History of the missions of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions to the oriental churches, Volume II.
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Title: History of the missions of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions to the oriental churches, Volume II.
Author: Rufus Anderson
Release date: November 27, 2006 [eBook #19939]
Language: English
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Credits: Produced by John Bechard
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS TO THE ORIENTAL CHURCHES, VOLUME II. ***
Produced by John Bechard (JaBBechard@aol.com)
HISTORY
OF
THE MISSIONS
OF THE
AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS
TO THE
ORIENTAL CHURCHES.
BY RUFUS ANDERSON, D.D., LL.D.,
LATE FOREIGN SECRETARY OF THE BOARD.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
BOSTON:
CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY.
1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY
H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXIV. THE ARMENIANS.--1846-1855.
Agency of Sir Stratford Canning.--Of Lord Cowley.--Lord Palmerston's
Instructions.--Action of the Porte.--The Chevalier Bunsen.--A
Vizerial Letter.--Further Concessions.--The Firman.--Good Counsel
from Sir Stratford to the Protestants.--Dilatoriness of the Turkish
Government.--Still another Concession by the Sultan.--Agency of the
American Minister.--Greatness of the Changes.--The Divine Agency
recognized.--The Danger.--Why Persecution was continued.--New
Missionaries.--Pera again ravaged by Fire.--The Aintab
Station.--Native Zeal for the Spread of the Gospel.--Activity of the
Mission.--The Patriarch deposed.--Native Pastors.--Death of Mrs.
Hamlin.--Death and Character of Dr. Azariah Smith.--Mr. Dunmore
joins the Mission.--Removal into Old Constantinople.--The
First Ecclesiastical Council.--The Gospel introduced into
Marsovan.--Visited by Mr. E. E. Bliss.--A Persecution that was
needed.--Unexpected Relief.--Changes in the Mission.--Missions by
Native Pastors.--Death of Mrs. Everett.--Death of Mr. Benjamin.
CHAPTER XXV. THE ARMENIANS.--1855-1860.
The Crimean War subservient to the Gospel.--Its Origin.
--Providential Interposition.--Probable Consequences of Russian
Success.--Effect of the Fall of Sebastopol.--The Mission in
1855.--Schools.--Church Organization.--Church Building.--The
Printing.--Editions of the Scriptures.--The Book Depository.--Aid
from Abroad.--Greek Students in Theology.--Licentiates.--Accession
of Missionaries.--Death of Mr. Everett.--Miscellaneous
Notices.--Renewed Agitation about the Death Penalty.--The Hatti
Humaïoun.--How regarded by the English Ambassador.--Includes the
Death Penalty.--Is recognized in the Treaty of Paris.--How estimated
by the Missionaries.--Indications of Progress.--Aintab.--Death of
Mrs. Schneider.--Girls' School at Constantinople.--Seminary at
Bebek.--Division of the Mission.--Turkish Missions Aid
Society.--Visit of Dr. Dwight to England.--A Remarkable
Convert.--Death of the second Mrs. Hamlin.--Arabkir.--Sivas and
Tocat.--Harpoot.--Geghi.--Revivals of Religion.--Girls' School at
Nicomedia.--Fire at Tocat.--Mr. Dunmore's Explorations.--Church at
Cesarea.--A former Persecutor made Catholicos.--Death of Mrs.
Beebee.
CHAPTER XXVI. THE ARMENIANS.--1860-1861.
A Result of the Crimean War.--Religious Opinion in Constantinople.
--Change at Rodosto.--Outbreak at the Metropolis.--A Remarkable
Native Helper.--Great Change in Marsovan.--Changes elsewhere.
--Telegraphic Communication.--The Mission further divided.--First
Native Pastor at Harpoot.--Rise of the Station.--Dr. Dwight's Second
Tour in the East.--Changes since the First Tour.--Triumph of the
Gospel at Marash.--Tribute to the Wives of Missionaries.--Change at
Diarbekir.--Decline of Turkish Population.--Death and Character of
Mr. Dunmore.--The Missionary Force.--Training School at
Mardin.--Other Portions of the Field.--Scripture Translations.
--Publications.
CHAPTER XXVII. THE ASSYRIA MISSION.--1849-1860.
Origin of the Mission.--Mosul reoccupied.--Why it had been
relinquished.--Proposed American Episcopal Mission.--The Mission of
the Board reinforced.--Dr. Bacon's Experience in the Koordish
Mountains.--Punishment of the Robbers.--How the Gospel came to
Diarbekir.--Church organized.--Arrival of Mr. Dunmore.--Tomas.
--Persecutions.--Mr. Marsh's Visit to Mardin.--Dr. Lobdell's
Experience at Aintab and Oorfa.--Outrage at Diarbekir.--Descent of
the Tigris.--Diarbekir a Year later.--Congregational Singing at
Mosul.--Dr. Lobdell as a Medical Missionary.--The Yazidees.--Dr.
Lobdell's Visit to Oroomiah.--His Views of the Ecclesiastical Policy
of the Mission.--Return to Mosul.--The Church at Diarbekir
reorganized.--Strength out of Weakness.--Native Preacher at
Hainè.--The Gospel at Cutterbul.--Relief at Mosul.--A Special Danger
growing out of the Crimean War.--Excessive Heat.--Death of Mrs.
Williams.--Dr. Lobdell visits Bagdad.--His Sickness, Death, and
Character.--Religious Services at Diarbekir.--The Gospels in
Koordish.--New Station at Mardin.--Remarkable Case of Conversion.
--New Station at Bitlis.--Death of Mrs. Marsh.--Return of Mrs.
Lobdell with Mr. Marsh.--Difficulties in the way of occupying
Mosul.--Great Prosperity at Diarbekir.--Close of the Assyria
Mission.
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE NESTORIANS.--1851-1857.
Mr. Stoddard's Reception on his Return.--Death of Judith Perkins.
--Progress in the Mountains.--Progress on the Plain.--The
Seminaries.--A suggestive Case of Native Piety.--Scenes on a
Tour.--Nazee, a Christian Girl, at her Mountain Home.--Elevations of
Places.--A Russian Friend.--Mr. Stocking's Return Home.--A Robbery.
--Another Revival.--Seminary Graduates.--Extraordinary Enthusiasm.
--Books.--Death of Mr. Crane.--Audacity of Papal Missionaries.
--English and Russian Protection.--Mr. Cochran at Kosrova.--Matter
of Church Organization.--Death of Deacon Guwergis.--Hostility of the
Persian Government.--A new Revival.--Gawar vacated for a time.
--Discomfiture of the Enemy.--The Lord a Protector.--The Monthly
Concert.--Mountain Tours.--Search for a Western Station.--An
Interesting Event.--Violence of Government Agents.--How these Agents
were removed out of the Way.
CHAPTER XXIX. THE NESTORIANS.--1857-1863.
Death of Mr. Stoddard.--His Character.--Death of his Daughter.
--Retrospective View.--Death of Mrs. Rhea.--Decisive Indication of
Progress.--A Winter in Western Koordistan.--Mosul and its Vicinity.
--The Mountain Field.--An Appeal.--Failing Health.--New
Missionaries.--Death of Mr. Thompson.--Failure of the Plan for a
Western Station.--Failure of Mr. Cobb's Health.--The Nestorian
Helpers.--Tenth Revival in the Seminary.--Literary Treasures of the
Nestorians.--Marriage of Mar Yohanan.--Advance towards Church
Organization.--Death of the Patriarch.--Extraordinary Outburst of
Liberality.--Dr. Dwight's Visit to Oroomiah.--His Opinion of the
Church Policy of the Mission.--Improvements.--Appearance of the
Native Preachers.--Death of Mr. Breath.--Apprehended Aggressions
from Russian Ecclesiastics.--More Revivals.--Death of Mar
Elias.--His Character.--Armenians on the Plain of Oroomiah.--Manual
for the Reformed Church.--Retrospect of the Mission.--Miss Rice in
sole Charge of the Female Seminary.--Care of the English Government
for the Nestorians.
CHAPTER XXX. THIRTY YEARS AMONG THE JEWS.--1826-1856.
The First Missionaries.--Arrival of Mr. Schauffler at
Constantinople.--Jews in that City.--Baptism of a German
Jew.--Religious Excitements.--Visit to Odessa.--The Psalms in
Hebrew-Spanish.--Printing of the Old Testament at Vienna.--Whole
Bible in Hebrew-Spanish.--Unsuccessful Opposition.--Generous Aid
from Scotland.--Demand for the Scriptures.--The Grand Difficulty.
--Present Duty of Christian Churches.--The German Jews.--Interest of
Protestant Armenians in the Mission.--The Italian Jews.--Service for
the Germans.--Why so much Preparatory Work.--New Editions of the
Scriptures.--Important Testimony.--Change of Relations to
Constantinople Jews.--Attention turned to the Jews in Salonica.--The
Jewish Population there.--Missionaries to Salonica.--The Zoharites.
--Relations of the Jews to Christ's Kingdom.--The Practical
Inference.--Death of Mr. Maynard.--New Missionary.--The People
without Education.--Their Capacity for Self-righteousness.--Literary
Labors of Mr. Schauffler.--A New Missionary.--Insalubrity of the
Climate.--Dangerous Sickness.--Death of Mrs. Morgan.--Removal to
Constantinople.--Salonica partially reoccupied.--Labors among the
Smyrna Jews.--Labors of Mr. Schauffler.--Why the Mission was
relinquished.--Mr. Schauffler turns to the Moslems.
CHAPTER XXXI. THE BULGARIANS OF EUROPEAN TURKEY.--1857-1862.
The Geographical Position.--Moslem Population.--The Bulgarians.
--Their Origin and Early History.--Their Conversion to
Christianity.--Their Ecclesiastical Relations.--Their Aversion
to the Greek Hierarchy.--Danger from the Papacy.--Seasonable
Intervention of Protestantism.--Their Struggle with the Greek
Patriarch.--First Exploration of Roumelia, and Dr. Hamlin's
Report.--The Result.--Division of the Bulgarian Field between
Methodist Missionaries and those of the American Board.--Friendly
Coöperation.--Report of a Tour by Mr. Bliss.--Commencement of the
Bulgarian Mission.--Papal Opposition.--The Mission enlarged.--The
Accessible Population.--Desire for Education.--Readiness to receive
the New Testament.--Church formed at Adrianople.--Labors of Mr.
Meriam.
CHAPTER XXXII. THE BULGARIANS OF EUROPEAN TURKEY.--1862-1871.
Brigandage in Bulgaria.--Mr. Meriam murdered by Brigands.
--Distressing Circumstances and Death of Mrs. Meriam.--Successful
Efforts to Punish the Assassins.--Check to the Brigandage.--Further
Enlargement of the Mission.--School for Girls.--New Station at
Samokov.--Results of a General Missionary Conference.--The Great
Obstacle.--Signs of Progress.--Unexpected Hindrance.--Popularity of
the Schools.--The People not accessible to Preaching.--Awakened
Interest.--Girl's School at Eski Zagra.--Cases of Domestic
Persecution.--A Serious Loss.--Effect of False Reports.--A
Successful Intervention.--Public Celebration of the Lord's
Supper.--Its Significance.--New Missionaries.--Death of Mr.
Ball.--Death of Miss Reynolds.--The Connection with the Armenian
Mission dissolved.--The Mission as thus constituted.--The Bulgarians
Ecclesiastically Free.--First Effect of this Freedom.--Promising
Events.--Death of Miss Norcross.--Removal of the School from Eski
Zagra to Samokov.--A Church organized at Bansko.--Translation of the
Bible into the Spoken Language.--The Mission in its Preliminary
Stage, but ready for an Onward Movement.
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE ARMENIANS.--1861-1863.
Dr. Dwight's Visit to the United States.--His Sudden Death.--His
Life and Character.--His Views of Missionary Policy.--The Actual
Call for Missionaries, and the Discretion awarded to them.--Bebek
Seminary to be removed into the Interior.--Its History.--Removal of
Boarding School for Girls.--Its Usefulness.--Exploration of the
Taurus Mountains.--A Beautiful Scene.--A Barbarous Expulsion from
Hadjin.--Murder of Mr. Coffing.--Successful Efforts to apprehend the
Murderers.--One of them executed.--The Result.--Mrs. Coffing remains
in the Mission.--Dr. Goodell's Estimate of Progress in the Central
Mission.--Progress at Aintab.--At Oorfa.--At Harpoot.--Theological
School.--A Native Preacher.--Mosul.--Ordination of a Native Pastor
at Diarbekir.--Contrasted with an Oriental Ordination.--Disturbing
Efforts of Garabed.--Progress at Bitlis.--The Church at Erzroom.
--Progress at Arabkir.--Sojourn of Dr. Wood at Constantinople.
--Accessions to the Mission.--Ordination of Native Pastors.
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE ARMENIANS.--1864-1865.
A Reaction.--The Apparent Cause.--Consequent Movements.--Results.
--Position of the Entire Field.--Obstacles to be surmounted.
--Painful Experience at Marsovan.--Accessions to the Mission.
--Working Force at the Metropolis.--Robert College and Bebek.--An
unsuccessful Disorganizing Movement.--Great Fire at Broosa.--New
Missionary Station.--Influence of the American War at Adana.
--Diminished Force in Central Turkey.--Evangelical Progress at
Aintab.--Two Churches formed.--Girls' Boarding School.--High
School.--Graduating Class at Harpoot.--Singular Method of
Opposition.--Progress of Self-support and the Evangelical Spirit in
the Churches.--Death of Mrs. Williams.--General View of the Eastern
Mission.--Methods of Opposition.--Liberal Support of the Gospel.
--Prosperity at Diarbekir.--Death of Mr. Dodd.--Death of Mr.
Morgan.--Death of Hohannes.--Interesting Ordinations.--Reception
of Mr. and Mrs. Walker.--A Native Church in the Absence of both
Missionary and Pastor.--Death of a Native Helper.
CHAPTER XXXV. THE ARMENIANS--1865-1867.
Harpoot Evangelical Union.--Other Similar Associations.--Their
Utility.--A Poor Church enriched.--John Concordance, the Blind
Preacher.--His Sermon on Tithes, and his Wide Influence.--Meeting of
the Harpoot Union.--Death of Mrs. Adams.--New Missionaries.
--Multiplication of Newspapers.--The Avedaper, or "Messenger."--The
Reformed Church and Prayer-Book.--Consequent Excitement.
--Bible-women.--Eleven Years at Harpoot.--Week of Prayer at Harpoot,
and Bitlis.--Revival at Bitlis.--Broosa after Seventeen Years.
--First Evangelical Greek Church.--Death of Mr. Walker.--His
Character.--Return Home of Mrs. Walker.--Contrast at Choonkoosh.
--A Foreign Mission resolved upon.--New Revival at Harpoot.--The
Past and Present.--Injurious Effect of Prosperity in a Church.--The
Recovery.
CHAPTER XXXVI. THE NESTORIANS.--1864-1868.
Death and Character of Deacon Isaac.--Death and Character of Miss
Fiske.--Death of Deacon Joseph.--Mountain Tours.--The Mountain
Work.--Visit to the Young Patriarch.--The Seminary for Girls.--Great
Usefulness of Dr. Wright.--His Death.--Death of Mr. Ambrose.
--Nestorian Vagrancy.--Death and Character of Mr. Rhea.--Hostility
of Mar Shimon.--Friendly Agency of the English Ambassador.--Royal
Donation.--Success of the Girls' School.--Male Seminary.--A Private
School.--Death of Priest Eshoo.--New Medical Missionary.--Estimates
of Population.--Interesting Armenian Colony.--The Patriarch thwarted
in his Hostility.--Favoring Indications.
CHAPTER XXXVII. THE NESTORIANS.--1867-1870.
Convention of Nestorian Churches.--Ordination of a Nestorian
Missionary.--A Satisfactory Tour.--Movement towards Self-supporting
Churches.--Progress of the Reformation.--Retirement of
Missionaries.--What Dr. Perkins had seen accomplished.--Rekindling
of the Ancient Missionary Spirit.--Foreign Missions become a
Necessity.--The Reviving Missionary Spirit illustrated.--Death of
Priest Abraham.--Failure of the Original Plan of Church
Organization.--Mar Yohanan.--Erratic Proceedings of Priest
John.--The best People stand firm.--The Past not to be condemned.
--Separate Churches become a Necessity.--Signs of Revival.--The
Foreign Missionary Field for the Nestorians.--The Missionaries.
--Assignments of Fields.--Transfer of the Mission to the
Presbyterian Board.--Death and Character of Dr. Perkins.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. SYRIA.--1857-1860.
Death of Dr. Eli Smith.--The Work performed by him.--Dr. Van Dyck
succeeds him as Translator.--The Missionaries.--Death of Dr. De
Forest.--The Schools.--Progress in Fifteen Years.--Ain Zehalty.
--Church at Hasbeiya.--Attitude of the Maronite Clergy.--B'hamdûn.
--Kefr Shema.--A High-minded Christian.--Religious Toleration.
--Prospect of a Native Ministry.--A New Call for the Gospel.--Church
at Alma.--Successful Ministry at Cana.--First completed Protestant
Church Building in Syria.--The Missionary's Wife at Cana.
--Persecution.--The Women at Alma.--Training of Helpers.--Ain
Zehalty again.--Struggles in the Department of Education.
--Accessions to the Churches.--New Protestant Community at Deir
Mimas.--A Cheering Annual Meeting.--Friendly Aid from United States
Ambassador.--Arabic New Testament published.
CHAPTER XXXIX. SYRIA.--1860-1863.
Another Civil War in Syria.--The Missionaries Safe.--Massacre near
Sidon.--Mr. Bird at Deir el-Komr.--Destruction of Zahleh.--Massacre
at Hasbeiya.--Massacre at Damascus.--Relief for Suffering
Thousands.--Remarkable Escape of Missionaries and Native
Protestants.--Foreign Interposition.--Effects of the War.--Arabic
New Testament published.--Cooperation of American and English Bible
Societies.--Importance of the Version.--Sales of the Scriptures.--A
Voweled Arabic New Testament.--The Field Brightening.--A Good
Governor.--Further Evidences of Progress.--Persecution.--A
Significant Event.--Evidence of Divine Agency.--Changes in the
Mission.--Growth of Beirût.--Demand for Education.--Proposal for a
Protestant College.--What hindered a more Rapid Progress in the
Mission.
CHAPTER XL. SYRIA.--1863-1869.
Personal.--Boarding Schools.--Printing.--Completion of the Arabic
Translation of the Scriptures.--Multiplication of Copies.--Improved
Government of Lebanon.--The Native Ministry.--Druze High School.
--Value of Druze Protection.--Death of Tannûs el-Haddad.--Native
Pastor at Hums.--Remarkable Awakening at Safeeta.--Remarkable
Persecution.--Firmness of the persecuted People.--The Persecution
closed.--Decline and Recovery of the Church at Hums.--Native
Missions.--Administration of Daoud Pasha.--Accessions to the
Mission.--Books published.--The Publishing Department strengthened.
CHAPTER XLI. SYRIA.--1869-1870.
But few Students in Theology.--Institution of a Theological
Seminary.--Female Boarding Schools.--THE SYRIAN PROTESTANT COLLEGE.
--Demand for a College.--Its Objects.--Range of its Studies.--Why an
Independent Institution.--Its Location and Government.--Its
Endowment.--Its Students.--The Religious Influences.--First
Graduating Class.--The College Edifices.--Transfer of the Mission to
the Presbyterian Board.--Feeling awakened by the Transfer.--RESULTS
OF THE PAST.
CHAPTER XLII. THE ARMENIANS.--1867-1869.
New Missionaries.--Revival at Marash.--Revival at Mardin.--Oosee, a
Native Candidate for a Foreign Mission.--Church organized at
Mardin.--Wife of Oosee.--Struggle with the People of Zeitoon.
--Deadly Assault on a Missionary.--The Rescue.--The Gospel gains a
Footing in Zeitoon.--Coast of the Black Sea.--Death of Dr. William
Goodell.--His Life and Character.--Prolonged Tour in Eastern
Turkey.--Meeting of the Evangelical Union at Diarbekir.--Mardin.
--Remarkable Church and Pastor at Sert.--Bitlis.--Extreme Poverty on
the Plain of Moosh.--Oppression by the Priesthood.--Death of Mrs. H.
S. Barnum.--District of Erzroom.--Diarbekir.--Native Mission to
Koordistan.--Native Mission to Moosh.--Seminaries at Harpoot.--Cruel
Persecution at Mardin.--Revival at Oorfa.--Apprehended Doctrinal
Errors.--Reception of Mr. Wheeler on his Return to Harpoot.
--Progress of Civilization at Aleppo.--Death of John Concordance.
--Aintab after Twenty Years.
CHAPTER XLIII. THE ARMENIANS.--1869-1872.
Another Revival at Marash.--Another at Bitlis.--New Church and
Pastor at Havadoric.--Great Change in Hadjin.--The Marsovan
Seminary.--Angora.--Erzingan.--Crisis in the Koordistan Native
Mission.--Mr. Wheeler's Visit to it, and Mr. Pond's Visit to Sert.
--Mosul.--Death of Dr. Williams.--His Character.--Women in the
Region of Cesarea.--Missionary Visit to Van.--Death of a Native
Pastor.--Dr. Clarke's Impressions of Cilicia.
CHAPTER XLIV. THE ARMENIANS.--EDUCATION.--1872.
Common Schools a Necessity.--The Four Seminaries.--The Female
Boarding Schools.--Tabular View of the Higher Schools.--Marsovan
Seminary.--Harpoot Seminaries.--Marash Seminary.--Mardin
Seminaries.--Training School at Tocat.--High School at Aintab.
--Marsovan Female Seminary.--Harpoot Female Seminary.--Female
Boarding School at Aintab.--Marash Female High School.--The ROBERT
COLLEGE.--Its Origin.--Obstacles to be overcome.--To be a Christian
Institution.--The Founder.--Fully established.--How Obstacles were
surmounted.--The College Self-supporting.--Gifts by the Founder.
--The Demand for Liberal Education.--_Proposed College in the
Interior_.--How the Idea originated.--Interesting Statement from
Aintab.--To be located in Aintab.
CHAPTER XLV. THE ARMENIANS.--PRESENT CONDITION.--1872.
Unreasonable Demands on Foreign Missions.--How the Millennium is
made possible.--The Evangelizing Progress.--Changes in the
Metropolis of Turkey.--National Progress.--Influence of the
Protestant Faith.--Reform in Worship.--The Missionaries Hopeful.
--The Degree of Progress.--Illustrations.--The Harpoot Community.
--General Statements.--The Result.
CHAPTER XLVI. THE MOHAMMEDANS.
The Mohammedans to be approached through the Oriental Churches.
--Largely of Christian Origin.--Degree of Security for Moslem
Converts.--Mohammedan Susceptibility to Christian Influence
illustrated.--General Character of the Illustrations.--The Gospel
yet in its Incipient Stage of Influence among them.--Why so little
Direct Effort hitherto.--Demand for Laborers of the same Race.
--Experience favors the Plan hitherto pursued.--The Probable
Future.--The Relations of the Missionary to the Moslems.--The Turks
not an Unhopeful Race.
MISSIONS
TO THE
ORIENTAL CHURCHES.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE ARMENIANS.
1846-1855.
Several European governments, and especially England, performed an
important part in securing civil and religious freedom to the
Protestant Armenians.[1]
[1] This is impressively set forth in the _Correspondence respecting
the Condition of Protestants in Turkey_, published by order of
Parliament in 1851, pp. 154 folio.
In March, 1846, Sir Stratford Canning, English Ambassador at
Constantinople, reported to his government thirty-six evangelical
Armenians as persecuted by the Patriarch. To this he added personal
efforts to meliorate their condition, which resulted in promises
from Turkish officials and the Patriarch of better treatment,
promises that were by no means fulfilled.
Upon learning that the Armenian Protestants had been organized into
a church, he transmitted to Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary,
their declaration of reasons for so doing, and their confession of
faith.
The Hon. H. R. Wellesley, better known as Lord Cowley, on taking,
the place of Sir Stratford during his visit to England, cordially
took up the unfinished work of his predecessor, and urged upon Lord
Palmerston the importance of procuring from the Porte a recognition
of the Protestant Armenians as an independent community. He showed
that, in spite of the liberal assurances extorted from the
Patriarch, they were exposed to daily injury and insult, and would
continue to be so until recognized by the Porte as a distinct
community among its Christian subjects. At the same time, he
forwarded a copy of an able declaration by the American missionaries
of their objects in coming to Turkey, which they had made to the
Porte through Mr. Carr, the American Minister. Lord Cowley was
instructed by Lord Palmerston, "to bring the situation of these
people earnestly under the consideration of the Porte, and urgently
to press the Turkish government to acknowledge them as a separate
religious sect." In December the Porte freed the Protestant
Armenians from the rule of the Armenian Patriarch, so far as
regarded their commercial and temporal affairs, and allowed them to
appoint an agent, who should manage their affairs with the
government; and also to keep separate registers of marriages,
births, and deaths. The Chevalier Bunsen, the well known Prussian
Ambassador in Paris, now entered into the work, and recommended,
that their recognition be as durable and complete as that of the
other Christian nationalities. To this proposal Lord Palmerston
cordially assented; but the Turkish officials were, as usual,
disinclined to go forward.
On the 19th of November, 1847, Lord Cowley had the satisfaction of
announcing, that the Grand Vizier, wishing, as he said, to do
something that he knew would be agreeable to his lordship, before he
should leave the country, had obtained the Sultan's permission to
issue a vizierial letter in his Majesty's name, which would
establish their independence at once.[1]
[1] This letter may be found in _Missionary Herald_ for 1848, p. 98.
At the suggestion of Lord Cowley, the Porte promised to send letters
to five different pashalics where there were Protestants, requiring
them to act in accordance with the letter; in which was granted the
privilege of toleration to all Protestant subjects alike, whether
from the Armenian, Greek, Syrian, or Roman Catholic Churches, or
from the Jews.
This letter was of great importance under the existing
circumstances; but the privileges it conferred might all be taken
away on a change of ministry. Accordingly Sir Stratford Canning, on
his return to Constantinople in 1850, lost no time in commencing
negotiations for a more stable basis of protection, and succeeded in
obtaining an Imperial Firman with the autograph of the Sultan, in
behalf of his Protestant subjects; giving to their civil
organization all the stability and permanency that the older
Christian communities enjoyed in Turkey. It was issued in November,
1850; and translated into English, reads as follows:--
"To my Vizier, Mohammed Pasha, Prefect of the Police in
Constantinople, the honorable Minister and glorious Councillor, the
model of the world, and regulator of the affairs of the community;
who, directing the public interests with sublime prudence,
consolidating the structure of the empire with wisdom, and
strengthening the columns of its prosperity and glory, is the
recipient of every grace from the Most High. May God prolong his
glory!
"When this sublime and august mandate reaches you, let it be known,
that hitherto those of my Christian subjects who have embraced the
Protestant faith, in consequence of their not being under any
specially appointed superintendence, and in consequence of the
patriarchs and primates of their former sects, which they have
renounced, naturally not being able to attend to their affairs, have
suffered much inconvenience and distress. But in necessary
accordance with my imperial compassion, which is the support of all,
and which is manifested to all classes of my subjects, it is
contrary to my imperial pleasure that any one class of them should
be exposed to suffering.
"As, therefore, by reason of their faith, the above mentioned are
already a separate community, it is my royal compassionate will,
that, for the facilitating the conducting of their affairs, and that
they may obtain ease and quiet and safety, a faithful and
trustworthy person from among themselves, and by their own
selection, should be appointed, with the title of 'Agent of the
Protestants,' and that he should be in relations with the Prefecture
of the Police.
"It shall be the duty of the Agent to have in charge the register of
the male members of the community, which shall be kept at the
police; and the Agent shall cause to be registered therein all
births and deaths in the community. And all applications for
passports and marriage licenses, and all petitions on affairs
concerning the community that are to be presented to the Sublime
Porte, or to any other department, must be given in under the
official seal of the Agent.
"For the execution of my will, this my imperial sublime mandate and
august command has been especially issued and given from my sublime
chancery.
"Hence thou, who art the minister above named, according as it has
been explained above, wilt execute to the letter the preceding
ordinance; only, as the collection of the capitation tax and the
delivery of passports are subject to particular regulations, you
will not do anything contrary to those regulations. You will not
permit anything to be required of them, in the name of fee, or on
other pretences, for marriage licenses, or registration. You will
see to it that, like the other communities of the empire, in all
their affairs, such as procuring cemeteries and places of worship,
they should have every facility and every needed assistance. You
will not permit that any of the other communities shall in any way
interfere with their edifices, or with their worldly matters or
concerns, or, in short, with any of their affairs, either secular or
religious, that thus they may be free to exercise the usages of
their faith.
"And it is enjoined upon you not to allow them to be molested an
iota in these particulars, or in any others; and that all attention
and perseverance be put in requisition to maintain them in quiet and
security. And, in case of necessity, they shall be free to make
representations regarding their affairs through their Agent to the
Sublime Porte.
"When this my imperial will shall be brought to your knowledge and
appreciation, you will have this august decree registered in the
necessary departments, and then give it over to remain in the hands
of these my subjects. And see you to it, that its requirements be
always in future performed in their full import.
"Thus know thou, and respect my sacred signet! Written in the holy
month of Moharrem, 1267 (November, 1850).
"Given in the well guarded city Constantiniyeh."
At the request of Sir Stratford Canning, thirteen of the leading
Protestants called upon him, on the occasion of his procuring this
charter of rights; and for nearly an hour he addressed them on their
duties and responsibilities, in their present position in the
empire. He told them that they ought to thank God that they were the
first to be relieved from the shackles of superstition, and made
acquainted with the pure Gospel of Christ. He told them that many
eyes were upon them, and that they ought to excel all others in the
land in faithful obedience to the government, in a brotherly
deportment to those of other religious opinions, and an example of
uprightness in every relation. Again and again did he exhort them to
act, in all things, according to the principles and doctrines of the
Gospel.
Three years after this, on the 6th of December, 1853, on his return
to Constantinople as Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the same noble
friend of religious freedom, wrote to the Earl of Clarendon, that he
had endeavored in vain to obtain the official transmission of the
firman to the Pashas throughout the empire. This was strikingly
characteristic of Turkish procrastination. But he was then able to
state, that the Porte, "out of consideration for his repeated
representations," had officially transmitted the firman to all
Pashas where a Protestant society was known to exist.
In 1854, his lordship obtained the concession from the Turkish
government, that Christian evidence, in matters of criminal
jurisdiction, should stand on the same footing everywhere in Turkey
as the testimony of Mohammedans; thus removing a great wrong, under
which the rayahs of the empire had labored for centuries.
While gratefully acknowledging our obligations to the
representatives of other nations, I should also record, that our
brethren, both in the Armenian and Syria missions, were under
continued obligation to Mr. Carr, our Minister at the Porte, for
personal protection as American citizens. He acted with decision
whenever their rights were invaded. In the repeated efforts made to
remove them from the country, his reply to the formal demands of the
Porte was, that he had power to protect the missionaries as American
citizens, but not to remove them; and furthermore, that while papal
missionaries from France and Italy were permitted to reside in
Turkey, Protestant missionaries from America must also have the same
privilege.
Here we may properly pause, and consider what God had wrought, not
alone through the agency of the churches, but with the coöperation
of the great powers of the earth. Twenty years before, Messrs. Smith
and Dwight did not find a single clear case of conversion in their
extended travels through the Turkish empire. How many and great the
subsequent changes! First came the national charter of rights, given
by the Sultan in 1840; which, among its other results, destroyed the
persecuting power of the Armenian aristocracy. Next came the
abolition of the death penalty, in 1843, and the Sultan's pledge,
that men should no more be persecuted for their religious opinions.
Then, after three years, came the unthought of application of this
pledge to the Armenian Protestants, when persecuted by their own
hierarchy. In the next year followed the recognition of the
Protestants as an independent community. Finally, in 1850, came the
charter, signed by the Grand Sultan himself, placing the Protestants
on the same national basis with the other Christian communities of
the empire.
How wonderful this progression of events! So far as the central
government was concerned, missionaries might print, gather schools,
form churches, ordain pastors, and send forth other laborers,
wherever they pleased. Attention had been awakened, and there was a
disposition to inquire, renounce errors, and embrace gospel truths.
There was a progressive change in fundamental ideas; a gradual
reconstruction of the social system; a spiritual reformation. At
least fifty places were known, scattered over Asiatic Turkey, in all
of which souls had been converted through the truth, and where
churches might be gathered. Ten churches had been formed already,
and in part supplied with pastors. Aintab, scarcely known by name
five years before, numbered more Protestants than even the
metropolis, and was becoming one of the most interesting missionary
stations in the world.
In this remarkable series of results we recognize the hand of God,
who makes all earthly agencies subservient to the great work of
redemption; so that secular agencies come as legitimately into the
history of the republication of the Gospel in Bible lands, as do the
labors of the missionaries. They were among the ordained means; and
the leading agents cannot fail to command our grateful admiration.
The danger at this time was, that the reformation so auspiciously
begun, would pass its grand crisis before the central lights had
grown bright enough, and a knowledge of the Gospel been sufficiently
diffused in the empire. There was everywhere a curiosity to know
what Protestantism was, and to hear what the missionaries had to
say; but this curiosity, regarded as a national feeling, was in
danger of dying out. In the year 1851, the President of the National
Council of the Armenians said to Mr. Dwight: "Now is the time for
you to work for the Armenian people. Such an opportunity as you now
enjoy may soon pass away, and never more return. You should greatly
enlarge your operations. Where you have one missionary, you should
have ten; and where you have one book, you should put ten in
circulation." Constantinople, Smyrna, Broosa, Trebizond, Erzroom,
and Aintab, were already occupied as stations. It was proposed at
once to occupy Sivas, Arabkir, Diarbekir, and Aleppo. Mr. Adger,
after a laborious and most useful service in the literary department
of the mission, was constrained, by his health, in 1847, to retire
from the field.
The statement of Lord Stratford, that three years were allowed to
pass before the Sultan's firman was transmitted to the provinces,
will account in part for the fact that persecution did not cease. In
general, whenever evangelical views entered for the first time into
a place, a battle was to be fought, and the first recipients of
these views were sure to suffer more or less from the hands of their
former co-religionists. But relief was almost sure to come on an
appeal to the capital; and thus there was a gradual progress towards
the full protection of the Protestants as a distinct community.
The accession of missionaries during the time now under review, was
as follows: Joel S. Everett, in 1845; Isaac G. Bliss, in 1847;
Oliver Crane, in 1849; Joseph W. Sutphen, in 1852--who died before
the close of the year; Wilson A. Farnsworth, William Clark, Andrew
T. Pratt, M. D.; George B. Nutting, Fayette Jewett, M. D., and
Jasper N. Ball, in 1853; Albert G. Beebe, George A. Perkins, Sanford
Richardson, Edwin Goodell, and Benjamin Parsons, in 1854; and
Alexander R. Plumer, and Ira T. Pettibone, in 1855. All these were
married men, except Mr. Pettibone. Mary and Isabella, daughters of
Dr. Goodell, returned to the mission within the last two years.
In June, 1848, Pera was again ravaged by fire, and Messrs. Dwight,
Homes, and Schauffler lost their houses, and most of their effects.
In October of the same year, seven persons were added to the church
at Aintab, five of whom were women. In this month, Dr. Azariah Smith
returned to that station with his wife, and made it his permanent
abode.
The church at Aintab had a commendable zeal for the spread of the
Gospel in the surrounding villages; but their colporters were never
suffered to remain long in a place, the Armenian magnates persuading
the Turkish authorities to send them away as vagabonds. They now
resorted to an ingenious expedient for protecting themselves with
the authority of law. Five men, who had trades, went forth to
different towns, with their tools in one hand and the Bible in the
other. Wherever they went they worked at their trades, and at the
same time preached Christ to the people. The experiment succeeded
wonderfully. They could no longer be treated as vagabonds, and the
spirit of religious inquiry spread in all directions. The
congregation in Aintab became so large that two houses were opened
for worship at the same time, and urgent appeals came from Killis,
Marash, Oorfa, Diarbekir, Malatia, Harpoot, Arabkir, and other
places near and remote.
Mr. Crane succeeded Mr. Schneider at Broosa. Mr. Benjamin made a
missionary tour from Smyrna to the interior of Asia Minor; Mr.
Schneider made one to Aintab, on a temporary mission; Messrs.
Goodell and Everett to Nicomedia and Adabazar; Mr. Peabody into the
province of Geghi; Mr. Homes to Nicomedia; and Mr. Johnston to
Tocat. The building occupied by the Seminary at Bebek became now the
property of the Board. The printing at Smyrna, in Armenian,
Armeno-Turkish, Hebrew-Spanish, and Modern Greek, amounted to
twenty-one thousand copies, and five million five hundred and
eighty-two thousand pages. There was printing done at
Constantinople, but the amount was not reported. Among the works in
process of publication was D'Aubigne's "History of the Reformation."
The persecuting Matteos had now finished his career as Patriarch.
Before the close of 1848, he was convicted of frauds upon the public
treasury, and of forgery, and was degraded, and passed into
retirement on the shores of the Bosphorus.[1]
[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1849, p. 42; _Report_, 1849, p. 115.
Three additional pastors were ordained during the year which closed
with May, 1849; Baron Mugurdich, at Trebizond, Baron Hohannes
Sahakian, at Adabazar, and Baron Avedis, as co-pastor at
Constantinople. The reader is aware that Hohannes received the
greater part of his education in the United States. He possessed a
delightful spirit, and developed far more talent than he was
commonly credited with in America, where he could communicate his
thoughts only through the medium of a strange language.
The mission suffered a painful bereavement on the 14th of November,
1850, in the death of Mrs. Hamlin, at Rhodes, whither she had gone
with her husband in the hope of relief.[1]
[1] See an account of her last sickness in _Missionary Herald_, for
1851, p. 82; also in her Memoir, _Light in the Dark River_, by Mrs.
Lawrence.
Another bereavement occurred at Aintab in the death on the 3d of
June, 1851, of the Rev. Azariah Smith, M. D. Such was his peculiar
adaptation to different fields, that he had labored in many places,
but had a special attachment for Aintab. The uncommonly rapid
development of the active Christian graces at that station was
largely owing, under God, to his skillful efforts, and he wished
there to spend the remainder of his days. In this he was gratified.
He returned from laboring at Diarbekir greatly in need of quiet. But
finding so much to be done in the absence of Mr. Schneider at the
annual meeting in Constantinople, he allowed himself no relaxation.
His labors for the last six weeks of his life were incessant. A
violent fever did its work in a fortnight. At the outset he gave
specific directions as to the treatment of his case, feeling that
soon he would be unable to prescribe for himself; and expressed a
wish that no native physician should be employed, as there was no
competent one to be had at Aintab. While in full possession of
reason, he spoke of his departure with the composure of one on a
short journey, and soon to return. As the native brethren came in
one by one and in companies, he reminded them how often he had
preached to them salvation through Christ alone. "In his lucid
intervals," says his missionary brother, "and even in his delirium,
his soul seemed intent on measures for the good of this people. At
last he appeared to be at the gate of heaven. When no longer able to
articulate words, he would utter faint syllables expressive of his
growing rapture. Then he would move his lips as if in prayer; and,
again, for minutes together, he would attempt to sing. It was a
blessed privilege to be by his side." Mr. Dunmore was present at the
funeral, and says: "The chapel was crowded, and the roofs of the
surrounding buildings were covered. There was abundant proof of the
presence of grief-stricken hearts in gushing tears, and sobs were
heard throughout the assembly. There were six or seven hundred
present, and nearly as many accompanied us to the grave. I scarcely
ever saw in America a more quiet and solemn procession. In the
Protestant burying ground, by the side of his only child, lie the
remains of our dear departed brother."
The Rev. George W. Dunmore and wife had joined the mission early in
1851, and proceeded to Diarbekir by way of Aintab. Broosa was now
left for a time, as Nicomedia and Adabazar had been, to the care of
a native pastor, under the superintendence of the Constantinople
station; and useful evangelical tours were performed by different
brethren.[1]
[1] See _Missionary Herald_ for 1851, pp. 24-32, 78-81, 160-162,
232-236.
The law forbidding the residence of foreigners in Constantinople
proper having become a dead letter, two of the brethren took up
their abode near the "Seven Towers," amid an Armenian population,
and a third evangelical church was formed in February, 1852, in the
suburb of Has-Keuy.
Among the miscellaneous labors of the brethren at the capitol, was
the distribution of letters received at the mission post-office from
the European mails. Not less than fifteen hundred letters were thus
disposed of in the year 1851, as the Turks had no arrangements for
distributing letters that came by steamers. There was also much
other secular labor for the brethren at this central station.
Difficulties in the church at Trebizond occasioned the calling of an
ecclesiastical council,--the first one convened in the Turkish
empire. Pastor Simon was present from the first church in
Constantinople, pastor Hohannes from Adabazar, and Mr. Dwight from
the mission. Pastor Hohannes was chosen moderator, and pastor Simon
scribe; and Mr. Dwight describes them as managing the case with
admirable tact and prudence. The results were satisfactory.
Marsovan began now to claim special attention. It stands in one
corner of a lovely plain hemmed in by mountains, and then contained
eight hundred Armenian houses, with twice that number of Turkish
families. The story of the entrance of the Gospel into this place is
so interesting that it deserves to be recorded. Pastor Simon visited
it in September, 1851, on his return from the council at Trebizond,
and learned that, eighteen years before, a respectable inhabitant
made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and bought in Beirût a few
Armeno-Turkish tracts, not knowing what they were, only that they
were written in his own native tongue. He read them carefully on his
way home, and liked them so well that he retained them; but not
until Protestants and Protestant books were anathematized in the
churches did he learn their origin. They had been printed in Malta
under the supervision of Mr. Goodell. Soon after this, Der Vartanes,
on a missionary tour through Armenia, spent a night at the convent
in Marsovan. This man was present in the evening, and recognized the
similarity between the teachings of the stranger and his favorite
tracts, but did not dare to speak out before the Vartabed. He
managed, however, to see the good priest alone, and with great
difficulty they contrived to unite in prayer under a tree in the
garden. This was the only evangelical prayer he ever heard till Mr.
Powers visited the place in March, 1851. We need not say how
cordially he was received by the owner of the tracts; nor by him
alone, for the missionary could scarcely get a moment to himself day
or night. No wonder Mr. Powers felt that God had good things in
store for this people. When he returned in July, he was disappointed
in not being met by his friend, till he learned that six weeks
before he had been dragged from his bed at midnight, and sent a
prisoner with four others to Amasia, a town twenty-four miles
distant. There for two weeks they were shut up with the vilest
criminals, and one day they were chained together, two and two. The
charge brought against them by the governor and council of Marsovan
was, that they had made a violent assault upon the court. Nor would
the Pasha of Amasia, who, according to Turkish custom, had "eaten" a
large bribe, listen to any denial of the preposterous accusation.
The outrages which they suffered at length produced such an
excitement at Marsovan, that the primates hastened to give an order
for their release. The spirit of religious inquiry now greatly
increased, and a large number signed a petition to be set off from
the Armenian Church as Protestants.
Mr. E. E. Bliss visited Marsovan in October, and was there three
months. His presence was greatly needed. There had been a decline of
piety, and only a small number of the Protestants retained their
interest in spiritual things. Conversation turned not so much on the
truths of the Gospel as on the errors of the Armenian Church; nor so
much on these as on the corruption of their priesthood and the
exactions of the government. All were convinced of the truth of
Protestantism, but its particular charm was in its promise of good
for the life that now is. There was an obvious need of more
persecution.
During the first month, Mr. Bliss preached every evening in the
week, and twice on the Sabbath. The audiences ranged from fifty to
two hundred and fifty, and there were increasing evidences of
interest in the preaching. Then came tribulation because of the
word. The power of wealth and political influence was enlisted
against the truth. The taxes of those who had joined the Protestant
community were more than doubled, and those who could not or would
not pay them, were thrown into prison. Indeed, former scenes in
Constantinople were now repeated in Marsovan. No mercy was shown,
except on the one condition of leaving the Protestant meetings. When
day after day passed and brought no relief, the feeble began to
yield. One by one they made their submission to the Vartabed, and
received his blessing. Only four stood firm.
But now the Lord sent a partial deliverance, in an unexpected way.
An authoritative copy of the Sultan's firman was sent from
Constantinople, by a brother who was ignorant of the circumstances.
No such copy had before reached that part of the interior, so that
any official who pleased could ignore its existence. The news of its
arrival brought out the affrighted Protestants from their
hiding-places. Many whose sympathies were with them, were as joyful
as themselves. Before night five or six, who had submitted to the
Vartabed, bore to him a written recantation of what they had done;
and he, having heard of the firman, received the recantation and was
silent. After that there was comparative peace, and the number
attending on the preaching of the missionary increased.
I have dwelt on these developments at Marsovan, as an illustration
of what, in various degrees, was experienced in other places at this
stage in the reformation; as in Marash, Kessab, Demirdesh, and
Adana.
Mr. Wood, of this mission, being detained in the United States by
the failure of his wife's health, was elected, in 1852, a
Corresponding Secretary of the Board, to reside in the city of New
York. The widow of Dr. Azariah Smith had remained in active labors
at Aintab, but disease now obliged her to retire from the field.
Miss Maria A. West took charge, with Mrs. Everett, of the girls'
boarding-school at Constantinople; and Miss Melvina Haynes, a sister
of Mrs. Everett, gave herself to a species of labor among Armenian
females, which has since risen to importance in the missionary
field. Mrs. George B. Nutting died at Aintab, July 9, 1854.
In the Reports of the Prudential Committee to the Board for 1852 and
1853, a hundred important towns and villages are named, into which
the reformation had gained entrance.
Pastor Simon, of the first church in Constantinople, spent a summer
at Aintab; but his absence was the occasion of serious injury to his
own charge; and so it was at Adabazar. Pastor Hohannes, of that
church, with teacher Simon, of Nicomedia, devoted eight months to a
missionary tour through Asia Minor. Their course was by way of
Smyrna and Beirût, to Kessab, Aleppo, Killis, Aintab, Marash, Oorfa,
Albestan, Cesarea, Marsovan, and Samsûn; thence by steamer to
Trebizond; thence to Erzroom, Khanoos, Moosh, Van, Bitlis, and back
again through Diarbekir, Harpoot, Arabkir, Egin, Divrik, Sivas,
Tokat, Amasia, Marsovan, and Samsûn. An inspection of the map will
show that these brethren traversed Asia Minor by three lines,
visiting all its most important places. They spent a considerable
time in many of them, and everywhere found ready listeners to their
message. In numerous places there were inquirers, who needed only
leaders to withstand the fire of persecution.
The mission suffered a sore bereavement in the death of Mrs. Everett
at Constantinople, in December, 1854. She possessed a transparent
and beautiful character, with eminent capacity for usefulness.[1]
Mr. Benjamin also died at Constantinople, the next year, at the age
of forty-four. He was nine years in the mission to Greece. His
labors in the Armenian Mission,--first at Smyrna, and then at
Constantinople,--were mainly through the press, in which he was
eminently useful. He had a clear conviction, in devoting his life to
giving the Armenians an evangelical literature, that he was doing
the work to which his Master called him. Nor did he overrate the
importance of this branch of the work. His missionary experience in
another field was of much value in guarding him against mistakes. At
Pera, in addition to his literary labors, he preached statedly in
modern Greek to a small congregation.[2]
[1] See _The Missionary Sisters_,--Mrs. Everett and Mrs. Hamlin,
--written by Mrs. Benjamin.
[2] See an obituary notice of Mr. Benjamin in the _Missionary
Herald_ for 1855, pp. 142-147.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE ARMENIANS.
1855-1860.
There are times when the movements of armies are evidently made
subservient, in divine Providence, to the progress of the Gospel;
and the history of missions to the Oriental Churches would be
imperfect without some notice of the Crimean war of 1854 and 1855.
The historian of that war has shown, that it originated in the
desire of Nicholas, Czar of Russia, to secure certain rights in the
"holy places" at Jerusalem (in which he was opposed by the Roman
Catholic government of France), and to obtain a formal recognition
of himself as protector of the millions in Turkey professing the
Greek religion.[1] But for the seasonable return to Constantinople
of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe in 1853, there is reason to fear,
that the extraordinary persistence of the Czar might have been
successful, and that the protectorate would have been used to
destroy the evangelical missions.[2]
[1] See volume first of Kinglake's _Invasion of the Crimea_. He
describes very minutely how the English nation was drawn into the
war; but it is not necessary to go into that subject here. The
nation was doubtless much influenced by its desire to uphold the
Turkish government in order to keep open its communication with
India.
[2] Some idea of the spirit in which such a protectorate might have
been exercised, may be obtained from two out of a number of kindred
articles of the Russian Penal Law:
"Article 206. Whoever is found guilty of having induced others to
secede from the Greek Orthodox Confession, and to join another
Christian Church, will be condemned to the loss of the rights of his
social position, to transportation to Tobolsk or Tomsk (Siberia), or
to the punishment of the lash, and one or two years of imprisonment
in the house of correction.
"Article 207. Whoever endeavors, by preaching or writing, to seduce
members of the Orthodox Church to join any other Christian
community, will be punished the first time, with the loss of some of
his special rights, and imprisonment for one or two years in a house
of correction; the second time, with imprisonment in a fortress from
four to six years; the third time, with the loss of all his personal
and social civil rights and status, and transportation for life to
Tobolsk or Tomsk (Siberia), with imprisonment of one or two years."
--_New York Observer_ for August, 1871.
The author was in the interior of Asia Minor a short time while the
Crimean war was in progress, and heard of reports among the
people,--circulated, as was believed, by Russian agents,--that if
Nicholas were victorious, he would secure the withdrawal from Turkey
of Protestant missionaries. Exasperation caused by the failure of
his negotiations with the Sultan, brought on the war; and the fall
of Sebastopol was a more direct benefit to the missions, than it was
to the nations that fought against it. But for the result then
obtained, at vast expense of treasure and life, very different might
have been the prospect of a successful republication of the Gospel
in Bible lands.
The number of missionaries in the Armenian Mission in 1855, was
twenty-six. One of these was an ordained physician, and there was a
physician unordained. There were twenty-eight female assistant
missionaries, three of whom were unmarried. Of the Armenian helpers,
thirteen were pastors and preachers, and sixty-four were
lay-helpers. The stations,--called such because missionaries resided
at them,--were fourteen. Twelve of these were north of the Taurus,
and two were south of that range.
Constantinople, Tocat, and Aintab had each a training-school for
native preachers and helpers, and there was also a girls'
boarding-school at Constantinople; and thirty-eight free schools
were scattered over the field. Nine years after the organization of
the first evangelical church, the number of churches was
twenty-three. The church at Aintab was the largest, containing one
hundred and forty-one members. Kessab, a long day's journey south of
Antioch, where no missionary had ever resided, had a church of
forty-one members. The first edifice for Christian worship in the
Ottoman Empire, erected on a new site, was the stone church at
Aintab. Prior to this, Christians had only been allowed to repair
their old churches, and to rebuild on the old sites. The obtaining
of this new indulgence was probably owing, in a measure, to the
influence of the Crimean war. The dedication service, early in 1855,
was attended by more than twelve hundred persons, and more than
eleven hundred were present on the following Sabbath.
The printing reported for this year amounted to thirty-five thousand
volumes, and nearly five millions of pages, in the Armenian,
Armeno-Turkish, Greek, Greco-Turkish, and Hebrew-Spanish, but
chiefly in Armenian. A religious periodical was issued every two
months called the "Avedaper," or "Messenger." Dr. Dwight was editor
of this, but the general supervision of the press, after the decease
of Mr. Benjamin, devolved on Dr. Riggs.
Octavo and duodecimo editions of the Armenian Bible were going
through the press, as was also an octavo Bible in Greco-Turkish. The
New Testament had been issued in the ancient Armenian, in the Ararat
dialect or Eastern Armenian, in the Ararat and Ancient Armenian in
parallel columns, in the Greco-Turkish, and in the Armeno-Turkish.
The Gospel of Matthew was issued in the Koordish language, and the
Psalms in the Bulgarian. A demand for the Bible in the Turkish
language came from almost every part of the empire.
The book depository was removed from Pera across the Golden Horn
into the old city of Constantinople, and the Moslems made no
objection. More than twenty boxes of books were sent to a single
place in the interior within the space of a year and a half. At one
time two boxes were ready for Diarbekir, one for Cesarea, one for
Aintab, and another for Jerusalem.
In this work the mission was liberally aided by the American, and
the British and Foreign Bible Societies, by the London Religious
Tract Society, the American Tract Society, and more recently by the
Turkish Missions Aid Society. Mr. Barker, agent of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, and the Rev. C. N. Righter, of the American
Bible Society (who died not long after at Diarbekir), did much to
promote the work of Bible distribution in the countries around the
Mediterranean and Black Seas; and the Constantinople Bible Society
employed a French and English colporter among the soldiers of the
allied powers. More Bibles and religious books went into the hands
of Mohammedans from the depository of the mission during the years
1854 and 1855, than in all the previous years of its existence.
Twenty thousand copies of the Bible were scattered through Turkey in
that space of time.
The transfer of Dr. Riggs to the department of the Press made it
necessary to suspend the Greek department in the Seminary at Bebek,
and four of the six Greek pupils were sent to Dr. King at Athens.[1]
Another became a teacher in Demirdesh, and another went to the
United States to complete his professional studies.
[1] The author regrets being obliged to say, that these all
disappointed the expectations of their benefactors.
Five Armenian students had been licensed to preach, and sent to
Adrianople, Cesarea, Sivas, Diarbekir, and Kessab. Another, having
the ministry in prospect, was a teacher in the new training-school
at Tocat, under Mr. Van Lennep. A similar school existed at Aintab.
The accession of missionaries from 1855 to 1860 was as follows: In
1855, Orson P. Allen; in 1856, George A. Pollard, Tillman C.
Trowbridge, and Misses Mary E. Tenney and Sarah E. West; in 1857,
Crosby H. Wheeler, Charles F. Morse, Oliver W. Winchester, Jackson
G. Coffing, George H. White, and Julius Y. Leonard; in 1858,
Theodore Byington, George Washburn, and William Hutchinson; and
Herman N. Barnum, who, being at Constantinople as a traveller, made
an offer of his services, which was accepted in this year; in 1859,
William W. Meriam, Joseph K. Greene, James F. Clarke, George F.
Herrick, and Henry S. West, M. D., and Miss Myra A. Proctor; in
1860, Alvan B. Goodale, M. D., William F. Arms, Zenas Goss, William
W. Livingston, and Lysander T. Burbank. Messrs. Washburn,
Trowbridge, Pettibone, Barnum, Herrick, and Goss came to the mission
unmarried; Mr. Washburn afterwards married a daughter of Dr. Hamlin,
Mr. Barnum a daughter of Dr. Goodell, and Mr. Trowbridge a daughter
of Dr. Riggs.
Mr. Everett, a devoted servant of Christ, was called to his rest on
the 5th of March, 1856, after a sickness of a few days. His orphan
children returned to the United States in charge of Miss Haynes, the
sister of their mother. Messrs. Isaac G. Bliss and Edwin Goodell, in
consequence of the failure of health, were released from their
connection with the Board. The former afterwards recovered his
health, and returned to Turkey as agent of the American Bible
Society, in which capacity he has rendered very valuable service.
Antioch and Aleppo were transferred from the Syrian to the Armenian
Mission. At Erzroom the war drove away, not only the church-members,
but most of those who were interested in the truth. Mr. Richardson
removed to Arabkir to supply the place of Mr. Clark, who had been
called to the seminary at Bebek; left without a teacher by the death
of Mr. Everett and the temporary absence of Dr. Hamlin. At Marash,
in consequence of the war and the proximity of the rough
mountaineers of Zeitoon, the missionaries were at one time in no
small danger.
The beheading of a young Armenian, who had rashly declared himself a
Mohammedan, and then repented of his rashness, and the consequent
successful efforts of Sir Stratford Canning, in procuring a pledge
from the Sultan that no person should be persecuted in Turkey for
his religious opinions, were described in the first volume.[1] This
was in 1843 and 1844. Ten or eleven years later, there was another
beheading at Adrianople for a like cause, and another at Aleppo; and
the same high-minded statesman was again aroused to effort, not only
for a more effectual abrogation of the death penalty itself, but to
obtain for the Protestant Christians freedom from persecution, and
for the Christians generally the privileges that were enjoyed by
their fellow-subjects of the Moslem religion. The eighty folio pages
of documents on the subject, which were presented to both Houses of
Parliament in 1856, form an important and interesting chapter in the
history of those times. The principal writers, in addition to Lord
Stratford de Redcliffe and the Earl of Clarendon, were the Earl of
Shaftesbury, Lord Cowley, Sir Culling Eardley Eardley, President of
the Turkish Missions Aid Society, the Rev. Cuthbert G. Young, its
Secretary, and Mehemet Fuad.
[1] Vol. i. p. 135.
As the result of all, a Hatti Humaïoun, or Imperial Firman, was
issued by the Sultan in February, 1856. When read in public, the
Sheik el Islam, the highest Moslem ecclesiastic, invoked the divine
blessing on the Imperial Edict; but probably without an
apprehension, either by himself or by his government, of the full
significance of the instrument. By many of the Mohammedans it was
regarded us opening the door for them to become Christians. Not a
few of the Armenians and Greeks were displeased with it as favoring
Protestantism; and this fact did not escape the sagacity of
Mohammedans.
The Imperial Rescript, as translated from the French, is as
follows:--
"Let it be done as herein set forth.
"To you, my Grand Vizier, Mehemed Emin Aali Pasha, decorated with my
Imperial Order of the Medjidiyé of the first class, and with the
Order of Personal Merit; may God grant to you greatness, and
increase your power!
"It has always been my most earnest desire to insure the happiness
of all classes of the subjects whom divine Providence has placed
under my imperial sceptre; and since my accession to the throne I
have not ceased to direct all my efforts to the attainment of that
end.
"Thanks to the Almighty, these unceasing efforts have already been
productive of numerous useful results. From day to day the happiness
of the nation and the wealth of my dominions go on augmenting.
"It being now my desire to renew and enlarge still more the new
institutions, ordained with the view of establishing a state of
things conformable with the dignity of my empire and the position
which it occupies among civilized nations; and the rights of my
empire having, by the fidelity and praiseworthy efforts of all my
subjects, and by the kind and friendly assistance of the great
powers, my noble Allies, received from abroad a confirmation which
will be the commencement of a new era, it is my desire to augment
its well-being and prosperity, to effect the happiness of all my
subjects, who in my sight are all equal and equally dear to me, and
who are united to each other by the cordial ties of patriotism, and
to insure the means of daily increasing the prosperity of my empire.
I have, therefore, resolved upon, and I order the execution of, the
following measures.
"The guaranties promised on our part by the Hatti-Humaïoun of
Gul-Hané, and in conformity with the Tanzimat, to all the subjects
of my empire, without distinction of classes or of religion, for the
security of their persons and property and the preservation of their
honor, are to-day confirmed and consolidated; and efficacious
measures shall be taken in order that they may have their full and
entire effect.
"All the privileges and spiritual immunities granted by my ancestors
_ab antiquo_, and at subsequent dates, to all Christian communities
or other non-Mussulman persuasions established in my empire under my
protection, shall be confirmed and maintained.
"Every Christian or other non-Mussulman community shall be bound,
within a fixed period, and with the concurrence of a commission
composed _ad hoc_ of members of its own body, to proceed, with my
high approbation and under the inspection of my Sublime Porte, to
examine into its actual immunities and privileges, and to discuss
and submit to my Sublime Porte the reforms required by the progress
of civilization and of the age. The powers conceded to the Christian
Patriarchs and Bishops by the Sultan Mahomet II. and his successors,
shall be made to harmonize with the new position which my generous
and beneficent intentions insure to these communities.
"The principle of nominating the Patriarchs for life, after the
revision of the rules of election now in force, shall be exactly
carried out, conformably to the tenor of their firmans of
investiture.
"The Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Archbishops, Bishops and Rabbins
shall take an oath on their entrance into office, according to a
form agreed upon in common by my Sublime Porte and the spiritual
heads of the different religious communities. The ecclesiastical
dues, of whatever sort or nature they be, shall be abolished, and
replaced by fixed revenues for the Patriarchs and heads of
communities, and by the allocation of allowances and salaries
equitably proportioned to the importance of the rank, and the
dignity of the different members of the clergy.
"The property, real or personal, of the different Christian
ecclesiastics shall remain intact; the temporal administration of
the Christian or other non-Mussulman communities shall, however, be
placed under the safeguard of an assembly to be chosen from among
the members, both ecclesiastics and laymen, of the said communities.
"In the towns, small boroughs, and villages, where the whole
population is of the same religion, no obstacle shall be offered to
the repair, according to their original plan, of buildings set apart
for religious worship, for schools, for hospitals and for
cemeteries.
"The plans of these different buildings, in case of their new
erection, must, after having been approved by the Patriarchs or
heads of communities, be submitted to my Sublime Porte, which will
approve of them by my imperial order, or make known its observation
upon them within a certain time.
"Each sect, in localities where there are no other religious
denominations, shall be free from every species of restraint as
regards the public exercise of its religion.
"In the towns, small boroughs, and villages, where different sects
are mingled together, each community inhabiting a distinct quarter
shall, by conforming to the above-mentioned ordinances, have equal
power to repair and improve its churches, its hospitals, its
schools, and its cemeteries. When there is question of the erection
of new buildings, the necessary authority must be asked for, through
the medium of the Patriarchs and heads of communities, from my
Sublime Porte, which will pronounce a sovereign decision according
to that authority, except in the case of administrative obstacles.
The intervention of the administrative authority in all measures of
this nature will be entirely gratuitous. My Sublime Porte will take
energetic measures to insure to each sect, whatever be the number of
its adherents, entire freedom in the exercise of its religion.
"Every distinction or designation tending to make any class whatever
of the subjects of my empire inferior to another class, on account
of their religion, language, or race, shall be forever effaced from
the administrative protocol. The laws shall be put in force against
the use of any injurious or offensive term, either among private
individuals or on the part of the authorities.
"As all forms of religion are and shall be freely professed in my
dominions, no subject of my empire shall be hindered in the exercise
of the religion that he professes, nor shall be in any way annoyed
on this account. No one shall be compelled to change their religion.
"The nomination and choice of all functionaries and other employés
of my empire being wholly dependent upon my sovereign will, all the
subjects of my empire, without distinction of nationality, shall be
admissible to public employments, and qualified to fill them
according to their capacity and merit, and conformably with rules to
be generally applied.
"All the subjects of my empire, without distinction, shall be
received into the civil and military schools of the government, if
they otherwise satisfy the conditions as to age and examination
which are specified in the organic regulations of the said schools.
Moreover, every community is authorized to establish public schools
of science, art, and industry. Only the method of instruction and
the choice of professors in schools of this class shall be under the
control of a mixed council of public instruction, the members of
which shall be named by my sovereign command.
"All commercial, correctional, and criminal suits between Mussulmans
and Christian or other non-Mussulman subjects, or between Christians
or other non-Mussulmans of different sects, shall be referred to
mixed tribunals.
"The proceedings of these tribunals shall be public; the parties
shall be confronted, and shall produce their witnesses, whose
testimony shall be received, without distinction, upon an oath taken
according to the religious law of each sect.
"Suits relating to civil affairs shall continue to be publicly
tried, according to the laws and regulations before the mixed
provincial councils, in the presence of the governor and judge of
the place. Special civil proceedings, such as those relating to
successions or others of that kind, between subjects of the same
Christian or other non-Mussulman faith, may, at the request of the
parties, be sent before the councils of the Patriarchs or of the
communities.
"Penal, correctional, and commercial laws, and rules of procedure
for the mixed tribunals, shall be drawn up as soon as possible, and
formed into a code. Translations of them shall be published in all
the languages current in the empire.
"Proceedings shall be taken with as little delay as possible, for
the reform of the penitentiary system as applied to houses of
detention, punishment, or correction, and other establishments of
like nature, so as to reconcile the rights of humanity with those of
justice. Corporal punishment shall not be administered, even in the
prisons, except in conformity with the disciplinary regulations
established by my Sublime Porte; and everything that resembles
torture shall be entirely abolished.
"Infractions of the law in this particular shall be severely
repressed, and shall besides entail, as of right, the punishment, in
conformity with the civil code, of the authorities who may order,
and of the agents who may commit them.
"The organization of the police in the capital, in the provincial
towns, and in the rural districts, shall be revised in such a manner
as to give to all the peaceable subjects of my empire the strongest
guaranties for the safety both of their persons and property.
"The equality of taxes entailing equality of burdens, as equality of
duties entails that of rights, Christian subjects, and those of
other non-Mussulman sects, as it has been already decided, shall, as
well as Mussulmans, be subject to the obligations of the Law of
Recruitment. The principle of obtaining substitutes, or of
purchasing exemption, shall be admitted. A complete law shall be
published, with as little delay as possible, respecting the
admission into and service in the army of Christian and other
non-Mussulman subjects.
"Proceedings shall be taken for a reform in the constitution of the
provincial and communal councils, in order to insure fairness in the
choice of the deputies of the Mussulman, Christian, and other
communities, and freedom of voting in the councils. My Sublime Porte
will take into consideration the adoption of the most effectual
means for ascertaining exactly and for controlling the result of the
deliberations of the decisions arrived at.
"As the laws regulating the purchase, sale, and disposal of real
property are common to all the subjects of my empire, it shall be
lawful for foreigners to possess landed property in my dominions,
conforming themselves to the laws and police regulations, and
bearing the same charges as the native inhabitants, and after
arrangements have been come to with foreign powers.
"The taxes are to be levied under the same denomination from all the
subjects of my empire, without distinction of class or of religion.
The most prompt and energetic means for remedying the abuses in
collecting the taxes, and especially the tithes, shall be
considered. The system of direct collection shall gradually, and as
soon as possible, be substituted for the plan of farming, in all the
branches of the revenues of the State. As long as the present system
remains in force, all agents of the government and all members of
the medjlis shall be forbidden, under the severest penalties, to
become lessees of any farming contracts which are announced for
public competition, or to have any beneficial interest in carrying
them out. The local taxes shall, as far as possible, be so imposed
as not to affect the sources of production, or to hinder the
progress of internal commerce.
"Works of public utility shall receive a suitable endowment, part of
which shall be raised from private and special taxes, levied in the
provinces which shall have the benefit of the advantages arising
from the establishment of ways of communication by land and sea.
"A special law having been already passed, which declares that the
budget of the revenue and expenditure of the state shall be drawn up
and made known every year, the said law shall be most scrupulously
observed. Proceedings shall be taken for revising the emoluments
attached to each office.
"The heads of each community and a delegate, designated by my
Sublime Porte, shall be summoned to take part in the deliberations
of the Supreme Council of Justice on all occasions which might
interest the generality of the subjects of my empire. They shall be
summoned specially for this purpose by my Grand Vizier. The
delegates shall hold office for one year; they shall be sworn on
entering upon their duties. All the members of the council, at the
ordinary and extraordinary meetings, shall freely give their
opinions and their votes, and no one shall ever annoy them on this
account.
"The laws against corruption, extortion, or malversation, shall
apply, according to the legal forms, to all the subjects of my
empire, whatever may be their class and the nature of their duties.
"Steps shall be taken for the formation of banks and other similar
institutions, so as to effect a reform in the monetary and financial
system, as well as to create funds to be employed in augmenting the
sources of the material wealth of my empire.
"Steps shall also be taken for the formation of roads and canals to
increase the facilities of communication and increase the sources of
the wealth of the country. Everything that can impede commerce or
agriculture shall be abolished. To accomplish these objects, means
shall be sought to profit by the science, the art, and the funds of
Europe, and thus gradually to execute them.
"Such being my wishes and my commands, you, who are my Grand Vizier,
will, according to custom, cause this Imperial Firman to be
published in my capital, and in all parts of my empire; and you will
watch attentively and take all the necessary measures that all the
orders which it contains be henceforth carried out with the most
rigorous punctuality."
Lord Stratford, in replying to a congratulatory address from the
missionaries, declared his agreement with them in the opinion, that
something great had been gained; though he believed the principles
involved would require persevering efforts to carry them into
practice. He said that he was himself but an humble instrument in
the hands of divine Providence, and that he had never felt the hand
of God so sensibly in any other measure he had carried through, as
in this, which, after he had given it up for lost, had succeeded all
at once, in a way that filled him with astonishment.[1]
[1] That the Hatti Humaïoun was really intended to include the death
penalty, is made exceedingly probable by the official correspondence
which preceded it, and which was in fact its procuring cause. Only a
few brief extracts can be given in this note.
Referring to the punishment of death as applied to apostates from
Islamism, the Earl of Clarendon, English Minister of Foreign
Affairs, writes thus to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe: "As the Turkish
empire is, by treaty stipulations, to be declared part and parcel of
the European system, it is quite impossible for the powers of Europe
to acquiesce in the continuance in Turkey of a law, and a practice,
which is a standing insult to every other nation in Europe."
Again, on the 17th of September, 1853, the Earl of Clarendon writes
thus to Lord Stratford: "Her Majesty's Government distinctly demands
that no punishment whatever shall attach to the Mohammedan who
becomes a Christian, whether originally a Mohammedan, or originally
a Christian, any more than any punishment attaches to a Christian
who embraces Mohammedanism. In all such cases the movements of human
conscience must be left free, and the temporal arm must not
interfere to coerce the spiritual decision."
Referring to the Imperial Rescript, February 12, 1856, Lord
Stratford says, writing to the Earl:--
"If no one is to be molested on account of the religion he
professes, and no one to be punished as a renegade, whatever form of
faith he denies, I do not see what room there can possibly be for
any practical persecutions in future within the limits of the
Sultan's empire." See _Correspondence respecting Christian
Privileges in Turkey, in Parliamentary Papers for_ 1856, pp. 15, 24,
25, 33, 55, 60, 66, 67, 77-80.
The plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria, France, Russia,
Sardinia, and Turkey, assembled in February, 1856, at the close of
the Crimean war, to negotiate what is known as the Treaty of Paris.
It is evident from the Protocols of their Conference, that, having
the Earl of Clarendon and Lord Cowley among them, they were intent
on giving weight and perpetuity to this firman of the Sultan, by a
formal recognition of it in the treaty. This was done in article
ninth, after much deliberation, and with the full concurrence of all
the plenipotentiaries, including the representative of the
Sultan.[1]
[1] "NINTH ARTICLE. His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, having, in his
constant solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, issued a
firman, which, while, ameliorating their condition without
distinction of religion or race, records his generous intentions
towards the Christian population of his empire, and wishing to give
a further proof of his sentiments in that respect, has resolved to
communicate to the Contracting Parties the said firman, emanating
spontaneously from his sovereign will.
"The Contracting Powers recognize the high value of this
communication. It is clearly understood, that it cannot, in any
case, give to said Powers the right to interfere, either
collectively or separately, in the relations of his Majesty, the
Sultan, with his subjects, nor in the internal administration of his
Empire." See _Treaty of Paris_, March 30, 1856, in _Parliamentary
State Papers_, vol. lxi. p. 20. Also, appended, _Protocols of
Conferences_, pp. 8, 13, 51, 57, 58.
The Hatti Humaïoun of 1855 was much more than a confirmation of the
Imperial Firman of 1850, nor was it a dead letter. A year afterwards
Dr. Jewett, while admitting that it was inefficient in certain
respects, declared it to have been in an important sense, a
quickening spirit. "Never," he says, "within the same space of time,
has there been as much religious discussion with the Mussulmans as
since the issue of the late firman, and never before, I think, has
there been such a spirit of religious inquiry among Mohammedans, and
readiness to discuss the merits of the Christian religion, as has
been evident during the past year. It has awakened hope of a good
day even for the Moslems." A few years later, Dr. Goodell, speaking
of it says: "To the Protestant communities here, and to all who live
godly in Christ Jesus, this Hatti Humaïoun is a boon of priceless
value. Heretofore its principal use was to secure us from the
molestation of these corrupt churches, but we have now begun to test
its importance with reference to the Mohammedans themselves. Only a
few years since, the headless bodies of apostates from the
Mohammedan faith might be seen lying in the streets of the great
city. But now such apostates may be seen at all hours of the day
walking these same streets without any apparent danger, urging the
claims of Christianity even in the very courts of the royal mosques,
and teaching and preaching in the chapel, in the private circle, and
sometimes even in the palaces of the great, that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And all this wonderful
security is, under God, owing entirely to the Hatti Humaïoun." He
adds, "It is said that the Turkish government is sometimes guilty of
violating some of the great principles of that document. And who
that knows anything of human nature, or of the history of our race,
ever supposed they would not be guilty of it? To suppose the
contrary would be to suppose the Turk advanced very much farther
towards perfection than any other nation on the face of the earth."
A correspondence arose, about this time, in the old Armenian Church,
between those who inclined towards the Papal Church and those who
were opposed, and it was gratifying to see that the principal
Armenian newspaper, published under the sanction of the Patriarch,
drew its arguments almost wholly from the Scriptures, scarcely
anything being said of the Councils, or of the Fathers.
The out-stations of Nicomedia, Adabazar, Rodosto, Baghchejuk, and
Broosa were prosperous. A Protestant Greek community at Demirdesh
stood firm under persecution, though without a spiritual guide. The
Pasha did little for their protection, but divine Providence had
other instruments for their deliverance. The French Vice Consul,
having to feed immense herds of cattle for the French army, selected
the principal Greek Protestant of the place as the most competent
overseer, and empowered him to employ the needful agents. This
brought to his feet some who had beaten him and even threatened him
with death. He freely employed them and paid them honestly, thus
returning good for evil.
The training-school at Tocat was composed of pious young men who
made considerable progress in their studies. A footing was gained at
Tarsus and Bitias, south of the Taurus range, and a native pastor
was ordained at Kessab. Here was a Protestant community of more than
four hundred.
At Aintab and in its neighboring villages, after only nine years of
labor, there were twelve stated religious services, nearly half of
them conducted by native preachers, two thousand Protestants, old
and young, two hundred and sixty-eight church-members, a large
congregation on the Sabbath, three promising young men in the
pastoral office, and two more prepared for that office. The year
1856 was one of unbroken prosperity in all temporal concerns at
Aintab. The influence of this prosperity, however, had its usual
effect in developing a love of the world, and a feeling of
self-consequence, resulting in some perplexities within the church.
Such results are known in much older communities, and ought to be
expected in the early religious life of such a people. Between the
pastor Kara Krikor and his people there was all that could be
expected of mutual confidence and harmony, and his monthly salary
was paid with a promptness unusual in such cases.
The death of Mrs. Schneider on the 29th of September was a great
loss to the mission. This excellent woman had an earnest desire for
the salvation of every one she met, and old and young listened with
pleasure to her instructions. It became known, soon after her
decease, that three or four small companies of native sisters had
begun of their own accord to hold meetings in various quarters. The
progress among the women of Aintab had been great. When the first
missionary arrived, only one woman was known who was able to read.
It was now ascertained that nearly three hundred could read the New
Testament.
The boarding-school pupils at Constantinople received a pupil this
year from each of the following places--Trebizond, Diarbekir,
Rodosto, Haskeuy, Scutari, and Baghchejuk. The chief difficulty in
teaching was the want of suitable text-books in the modern language.
In addition to the usual studies, the pupils were allowed an
opportunity to acquaint themselves with domestic duties, and they
did it in most cases with hearty good-will. Dr. Goodell exercised a
fatherly care over the institution.
During most of the year Mr. Clark had charge of the Seminary at
Bebek. The prescribed course of study embraced four years in the
scholastic department and three in the theological, and was designed
to secure to the pupils a systematic training. The qualifications
required for entering, raised the character of the common schools
connected with the mission. During vacations the students were
required to support themselves. The average number was forty-five,
and it was necessary to reject no less than sixty applicants, mainly
from inability to support them. Among them were Bulgarians,
Albanians, Wallachians, and Servians. Seven students were in the
theological department, and three others went through a part of the
course, one of whom was a Turk, and another a Greek. Dr. Hamlin gave
instruction in this department after his return, assisted by Dr.
Schauffler in Turkish. Nine of the students in the seminary were
church-members, and others gave evidence of piety.
The growth of the Armenian Mission, along with its great extent, of
territory, required a division for the more convenient
administration of its affairs. Hence a Southern Armenian Mission was
organized in November, 1856, having the Taurus for its boundary on
the north, and embracing the stations of Aintab, Marash, Antioch,
Aleppo, and Oorfa. Its printing was to be done at Constantinople.
The members of this mission were Messrs. Schneider, Pratt, Beebee,
Perkins, Morgan, Nutting, Cotting, and White. The field of the
Northern Mission extended from the Balkans in European Turkey to the
eastern waters of the Euphrates.
The "Turkish Missions Aid Society" was formed in England in 1854;
"not to originate a new mission, but to aid the existing evangelical
missions in the Turkish empire, especially American." The funds
contributed to the American missions were given expressly for a
Native Agency; and important aid has thus been rendered down to the
present time. The funds of the Society having suffered diminution in
1857, Dr. Dwight was invited to visit England. He arrived in March
of the following year, and visited the principal cities, in company
with the Secretary. "I was everywhere received," says Dr. Dwight,
"with the most overflowing kindness, and my simple story was
listened to with the most intense interest. Clergymen and laymen of
all evangelical denominations were usually present at the meetings,
which were held on week days, and I saw nowhere anything like a
sectarian spirit, but uniformly the very reverse. Ministers of the
Church of England, as well as others, publicly advocated the plan of
aiding the American Mission in Turkey, rather than sending forth a
mission of their own." Valuable as the coöperation of this Society
has been in the bestowment of funds, its moral influence in Turkey,
as a visible illustration of fraternal feeling among Protestant
Christians of various names and countries has been of far greater
value.[1]
[1] The aid afforded by the Turkish Missions Aid Society to the
missions of the Board in Western Asia, has averaged about ten
thousand dollars a year.
An account was given, in a former chapter, of the conversion, in
1842, of a "Papal Armenian.[1] His name was Bedros Kamaghielyan, and
his death occurred in 1857, fifteen years afterward. His conversion
was remarkable, and so was his subsequent life. He was for some
years an efficient helper at Salonica among the Jews, and ever after
that, he was a successful assistant of Dr. Dwight in Constantinople.
Eminently wise to win souls to Christ, it is believed that many,
among the different races in Turkey, will rise up and call him
blessed. The first Turkish convert who became a preacher, received
his first impressions from Bedros at Salonica. Years later, the
missionaries learned that the origin of an interesting work of grace
among the Greeks of Cassandra, in that region, was traceable to him.
Though suffering from bodily infirmity in the later years of his
life, his labors were unceasing for the salvation of souls, and for
the edification of the church. He was noted for his humility and
self-denial, and his piety was a steady glow of light. His views of
the gospel method of salvation were clear, and his manner of
presenting it exceedingly happy. He was eminently a peacemaker in
the church, and his good sense was in constant demand in the
settlement of difficulties. As a deacon in the Yeni Kapoo church he
was constantly looking after the sick and infirm, visiting families
in the Protestant community, and instructing their women in the
doctrines and duties of Christianity. When attacked by his last
sickness, Bedros very soon received the impression that it would be
fatal. Once, in great bodily suffering, he exclaimed, "O, what a
Saviour is my Saviour! He scatters all my darkness, and gives me
peace." At another time, he wished the missionaries might all be
called to his bedside, that he might declare to them his great joy,
and what things the Lord was doing for his soul. A Mohammedan of
some distinction, who had often had religious conversations with
Bedros, called upon him without knowing of his sickness. The sick
man, though in extreme bodily weakness, spoke very faithfully to his
visitor, and told him of his joy in view of death, and his hope of
going to be forever with the Lord Jesus Christ, and added: "This is
the only way of peace and salvation, and Christ is the only Saviour
of sinners for you, and for me, and for all the world." The eyes of
the Turk filled with tears. He had never seen a Christian die
before; and to hear a man talk with so much gladness of his
departure from the world overcame him, and he hurried from the room.
An aged Moslem called, who had known Bedros, and gave some evidence
of being a Christian. Going to his bedside, his eyes streaming with
tears, he embraced and kissed him in the most affectionate manner.
Dr. Dwight closes his statement with the following testimony: "Thus
has passed away one of the choicest spirits this world ever saw. I
feel that I have many lessons to learn from his quiet, humble, and
most useful life; and I trust that his death may be greatly blessed
to all the missionaries, and to all the people."
[1] Chapter ix. p. 130. See, also, _Missionary Herald_, 1857, pp.
387-390.
The second Mrs. Hamlin died suddenly, on the 6th of November, 1857.
Though not permitted to give her dying testimony, the record of her
life was that of a meek, lowly, and quiet spirit; diligent,
faithful, and affectionate in every duty.[1]
[1] See Memoir, _The Missionary Sisters_, written by Mrs. Benjamin.
The region, of which Arabkir is the centre, was now rising in
importance. The territory dependent on this station for instruction
extended from northeast and southwest, along the western bank of the
Euphrates, one hundred and seventy-five miles, with a population of
one hundred thousand; about equally divided between Armenians and
Mussulmans, with few Greeks, no Roman Catholics, and no Jews. A
large number of the Mussulmans were known as Kuzzelbashes. The field
was first occupied in 1853, and churches had been organized in three
cities and two villages, all of which enjoyed the stated preaching
of the Word.
Sivas, west of Arabkir, and Tocat on the northwest, were missionary
centres of populous fields, extensively accessible; the former
containing a population of more than a hundred thousand, and the
latter of nearly half a million,--Armenians, Turks, Kuzzelbashes,
Koords, and Greeks.
Harpoot lies cast of Arabkir, on the other side of the Euphrates.
Mr. Dunmore commenced this station in 1855, and was alone in this
city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants; the failure of his wife's
health having obliged her to return to the United States. He had
been usefully employed here nearly three years,--the last with
Messrs. Wheeler and Allen,--when, having a taste for exploration and
pioneer labors, he was transferred, in 1858, to Erzroom, with
special reference to the region south of that city; and Messrs.
Wheeler and Allen were joined at Harpoot, in 1859, by Mr. H. N.
Barnum. The city is the centre of a population of about one hundred
thousand, and stands on a lofty hill, looking to the distant range
of the Taurus on the south, and scores of villages on the
intervening plain. Northward, across the eastern branch of the
Euphrates, is the still loftier range of the Anti-Taurus; while the
distant horizon to the east and west is shut in by mountains.
Arabkir was occupied for several years by Messrs. Clark, Pollard,
and Richardson, but in 1865 was included in the Harpoot field.[1]
[1] Mr. Wheeler's _Ten Years on the Euphrates_.
Geghi is about ninety miles from Harpoot, in the direction of
Erzroom. It was visited by Mr. Peabody and Mr. Bliss in 1848 and
1851. Mr. Peabody found the Vartabed of the place and ten of the
people deeply interested in reading the Scriptures. Mr. Wheeler
visited Geghi in the summer of 1858 and found the truth much
opposed, but taking a firm hold among the sixteen hundred Armenians
of the place. He was touched by their earnest entreaties to remain
with them a few mouths; or if that might not be, that he would leave
his native helper till some one else could come among them. As with
the Apostle Paul at Troas, the eagerness of the people to hear led
him to protract his labors on one occasion, till an hour and a half
past midnight, and on another till the breaking day.
The year 1859 was signalized by a revival in the Bebek Seminary. At
its commencement, nearly half the students were regarded as
hopefully pious, and these all seemed at once to have new views of
spiritual things. The Holy Spirit not only revived the graces of
such, but put forth a converting power. Within a few weeks nearly
all the students gave credible evidence of piety. There were several
cases, also, of hopeful conversion in the girls' boarding school;
and similar awakenings were reported at Marsovan, Yozgat,
Baghchejuk, Broosa, and Marash. At the last place thirty-seven were
added to the church at one time, making eighty-six by profession
since the beginning of 1858.
Mr. Parsons had received frequent complaints from the brethren of
Nicomedia, that their girls had not been properly cared for by the
teacher, and from the teacher that the brethren were intermeddling.
He answered by withdrawing all aid until they could agree among
themselves. The effect was immediate. They began to pay a tuition
fee, and made special efforts to render the school attractive. The
number of pupils was increased to seventy-eight, and the school
ceased any longer to need aid.
A fire destroyed the mission premises at Tocat in 1859. The flames
were so rapid as not only to consume the buildings, but the clothing
and bedding of the pupils, the books and apparatus of the school, a
portion of the furniture of Messrs. Pettibone and Winchester, who
had been recently placed at the head of the school, and all the
effects of Mr. Van Lennep, including a large and valuable library,
and a manuscript Armenian translation of a commentary on the Bible,
made, and to have been printed, at the expense of the Prince of
Schönberg. In view of this calamity, it was deemed expedient to
close the training-school. A similar one was opened in the fall of
the same year, at Harpoot. Mr. Clark returning to the United States,
Dr. Hamlin renewed his connection with the Bebek Seminary.
Mr. Dunmore, after describing a tour he had made of twelve hundred
miles from Erzroom to Oroomiah in Persia, and from thence, on his
return, through Russian Armenia, gives the following summary of his
missionary travels: "I have travelled on horseback over six thousand
miles in Turkey, and one thousand in Persia and Russia, between two
and three hundred on goat skins upon the Tigris, and over fifteen
hundred by steamer, without sickness by the way, without accident,
or the loss of an article of value. And I have never taken a guard
when travelling alone, for protection from robbers. Surely we may
safely trust Him who says: 'Believe in God, believe also in me.'"[1]
[1] _Missionary Herald_ for 1859, pp. 306-313.
The missionaries at Cesarea were much encouraged by the progress of
the work there. Mr. Leonard thus writes: "The church, though
constantly dismissing members to other churches, still maintains its
numbers by fresh accessions from without, and is at the same time
evidently advancing in consistent, intelligent Christian character.
Here are some noble exemplars of faith and piety, who search the
Scriptures daily, and adorn their doctrines by a godly life. I have
often wished I might introduce some of our American friends into our
teachers' meetings on a Sabbath afternoon, or to the Sabbath-school
at the intermission of public worship, where nearly the whole
congregation remains, exhibiting a zeal and aptness in the
discussion of religious truths scarcely surpassed in the most
favored churches in New England. The weekly woman's prayer-meeting
is sometimes left entirely in the hands of the native sisters, and
any one of half a dozen is always ready without embarrassment to
take the lead, discoursing very appropriately from her Turkish
Testament. This, I am told, is a rare thing in Turkey, where woman
has been so long held in ignorance and degradation."
The reader will remember the Patriarch Matteos, and his degradation
in 1849. After ten years passed in retirement, he was elected
Catholikos of all the Armenians, and removed to Echmiadzin. His
election to such a post at this time was significant, but the
probability of his being able then to hinder the reformation did not
create serious apprehension.
Mrs. Beebee died peacefully at Marash, on the 28th of October, 1858,
after protracted sufferings, and her husband returned some months
after to the United States with broken health, and was released from
his connection with the Board.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE ARMENIANS.
1860-1861.
The fleets and armies of Europe had retired, and the Turk felt in a
measure freed from a troublesome guardianship; which had, however,
greatly promoted both religion and reform in Turkey. The fact that
the war had materially weakened Russian influence at the Porte, may
have been among the reasons that induced England now to relax its
hold on the government of the Sultan. As a consequence, French
diplomacy was decidedly in the ascendant, and lent its influence to
promote Papal schemes. "The Armenians," writes a well informed
missionary, "accept a declaration of the Bible as ultimate, and as
the Protestant missionaries made the Bible the basis of all their
work, and accustomed the people to refer to it for authority in all
spiritual matters, the Papists have been shut up to the use of
political measures to gain adherents. This they have done by
espousing the cause of any party in litigation on condition that he
should register himself a Roman Catholic. This influence was very
powerful throughout the country, as it was supported by the
intervention of the French embassy, and led to violence and
persecution in various parts of the empire, especially at Mardin,
where the papal power was comparatively strong."
Anticipating the history, it may be said, that the Franco-German war
changed all this. The Turkish government then no longer feared the
French, and hence no longer lent itself to Papal intrigues. The
dogma of the Papal Infallibility has been also a severe blow to the
Oriental Papacy.
No one was more competent than Dr. Dwight to testify concerning the
state of religious opinions among the Armenians of the metropolis.
Writing in February, 1860, he said it would be hard to find an
intelligent Armenian in Constantinople, unless among the
ecclesiastics, who did not acknowledge that there were many errors
in the Armenian Church, and that the evangelical system was the
best.
About the game time, he found a great change for the better at
Rodosto, on the northern shore of the Sea of Marmora. The
evangelical brethren had suffered many indignities from the
Armenians, but now even the magnates were disposed to cultivate
friendly relations with them. This he attributed, in great measure,
to the wise and yet firm demeanor of Apraham, the native preacher,
who afterwards became pastor of the Rodosto church. He was a native
of the place, and was once a deacon in the old Armenian Church, and
a candidate for the offices of vartabed and bishop. His first
knowledge of the truth was gained while in the Armenian monastery at
Jerusalem. From thence he came to Bebek, where he studied theology.
He was an exception to the rule, that a prophet has no honor in his
own country, for without compromising the truth, he had gained the
respect of all. He showed his missionary friend a list of eighty
families, upon which he called in regular order. Though most of them
belonged to the old Armenian Church, they received him kindly. The
missionary called with him upon two of these families prominent in
the Armenian community, in one of which they spent an entire
evening. A copy of the Bible, in the modern language, was in the
house, and was brought forward, read, and commented upon, just as if
this had been a Protestant family.
Dr. Dwight attended the examination of the Protestant school at
Rodosto. More than half of the pupils were from non-Protestant
families; and an audience of two hundred and fifty expressed very
general satisfaction with the attainments of the pupils. On the
Sabbath he administered the Lord's Supper. A large number not
connected with the church, were present, and gave close attention to
the preaching. Many must have come from mere curiosity, but the
missionary never preached with greater certainty that he had the
sympathies of his audience.
In the following July, events showed that the new influences had in
some way reached all classes of Armenians in the metropolis. An aged
Protestant died and his body was borne by his friends to an Armenian
cemetery, which hitherto had been open to all bearing the Christian
name. Now, however, a mob, composed of the very lowest class of
Armenians, seized the coffin, and forcibly carried it out of the
burying-ground, where it remained four days. The mob increased to
thousands, and kept possession of the ground day and night. The
American and English Ambassadors were at length roused, and
remonstrated with the Porte and the Patriarch. The burial was
assented to, and the Seraskier, or Minister of War, came with
several hundred troops. A place was selected for the grave within
the cemetery, but the mob, at the first blow of the pickaxe, rushed
forward with a savage yell. The troops were ordered to resist, but
not to fire. After twenty or thirty had been wounded, the mob fell
back. The Patriarch and other dignitaries of the Armenian Church now
came upon the ground, and gave their sanction to the spot selected
for the burial, and the grave was dug. Just then the Seraskier, for
some unexplained reason, ordered the grave to be filled, and another
to be dug outside of the cemetery, in the middle of the public
highway. The Protestants declined taking part in the burial in such
a spot, though entreated to do so by the Seraskier, but remained and
looked on in silence, while Mussulmans dug the grave, put the coffin
into it, and filled it up. As soon as this was done, the mob rushed
forward and trampled spitefully upon it, in the presence of the
Pasha and Patriarch. The representatives of the Protestant powers
now united in a strong remonstrance to the government; and Stepan
Effendi, the civil head of the Protestants, was speedily notified,
that ground would be given them for cemeteries wherever Protestants
were found.
A native assistant died at Baghchejuk, near Nicomedia, early in the
year, who had from the beginning been intimately connected with the
work in that place, and was called the "prince of colporters," on
account of his success in distributing the Scriptures. Being by
nature an earnest man, when converted he became zealous in
disseminating the truth. As he was respected through all the region,
there was great anxiety among the Armenians to regain him, and an
ex-Patriarch visited Baghchejuk, in the hope of bringing him back.
Promises and threats were equally vain, and the storm of persecution
finally burst upon him. His vineyards and mulberry orchards were cut
down, and much of his property was wrested from him. He was beaten
and stoned, and his name cast out as vile. When they were building
the church he brought a basket full of stones and brick-bats, which
had been thrown through his windows, to be incorporated in the
foundation wall. He described the effect of persecution in his own
case, thus: "The truth in my heart was like a stake slightly driven
into soft ground, easily swayed, and in danger of falling before the
wind; but by the sledge-hammer of persecution God drove it in till
it became immovable." "His working power," says Mr. Parsons, the
resident missionary, "like everything else in his possession, was
consecrated to Christ. With great self-denial on his part, two
hundred piasters a month (about eight dollars) enabled him to give
all his time to street preaching, and the sale of the Scriptures. As
a bookseller he was eminently faithful and successful. Not contented
with sitting in the book-stall waiting for purchasers, he used to
shoulder a basket of books, and go through the streets and lanes of
town and city, offering for sale the 'Holy Book;' the 'Book that
would not lie;' the 'Infallible Guide;' and proclaiming, in
a loud voice, its divine origin, man's need of it, and its
light-and-life-giving power. This he did as time and strength
permitted, from Broosa to Angora, and from Bilijik to the Black Sea.
He everywhere either carried with him, or had near at hand, a supply
of Bibles in the Turkish, Armenian, Greek, and Jewish languages.
Probably not less than one hundred thousand persons have heard from
him the proffer of the word of life."
"The word of God," continues Mr. Parsons, "was his constant
companion. He was so familiar with it, that he could turn with
facility to any passage desired. He walked with God. He was a man of
prayer. His happiest moments were seasons of devotion--private,
social, and public. I should say, rather, that next to the work of
bringing others to Christ, his delight was in prayer and praise. He
has rested from his labors, but his works do follow him. Before he
died, he could rejoice in a rich harvest from his own sowing, but a
greater harvest is yet to be reaped from the seed so widely
scattered by his hand. He has gone, a sheaf of the first-fruits of
the work in Baghchejuk. He 'came to his grave as a shock of corn
cometh in in his season.'"
Mr. E. E. Bliss passed through Marsovan on his way to Harpoot, and
found that the rampant hostility of eight years before had died
out.[1] Instead of the hootings and stonings, which then greeted his
arrival, he was met, a long way out, by a goodly company to escort
him to his lodgings. On the Sabbath, in place of the little company
assembled in a lower room of his own house, he now preached to a
good audience, in a large and commodious chapel.
[1] See chapter xxiv.
"I spent," he says, "a few days at Sivas, where I was eight years
ago, and found the small room, where ten or fifteen then met for
God's worship, exchanged for a large upper room, filled with an
audience of more than a hundred. And as we went onward to places we
had never before visited, it was a continual feast to see the extent
to which the work of God had spread in the whole country. In almost
every place where we stopped for the night, however obscure the
village, some would gather around us as brethren in the Lord. They
were often coarsely dressed and rude of speech, undistinguishable in
appearance from the mass around them; but a few words of
conversation would show that their souls had been illuminated by the
truth."
The annual meeting of the Northern Armenian Mission for 1860, was
held at Harpoot, east of the Euphrates, seven hundred and fifty
miles from Constantinople. And it was a significant fact, that the
delegates from the metropolis were able to communicate with their
families over the telegraph wires, destined to connect London with
Calcutta.
The distance from the capital, and of the stations from each other
was so great, as to render it difficult to assemble in the annual
meetings, that were indispensable for an effective administration.
At this meeting, what had been known as the Northern Mission, was
divided into Western and Eastern, and Erzroom, Harpoot, and Arabkir
composed the Eastern Mission. The Southern Mission then took the
name of the Central; and the stations of the Assyria Mission were
united to the Eastern. It will be convenient to use the names
Western, Central, and Eastern in designating territory, but we
shall, as far as possible, treat the three divisions as constituting
one great mission.
The church at Harpoot received its first native pastor at this
annual meeting. He was one of several young men, who left Diarbekir
for Constantinople, eight years before, for the purpose of obtaining
a Protestant education at Bebek. They were subjected to many
revilings on their way, and few showed them any kindness. Some who
were in sympathy with them deprecated their removal from Diarbekir,
as the withdrawal from that place of the little light which had
begun to shine. Now, having completed the course of study at the
Seminary, Tomas, one of that company, was preaching the Gospel every
Sabbath in Diarbekir, and was to become pastor there; and Marderos,
another, combining great excellence of character, was made pastor of
the flourishing church at Harpoot.
Mr. Dunmore, when he commenced the Harpoot station, five years
before, found not a single Protestant in that city. It was now only
three years since the arrival of Messrs. Wheeler, Allen, and Barnum,
and there were thirty-nine church-members, and Harpoot was fast
becoming an important centre of influence. There were schools in ten
of the thirteen out-stations, eleven of which were supplied with
preaching on the Sabbath by the missionaries and students of the
Seminary, and in all the surrounding regions there was an increase
of attendance on preaching. Women learned to read, and groups were
found studying the Bible. In the numerous villages of the Harpoot
plain and outlying districts were many faithful disciples of the
Lord Jesus. The spirit of freedom had gone forth, as was seen in the
growing activity of laymen, and the consequent decline of
superstition and ecclesiastical despotism. Instruction was
communicated to large numbers of both men and women, and it was
beginning to be regarded as disgraceful for adults of either sex not
to be able to read.
The theological school contained twenty-four pupils, of whom eleven
were from the vicinity and ten were married men. The students
devoted their winter vacation of four months to preaching and
teaching, and in term time they preached at out-stations.
Mrs. Dwight, after twenty-one years of eminently useful service,
died at Constantinople in November, 1860. Dr. Dwight's family being
thus broken up, he commenced, with the approval of his brethren, a
tour through Syria and Asiatic Turkey, intending to go over much of
the ground he had traversed with Dr. Eli Smith in their explorations
thirty years before.
How great the changes in the intervening period! Then, for fourteen
and a half months, he was unable to receive tidings from his wife,
whom he had left in Malta. Now, from beyond the Euphrates, he could
have communicated daily with Constantinople by telegraph. Then, no
fellow-laborers were to be found between Smyrna and the little bands
of German and Scotch brethren soon after to be driven away from
Russian Armenia and Georgia, and nowhere did they meet among the
people any religious sympathies in unison with their own. Now, the
survivor found missionaries scattered over the land, and he scarcely
entered a place where some one, at least, did not greet him with a
joyful welcome. Then, the object was to explore an unbroken scene of
spiritual death. Now, it was to confirm living churches, and help
forward a growing spiritual work.
The tour was extended as far as the Nestorian mission, and occupied
about eight months. Reviewing this journey of almost unprecedented
interest, Dr. Dwight could not refrain from using the language of
Christian triumph: "I have visited," he says, "every station of the
Board in Turkey and Persia excepting those among the Bulgarians. It
has been my privilege to see all the missionaries and their
families,--a rare body of men and women, of whom our churches and
our country may well be proud,--and also to become personally
acquainted with hundreds and thousands of the dear Protestant
brethren and sisters of this land--God's lights in the midst of
surrounding darkness; God's witnesses even where Satan dwelleth."
Dr. Dwight was at Marash in April, and this is his own vivid
description of what he saw there: "This place is indeed a missionary
wonder! Twelve years ago there was not a Protestant here, and the
people were proverbially ignorant, barbarous, and fanatical. Six
years ago the evangelical Armenian church was organized with sixteen
members, the congregation at that time consisting of one hundred and
twenty. On the last Sabbath I preached in the morning to a
congregation of over a thousand, and in the afternoon addressed
nearly or quite fifteen hundred people, when forty were received
into the church, making the whole number two hundred and
twenty-seven. Nearly one hundred of these have been added since Mr.
White came here, two years ago. One old woman of seventy-five years
was admitted who was converted only four months ago. She was
previously a bigoted opposer, but now she seems full of the love of
Christ. Her emotions almost overpowered her on approaching the table
of the Lord.
"The church-members here impressed me from the first as men who
thought more of the spiritual than the temporal. The Holy Spirit has
been evidently at work here during the whole of the year, and
especially through the past winter, and conversions are constantly
taking place. The burden of conversation among the brethren is in
regard to praying and laboring for the salvation of souls.
"On the Sabbath the half of the body of the church was filled with
women packed closely together on the floor. The other half, and the
broad galleries around three sides of the house, were completely
crowded with men. A new church is needed immediately in the other
end of the town. I bless God that He brought me here, and I feel
almost like saying, 'Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.'"
It should be said that this visit to Marash was in the midst of a
revival. The resident missionary, Mr. White, describes the work as
being chiefly among the Armenians and Roman Catholics. "Every night
they met in the houses of the Protestants and spent hours, sometimes
even till near morning, examining the Scriptures and comparing them
with the corrupt teachings of their own churches. Our young men were
very active, laboring both day and night, so much so, that the
Catholic bishop said he could not understand it; that if the young
men were paid for thus laboring, the missionaries had not money
enough; and if they were not paid, they had a love which he could
not understand. Many of his people, however, seemed to comprehend it
better than he did, and are now regular attendants at our church."
The veteran missionary pays a noble tribute to the wives of the
missionaries at the several stations of the central mission: "I felt
myself rebuked when I saw the earnest, self-devoted spirit of my
missionary sisters, who are laboring in Aintab, in Marash, in
Antioch, in Aleppo, and in Oorfa, for the salvation of their
degraded sex; thinking little of the sacrifices they have made in
leaving America, to live in such a country as Turkey. It would be
difficult to find in Christendom a more happy class than these, our
helpers in Christ Jesus. The holy object which fills their hearts
lifts them above the distracting and embittering influences of
external circumstances."
The change at Diarbekir, during the score of years since Dr. Grant
and Mr. Homes barely escaped with their lives, had been truly
wonderful. Drs. Dwight and Schneider and Mr. Nutting, on their
approach from Oorfa, were met, eighteen miles out, by a deputation
of Protestant brethren on horseback; and, a few miles further on, by
another detachment, headed by Mr. Walker and the native pastor; and
when near the city, by a third on foot, thus giving them a sort of
triumphal entry. Nor, during their whole stay, was there anything to
awaken a feeling of insecurity, but convincing evidence, that
Protestantism had a strong hold on many minds.
Dr. Dwight noticed a decline of the Turkish population in the region
of the Euphrates. Several entire quarters in Diarbekir, formerly
Turkish, had passed into Christian hands, and the process was going
on. Armenians, Jacobites, and Protestants were buying Turkish
houses, but seldom did a Turk buy one of theirs; and around the
outskirts of the city there were extensive Turkish quarters all in
ruins.
Mrs. Dunmore had come to the United States in 1856, in consequence
of the failure of her health, and was never able to return. Her
husband continued his self-denying labors four years longer, until,
seeing no prospect of her recovery, he believed his duty required
him to follow her. It was then a time of civil war in his native
land, and his public spirit led him to accept an invitation from a
regiment of cavalry to be their chaplain. A detachment, with which
he was connected, was surprised early in the morning of August 3,
1861, and he fell, shot in the head before he was fairly out of his
tent.[1]
[1] See _Missionary Herald_, 1862, p. 321.
In courage, enterprise, tact, and efficacy, Mr. Dunmore stood in the
front rank of missionaries. "He did not write much of what he did,"
says Mr. Walker, his successor at Diarbekir. "He cared not to be
known. But he cared for the souls of this poor people, and for
Christ's kingdom. I think that few missionaries are so well fitted
for the work, and very few labor with the same zeal and self-denial.
To few is it given to accomplish so much. There is comparatively
little accomplished in Diarbekir, Arabkir, Harpoot, and Moosh, which
is not, under God, due to this brother. His influence will long be
felt in these parts. Paul was his model, and there are few who come
so near to that exemplar. He had wonderful power in attaching the
natives to him. He could sympathize deeply with them, and aid them
as few can. His heart was in the work here, and it was a very great
trial for him to return to America. His fearless journeys among the
Koords in this land, led us often to feel apprehensive for his life.
The Lord forgive the Texan, whose bullet cut short a life so
valuable."
In the years 1860 and 1861, the ill health of either husband or wife
deprived the mission of the labors of Messrs. Clark, Hutchison,
Parsons, and Plumer, and their families. Mr. and Mrs. Peabody
returned to their native land, after a faithful service of nineteen
years. Dr. Schauffler also terminated his official connection of
twenty-nine years with his missionary associates, and entered the
service of the American, and the British and Foreign Bible Societies
in the work of Bible translation for the Turkish Mohammedans. Miss
Tenney was married to Dr. Hamlin, who had been released from his
connection with the Board to take charge of a Protestant college in
Constantinople, though without any change in the great object of his
labors.
Mr. Williams reoccupied Mardin in the year 1861. This was then, as
now, the capital of the Syrian Church, and the natural centre of
operations among the Arabic-speaking people in Eastern Turkey. It
embraced Mosul, and multitudes of towns and villages scattered over
a wide region, and required more than one missionary; though that
one was a man of first-rate abilities and eminent devotion to his
work. It was put in connection with the Armenian Mission, partly
because its missionary policy was the same, and partly because it
seemed necessary to work that whole field from one central station,
and by a small number of missionaries, and because it would require
the moral support of the larger mission in its neighborhood.
A training-school was commenced at Mardin in the following year, on
the plan of the one at Harpoot, with a class of eight hopefully
pious young men. The congregation had doubled since Mr. Williams'
return and Protestantism had a more favorable position; but as yet
the intellect accepted the truth more readily than did the heart.
Trebizond had only a native pastor, and the day-school was reported
as one of the best in Turkey. Khanoos, southeast of Erzroom, had
been faithfully cultivated for some time by the native pastor,
Simon, who was now removed to Moosh, where he would have a better
field. Erzroom was again without a missionary in consequence of the
necessary removal of Mr. Trowbridge to the capital.
In addition to notices of versions of the Scriptures in the
preceding chapter, it should now be stated, that Dr. Goodell had
completed the great work of his life,--the translation of the Bible
into the Turkish language, as written in the Armenian character and
spoken by the Armenians. The version was from the Hebrew and Greek;
the New Testament had received three distinct revisions, and the Old
Testament one. His principal helper, for thirty years, was Panayotes
Constantinides, who died March 11, 1861. "He had greatly desired,"
writes Dr. Goodell, "to live to see the end of the revision, and we
pressed on together, returning thanks at the end of every chapter,
that we had got so far on our journey. But his strength failed him
on the way, and when there was but little further to go, he laid
himself down, and the angels carried him to his home in heaven." Dr.
Schauffler had nearly completed a translation of the New Testament
in Turkish, with the Arabic or sacred character, and after much
difficulty had obtained the consent of the government to its
publication. Dr. Riggs had reached the books of Kings, in addition
to the Psalms, in his version of the Scriptures in Bulgarian, and
had also given time to preparing and editing Bulgarian tracts.
The amount of publication in the year 1860, in the Armenian,
Armeno-Turkish, Bulgarian, and Modern Greek, was 164,500 copies, and
13,296,000 pages. The total expenditure was $15,789, from the
following sources:--
American Bible Society $3,473
British and Foreign Bible Society 1,243
American Tract Society, New York 2,646
American Tract Society, Boston 674
London Tract Society 1,175
American Board of Commissioners
for Foreign Missions 5,462
Other sources 1,116
--------
$15,789
Among the books published were a Reply to Archbishop Matteos in
Armenian, a Commentary on Matthew, Hymn-Book, Theological
Class-Book, and Geography,--the last at the expense of Haritûn
Minasiyan, an Armenian printer. The Word of God was more in demand
than any other book. The Armenian Bible, with marginal references,
electrotyped and printed in New York by the American Bible Society,
was highly prized. The American Tract Society had also electrotyped
and printed several works for the mission, which were admired for
their beauty, and were furnished more cheaply than they could have
been prepared in Constantinople.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE ASSYRIA MISSION.
1849-1860.
Mosul is related to the Syria Mission in language, the written
Arabic being essentially the same in both fields; but there is
considerable difference in the language of preaching and social
intercourse, "Near Mosul, and especially on the east of the Tigris,"
writes Dr. Leonard Bacon, after his visit to Mosul, "the language is
Syriac, or as they there call it, _Fellahi_, the peasant language.
In other districts, Turkish and Koordish are spoken by many nominal
Christians. The people in Mesopotamia are very different from those
in Syria. They are of other sects. Instead of the Greek Church, the
Greek Catholic, and the Maronite, we find, as we travel east of the
Euphrates, and especially as we approach the Tigris, the Jacobite,
the Syrian Catholic or Romanized Jacobite, the Nestorian (almost
exterminated), and the Chaldean or Romanized Nestorian. And the
condition of these sects, as it respects the feeling of strength and
pride, is very unlike that of the sects in Syria. The Maronite
Church, and the Greek Catholic, are strong and proud in their
relation to Rome, and in the feeling that they are protected by the
great papal powers in Europe. The Greek Church may be likened to a
Russian colony in the Turkish empire. But the more eastern sects,
remnants of what were once the great Oriental Church, are in far
different relations, ecclesiastical and political. The Jacobites,
like the Nestorians, feel themselves weakened and depressed. The
Syrian Catholic and the Chaldean are not very firmly united to Rome,
and are little affected by European influences. Nor is this all. The
nominal Christians of Mesopotamia are of a very different race and
blood from those of Syria. The Greek element, which characterizes
the Arabic-speaking Christians west of the Euphrates,--an element of
subtlety of disputation, and of intellectual pride,--is not so
prominent in these more Oriental communities. For these and other
reasons, I cannot but think that this field should be occupied by
the brethren of the Mosul station, and be regarded as entirely
distinct from that of the Syria Mission. Mosul, as a centre of
missionary labor, is much more nearly related to Oroomiah, than to
Beirût, or Aleppo."[1]
[1] _Report of the Board for_ 1851, p. 82.
The visit of Messrs. Perkins and Stocking to Mosul, in May, 1849,
has been already mentioned.[1] That visit did much to prepare the
way for Mr. Ford, of the Aleppo station, who went there at the close
of 1849. He was kindly received by Mr. Rassam, the English Consul,
and had a joyful greeting from the little band of "gospel men," who
welcomed the return of their long lost privileges of Christian
instruction. Of the fifty who soon called upon him, about twenty
appeared to be decidedly evangelical, and ready to stand by the
Gospel at all hazards, though few of them gave evidence of a work of
grace in their hearts. Twenty more were enlightened and favorably
disposed; and the remaining ten might be regarded as indifferent or
hostile. This little band was the remainder of those who had been
brought under the influence of the Gospel, when our brethren of the
Mountain Nestorian Mission were detained in the mysterious
providence of God, to labor and suffer there. Yet the Lord had not
forsaken them, for Meekha, the ingenious mechanic, who had learned
the truth from Mr. Laurie, had given them the benefit of his
steadfast piety and diligent instruction.
[1] Chapter xx.
The reader knows, already, what led to the temporary occupation of
Mosul by the Board, in 1841. Its relinquishment in 1844, was chiefly
in view of the fact, that the Episcopal Church of the United States
had a mission then in Turkey, with the avowed object of laboring
among the Jacobites of Mesopotamia.[1] That mission having been
withdrawn from the Turkish empire, the operations of the Board were
naturally extended again to Mosul, to look after the fruits of
former labors, as well as to meet the exigencies of the mission in
western Koordistan.
[1] This was first known through Dr. Grant, who forwarded a copy of
a letter from seven of the American Episcopal Bishops to the Syrian
Patriarch at Mardin, as evidence of the fact. After stating the
object in sending the Rev. Horatio Southgate to reside for a time at
Mardin, with the hope of associating two others with him, to which
no exception could be taken, the Patriarch was informed by the
letter, that Mr. Southgate "will make it clearly understood, that
the American Church has no ecclesiastical connection with the
followers of Luther and Calvin, and takes no part in their plans or
operations to diffuse the principles of these sects."
The Rev. Dwight W. Marsh arrived at Mosul on the 20th of March,
1850, going by way of Beirût, Aleppo, Aintab, Oorfa, and Diarbekir;
from this last place he floated down the Tigris on a raft supported
by inflated goat-skins, in less than four days to his new home. He
describes the river as breaking through between bold precipices, and
scenery delightfully and unexpectedly romantic. Mr. Schneider was
his travelling companion from Aintab to Diarbekir, and Mr. Ford was
at Mosul to greet him on his arrival. The Rev. William Frederic
Williams removed from the Syria Mission to Mosul in the spring of
1851, going in company with Dr. Bacon and his son Mr. Leonard W.
Bacon, then travelling in the East. Salome Carabet, the eldest of
the girls in Mr. Whiting's family at Abeih, went with Mr. Williams,
to take charge of a school of thirty girls.
Dr. Bacon's visit to Mosul was in compliance with a request of the
Prudential Committee, that he would make his tour of relaxation and
improvement the occasion of visiting the several stations of the
Board in Western Asia. The attempt to proceed from Mosul to Oroomiah
through the mountains by the most direct route, was unsuccessful.
The two travellers, in company with Mr. Marsh, soon after crossing
the Zab, were set upon by Koordish robbers, who had been requested
by an Agha, near Akra, to kill them. So imminent was the peril, that
they united together in prayer to God, led by Dr. Bacon. Some
Moolahs seeing this, interceded for their lives, and though they
could not hinder their being plundered, they succeeded in sending
them safely to another Moolah, three hours distant, who was revered
for his sanctity; and it was through his resolute protection, under
God, that they effected a safe return to Mosul. Mr. Rassam gave
information of the outrage to the English Ambassador, and the Pasha,
in the following year, having received orders from Constantinople,
sent three hundred men, with three cannon, against the robber, who
was compelled to pay the full value of the losses, and much more
besides to the government.[1]
[1] _Missionary Herald_, for 1851, p. 295, and 1852, p. 388.
The Assyria Mission was so named for geographical reasons. Its most
northern station at this time, was Diarbekir. Dr. Grant passed
through this city with Mr. Homes, in 1839, Messrs. Hinsdale and
Mitchell passed through it in 1841, and Mr. Laurie in 1842. The city
was visited by Mr. Peabody in 1849, when he found several persons
awakened by reading the Scriptures and other books, brought there by
colporters. It was visited again by Mr. Schneider in the following
year, who reported that nearly fifty Armenians were accustomed to
meet on the Sabbath for reading the Scriptures. These were then
subjected to a severe persecution, and they sent to Constantinople
for a vizierial letter, which was granted, but brought little
relief. Dr. Azariah Smith organized a small church at Diarbekir in
the spring of 1851. It included both Armenians and Jacobites; but
only those were to be received who gave satisfactory evidence of
piety. As soon as this restriction was announced, the most
influential Syrians in the congregation resolutely set themselves to
secure admission to the church for all Protestants of good moral
character. For a time their efforts to unite the congregation in
opposition prevented attention to their ordinary business; and but
for the conservative spirit of the Armenian portion, perhaps the
audience, as a whole, would have gone back to their churches. In the
end all were persuaded to listen to a discourse on the subject, by
Dr. Smith, and the character of the young ruler, in Luke xviii.
18-30, was unfolded in connection with Acts ii. 43-47. The
exhibition of a church, as an association of men devoted, body and
soul, time and wealth, to the extension of Christ's kingdom, was new
to them. That repentance involved the ceasing to live for selfish
and worldly ends, and that faith in Christ included the consecration
of our energies to his service, was no part of their old creed. And
though these truths had been previously preached by the
missionaries, the practical connection in which they now came up
made them more impressive.
Mr. and Mrs. Dunmore, after spending some months at Aintab, arrived
at Diarbekir in November, 1851. They were accompanied by Stepan, a
graduate of the seminary at Bebek. This man, not long after his
arrival, was rudely arrested by a Turkish officer as a Protestant,
and cast into a prison, where he spent the night with vagabonds and
thieves. The Pasha refused Mr. Dunmore a hearing, but at once
ordered Stepan's release.
Mr. Dunmore had not yet a free use of the Turkish, which was the
language spoken by the Armenians; but an average of more than
seventy persons came on the Sabbath to hear Stepan, and new faces
were seen at every meeting.
Soon after the arrival of Mr. Dunmore, a young man of talents, named
Tomas, who had long been vacillating, boldly declared himself a
Protestant, and though his bishop offered him the monthly reward of
two hundred piastres for two years, paid in advance, if he would
leave the Protestants, his reply was: "Go tell the bishop that I did
not become a Protestant for money, and that I will not leave them
for money, even should he give me my house full of gold." Tomas was
then nineteen years of age, and had an orphan brother and two
sisters dependent on him. He had been a prosperous silk
manufacturer, but after he became a Protestant, both nominal
Christians and Moslems refused to trade with him, and he was
impoverished. It was decided to send him to the Bebek Seminary, with
his younger brother; and to send his older sister to the Female
Seminary at the same place; while Mr. and Mrs. Dunmore took the
youngest, a bright little girl of six years. In this young man we
have the future native pastor of the church in that city.
The persecutions inflicted on the Protestants at Diarbekir were
similar to those described elsewhere. But not only were the native
converts, in this remote city, oppressed in every possible way, but
the missionary reports himself as being grossly insulted, and even
stoned in the streets whenever he went abroad.
About this time Mr. Marsh performed a missionary tour to Mardin,
through Jebel Tour, a branch of the great Kûrdish range of mountains
which crosses the Tigris above Jezirah, and goes westward toward the
Euphrates. These rugged, though not lofty mountains, cover fourteen
hundred square miles, and form the stronghold of the Jacobites.
Their ecclesiastical capital is Mardin. "High up the mountain's
side," writes Mr. Marsh, "with a steep descent of six or seven
hundred feet to the plains, the city wall mounts up still higher,
three hundred feet or more; and a large castle on the mountain top
crowns the view." Here he found several persons favorably inclined,
and recommended the place for a missionary station.
The Rev. Henry Lobdell, M. D., and wife, reached Mosul in May 1852.
They came through Aintab, Oorfa, and Diarbekir. Such was the desire
of the people of Aintab for a missionary physician to take the place
of Dr. Smith, that four hundred and twenty of them signed a petition
in a single evening, requesting him to remain; but he felt
constrained to give them a negative. He speaks with pleasure of his
brief sojourn at Oorfa, which he describes as beautifully situated
on the west side of a fertile plain, and retaining many marks of its
ancient greatness.
In the ten days which Dr. Lobdell spent with Mr. Dunmore at
Diarbekir, he was impressed by the hold the reformation was taking
in that place. At the same time, he and his missionary brother had a
startling illustration of its hostility to the Gospel. They were
looking at the great mosque of the city, formerly a Christian
church, and in the words of Mr. Dunmore, "As we were standing in
front of it, in the public highway, examining its architecture,
several lads came up and began to insult us and to order us away. We
did not notice them, but went further from the mosque, and stopped
to examine some old marble pillars. Soon, however, we found a rabble
about us, who began to jerk our garments. I then turned and spoke to
them, and they instantly rushed upon us like tigers. They seized Dr.
Lobdell's hat, threw it into the air, and began to beat him. One
ruffian seized me by the throat. By main strength I loosed his
grasp, and was moving off, when two men tried to wrest my cane from
me, but did not succeed. We retreated as last as possible, but when
we got out of the reach of their hands, they resorted to throwing
stones, some of them weighing two or three pounds. One hit Dr.
Lobdell in the side, and we saw no alternative but to run for our
lives. We went immediately to the Pasha, taking one of the largest
stones with us, and made a statement of the facts in the presence of
the council. He refused to do anything more than to send a man to
inquire who was in fault, the ruffians, or we! He said he knew
nothing about us."
In a tent supported by a raft of one hundred and twenty inflated
goat-skins, Dr. and Mrs. Lobdell floated down the Tigris to Mosul.
"The Arabs, who swam out upon their goat-skins, and the Kûrds armed
to the teeth upon the shore, were alike unable to touch us, as the
river was unusually high and swift. I do not remember having enjoyed
four successive days so much. The scenery is grand, equaling that of
the far-famed Hudson. It might not wear as well, but it is unique
and wonderful." Mr. and Mrs. Williams were there to welcome them.
Mr. Marsh was absent on a visit to his native land, from whence he
returned with his wife in May, 1853. He was accompanied as far as
Aintab by Rev. Augustus Walker and wife, and from thence to
Diarbekir, by Messrs. Schneider and Walker. Mr. Dunmore's
congregation had then risen to nearly two hundred hearers.
Mr. Marsh was especially struck, on returning to Mosul, with the
greatly improved singing of the congregation, which he thought was
now better there than at Diarbekir, Aintab, Constantinople, or
Beirût. This was due to the unwearied pains taken by Mr. Williams,
though the people seemed to have a better ear for music than
elsewhere in Western Asia.
Dr. Lobdell found his medical profession a great assistance to him
as a preacher of the Gospel. Jacobites, Papists, and Moslems came in
considerable numbers, and he preached the Gospel alike to all. He
was overworked, and it was perhaps a favor to him that the judge was
stirred up by Popish priests, as the Moslems affirmed, to forbid the
Mohammedans coming to his preaching. The judge was willing that they
should call upon him for medical aid, if he would not preach the
Gospel to them; but the doctor declined administering to the body,
unless he could, at the same time, explain to them "the words of
Jesus" (which all Moslems professed to receive) for the benefit of
their souls.
Salome Carabet returned to Syria, very much in the manner of Rebecca
of old, to become the wife of the young pastor at Hasbeiya; and the
female school was thus deprived of its teacher.
A visit by Dr. Lobdell to the Yezidees in October, 1852, developed
interesting and valuable information. Their doctrines he regarded as
a strange fusion of Mohammedanism and Christianity with the
philosophy of the older Persians.[1]
[1] See _Memoir of Dr. Lobdell_, pp. 213-227; also _Missionary
Herald_ for 1853, pp. 109-111.
In June, 1853, Dr. Lobdell travelled through Koordistan to Oroomiah.
One of his objects was the improvement of his health; but he greatly
desired, also, to confer with the brethren of the Nestorian Mission,
and to preach the Gospel in the regions between. He took with him a
native, who not only spoke the Syriac and Arabic, but the Turkish
and Koordish.[1] "He came to us," wrote Dr. Perkins, "for the
benefit of his impaired health. Yet was he buoyant as a lark, being
overjoyed to find himself in our happy circle, after his perilous
journey across the mountains." Two days after his arrival he was
seized with a fever which proved severe and obstinate. But he
recovered, and was able to give much thought to the somewhat
peculiar method of proceeding in that mission; in which no separate
Protestant community had been formed, and no church organized;
though the missionaries had the communion by themselves, to which
they invited only those whom they believed to be truly regenerated.
His preconceived opinions had been somewhat adverse to the plan, and
he and his brethren at Mosul had adopted other methods. But he wrote
to the Secretaries of the Board his approval of the main policy of
his brethren in Persia, as justified by their peculiar
circumstances, and ratified by the blessing of Heaven. He specified
some things in which he thought more decided measures might be
taken; but advised that the mission be left to follow the leadings
of Providence, until a crisis should come in the Nestorian Church,
and then to act as they should deem wise at the time.
[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1854, pp. 18-22.
Before returning, Dr. Lobdell made an excursion of three weeks in
the province of Azerbijan, going as far as Tabriz. It was while he
was at Gawar, on his way home, that Deacon Tamo was liberated from
his long imprisonment. Messrs. Rhea and Coan accompanied him to
Mosul. Dr. Lobdell represents the two highest peaks of the Jelu
Mountains as distinctly visible from Mosul. Every step through
Koordistan reminded him of the devotion, courage, and energy of Dr.
Grant.
Some difficulties existed in the Protestant community at Diarbekir,
growing out of the old leaven of baptismal regeneration, from which
the church itself had not been thoroughly purged. The church then
contained eleven members,--eight men and three women. Six of the men
were Syrian Jacobites, and four of these were formerly deacons in
their church. The difficulties encountered by Dr. Smith in 1851,
when he declared his intention of admitting to the church none but
such as were truly pious, and baptizing only them and their
children, were now revived.
In view of these things, a meeting of the Assyria Mission was held
at Mosul for ten days, in March, 1854. It was then decided that
Messrs. Marsh and Lobdell should return with Messrs. Dunmore and
Walker, and assist in reorganizing the church at Diarbekir. Out of
twenty candidates whom they examined, eleven were accepted; and, in
the presence of three hundred persons, were organized into a new
church, with a creed and covenant.[1] Dr. Lobdell had a hundred
Christian patients daily while there; but the Pasha still continued
to refuse protection, and the missionaries were still hooted and
stoned in the streets. They believed, however, that the Gospel had
taken such hold in the city as to insure its ultimate triumph.
[1] I find, in the archives of the Board, an extended analysis of
the baptismal question by these brethren, in its bearing on the
Oriental Churches.
The church was subjected to a severe trial, immediately after its
reorganization. The Mosul brethren had to return to their own work;
it was necessary for Mr. Dunmore to join his sick wife at Arabkir;
and as it was unsafe for Mr. and Mrs. Walker to be left alone at
Diarbekir, they went to Aintab for the summer. The Koords robbed
them on their way, but they returned in the autumn, accompanied by
David H. Nutting, M. D., and wife. Mr. Dunmore remained at Arabkir
till the spring of 1855, when he commenced the important station of
Harpoot. The missionaries at Diarbekir now enjoyed the very welcome
protection of W. R. Holmes, Esq., the newly appointed English
Consul. Dr. Nutting's professional services to the Pasha, in a
dangerous illness, soon after his arrival, gave him an introduction
to almost all the officers of the government and influential Moslems
in the city, and obtained for him a public expression of the Pasha's
gratitude. Instead of stonings in the streets, without redress, as
under the preceding Pasha, the missionaries received respectful
treatment, and had free access to all classes. Mr. Walker found the
state of things better than he anticipated. Certain disaffected
members of the Protestant community had repented of their errors.
Persecution had not shaken the faith of any in the church. During
the winter the congregation increased to two hundred. In April,
1855, six were admitted to the church, and not less than four
hundred and fifty persons were present. The accessions were not only
from the Armenian and Jacobite Churches, but also from the Catholic
Church, though fierce persecution and imprisonment were the
consequence. A large portion of the Jacobite Church were convinced
of the truth, and of the emptiness of their own rites and
ceremonies. Some openly avowed that they retained their connection
with their old church merely to fight against it, hoping to turn the
whole community to Protestantism. The people demanded that the Bible
should be read in the church in Turkish or Arabic, instead of the
ancient Armenian and Syriac, which were, to most of them, dead
languages; and the Jacobite bishop was forced to yield. Finding, at
length, that this must rapidly undermine the priestly influence, he
secretly removed the Scriptures from the church. But the word of the
Lord was not bound, for the deacons or readers carried their own
Bibles.
At the out-station of Hainè, Stepan, the native preacher who had
come to Diarbekir with Mr. Walker, was enabled by divine grace to
maintain his position. The Pasha at one time ordered him to leave,
but he thought it right to disobey. At a subsequent period, being
stoned and beaten in the streets, he was obliged to flee, and the
Protestants suffered much oppression. Through the energetic efforts
of the Consul at Diarbekir, the persecuting governor was deposed,
and another appointed.
Across the river from Diarbekir is Cutterbul, a large Christian
village, where were twenty Protestants, with several church-members;
and the missionary, in his occasional visits, gathered almost as
large a congregation as the one at Mosul. The preaching would have
been acceptable in Turkish, or Koordish, though the people preferred
the Arabic. Cutterbul was but a sample of what the villages on all
sides of Diarbekir might have been, were the station fully manned.
The Protestants at Mosul obtained no relief from their oppressive
taxes until January, 1854; when, through the efforts of Lord
Stratford de Redcliffe, a firman was addressed to the Pasha for
their protection. The Pasha then ordered an equitable rate to be
made for them, which encouraged the Protestants, and disheartened
their enemies. The year was one of progress. Five were added to the
Protestants, and two to the church, while there was a decided
improvement in the attention given to preaching. The boys' school
prospered, with forty pupils. Women were to some extent instructed
in reading the Bible by the scholars, who went from house to house
for the purpose. Thirty adults were taught at their houses, and
thirty others attended the male school regularly. The church-members
gained a reputation for strict honesty, temperance, and general
excellence. The mere existence of a church upon an apostolical
basis, worshipping God in simplicity, told with force against the
corrupt hierarchies.
The excitements at Mosul during the Crimean war, were often intense.
At one period there was great danger of an outburst of Mohammedan
fanaticism, so that the Christians were in terror for their lives.
Stringent orders from Constantinople aroused the local authorities
to do their duty, and the insolence of those ready for deeds of
blood was checked. Early in May, 1854, a volunteer reinforcement of
two thousand Koords for the Turkish army, was quartered in the city,
and certain outrages indicated an approaching massacre of Christians
and Jews. The evil was averted by the bold decision of the English
Consul, who went to the Pasha, and demanded that the Koords be sent
at once out of the city. They were soon on their way to the seat of
war.
Mosul was regarded as free from miasma; but the heat of the summer
days was exhausting to the foreigner, and the natives also suffered.
For a hundred days in 1853, the mercury stood, at two o'clock in the
afternoon, as high as 98º; and for eighty days it ranged from 100º
to 114º. The highest point in the shade was 117º. It was much the
same in the following year.
As the summer advanced, the health of Mrs. Williams declined, and it
became obvious that she could no longer endure the excessive heat.
She was desirous of removing to a cooler climate, and Dr. Lobdell
went with her and her family to the mountains. When they were near
the Zab river, they met Dr. Wright from Persia, who had come with
the hope of conducting them to Oroomiah. The rest is told in the
words of Dr. Lobdell. "We could go no farther, and on the 29th of
June, at sunset, were on our way towards Mosul; our sick friend
being anxious to go there to die, but most of the time unconscious
of the incidents and fatigues. On the last day of June we reached
Akra; a litter was made, twelve Christians bore it, and the next
morning at six o'clock, while moving on the road, that litter became
a bier! An hour farther, and a rough box way made ready for her we
had loved. The children knew not what had happened. At evening, the
box was bound upon a mule, and we rode silently for fourteen hours,
and crossed to the ruins of Nineveh shortly after sunrise. The flag
of the English Consul was thrown over the body as we crossed the
Tigris. A narrow house had already been prepared for it outside the
walls (not even the dead body of a Moslem could have been carried
within the gates); Mr. Marsh had a short service; and there we laid
the wife, the mother, down to her last sleep."[1]
[1] Memoir of Dr. Lobdell, p. 330.
The Crimean war inflamed Mohammedan fanaticism all over Western
Asia. Such was its influence in Persia, that the missionaries
requested Dr. Lobdell, in view of his recent visit, to go to Bagdad,
and represent their critical situation with reference to the Persian
government to Mr. Murray, English Ambassador to Persia; who was to
be there in January, 1855, on his way to his post. He accordingly
commenced his voyage down the river on the 10th of January, upon the
customary raft of skins, and on the fourth day reached Bagdad. The
ambassador arriving on the 8th of the following month, Dr. Lobdell
had a satisfactory interview with him, which probably led to the
subsequent visit of Mr. Murray to Oroomiah. His return was by
post-horses in fifty-eight hours. The road made a long curve to the
east to avoid the Arabs of the desert. The nearest route would have
been on the west side of the Tigris.
Ten days after this, Mr. Marsh and Mr. Williams went to Diarbekir to
attend the second annual meeting of the mission. The next day Dr.
Lobdell prepared a sermon, talked with a crowd of papists, preached
to eighty-five patients, delivered his sermon to the church in the
evening, and went to bed with a chill and fever. On the day
following, he wrote his last letter, and made his last entry in his
journal. He gradually grew worse, and was at times delirious. A
message was sent for the absent brethren, but, owing to the
disturbed state of the country, it was the twentieth day of his
sickness, and only five days before his death, when Mr. Marsh
reached Mosul. As he entered the room, the Doctor threw his arms
about his neck and wept. The church-members prayed earnestly for his
recovery, and were eager to serve as watchers. He passed easily
away, as the Sabbath was closing, on the 25th of March, 1855, to his
eternal rest. His age was twenty-eight.
Dr. Lobdell's life was short to fill four hundred pages in Professor
Tyler's excellent Memoir, but the volume is none too large. His
life, measured by activities and results, was long. His character
was many sided, and every side glowed with consecrated ardor. He
made the most of himself as a man, a scholar, a Christian, and a
Christian missionary. Like the Apostle Paul, "forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which
are before," he pressed "toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus."
He had a strong desire to go as a missionary to China, but the
author, in his official correspondence, though seldom venturing to
oppose such predilections, was so impressed with the difficulties to
be overcome at Mosul, and with Dr. Lobdell's adaptation to that
field, that he called his attention to it, and soon received the
reply that he would go, as soon as he could get ready; and from that
time the new field grew in his affections. That he could or would
have done more for the kingdom of Christ, in any other sphere of
labor, no one who attentively considers his remarkable life will
venture to affirm.
Dr. Henri B. Haskell succeeded Dr. Lobdell at Mosul, and reached
Diarbekir, with the Rev. George C. Knapp and wife, appointed to that
station, in April, 1856. The Christian worship at Diarbekir had now
assumed a regular form. There were four services on the Sabbath. At
the first, an hour after sunrise, fifty persons assembled for prayer
and praise, and the meeting was conducted by two native teachers;
one reading his own translation of Doddridge's "Rise and Progress"
in Turkish; the other, after having read through Dr. Goodell's
"Notes on Matthew," and a volume of his sermons in Turkish, had
commenced reading discourses of his own. The second was at the time
of "noon cry" from the minarets, when Mr. Walker or Baron Tomas, now
returned for a time from Bebek, preached to about two hundred
persons, who listened more attentively than most American
congregations. At the ninth hour (three o'clock in the afternoon)
Baron Tomas met a Bible-class of sixty or eighty of the more
intelligent Protestants. The last preaching service, at the tenth
hour, was usually attended by a hundred or a hundred and fifty
persons. From forty to seventy persons were present at the Friday
evening meeting. The monthly concert was well attended, and with
increasing contributions. Mrs. Walker had a Wednesday afternoon
meeting for the women, at which from twenty to forty were present.
The Gospels had been translated into Koordish by the native helper
at Hainè, and copies of Matthew had been received from the press in
Stamboul. As soon as the good deacon Shemmas could get the box
containing them from the custom-house, he retired to his room and
poured out his soul in thanksgiving to God for his great mercy, and
prayed that He would now greatly bless his Word in this new tongue.
The church at Diarbekir was doubled in 1856, and all belonging to
the mission, both male and female, found full employment in
imparting instruction. Baron Tomas returned to Bebek, to spend two
years in the study of theology.
Excepting the death of the second Mrs. Williams, on the 25th of
December, there was nothing in 1857, specially demanding attention.
Mr. Williams spent the summer of 1858 in Mardin, intending to occupy
it as a new station, and returned in November to make it his
permanent residence. He found the people, as he expected,
exceedingly bigoted, yet hardy and intelligent. There was an
important advantage in the pure mountain air of the place. The
language was Arabic, as at Mosul. More than half of the twenty
thousand inhabitants were nominal Christians; there were three
Arabic-speaking villages within six miles, and the whole of Jebel
Tour was accessible. He found the Romish Church stronger than he had
expected, having a Papal-Syrian patriarchate just established within
the city. He was received by the ecclesiastics with bitter
denunciations. For a time, no one dared to acknowledge himself a
Protestant, though many Mohammedans called upon him, and seemed to
appreciate his very intelligent and gentlemanly conversation and
manners.
Subsequently a papal priest, to whom, in former years, he had given
a Bible, joined himself to the missionary, and patiently endured
severe persecution. But the most encouraging case was that of an
influential merchant named Meekha. He was originally an Armenian,
and, thirty years before had become a Papist, and carried over one
hundred houses with him. He was the champion of the papal party. His
conversion was on this wise. The priest just mentioned had sown much
Gospel truth among his disciples, and among them was a son-in-law of
Meekha. At length the old man, provoked by an instance of dishonesty
and falsehood in his bishop, and unable to read himself, sent for
his son-in-law to read to him the Gospel. The young man was kept
reading for three days, until the Gospels and Epistles were all
finished. Amazed to find his religion opposed by the whole spirit
and teachings of the divine oracles, Meekha sent for the priests and
they came. "Prove me your doctrines from the Bible," said he.
Convinced, from their manner of reply, that they had nothing to say,
he ceased from the worship of the Virgin, and declared himself a
Protestant; and his wife was as sincere and earnest as he. Though
father, mother, and three unmarried daughters were excommunicated,
and subjected to continued insults, their souls were overflowing
with joy and thankfulness that the Gospel had come to them.
Speaking of this family, Mr. Williams says: "I have never witnessed
such amazed eagerness as that with which, for the first time,
they comprehended that salvation is without money and without
price--absolutely free and gratuitous. It was to them _news_--good
news; and when I call to mind Meekha's impetuous temperament, and
see him listen with such docility to Christ's teaching, I cannot but
hope that, though imperfectly sanctified, the 'good work' is begun
in him, which God's grace will complete. He accepts no new truth
without a challenge, and nothing short of a 'Thus saith the Lord,'
will give it currency with him. At one of my evening lectures I
alluded to Isaiah's statement, 'All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags,' when two or three spoke up: 'What 's that?' On
repeating it they were incredulous, and demanded chapter and verse.
I gave it to them next day, and it has taken hold of them like iron.
I have seen Meekha since throw that verse into a crowd of opposers
with such force as to start them from their seats with an emphatic
'God forbid,' and the most positive denial that such a verse could
be in the Bible. When I turned to the passage, and put the book into
their hands that they might read it for themselves, they could not
believe their own eyes, but continued poring over it, reading
carefully from the head of the chapter; and this very day some of
them came in to ask what it meant, and so changed in their manner I
could hardly believe my eyes. Before, obstinate, dogged,
unreasonable; now, meek, docile, and asking what the will of the
Lord is. One said, 'That went like a dagger to my heart, and I slept
none all that night.' And when to-day, I turned to Rom. iii. 26,
Eph. ii. 8-9, and Rom. iv. 1-4, they listened as children. Truly the
word of the Lord _is_ a sharp sword, piercing to the heart."
Mr. Knapp's health forbidding a longer residence at Diarbekir, he
commenced, in May, 1858, a new station at Bitlis, a healthy place
several thousand feet above the level of the sea. Dr. and Mrs.
Haskell were with them during the latter half of the summer, and
spent the summer of 1859 at Mardin; but Mr. and Mrs. Marsh and Mrs.
Lobdell decided to remain at Mosul. In May, Mr. and Mrs. Marsh were
called to part with their second and only surviving child. A
fortnight later, Mrs. Marsh herself had a severe attack of fever,
but soon recovered. The fatal attack was three months later, and her
death occurred unexpectedly. The thermometer in the early part of
the night before, stood at 113º. During the day it was 120º; and on
the night of her death it was 100º on the roof, where they slept.
She had had a slight illness for a few days, and it now became a
burning fever, with delirium, and all remedies proved vain. She died
on the 12th of August, at the age of thirty-two, after a residence
of six years at Mosul, as an earnest and faithful laborer. Her
mother and her only sister had died before reaching the age of
thirty, and it is possible Mrs. Marsh might not have lived as long
in her native land, as she did at Mosul. "Yet it is probable," as
her husband wrote at the time, "that the heat, so unusually extreme,
cutting the leaves from the tree in our court by thousands, and
causing many natives of the country to fall dead by the roadside,
was the immediate occasion of her death."
Mrs. Lobdell found reason, in the necessities of her children, for
returning to America, and in April, 1860, she bade adieu to the
little band of women, who, for eight years, had sat at her feet to
learn of Jesus. She reached her native land in August, in company
with Mr. Marsh.
Mosul remained unoccupied during the summer, the heat at that season
being found too great for endurance; though the climate is agreeable
for nearly three fourths of the year. The summer retreat prepared by
Dr. Lobdell at Deira, near Amadiah, was distant seventy miles, or
four days' travel, and it required at least nine days to reach
Mardin.
There were but two or three places in Turkey where missionaries, up
to this time, had had such marked success as in Diarbekir. The
church, at the close of 1859, numbered sixty-one, and after the
April communion, seventy-three. Rarely did a communion pass without
some additions. Protestants were a recognized power among the
people, and their influence was extending. Books were eagerly sought
after and paid for. Illegal taxes had nearly ceased in the city
itself. After a weary struggle of nine years, the assessment of the
tax-roll for the Protestants was made upon a satisfactory plan,
which bid fair to be permanent. The commercial standing of the
Protestants was above that of any other sect, though there were no
wealthy men among them. But the increase of the congregation had
been retarded by the want of sufficient accommodations for public
worship. The lamented removal of Mr. Holmes, the English Consul, to
a more desirable consulate in European Turkey, while it was a great
loss to the mission, threw his house upon the market, and it was
purchased for a place of worship at less than half its cost. It
required only slight alterations, and could be indefinitely
enlarged. The members of the church subscribed a thousand dollars
towards its purchase, and a certain amount was granted by the Board.
The school for boys, and the one for girls, were both eminently a
success. At Cutterbul, half the village was Protestant and the rest
more than half so, and the place of prayer would not hold the
congregation.
In 1860, the stations of the Assyria Mission were brought within the
field of the Eastern Turkey Mission, and the Assyria Mission ceased
to have a separate existence.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE NESTORIANS.
1851-1857.
The return of Mr. Stoddard, accompanied by his wife and Mr. and Mrs.
Rhea, was mentioned in the first volume. He thus describes the
manner of his reception: "While crossing the plain of Oroomiah, we
arrived at a village twelve miles from the city, where a company of
our brethren and sisters, with their little ones and many of the
Nestorians, greeted us with tender emotions. A tent had been
pitched, and a breakfast prepared; and we all sat down on the grass,
under the grateful shade, to partake of the repast. Our hearts were
full. During the three hours which we spent at this village,
Nestorians of all classes, many of them our brethren in Christ, were
continually arriving; and when, soon after noon, we set out for the
city, our progress resembled more a triumphal procession than a
caravan of weary travellers. Every mile increased our numbers. Our
way was often almost blocked up by the people who came to meet us,
some on horseback, some on foot; bishops, priests, deacons, village
teachers, members of the seminary, with whom I had many times wept
and prayed, all pressing forward in eager haste to grasp our hands,
and swell the notes of welcome. Three years ago, they followed us
out of the city, holding our horses by the bridle, and begging us
not to leave them, while their mournful looks bespoke the sorrow of
their hearts. Now I was returning to them with restored health, to
identify my interests with theirs. I brought with me the salutations
of many thousand Christians in our native land, and was accompanied
into the harvest-field by new reapers. As I turned from thoughts of
the past, and looked on the animating scene around us, the contrast
almost overcome me."
This was in 1851. In October of the following year, Dr. and Mrs.
Perkins, going to meet Mr. and Mrs. Crane, and Sarah Stoddard, on
their way from Trebizond, experienced a severe affliction in the
death of their only surviving daughter, a very interesting girl. The
journey was expected to be of advantage to the health of Mrs.
Perkins and to their two children, Judith and Henry; and it was due
to the new-comers that some one, acquainted with the language and
country, should aid them through the long and tedious route from
Erzroom. After a ride of thirty miles, they were unexpectedly
exposed to a pestilential atmosphere at Khoy, where they spent the
night. All went well with them until they had crossed the plain of
Khoy, and the mountain beyond, and passed their last resting-place,
when the beloved daughter showed signs of cholera. They could not
rest there under the burning sun, and there was no water near; so
they were obliged to proceed three or four miles further, to the
Moslem village of Zorava. The nature of the disease was now
painfully certain. The Mohammedan villagers were terrified and
inhospitable. They would not even allow a morsel of bread to be sold
to the faithful Nestorians who accompanied the family, nor even
barley for their tired, hungry horses. And when the limbs of the
child were cold and stiffening under the power of the deadly
disease, they would not sell one stick of wood to warm water for
her; but again and again ordered the heart-stricken travellers to
leave the village with their dying child. As a further aggravation,
after the father had twice administered laudanum, the vial
containing the medicine disappeared from their tent, and could no
more be found. There were all the usual accompaniments of the
cholera, and in that high region the night air was cold. Collecting
dry weeds, they managed to kindle a fire, and heated a stone which
they placed at her feet.
The spirit of the child was quiet, and beautifully resigned to the
will of God. There had been no doubt as to her piety before her
sickness, and the whole scene was all that could have been expected
of an older person. At length the end came. "Breathing shorter and
shorter for fifteen or twenty minutes," writes her father, "she
gently slept, as we believe, in Jesus, at three o'clock on the
morning of September 4, 1852, aged twelve years and twenty-six
days."
The bereaved and afflicted family was now a hundred and forty miles
from home; but home was the place for her burial. The mother washed
the corpse with her own hands, and dressed it for the grave. As no
coffin could be obtained, the loved one was sewed in a strong
oriental felt of the size and form of a bed-quilt, and placed upon a
bed, and two willow sticks, cut from the margin of the brook, were
sewed upon the sides of the bed, and it was then bound to the back
of a faithful horse; the panic-stricken villagers calling upon them
all the while, "Depart, depart." With what different feelings were
they received on their return, by their large circle of weeping
friends! One of the Nestorians, who had accompanied the family,
standing by the grave, artlessly described to the Nestorians the
affecting scenes he had witnessed, and all were bathed in tears. "In
all the families of the village," wrote Miss Fidelia Fiske, "Judith
had taken a deep interest, and several of the middle-aged women had
been taught by her in the Sabbath-school. Indeed, she had greatly
endeared herself to all the scores and hundreds of Nestorians who
knew her, and was a universal favorite among the people. A Nestorian
of a distant village said, on hearing of her death, "There was none
like her,--so beautiful, so wise, so pious. She would pray like an
angel."[1]
[1] See _The Persian Flower; A Memoir of Judith Grant Perkins of
Oroomiah, Persia_.
The Gospel made its way among the Nestorians amid many
discouragements. Yet there was progress, Even in the mountains of
Koordistan, where the brethren could do little more than watch the
leadings of Providence, there was much that was hopeful. It was an
indication of promise, that the people of Memikan, the mountain
station, notwithstanding their sufferings for the sake of the
Gospel, did not falter in their adherence to it. Strangers, after
listening to the reading and reciting of the school children,
sometimes went away exclaiming, "Glory to God! There is nothing bad
in all this." Religious worship was well attended. Even in the busy
season, when the laborers were in their fields before dawn, and
worked till late, a goodly number attended the daily evening
service. Nor was it here, only, that a listening ear was found. In a
tour among some of the largest neighboring villages, the
missionaries were kindly received. Some sat from morning till the
setting of the sun, giving earnest heed to the preaching. Could the
people have been assured that they had nothing to fear from the
civil power, they would have braved their ecclesiastics. Even as it
was, the missionary pursued his work without molestation, and was
treated with uniform respect by the authorities.
On the plain of Oroomiah, there was more preaching than ever before,
and the line of demarkation between an evangelical church and a dead
Christianity, was becoming more and more distinct. Mar Yohannan
boldly discarded many customs of his Church, and then seemed
disposed to go as fast in the work of reformation as his people
could be induced to follow; and there was the same spirit among the
helpers of the mission.
The two seminaries were coming under a stricter discipline, and
aimed at a higher standard of scholarship. About half of the forty
students under Mr. Stoddard were hopefully pious, and some of them
gave high promise of usefulness. One was appointed to succeed the
bishop of the largest diocese in the province. Several were from
different mountain districts, and one was from the valley of the
Tigris.
The number in the female seminary had increased from forty to fifty,
and it was delightful to witness the intelligent zeal of some
teachers in the Sabbath-schools. The ten who graduated in March were
all hopefully pious, well educated, and quite refined, and most of
them were expected to become teachers in their own villages.
The description given by Mr. Stocking of a very aged priest, whom he
saw among the hills north of Gawar, encourages the belief that the
Holy Spirit sometimes makes the faintest rays of Gospel light
effectual to salvation. The man was nearly deaf, and bending under
the weight of a century or more, according to the statement of the
people, but was able to converse intelligently about events which
happened two or three generations before. "We were much surprised,"
writes Mr. Stocking, "at the correctness of his views in regard to
some of the cardinal doctrines of the Scriptures, and particularly
as to the necessity of an evangelical faith, in distinction from one
that was dead, and of the work of the Holy Spirit in renewing and
sanctifying believers. Though not remarkable for his learning, he
appears to have been taught by the great Teacher himself; for he had
never before seen a missionary. As I left him, to see him no more,
he affectionately took my hand, and said he had one request to
make, which was that we would remember him in our prayers at the
mercy-seat. He also requested a New Testament in the ancient and
modern Syriac, for his village, which we sent to him."
In August, 1851, Mr. Coan, accompanied by Priest Dunka and Deacons
John and Khamis, visited the districts of Jeloo, Bass, Tekhoma,
Tiary, and Diss, and discoursed to more than four thousand persons.
A part of this ground had never been trod before by a missionary.
The ecclesiastics were, as usual, the greatest opposers, but there
were two pleasing exceptions. In Alsan, a village of five hundred
souls, there was one priest who, at first, seemed reserved, but as
his prejudices were removed, he became, with his people, an
attentive listener. The missionaries tarried four or five hours,
preaching the Word to the hungry multitude. The people, in little
companies, conversed about what they had heard, and publicly
upbraided their priest for letting them remain in such ignorance. He
made humble confession, and expressed a desire to send his little
boy, a bright looking lad, to Oroomiah for instruction. At another
village, they found a decidedly evangelical priest. That his
influence over his large village was good was apparent in the quiet
and orderly behavior of the people, and their attention to the
Gospel. Indeed, they were accustomed to the word of exhortation
daily at their evening prayers. This priest had a small school every
winter, to which several lads resorted from neighboring districts.
A very different scene was witnessed in the village of Mar Ziah,
which was thronged with ecclesiastics who obtained their livelihood
by begging. "They were dressed," Mr. Coan writes concerning them,
"in scarlet and silk, and were exceedingly haughty in their bearing.
We met the people in the churchyard, but, after a few words, there
arose such a tumult as I hope never to see again. For an hour or
more, the place was like a pandemonium. Some wished to hear what we
had to say; but others, with savage fierceness, flew at them,
yelling at the top of their voices, and looking as if ready to drink
their blood. In the course of an hour or two their rage had spent
itself, and after a few words of solemn admonition, we left them."
At another village, scarcely three miles distant, where was no
priest, a few persons assembled in a room where the missionaries
stopped, and their solemn and tearful attention was very unlike the
noisy scene they had just left. One young man begged, with tears, to
receive a copy of the Gospel.
Nazee was one of three Tiary girls who came to Oroomiah after the
massacre of the mountain Nestorians, and in the seminary became
hopefully pious. She was now living at Chumba, and having heard of
the coming of her missionary friends, was standing on the bank of
the impetuous Zab, awaiting their arrival. There was no fording the
torrent, but the travellers ventured across on two single string
pieces, bending under them at every step. She greeted them joyfully,
and hastened to prepare a place for their lodging. While she was
gone, the Malek came and took them to his house. Nazee was
disappointed, but followed, eager to hear every word. During the
address to the villagers assembled on the roof, it was affecting to
see the eagerness with which she listened. Though others left she
could not leave, and not till near midnight did she bethink herself,
and apologize for keeping Mr. Coan up so late after a fatiguing
day's journey. She was a light in her village, by which the deeds of
the wicked had been reproved, and she had consequently suffered much
persecution. Some friends in America, interested in the account
which had been given of her while in the seminary, had sent her
articles of dress; but her neighbors assembled and maliciously tore
them into fragments before her eyes. She bore it meekly, and only
prayed for them. She expected fresh insults because of the kindness
shown her in the present visit. Long before light, on the day they
were to leave, she was with the visitors, anxious to improve the few
moments left for Christian conversation; and she followed them,
lonely and sad, to the river's side. There they kneeled by the
roaring stream, and commended her to the Great and Good Shepherd.
Mr. Stoddard mentions the visit of Mr. Khanikoff, a Russian
scientific gentleman, in the summer of 1852, to obtain information
concerning the elevations and climates of these districts. Lake
Oroomiah was ascertained to be about four thousand one hundred feet
above the ocean, and the city four thousand five hundred feet, the
plain sloping down gently towards the lake. Mount Seir rises two
thousand eight hundred and thirty feet above the city, and seven
thousand three hundred and thirty feet above the ocean; differing
not greatly, in real height, from the White Mountains in New
Hampshire. The mission residence, on the mountain side, is a
thousand feet above the city. The mountains of Koordistan, some of
which are capped with snow through all the year, often rise to the
height of twelve thousand feet, and one peak is supposed to be
fourteen thousand feet above the sea. Mr. Khanikoff afterwards
became Russian Consul General at Tabriz, and proved himself a
sincere and valuable friend to the mission.
Failure of health constrained Mr. Stocking to return, with his
family, to the United States, and he was never able to resume his
missionary labors. Since his lamented decease, a son has taken his
place among the Nestorians.
It should be gratefully acknowledged, that violence towards
missionaries has almost everywhere been the exception, and not the
rule. It has been so even in Koordistan. But Mr. Cochran, while
travelling with several Nestorians through Nochea, was assailed by
five robbers in the employ of a Koordish chief, named Seyed Khan
Bey. As Moslems the assailants were of course reckless of the life
of Christians; and, for a time, the party were apprehensive of being
murdered. But at last, while the freebooters were intent on their
prey, the company fled up the steep mountain side, leaving their
effects. Their horses were afterwards recovered.
The year 1854 opened with a revival in both the seminaries. At the
commencement of it, scarcely half the students in either of the
institutions gave evidence of piety, which was an unusually small
proportion. The thought of this, and especially that several of the
senior class were about going forth into the world without Christ,
led to earnest prayer, and to efforts which were followed by an
immediate blessing. The special religious interest continued several
weeks, and extended to the large village of Geog Tapa, but the
results appear not to have been distinctly reported.
The eighteen young men who graduated in 1854, were of higher promise
than any previous class. Several of the performances at their
graduation were very gratifying, particularly the valedictory
addresses, pronounced by a young man of eighteen, which would not
suffer in matter or manner, Dr. Perkins thought, by the side of
similar addresses at any American college. Nearly all were hopefully
pious, and were returning to homes widely distant from each other.
In some parts of the field there was much enthusiasm. In Geog Tapa,
for example, about seventy adults had commenced learning to read.
The mode pursued there and elsewhere, was to induce teachers,
scholars in the village schools, and other readers to teach adults,
by the promise of a Bible, Testament, or other book, if they were
successful. At an examination, the forenoon was devoted to the
girls' school, taught by two graduates of the female seminary, and
the afternoon to the Sabbath-school. Such a crowd of Nestorians was
present, that it was necessary in the afternoon, to meet in a grove.
The first class examined in the Sabbath-school consisted of men from
twenty to seventy years of age, headed by the chief man of the
village. Then followed a class of women, fifty or sixty in number,
from forty to fifty years of age. These classes, not being able to
read, had been taught orally. Next came a class of men, about twenty
in number, and a class of twenty-three women, who had recently
learned to read. These had been taught individually by boys
connected with the village schools, each of whom received a copy
of the Old Testament as a reward. On the plain of Oroomiah
seventy-three free schools were reported, with more than a thousand
boys, and one hundred and fifty girls and women as pupils.
In Gawar, two schools embraced fourteen boarding and thirty-two day
scholars. Fourteen of these were from Jeloo, Bass, and Tekhoma
districts. Among them were four deacons, four from the family of the
bishop of Jeloo, and nearly all were from prominent families. They
were wild mountaineers, and in some thing's difficult to manage, but
they acquired knowledge rapidly and with delight; and the constant
study of the Bible wrought a perceptible change in them. In the
Bootan districts, hitherto inaccessible to missionary influence,
there was now a strong desire for schools, and for the labors of
evangelical teachers.
The New Testament in the modern language was beginning to be
circulated among the people; a much enlarged edition of the hymn
book had been issued, and a volume, entitled "Scripture Facts," had
a wide circulation. Mr. Perkins had completed a translation of
Doddridge's "Rise and Progress," and was engaged in translating
Barth's "Church History."
Mr. Crane died at Gawar on the 27th of August, 1854, at the
commencement of a career of bright promise. So ardently was he
beloved by the people there, that at the funeral service the whole
assembly repeatedly broke forth into weeping. The afflicted widow
was called, within a week of her husband's death, to mourn also the
loss of a beloved son, and removed to Mount Seir, where she was a
valued helper in the mission. She returned home in 1857. Mr. Rhea
and Miss Harris were united in marriage in October, and spent the
winter at Gawar.
The audacity of the papal missionaries, backed by the French
embassy, was marvelous. The American mission having been importuned
to open a school in the large village of Khosrova, in Salmas, where
popery predominated, two young men, graduates of the seminary, were
successively sent thither. The first was several times driven away,
through the instigation of the Lazarists, and those who were
friendly to the mission also became objects of persecution. The
second was assailed by the mob, headed, by the French chief of the
Lazarists, and by a bishop. These two men, with their own hands,
threw him into a canal, and called on the people to drown or kill
him. He was mercifully delivered, but narrowly escaped with his
life. The matter being reported to Mr. Abbott, the English Consul at
Tabriz, the chief of the Lazarists, with some fifteen of his
satellites, went thither, and apprehending a cool reception from the
Consul, whose protection the Lazarists enjoyed in common with the
American missionaries, he applied for assistance to the Russian
Consul, proposing to transfer his passports to his hands. Mr.
Khanikoff refused, and severely rebuked them for their conduct. Mr.
Abbott obtained an order from the Governor of Azerbijan to lay heavy
fines on the Mussulman deputies of Khosrova for withholding
protection, and on the principal papists for their acts of violence,
with the requirement of bonds for future good behavior.
Messrs. Abbott and Stevens, English consuls at Tabriz and Teheran,
kindly exerted their protecting influence, and Mr. Cochran
subsequently spent a week at Khosrova, and had his house thronged
every evening with from fifty to a hundred and fifty people, eager
to listen to the preaching of the Word. The ecclesiastics raged, and
stirred up the agent of the master of the village (who lives in
Tabriz) to endeavor to drive our brother away; but the attempt
failed. Sixty houses gave their names and seals, wishing to become
Protestants. They were exceedingly desirous of having a missionary,
and even threatened, good-naturedly, to take one by force to live
among them.
The reader may remember what Dr. Lobdell said of the course of this
mission in respect to the forming of distinct churches.[1] Dr.
Perkins, writing in May, 1855, gives the following account of the
progress of the reformation towards that result: "Our communion
occurred about two weeks ago, and nearly one hundred communicants
sat down to the table of the Lord, including our mission. It was a
solemn and delightful season. Among the native brethren present were
Mar Yohannan and Mar Elias; and most of the others, of both sexes,
were educated and quite intelligent; but, what is of far greater
importance, they were, as we trust, true Christians. It would be
easy at once to triple the number from those who, in the judgment of
charity, are the children of God; but we think it better to
introduce them somewhat gradually and cautiously to the ordinance;
while, at the same time, we would not too long allow any of the
sheep and lambs of Christ's flock to suffer for want of this
important means of grace. It is exerting a powerful influence on
those who participate in it, and on many others; and it cannot fail
ultimately to produce the effect either of redeeming the ordinance
from abuses, as administered in Nestorian churches, or drawing off
the pious part of the people to a separate observance of it. We are
quite willing that the scriptural administration of the ordinance to
the pious Nestorians should work out either of these results, in the
legitimate time and way, or both of them, as the Lord shall direct."
[1] Chapter xxvii.
Some months later, notice was given that, in the future, instead of
personal invitations, the door would be thrown open for all who
should consider themselves worthy candidates. Uniting with the
missionaries would thus seem more like a voluntary and public
profession of religion. None were to be received, however, to the
communion without a private examination. On one sacramental occasion
about one hundred united with the missionaries, and more than thirty
of them for the first time. A large number were also present as
spectators, many of them deeply interested.
Deacon Guwergis of Tergawer, the well known "Mountain Evangelist,"
died on the 12th of March, called suddenly from earnest and most
useful labors to his reward.
The course of the Persian government towards the mission and its
friends, at this time, was very unsatisfactory. Asker Khan, a
general in the Persian army, was appointed to investigate the truth
of certain charges brought by the papists against the American
missionaries, and early evinced a most unfriendly feeling towards
them, and a partiality for their accusers. Indeed, he took no pains
to conceal his hostility, and did all he could to stop the schools
and other evangelizing agencies. But the missionaries had the aid,
as far as aid could be rendered, of the Hon. C. A. Murray, the
English Ambassador, and of Mr. Abbott at Tabriz, and Mr. Stevens at
Teheran, and also of Mr. Khanikoff, the Russian Consul General at
Tabriz. The disturbed state of political relations, and especially
the want of harmony between the English and Persian governments,
made it impossible for these friends to accomplish what they desired
to do in their behalf. After withdrawing from Teheran, Mr. Murray
visited Oroomiah, and the correspondence which then passed between
him and the missionaries, showed his desire to aid both the
suffering Nestorians and the missionary work. In his absence, the
Russian Consul General became their protector,--"at first," as he
said, "unofficially, but with very good heart; and officially,
whenever he should have the right so to do." It is remarkable, and
reveals a protecting Providence, that no department of labor, with
the exception of village schools, very materially suffered at this
time.
In February, 1856, there began to be indications of the special
influences of the Holy Spirit in some of the villages occupied by
native helpers; and very soon there were marked indications of
another work of grace in the two seminaries. The feeling in both the
schools became very general. The voice of prayer was heard on every
side; and a large proportion of those who were not pious, appeared
to be seeking in earnest the way of life. On the 30th of March, Mr.
Cochran reported that, with the exception of those most recently
admitted, nearly all were hoping that they had passed from death
unto life. In the villages, also, there were cases of peculiar
interest.
Mr. and Mrs. Rhea were alone in Gawar. In the autumn it was deemed
advisable, in view of the insurrectionary state of Koordistan, that
they should withdraw for a time. They at first felt it their duty to
remain; but the progress of events soon made it plain that Gawar was
an unsuitable place for a lone lady, especially when winter should
render it impossible for her to remove. Mr. Rhea, while at Oroomiah,
continued, as far as possible, to superintend the labors of the
native helpers in Memikan, and he returned the next summer, with
Mrs. Rhea, to their mountain home. The Koordish chieftains, who had
proudly boasted, that they would put their heels upon the necks of
the poor Christians, were soon fleeing in dismay before the
advancing Ottomans.
Mr. Stoddard wrote, in September, 1856, that for six months, in
consequence of the withdrawal from Persia of the English Ambassador,
the missionaries had been without any political protection, and at
the mercy of a hostile government, yet there was perhaps never a
time when their work presented a more cheering aspect on the whole.
The seminaries, being on the mission premises, suffered less
annoyance than did the village schools, which were scattered widely
over the plain. The teachers in these schools had many of them been
educated in the seminaries, and were altogether superior as a class
to what they were a few years before; and thus the standard of
instruction was raised, and more religious influence was exerted
over the pupils. Nor was there ever a time when more people were
brought within the sound of the gospel, or when there were more
stated attendants on preaching. And much use was made of the Monthly
Concert on the first Monday of the month. The whole day was devoted
to the natives. "Early Monday morning," writes Mr. Stoddard, "some
of our friends arrive from the nearer villages, and others are
continually dropping in during the forenoon. At about the dinner
hour, nearly all are assembled. We occupy considerable time with
them in private, or in little companies, each one attending to the
helpers under his care, in hearing the monthly reports of their
labors and trials, their hopes and fears, and intermingling the
reports with religious conversation and prayer. At three in the
afternoon we assemble, and spend an hour or two in public religious
exercises. In the evening a similar meeting is held, when the
natives not only speak freely, but often occupy nearly the whole
time, leaving the brother who has charge of the meeting little to
do. It very often happens, also, that after the meeting has been
together two hours, there are several who feel that they want to be
heard, if but for a few moments." These monthly occasions Mr.
Stoddard enjoyed exceedingly, and came to look upon the "First
Monday" as the great day of the month.
In October, Messrs. Stoddard and Cochran and Miss Fiske made a tour
of three weeks in the mountains of Koordistan. At Gawar they were
joined by Mr. and Mrs. Rhea, and visited the districts of Ishtazin
and Bass. From that point Messrs. Cochran and Rhea extended their
journey to Amadiah, and returned to their party at Tekhoma, a week
later. Thence they passed through the districts of Tâl, and up the
Zab to Gawar. The fact that American ladies traversed in safety the
gorges and precipices of central Koordistan, was an encouragement to
native helpers and their families to reside in those difficult
regions; but such tours were too fatiguing, probably, to be often
repeated.
The object of the visit to Amadiah was to make further explorations
with reference to the formation of a station on the western side of
the mountains. The mass of the people were on that side, and could
not be advantageously reached from Oroomiah. The eastern district
was fast becoming supplied with pious helpers, and it seemed very
desirable for that section of the country to share in this
initiatory work, before anything occurred to hinder it. The
convictions of the brethren as to the desirableness of commencing a
station there were much strengthened, and Mr. Cochran offered his
own services for that purpose.
November was ushered in by an event deeply interesting to the
mission families; a public profession of religion by the three
eldest children of the mission; and hope was entertained as to the
piety of some of the younger.
Asker Khan, agent of the Persian government at Oroomiah, now became
more troublesome than ever, resorting to every form of annoyance in
his power. At the instance of Mr. Khanikoff, Dr. Wright and Mr.
Stoddard visited him at Tabriz, to see what could be done to induce
the government to check the doings of its agent. But in this they
failed, though the Consul did all he could to assist them. Even the
Turkish Consul volunteered his aid, but almost in vain. Through Mr.
Khanikoff, they learned that the orders from Teheran to the Kaim
Makam required him to forbid the labors of the missionaries in the
province of Salmas; to see that no school was established save in
the two places where missionaries resided; and that the number of
the schools should not exceed thirty, nor the number of pupils one
hundred and fifty. He was to require that no girl receive
instruction, at all events, in the same school with boys. The
missionaries were not to induce any person to change his religion,
and were to enter into a written engagement not to send forth
preachers. Books conflicting with existing religions in Persia were
not to be printed, and native teachers and preachers were to be
approved by Mar Yoosuf and Mar Gabriel, two unprincipled and bitter
opposers of evangelical religion. Such were the orders issued, it is
believed at the instigation of the French, by the Prime Minister of
Persia, and Messrs. Stoddard and Wright, unable to secure even delay
in carrying them out, returned to Oroomiah. The mission now, at the
suggestion of the Consul, made a formal application for protection
to the Russian Ambassador at Teheran.
Asker Khan was assassinated six days after the return of the
brethren from Tabriz, by a Koordish chief at Mergawer. But his
coadjutor, Asker Aly Khan, governor of the Nestorians, pursued the
same persecuting course, urged on by the Kaim Makam at Tabriz. The
career of the Kaim Makam, however, was now short, for in January,
1857, the populace of that city, exasperated by his oppression, rose
in a body, broke into his palace, plundered it, and compelled him to
flee for his life. He was subsequently summoned to Teheran, and on
his approach to that city, was stripped of his honors, mounted on a
pack saddle, and thus led to prison, while a fine was imposed on him
of a hundred thousand tomans.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE NESTORIANS.
1857-1863.
The sojourn of three weeks at Tabriz had been a source of constant
anxiety to Messrs. Stoddard and Wright, and the former had
premonitory symptoms of fever on his way home. But he was not
apprehensive on that account, and finding Mr. Cochran and two of the
native teachers disabled by sickness, he devoted much time and labor
to the Seminary, and to the correspondence which had accumulated in
his absence. Yet fever was threatening, and on the 22d of December,
ten days after his return, he became decidedly ill. On the 25th he
was confined to his bed, where he lay for two and thirty days, while
the fever ran its fatal course. He died in great peace January 26,
1857, in the thirty-ninth year of his age. The public funeral
services were in Syriac, and his remains were borne to their last
resting-place by graduates of the seminary, whose conversion dated
back to the first revival.
The mind of Mr. Stoddard was cast in a fine mould. The older members
of the Board remember him at the Annual Meeting in Pittsfield in
1849. My own thought at the time was, that were an angel present in
human form, his appearance and deportment would be much like those
of Mr. Stoddard. A calm, seraphic joy shone in his face, and all
that he said and did was just what all delighted to hear and see.
His presence did much to give a character to that meeting. Mr.
Stoddard had a frail body, and an almost feminine grace of person,
like the popular impression of that disciple who leaned on the bosom
of his Lord; but, like that disciple, he had strength of principle
and inflexibility of purpose. His consecration to the missionary
work was no sudden impulse. It was the result of repeated, and
sometimes unexpected, meetings and conferences with Dr. Perkins,
whose sagacious eye had marked him for a missionary. But the
question on
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