He served a long and eventful ministry, which took him to four continents, and finally ending his days in Walsingham Road, Hove, Sussex, where he died in 1907. Maxwell is buried in St Leonard’s churchyard, Hove.
In his days as a curate at St Michael & All Angels Church in Brighton, Maxwell was friends with the Revd Richard Enraght, the curate-in-charge of Portslade by Sea.
Richard Enraght invited Maxwell to St Andrew’s Church Portslade, to preach at the two services on Harvest Festival Day in 1874.
*******
Maxwell Mochluff Ben-Oliel's Early Life
Originally named Mejluf, he was born into a wealthy Sephardic Jewish family in Tangier, Morocco in 1832. His parents intended Mejluf to train as a Rabbi, he was educated at the Rabbinical College in Tangier, where he spent five years studying the Talmud, Maimonides and Rabbinical literature.
His father, Samuel Ben-Oliel (1791-1873), was the physician, interpreter and
advisor to the Sultan of Morocco, His Majesty Abd al-Rahman bin Hisham (1789-1859)
Around 1850 Samuel moved his family to
Gibraltar, to take the position of the Sultan of Morocco's Consul-General in the British
Colony to promote Moroccan trade.
Evidence of Maxwell Ben
Oliel’s noble background comes from The History of the London Society
for Promoting Christianity Amongst Jews by W. T. Gidney,
published a year after Maxwell’s death in 1908, where he quotes a passage from the Travels and Adventures of Dr Wolff (1861) :-
“At Gibraltar, where there were 1600 Jews, he stayed for two
months, having earnest religious conversations with the Presidents of the three chief synagogues, and many other Jews, among
them a Mr. Ben-Oliel, Consul-General to the Emperor of
Morocco", to this paragraph Gidney adds :- "and father of the late Rev. Maxwell Ben-Oliel, the
founder of the Kilburn Mission to Jews".
Maxwell’s father
was reputed to be, according to the Rev. Dr Joseph Wolff, the richest man in
Gibraltar. Dr Wolff was an Anglican Missionary, fluent in the Arabic, English, German and Hebrew languages, he was the son of a Rabbi in Germany.
In 1852
Mejluf was baptised in a Methodist (Wesleyan) Chapel in Gibraltar and
took the Christian name of Maxwell, his older brother, Abraham
Ben-Oliel (1826-1900) was baptised five years earlier on Christmas
Day in 1847 at the Wesleyan Chapel in Brentford, London. At the
time of Maxwell's baptism, Abraham was away serving as a missionary
in Morocco and North Africa.
Maxwell was a gifted polyglot
from a young age, he was fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, Haketia, French,
Spanish, English and many other languages. (The Hastings
& St Leonards Observer newspaper
in Sussex, reported on the 29th
November 1902, when Maxwell visited Hastings and St Leonards to
preach in local churches, "the Rev. Maxwell Ben-Oliel is a very
cultured preacher and an accomplished linguist, being master of no
less than sixteen languages.")
Richmond, London.
In 1853, Maxwell moved from Gibraltar to Richmond in London to study at the Wesleyan Theological College. The course of study embraced Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Greek, Latin, logic and theology.
The 1856 British Workman periodical, reported that it was fortunate that the missionary Maxwell Ben-Oliel
was in Plymouth when three former slaves arrived in the port from
Cuba. The periodical went on to say, Maxwell was the only person in
Plymouth who spoke Spanish and could interpret for the freed slaves
and address their welfare needs while they were awaiting a ship to
take them to the Gambia.
(The three former slaves had bought
their freedom in 1856, through a lottery scheme and paid the British Consul in
Havana for safe passage to England. Slavery was not abolished in the Spanish Colony of Cuba until 1886.)
In 1857, like his older brother Abraham, Maxwell served as a missionary for The British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Among the Jews in tours of the Holy Land, Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. His younger brother, Moses Ben-Oliel, served for many years as the Bible agent and a missionary for the British & Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) at Oran in Algeria.
Isleworth, Middlesex.
In 1858 Maxwell Ben-Oliel was invited to be the preacher of Isleworth Congregational Church in Middlesex for a six month period. On Maxwell’s appointment he asked the Deacons if he could bring some new innovations into worship, such as chanting the Lord’s Prayer, as well as organising Bible and singing classes for young people in the village. In Ben-Oliel’s time at Isleworth the congregation doubled in size.
The Marylebone
Mercury reported on the 13th November 1858, that there
had been a change of heart by the Deacons and Trustees of the Church
and that they now objected to the way Ben-Oliel conducted worship and his choice of Biblical texts he used to preach from. As the
Deacons could not come to any agreement, they locked the Church doors
to the preacher and congregation. The vast majority of the
congregation who wanted to keep Ben-Oliel as their preacher, hired a
large room in Isleworth village and held their own Sunday services
away from the locked Congregational Church. (It is not recorded in
local newspapers if there was any reconciliation between the Deacons
of Isleworth Congregation Church and the majority of their former
congregation who had formed a temporary Independent Church with
Ben-Oliel as their preacher.)
Church of England Ministry
In 1860 Maxwell entered St Aidan's Theological College in Birkenhead, Cheshire, to study for ordination into the priesthood of the Church of England. (The College had a strong Protestant and Evangelical ethos)
1860 Ordained Deacon by the Right Revd Samuel Waldegrave, the Bishop of Carlisle.
1860-1861 Curate in sole charge of St Bartholomew’s Barbon, Westmorland.
1861 (Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel became a naturalised British Citizen)
1862
Ordained Priest by the Right Revd Henry Philpott, the Bishop of
Worcester.
(In 1883, the same Bishop Philpott, dismissed the Revd Richard Enraght from Holy Trinity, Bordesley, and ordered the eviction of the Enraght family from their Bordesley Vicarage).
1862 Curate at St Mary’s, Edge Hill, Liverpool.
1863 Curate at St Mary's Church & The Holy Trinity Church, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
1864 Curate at Christ Church, Pentonville, London.
1865 Morning Preacher at Brompton Episcopal Chapel, Montpelier Square, Kensington, London.
1864-1866 Domestic Chaplain to the Duchess Charlotte Florentia, the Dowager of Northumberland.
(The Duchess Charlotte, was the granddaughter of Robert Clive of India and wife of the late Hugh Percy, the 3rd Duke of Northumberland, she was a
prominent British aristocrat and governess to the future Queen Victoria.
When her brother-in-law, Algernon Percy, the 4th Duke of Northumberland died in 1865, the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel preached the funeral sermon with the Old Testament text of 2 Samuel 3:38 as its title : A prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel, which was published in a pamphlet
and sold to the general public, with all profits going to the Royal National Lifeboat Institute, of which the late Duke was the President.
The funeral service was held in the Brompton Episcopal Chapel, Kensington and the late Duke was interred in the Percy Family's vault in Westminster Abbey.
The Duchess Dowager Charlotte Florentia of Northumberland died in 1866.)
Croydon, London.
In 1866 Ben-Oliel took a temporary curacy at St Matthew's in Croydon. Maxwell Ben-Oliel had a high reputation of being a Bible Scholar and preacher. His preaching attracted a large congregation who were keen on the idea of a new church with Ben-Oliel as the incumbent.
In 1867 Ben-Oliel left St
Matthew's for a new church called St Paul’s which was set up in the
converted Havelock Hall. The church grew and flourished.
Maxwell Ben-Oliel's brother in law, Robert Parnall, was a wealthy business man, in England he owned a string of gentleman’s outfitter shops and was a manufacturer of clothing, in Wales he was a major land owner, High Sheriff of Carmarthen and Vice President of University College of Aberystwyth. Robert Parnall guaranteed Maxwell the money for a new church building to be erected in Canning Road, Croydon. The new St Paul’s Church building was opened in September 1868 and Havelock Hall was sold.
 |
| Image from The Illustrated London News V.52, 1868 |
The Archbishop of Canterbury twice refused to license St Paul's and he, together with the vicar of St James, set up a new District with an ‘iron Church’ in competition to Maxwell's St Paul’s Church.
While living in Croydon, Maxwell served on the local School Board. A national register entitled, The School Boards : Education Parliaments (1872), published the names of 1400 local School Board members around England. The Revd Ben Maxwell’s is listed as a member of the Croydon School Board along with a biography sketch :-
 |
|
Above image from The School Boards : Education Parliaments (1872) |
June 1872 was a seismic moment in Maxwell Ben-Oliel’s ministry, when he announced to his very large evangelical congregation that all Services would now be conducted in the ritualistic Anglo-Catholic Tradition. There were protests from the congregation to the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury over the adoption of illegal ritualistic practices which culminated in the congregation leaving en masse for the nearby ‘iron Church’. St Paul’s struggled to stay open and finally closed down in 1874 when it was sold by the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel (who owned the freehold) to the Church of England for £7,000.
 |
| Image from Academy Architecture & Architectural Review, Vol 18., (1900) Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel's former St Paul's Church, which was renamed - St Mary Magdalene when the church building was sold by Ben-Oliel to the Church of England in 1874. (The church tower was not completed until the 1930s) |
On 5th
August 1874 the church building was re-opened and dedicated according
to Anglican rite. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s son, Rev Crawford
Tait, performed the ceremony and the name of ‘St Mary Magdalene’
was transferred from the iron church to Ben-Oliel’s former ‘St
Paul’s Church building’.
From late 1874 until 1876, the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel, served as a curate at St Michael & All Angels, a leading Anglo-Catholic church in Brighton.
 |
| Copyright © D. Sharp St Michael & All Angels, Brighton, where the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel served as Curate from 1874 to 1876 |
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| Copyright © D. Sharp St Bartholomew's, Ann Street, Brighton |
In 1874, Maxwell was one of the clergy guests at the official opening of St Bartholomew’s Church, Brighton, the largest and tallest Anglo-Catholic church in England. The Church is 41.75 feet (12.73m) high and 322 feet (98m) long, has the largest church nave in the United Kingdom.
In October 1874, Maxwell was invited to preach by the Revd Richard Enraght at the Harvest Festival in St Andrew’s Church, Portslade, the subject he chose, for which he was passionate about :- 'The Disestablishment of the Church of England'. Revd Enraght and Revd Ben-Oliel, were both members of the local Ward of The Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament.
 |
| Copyright © D. Sharp St Andrew's Portslade where Maxwell preached. (built in 1864, the architect was Edmund Evan Scott, by far his most important work was St Bartholomew's in Ann Street, Brighton in 1874) |
In July 1876, Maxwell left Brighton and was appointed Curate of the new 'iron structured' Church of St Michael & All Angels in Chiswick, by the Right Revd John Jackson, the Bishop of London. (A permanent St Michael & All Angels Church, Chiswick was not built until 1879)
Chiswick, London.
The following is an extract from the West London Observer for the
26th August 1876, reporting on the 'Dedication Festival of
St Michael & All Angels, Chiswick' :-
‘Placards, both large and
small, have been placed about in the neighbourhood of Chiswick during
the last week announcing the dedication of this church, and giving a
list of preachers and services during this and next week.
Amongst the preachers were Mr. Pelham Dale, of the City, and Mr. Tooth, of Hatcham, both of whom have lately been condemned in the Court of Arches for illegal practices. This alone was sufficient to indicate what the services were likely to be, and consequently, a fair congregation was drawn together at the eleven o’clock services. On the bell ceasing, a procession of choristers, &c., entered the church, and took their seats in the chancel. They were habited in purple and black cassocks and cottas, and followed by Mr. Ben-Oliel in cassock, surplice, white stole, and hood.’
The article went on to list all the illegal practices that the Revd Ben-Oliel included in the service, :- crossing himself, candles on the Altar, Communion Wafers, elevating the Elements, the singing of the “Agnus Dei” and the choir carrying a brass crucifix aloft.
 |
| Lemington Spa Courier 23 September 1876 |
The two guest preachers at St Michael's in September 1876 :- the Revd Arthur Tooth, who was imprisoned in Horsemonger Lane Prison for 28 days in October 1877, and the Revd Thomas Pelham Dale who was imprisoned in October 1880 until Christmas Eve in Holloway Prison for ritualistic practices.
 |
| The above article appeared in The
Rock, a hard line Protestant Church of England Newspaper in October 1876 |
In 1877 The Rock (a hard line Protestant Church of England Newspaper), with the motto, 'Opposed to Rationalism, Ritualism & Romanism', published an article under the title of The Ritualistic Conspiracy, which went on to list the names of 480 priests (it called ‘Romish Traitors’) in England who were members of 'ritualistic organisations'. The Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel of St Michael’s Chiswick, is listed in this article as a member of both the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament and the English Church Union.
It
is not known how the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel escaped prosecution by The Church Association for
his "illegal ritualistic practices" under the Public
Worship Regulation Act.
Maybe
he had friends in 'high places' ? from his days as the Chaplain
to the Duchess Charlotte Florentia, the Dowager
of Northumberland, who was a friend of Queen Victoria.
In
1877, the Revd Maxwell Ben Oliel along with the famous
Anglo-Catholics :- Revd A. H. Mackonochie, Revd T. Pelham Dale and
Revd A. H. Stanton served as committee members for the Church
League for the Separation of Church and State.
The
Dickens'
Directory of London by
Charles Dickens Jnr, listed the organisation as being based at "25,
Blackman Street, Southwark, its subscription was 1s and upwards per
annum, and its aims:- The
Disestablishment of the Church of England ".
By 1878 Maxwell Ben-Oliel had left St Michael's Chiswick, to set up his own church, he paid £4,310 for St Patrick and St Saviour's ‘iron church’ in Kenway Road, Earl’s Court and a further £1,000 on the fabric. Crockford's reported that Maxwell was the Minister of St Patrick and St Saviour's in South Kensington from 1878 until 1881.
 |
| Image from A Guide to the Churches of London (1878) (Surplice, Eucharistic Vestments, Incense and Altar Lights were all illegal to use under the Public Worship Regulation Act) |
Early in 1879 a correspondent of the Kensington News described the quaint iron church under Ben Oliel's cure, still soldiering on in hope of a brighter future, with its blue-painted walls, its harmonium and its 'asthmatic bell-pull'
In September 1879 St. Patrick's burnt down. Ben-Oliel quickly had a mission-room established, and issued an appeal for funds.
The Bishop of London,
John Jackson, expressed his sorrow that Ben-Oliel’s iron church had
burnt down but also issued the following statement of rebuke: 'I
have distinctly told him, as the two previous owners of the chapel,
that I have no intention of consecrating, or of consenting to the
assignment of a district to, any permanent church built on that site.
The neighbourhood is not a poor one.'
Following the Bishop of London’s edict, Ben-Oliel decided to look for a new site, after several failures in his quest to build a new church in the heart of Earl’s Court, he left the area in 1881.
 |
| Advert from The Athenaeum 19 February 1881 |
Folkstone, Kent.
From 1881 until 1889 he served as a curate at several churches around London and at St Michael and All Angels, Folkestone, Kent.
 |
| Folkestone Express 1 December 1886 |
Some when in the late 1880s the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel moved to Oxford, he was a guest preacher in local churches as well as teaching Hebrew to divinity students.
 |
| Image from the Oxford University Gazette, January 1890. The Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel lived in Oxford before leaving for the USA |
The Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel, although a very experienced priest, never achieved a status higher than a parish curate. He hardly endeared himself to the Archbishop of Canterbury in making public speeches on the 'Disestablishment of the Church of England', maybe this is why his ministry took him to the Episcopal Church in the USA, the only part of the Anglican Communion that was disestablished from the British Crown.
West Berkeley, California, USA.
Around the end of 1890 Maxwell moved to the U.S.A., he
served as missionary for the Episcopal Church at West Berkeley in the Diocese of
California. Maxwell’s older brother, the Revd Abraham Ben-Oliel, served as a Presbyterian minister in Chicago after spending many
years as a missionary in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Rome, Greece, Turkey and North Africa.
Later
in 1891, Maxwell Ben-Oliel, who was described as a very
distinguished Biblical scholar and preacher by the California press, was sent by Bishop Nichols of California to St John’s Episcopal
Church, San Bernardino, for a month or so as cover when the previous
priest left. This cover as Rector in effect lasted just over two
years. Ben-Oliel conducted worship at St John's in both Spanish and English.
On arriving in the Parish in December 1891, he found the Church advertised for sale, with debts of nearly $6000 ($150,500 in today’s values). Through clever management and the sale of Church property, Revd Ben-Oliel put the Church on a sound financial footing, staving off the Sheriff’s sale of the building and even finding $500 to improve the Church’s interior.
 |
| 1890s church notice from The San Bernardino Daily Courier (U.S.A.) |
On Trinity Sunday in 1892, Bishop Nichols visited St John’s
to conduct a Service of Thanksgiving assisted by Revd Ben-Oliel and
Canon Fletcher. While serving as Rector of St John’s, Revd Ben-Oliel gave practical advice to the Diocese of California on the
subject of Diocesan and Parochial organisation.
(Eight years later in an article in the Sun
Weekly (California) newspaper for 4th February 1900, it was stated
‘Revd Ben-Oliel’s services to St John’s Church at such a
critical time in its history, must be recognised as of great value’).
In 1893
Revd Ben-Oliel wrote to the secretary of the Diocese of California
giving news of his ministry since he left St John’s in August 1892,
in which he indicates he seemed to be in high demand in the East, ‘I have preached, lectured and officiated in Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, Camden, Baltimore Jacksonville and many other
cities and parishes, delivered altogether 137 sermons, lectures and
addresses in 29 churches and other places. During Lent I preached
every Sunday evening in St John’s Cathedral, Jacksonville, Florida
and every Sunday morning in St Andrew’s Church in the same city. I
have reason to believe that God has blessed my work, I had large
congregations, sometimes the churches were full and overflowing.’
Streatham, London.
On his
return to England, Maxwell was in high demand to preach in churches
in the London
area, he also preached on two occasions at Rochester Cathedral in Kent.
From 1895 until 1898 the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel served as assistant priest at the Streatham churches of St Leonards and All Saints.
The
following text is from a London Evening newspaper in March 1895, it
was also thought so worthy to be reprinted in provincial newspapers
in different corners of the United Kingdom, notably - Swansea Journal,
Leicester Mercury, Sheffield Independent and East Anglia Times :-
“The
Rev. Maxwell Ben-Oliel, one of the most remarkable clergymen in the
Diocese of London, is frequently heard in metropolitan pulpits. A
convert from Judaism to Christianity, he was ordained more than 30
years ago, and is now of venerable appearance. But he has lost none
of the vigour which has characterised him in controversy, and none of
the eloquence which (remarks a London evening newspaper) has secured
him much admiration but not a benefice. His sermons are so original
and clever that it is matter of constant wonder that he has been
allowed to remain for all this time among the curates or Sunday
lecturers. He is a very High Churchman, but not more advanced than
several Rectors with large stipends. Moreover, he is a profound
scholar and linguist. He has travelled greatly and read deeply.”
The the above newspaper article is written
in admiration of Maxwell talents and questions as to why he was never
fully recognised by the Church he served around the World with promotion within the Church ? He
probably blotted his copybook with the ‘Church Establishment’ for
being a High Churchman and an advocate for the Disestablishment of the
Church of England (the separation of Church and State).
 |
| Beckenham Journal 14 December 1895 |
In the
1890s Maxwell Ben-Oliel staged many lectures around London,
which according to the local newspapers were very popular and well
attended. Subjects he lectured on, ranged from ‘Science & The
Bible’, ‘Christianity & Theosophy’, ‘Jerusalem & The
Holy Land’ (illustrated by Lime-Light) and the ‘Oberammergau
Passion Play’.
The Church Congress
The Church Congress was an annual meeting of members of the Church of England's clerical and lay, to discuss matters religious, moral and social issues which met between the years of 1861 until 1938. It had no legislative authority, and there is no voting on the questions discussed.
Maxwell Ben-Oliel
attended the following Congresses:- Bristol 1864, Brighton 1874,
Stoke-upon-Trent 1875, Nottingham 1897 and London 1899.
The
following are key-points in speeches he made at the following Church
Congresses :-
The Stoke
Congress of 1875, Religious Education in Elementary Schools
was discussed, the Revd M. Ben-Oliel said, “There can be no question that the
tendency of the age is to dissociate the secular from the spiritual.
The Elementary Education Act (1870) is a fact, Now, what has it done ?
I consider that the
Act has in principle taken away the education of the poor from
the Church , and given it to the State. The Church has no option now
but to adapt herself to this altered state of things. The mission of
the Church is to teach men religion and morality so as to fit them to
discharge their duties on earth, and to gain by and by an entrance
into that better world, for which God has made us all.”
The Nottingham
Congress of 1897, the Book of Common Prayer was
discussed, “ I came from a Jewish Synagogue forty-five years ago,
and I have been in Holy Orders thirty-seven years, and I have found
that omission and that defect very much in my way when I have tried
to preach the Gospel to my brethren of the House of Israel.
I refer
to the fact that we have only one Collect in harsh, and even
insulting words ; for it classes the Jews with infidels. I should like to
suggest whether the time has not come when we shall find a better
form of words in which to pray for God’s ancient Church. It was
they who gave us the Old Testament and our loved Psalter.” * The Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel was many years ahead of his times - “A voice in
the wilderness”. It was not until the 21st Century, that moves began in the Anglican Church to remove the Anti-Jewish bias text from the Book of Common Prayer
and replaced it with a Christian prayer for reconciliation with the
Judaism.
At the same Nottingham Congress, in the discussion about Supply and Preparation of Candidates (Holy Orders) the Revd Ben-Oliel who was fluent in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, said, ‘I ventured at the Bristol Congress in 1864 to urge on my clerical brethren to study Hebrew, and I desire to repeat the advice now (in 1897), for even the New Testament cannot be thoroughly understood without a knowledge of Hebrew ; for although the language is Greek, the thoughts of the writers are Hebrew.”
The London Congress of 1899 in the Royal Albert Hall, The Church and the Evangelization of the World was discussed, The Dean of Worcester, said, “ Mention must be made of the Kilburn Mission, conducted by a learned and eloquent Hebrew clergyman, Mr. Ben-Oliel, whose persevering and very work amongst the Jews, is deserving of deep sympathy and generous support.”
At the same London Congress, the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel, gave a speech on The Social and Religious Conditions of Jews .
The Kilburn Mission to the Jews and The Hebrew-Christian Alliance & Prayer Union.
The Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel made two unsuccessful attempts in 1865 and 1871 in uniting British Hebrew-Christian organisations.
In 1896, Maxwell founded the Kilburn Mission to the Jews.
 |
image from The Jews and their Evangelization, by the Rev. W. T. Gidney M.A. (1899) |
In early 1899, Maxwell spent some months in Algiers for health reason, on his return to England he ran a Lent Course at St Augustine's Kilburn.
In 1900 at the time of the Fourth Zionist Congress in London, the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel as chairman of the Hebrew-Christian Alliance, presented a Hebrew-Christian Document to the Congress offering his support and cooperation to Dr. Theodore Herzl and the other leaders of the Zionist Movement in their campaign for the restoration of a Jewish State.
In London in 1901, Maxwell personally coordinated the amalgamation of the Hebrew-Christian Alliance with the Hebrew-Christian Prayer Union, to which he was appointed the organisation’s first ever President. In his roll as President, he advocated that converts should celebrate The Passover and The Day of Atonement as testimonies to their Jewish heritage.
 |
| Image from The Glory of Israel, v.1, no.11 (1903) |
In Sussex, The Hastings & St Leonards Observer reported on the 29th November 1902, "GREAT LINGUIST AT ST LEONARDS. - The Rev. Maxwell Ben-Oliel who occupied the pulpit at Christ Church, St Leonards, on Sunday, is a very cultured preacher and an accomplished linguist, being master of no less than sixteen languages."
The following text appeared in The Minutes of the First Hebrew-Christian Conference of the United States, held at Mountain Lake Park, Maryland, on 28-30 July in 1903 :- Revd M. M. Ben-Oliel, Superintendent of the Kilburn Mission to the Jews, President of The Hebrew-Christian Alliance & Prayer Union : “Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be one of the brethren of the House of Israel who believe in Christ at your proposed conference. But I am prevented by old age and infirmity. The aims you have set before you, are every one desirable. I will pray most earnestly that God the Holy Spirit, may be with you and direct your deliberations and decisions to the Glory of God, and the good of Israel, the Church and the whole World.”
The
Year Book of Evangelical Mission to the Jews
for 1906, lists this Kilburn Mission as having a staff of one
ordained minister (Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel) and seven volunteers, its
headquarters was listed at 38, Church Road, Hove, Sussex.
The move of the Kilburn Mission headquarters from London to Church Road, Hove, indicates that the Revd Ben-Oliel was now living with his son, this new Kilburn Mission address was a 15 minutes walk from Maxwell's new Walsingham Road home.
Aldrington, Hove, Sussex.
 |
| Copyright © D. Sharp 25, Walsingham Road, Hove, the former home of the Revd Maxwell M. Ben-Oliel |
Maxwell died on 8th March 1907 aged 74, at St Paul’s Lodge, 25 Walsingham Road, Aldrington, Hove, the home of his son, John Bernard Ben-Oliel, who's profession was listed as an actor. (John's stage name was later changed to 'Bernard Liell', he had married the actress, Georgette Melanie Thierry at St Catherine's Church, Abercromby Square, Liverpool in 1902).
 |
| Copyright © D. Sharp St Leonard’s Church, New Church Road, Aldrington, Hove, Sussex |
The Revd Maxwell Mochluff Ben-Oliel, a much travelled priest, missionary, lecturer and author was laid to rest in St Leonard’s Churchyard in New Church Road, Aldrington, Hove. (now a part of the City of Brighton & Hove).
Funeral at Aldrington
The Brighton Argus reported on the 14th March 1907, “Yesterday, at St Leonard's Church, Aldrington, were quietly laid to rest the remains of the Rev. Maxwell M. Ben-Oliel, in the presence of his family and a few friends. Mr. Ben-Oliel, who was a converted Jew, was a noted Hebrew scholar, an eloquent preacher, and a master of a number of languages. Assisted by the Rev. F. A. Du Boulay, Curate of St Peter's Aldrington, the service was conducted by the Rev. Henry Jephson, Rector of Ayot St Peter, Welwyn, Herts, an old friend, who specially travelled to Brighton to attend the obsequies. There were but a few flowers, and the breast-plate on the coffin recorded the age as 74 years. The undertakers were Attree and Kent Ltd., of Hove and Brighton.”
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| Copyright © D. Sharp 'Looking unto Jesus' (text from Hebrews 12:2 KJV) In Loving Memory of Maxwell M. Ben-Oliel, Priest Who Entered into Rest, March 8th 1907 Aged 74 years. (St Leonard's churchyard, Aldrington, Hove, Sussex.) |
*******
The King James Version of the Hebrews 12:2 text in full:-
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
*******
The following text is from a
1909 publication of the Jewish Converts Institution in London:-
Ben-Oliel, a well-known
family in Oran Algeria, has given to the Church three sons about the
middle of the nineteenth century, baptized by the Wesleyans in
Gibraltar.
Rev. Abraham Ben-Oliel, was for many years missionary in Rome, and then at Jaffa and Jerusalem. He was a true man of God, an ardent lover of his nation, whose spiritual welfare he endeavoured to promote by word and pen all through a long life. He died in America towards the close of last century.
Rev. Maxwell Mochluff Ben-Oliel, after finishing his theological course at the Church of England's St. Aidan's College, he was ordained in 1860, and was curate in several churches; also domestic chaplain to the Dowager Duchess of Northumberland, 1864-66; minister of St. Patrick and St. Saviour, South Kensington, 1878-81; missionary at West Berkeley, California, 1889-91; Rector of San Bernardino, California, 1891-93. Returning to England, he conducted a mission to the Jews at Kilburn, by writing and lectures. As a good preacher and thoroughly conversant with Jewish and Christian literature, he was gladly heard in the churches and cathedrals of England. His writings on the Jewish subject are numerous.
Moses Ben-Oliel, served for many years as a missionary and the Bible agent for the British & Foreign Bible Society at Oran in Algeria.
*******
Church of England Clerics from around England, submitted explanations of the Proverbs to the The Biblical Illustrator (1886), below, is a précis of the Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel’s submission for Proverb 17:16
The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.
I.
THE UPRIGHT. Those who are bent on doing the will of God. Those who
keep the commandments of their Maker. Those who endeavour, by God's
grace, so to live as to be justified, and pardoned and acquitted in
the day of judgment.
II. THE HIGHWAY, By this is meant the
general course, the mode of living, the habitual practice, the
constant endeavour, all the thoughts and words and actions of the man
at all times. The way, the royal road, the highway of his life.
III.
THE TERM "DEPART." It does not say, "The highway of
the upright is not to do evil" — that is true; but it does not
say so here. The text is "depart from evil," go from it;
give it his back; walk off and leave it behind; shun it as an adder;
avoid it as a scorpion; flee from it as a serpent.
IV.
EVIL. Need not concern ourselves with the origin of evil. We have
enough to do with the thing as it is. We find its presence
everywhere. The two principles, good and evil, must live as long as
the world lasts; and live constantly at variance, constantly fighting
against one another, constantly overcoming one another. It is ours to
avoid the one and cleave to the other — that is our wisest course;
that is our plainest duty. All the actions of life must be either
good or evil. There is, and there can be, no neutrality in them. The
degree of goodness or badness may be great or small, but the one or
the other they must be. We are speaking of moral evil. There is what
is called natural evil, i.e., evil belonging to the material and
physical world around us. But what is it that makes one thing or
action good and another evil? Who is it that pronounces on the
quality of actions? Where is the rule by which we are to determine
what is right or wrong? It is the will of that Being who gives us the
power by which all we do is done — that will makes things right or
wrong. It is the manifestation of that will in the Bible; therefore
the Bible contains the rule, the law, by which all our actions are to
be judged and determined. It is there we must find what is right and
what is wrong. We may divide evil into two branches —
1.
Actions that are wrong in themselves.
2. Actions that are
wrong only on account of their effects. Thus far we have spoken of
actions individually considered. But God has created other men and
women beside ourselves, and placed them and us to dwell on the face
of the earth together. They bear certain relations to us, and we to
them. These relations give rise to certain common interests; and
these interests, again, to certain laws and regulations by which they
are sustained and guarded. These laws must be consulted in all public
acts, and the breach of one of these laws on the part of a member of
the community is an evil. These remarks apply to men as members of
families and of communities, as citizens of towns and cities, as
subjects of countries and kingdoms, as fellows of all men besides. A
public act is an evil if it bring more evil than good to the
community as a whole, and as a community, therefore, you ought to
condemn and prevent an act which brings more evil than good into your
midst.
*******
("Revd Maxwell Ben-Oliel" research compiled from many newspaper articles and church publications by D. Sharp)