldest brother, the Rev. Abraham Ben Oliel, was converted to the Christian faith in 1847, and has been employed during the last fifteen years as a missionary to the Jews in North Aftrica. This change of creed led to a controversial correspondence with the subject of our sketch, who for three years endeavoured to vindicate the superior claims of the Hebrew system.
The issue though long delayed, was decisive. Mr Maxwell Ben Oliel was eventually convinced that Christianity was divine in its origin and durable in its obligations, and his spiritual surrender soon followed this intellectual concurrence. Determined not to conceal the light thus graciously imparted, the young convert declared his sentiments in lectures to Jews at Gibraltar. These were delivered in Hebrew and Spanish.
The ninth annual report of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among Jews, says :-
“A precious first-fruit of Africa devotedness to God has been given the missionaries, in the conversion of Mr. Ben Oliel’s brother, at the age of nineteen. He had been educated for a rabbi, and proud of his Talmudical faith, long defied every attempt to win him to Christ. When first informed of his brother’s conversion, he lay for two hours on the ground in bitterness and anguish of his spirit ; letters and tracts sent to him were destroyed, and his heart was filled with enmity against Christ ; nor did this appear to be subdued by intercourse with his brother. But amidst the sorrows of his mother’s decease, inquiry was awakened, and the voice of conscience was heard. He began to examine, and the prophecies appeared in a new light. His confidence in the Talmud was shaken. The book, by its extravagance and falsehood, disproved the cause it was intended to serve – the Word of God triumphed – John Bunyan pointed him to the Wicket Gate, and at the cross he lost his burden and his prejudice, and found ‘the consolation of Israel.’ ”
During the month of March 1852, he was received into the Christian Church by baptism. This rite was performed at Gibraltar, and “A Confession of Faith” then made in Spanish has since been published in the English language, and widely circulated.
At the end of 1852 Mr. Ben Oliel removed to England with the view of qualifying himself for the ministry, and spent the following year in London, where he studied with several young men who were preparing for mission-work among the Jews. Being desirous of a more enlarged training, he induced the authorities of the Wesleyan Theological Institution, at Richmond, to allow him participation in the benefits of that college on an exceptional basis, as he was not intended for their itinerancy, nor had he indeed, at that time, decided on joining any particular communion.
Under the system there pursued, he passed three years. From 1854 to 1856, and made satisfactory progress in divinity and the classics. High testimonials, and a good academical position were the results. Before the close of his residence at Richmond this proselyte to Christianity had determined on connecting himself with the Church of England at some future day.
About January 1857, he embarked for the Holy Land, to take the place of a missionary to the Jews in Beirut, who was then returning on leave, and afterwards made a tour through Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor. On returning to this country, he relinquished missionary work after brief experience, as leadings of Providence were evidently in another direction. Besides this, his eyesight was much impaired while in Palestine, and any further residence in tropical climes might have been fatal.
Then came the trial of his trust, for, despite his longings to obtain orders in the Church of England, the circumstances of his former education raised a barrier that appeared insurmountable. While thus halting on the threshold of his hopes, he occupied the pulpit of a new Congregational Church in the vicinity of London for a brief period, on condition of being allowed to exercise his ministry without being ordained or joining that body.
At the very commencement of 1860 he entered at St Aidan’s College, Birkenhead, preparatory to seeking holy orders. In his first term there, Mr. Ben Oliel obtained a double first-class, and in his third term enjoyed the rare distinction of a “special examination.” In December of the same year he was admitted to the diaconate by the present Bishop of Carlisle in the cathedral church of that important city. At his lordship’s preliminary examination the subject of this sketch stood first among the candidates, and was honoured with the special approval of the diocesan and his examinating chaplain, Archdeacon Phelps, who awarded him the privilege of reading the Holy Gospel at the ordination service.
His first curacy was virtually a sole charge at Barton, Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmoreland. The humidity of the climate and the rupture of a blood-vessel through over-exertion compelled him to quit that beautiful spot after the lapse of ten months.
A brief respite followed as a matter of necessity, but it did not last long, for we find Mr. Ben Oliel shortly afterwards, undertaking temporary duty for six months at St Mary’s Edge Hill, Liverpool, of which the Bishop of Sydney was at one time the incumbent, and the Bishop of Mauritius formerly a curate. Having been eighteen months in deacon’s orders, the Rev. gentleman was admitted to the priesthood on the 15th June, 1863.
At all places above mentioned the congregations visibly increased, and the means of grace were multiplied. In the last-named the church was filled to overflowing, so that steps were taken to enlarge the accommodation it afforded. When the incumbent of Holy Trinity was sufficiently recovered to spare his curate, Mr. Ben Oliel fulfilled his long-cherished purpose of coming to London. He was not permitted to leave a people by whom he was so greatly beloved without some token of their regard, and accordingly we find that the congregation presented him with an address and a purse of gold, while members of a bible-class which he had been instrumental in establishing contributed a handsome set of silk robes ; other friends added a pocket communion service in silver to these many evidences of loving esteem.
In October last, the Rev. Maxwell M. Ben Oliel accepted the curacy of Christ Church, Pentonville, and commenced his duties on the first of the ensuing month. In a few days from this time he was licensed by the Bishop of London, and has since proved a most welcome addition to the staff of clergy marshalled under the intelligent supervision of the Re. Anthony Lefroy Courtenay, D.D. Great progress is being made in this district, and the Church is becoming an acknowledged power. Much of this is doubtless owing to the indefatigable zeal of the respected incumbent, but some portion, and that not a small share, of merit is fairly attributed to the modest and amiable curate whose career we are now tracing. It may thought out of keeping with our practice to add that the Rev. Curate of Christ Church is unmarried, and that, beyond a few occasional contributions to the Jewish Herald and similar periodicals, he has not yet attempted to court celebrity by authorship.
We are somewhat surprised to find such a man in so comparatively obscure a sphere, especially when it is known that Mr. Ben Oliel has already declined four or five livings. Among these was the Corporation Church of St. George’s, Liverpool, in which his effective preaching won the unanimous approval of crowded congregations. Unfortunately his candidature for this place failed of success at the last moment through the patron not consulting the wishes of the pew-holders as he had promised to do, when Mr. Ben Oliel consented to put in nomination. May there not, however, be more of ordination than of accident in all these seeming misadventures, for, to use the words of our immortal bard -
There’s a Divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough hew them as we will ;
and so it comes to pass that the young rabbi-student of Tangiers is now an able minister of the New Testament in Christ Church, Pentonville.
He sought a London pulpit, and has achieved a local popularity. His fame as a preacher is rapidly spreading, and we doubt not ere long to find many parishes aspiring to possess the services of such a thorough student, and true-hearted evangelist.
Biography must, ere we close this memoir, subside into criticism. In aiming to pourtray Mr. Ben Oliel excellencies, however, we shall not institute comparisons. He is unique in the diversity of his training, as well as in the peculiarity of his pedigree. His Hebrew origin is not only visible in his features, but palpable in his style. Judaism is with him an attribution as well as an antecedent , and his conversion to Christianity is something more than a parenthesis in the paragraph of his life. It constitutes an epoch, and solves an enigma. He is a living witness to the power and perfectness of that Gospel which is one day to abrogate olden anathemas by bringing the whole human family into allegiance unto Christ.
The modesty of his demeanour, the gravity of his tone, the scrupulous exactness of his orthoepy - the amiability of his spirit – and the comprehensiveness of his catholicity are all so many charms with which he would win attention to the Gospel message. Lucid in exposition, logical in arrangement,simple in language, yet most emphatic in appeal, are the public teachings of this scholarly preacher. He has travelled for his illustrations ; he has studied for his acquirements. There is neither the shallowness of the pendant , nor glitter of the sciolist about him. He is deep as well as devotional, and persuasive because of prayerful. In his hands the Bible is an interesting and instructive companion, a wise counsellor, and a valued friend. The lore of antiquity is read in the light of inspiration , and all that fails of ministering profit is wisely laid aside.
We can scarcely hope to convey to our readers a fair portraiture of this pulpit luminary. He is not a rhetorician in the ordinary acceptance of the term, yet, estimating his utterances by the persuasiveness of its pleading, we must assign to him a high place among the “eloquent orators” of modern days. He is also what the prophet Isaiah called “cunning artificer,” since he produces unlooked-for combinations from what we are wont to regard as commonplace materials.
Our labour of love is now well nigh terminated, and we must leave the destiny of the Rev. Maxwell Machluff Ben Oliel to the Great Head of the Church.
When such a distinguished Hebraist as the late Alexander McCaul, D.D., has been recently called away we are wont to look around for a competent successor in the peculiar walk which he illustrated and adorned. It may be that the subject of this notice is to supply his place, and like him do good service in the cause of truth. The mantle of the ascended Elijah may fall upon another Elisha, who in the mysterious dispensation of an all-wise Providence shall more than compensate us for this sudden loss.
At any rate we may hope that, should Mr. Ben Oliel be ever place in a position favourable to such pursuits his vast stores of rabbinical learning, improved as they been by extensive travel, and supplemented by Christian instruction, may one day be laid tribute for the elucidation of the Sacred Scriptures, and for the defence of that faith which is the common heritage of all who believe the record which God had given us of His Son.
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Transcription by D. Sharp (2026)
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See also the Life of the Revd Maxwell M. Ben-Oliel (1832-1907)