History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions Volume I Part 17

Several of the converts in the seminary for boys having rooms near Mr. Stoddard's study, he could hear their voices from morning till night, as they pleaded in prayer, and their pet.i.tions came evidently from the depths of the soul. Their natural love for vivid metaphor, combined with much ardor, gave great vividness to their prayers.

They begged that the dog might have a single crumb from the table of his master; at another time, they were smiting their b.r.e.a.s.t.s by the side of the publican; at another, they were prodigals, hungry, naked, and far from their father's house; again, they sink in the sea, and cry out, "Lord save me, I perish;" again, poor, diseased, outcast lepers, they came to the great Physician for a cure. Those who had given themselves to Christ, now built their house on the Rock of Ages, while the waters were roaring around them; now they washed the feet of their Redeemer with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of their head; and now, having become soldiers of the cross, they planted the blood-stained banner in the inner citadel of their souls.

Before the end of May, the boys' seminary was removed to Seir, to obviate the necessity of a long vacation, which might be injurious to the pupils in their peculiar state of feeling. Mr. Stoddard was often delighted, in walking about the mountains, to find pupils praying in secluded spots. A Mussulman once fell in with a pupil thus engaged, and having never before seen a Nestorian praying in secret, he stopped in silent wonder. The young man, on being asked what he was doing, commenced teaching the Mussulman how to pray, and so deeply interested him, that they kneeled down together, and the prayer was renewed in the Turkish language, that it might be intelligible to the stranger.

The estimated number of converts in the two seminaries, at the close of 1846, was fifty. The general aspect of Geog Tapa, containing a population of about a thousand, was much changed. Almost every one who had come to years of discretion, gave good attention to the preaching of the Gospel, and as many as fifty seemed to be true disciples. Cases of hopeful conversion were found in eight or ten other villages on the plain. Nor was the awakening restricted to the plain. Of one hundred and fifty hopeful converts, twelve were at Hakkie, and ten at Gawar, fifty miles further west, and both mountain villages.

An edition of the New Testament, with the ancient and modern Syriac in parallel columns, was printed near the close of 1846. The value to the Nestorians of having the Scriptures in their spoken language, cannot be estimated. The translation was made by Dr. Perkins from the original Greek, and the type was that made by Mr. Breath. Dr.

Perkins entered at once upon a translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. Among the books that had been recently printed, was a new and enlarged edition of the Nestorian Hymn-book. The hymns were sung in all the social religious meetings of the Nestorians, and in some of their churches, and with most happy effect. The sentiments of the hymns, and much of their language, entered largely into the prayers of the people. The hymns were also committed to memory by not a few, who were unable to read.

Ill health obliged Mr. and Mrs. Holladay to visit their native land in the spring of this year, and they were not able to resume their connection with the mission. The Rev. Joseph G. Cochran and wife, and Miss Mary Susan Rice, embarked for Oroomiah in June, 1847.

The cholera, in its progress from the east, reached the plain of Oroomiah in the autumn of 1846, and about two thousand persons died in the city. An interesting account of the pestilence by Dr. Wright, as it came under his observation, may be found in the "Missionary Herald" for 1847.1

1 _Missionary Herald_, 1847, pp. 154-157.

Among the noticeable occurrences of the year 1847, was the visit of Dr. Wright, to Bader Khan Bey, on the same errand which took Dr.

Grant to him three years before. The request came through Nrllah Bey and the governor of Oroomiah, and the mission advised him to go, as such a visit might open the way for the Gospel into the mountains. Mr. Breath was requested to accompany him. They took with them deacon Tamo, who was a subject of the recent revival, and deacon Yoosuph, an a.s.sistant in the medical department. Leaving Oroomiah on the 4th of May, they reached Julamerk, the home of Nrllah Bey, in five days; and in his absence, were cordially welcomed by his nephew, Suleiman Bey, and other relatives. They were detained there thirteen days by a report, that the mountains beyond were covered with snow. The Emir was at home the last three days, and soon became familiar and kind. Two days from Julamerk, they were refreshed by a bath in a hot sulphur spring, admirably suited for the purpose. Four days more brought them to the residence of Bader Khan Bey. There had been a wonderful change in the mountains since Dr. Grant's first entrance. Our travellers crossed the wild central regions of Koordistan with no fear of robbers. The princ.i.p.al reason for this was doubtless the character and energy of Bader Khan Bey's government; which extended from the Persian line to Mesopotamia, and from the neighborhood of Diarbekir to that of Mosul. Nearly all the chiefs in northern Koordistan came to pay their respects to him while the missionaries were there, bringing valuable presents. Even the Hakkary Bey, though higher in rank, and once more powerful than he, seemed to feel himself honored in his presence. In the wildest parts of Koordistan, our travellers often slept in the open air, their horses let loose to graze around them during the night, and their luggage without a guard; yet nothing was stolen. In most parts of Turkey and Persia, such a course would not have been safe.

They spent four weeks with the chief. During the last two, the Hakkary chief was there also, and the demeanor of both was kind and respectful from first to last. Dr. Wright was every day engaged professionally among the sick in the Khan's family and retinue. He also introduced the vaccine matter, of which they had never heard before. Nrllah Bey was unwilling, for some reason, that they should return through Tiary and Tehoma. They therefore took a northern route by Bashkallah, a fortress about thirty miles northeast of Julamerk, and reached Oroomiah, July 3, after an absence of two months.

The Nestorians within the range of their observations manifested simplicity and readiness to receive instruction, but were in danger from the inroads of Rome.

It appears to have been the intention of the Turkish government in 1847, doubtless through the influence of the English Amba.s.sador at Constantinople, to restore the Nestorian Patriarch to his native regions, and const.i.tute him the civil head of his people; and while at Mosul, he was invited to the seat of government for that purpose.

Distrusting the motives of the Porte, he fled to Oroomiah, where he arrived in June. It was a kind Providence that delayed his coming until there were no longer grounds for dissatisfaction arising from members of his family being in the employ of the mission. There were indeed ill disposed Nestorians, who were always ready to fill the ears of the Patriarch with insinuations against the mission. Among these were two of his own brothers, the least respectable portion of his family. But there were others who were watchful to correct misrepresentations, and to give him right views of the results of the mission, and of its doctrines. Among these were two of his brothers, deacon Isaac and deacon Dunka, whom he held in high esteem.

"These brothers," writes Mr. Stocking in July, 1847, "have appeared truly friendly for two years, and disposed, to the full extent of their influence, to aid us in our work. Both have been regular attendants on our preaching; and, though not pious, they maintain decidedly evangelical views in regard to the doctrines of grace.

Deacon Isaac especially, one of the most talented of the Nestorians, is always ready, before the Patriarch and all others, boldly to advocate the doctrine of justification by faith through grace alone.

He has studied critically, and appears to understand, as well as an unconverted man can, the book of Romans; without the study of which, he has been heard to remark, no one can understand what Christianity really is. We have been interested to learn, through our native helpers, that these brothers have voluntarily acted in concert, one or both never failing to be with the Patriarch whenever there was any one present to a.s.sail us and our work, ready to confront them to their faces, and repel all false charges."

The Patriarch received priests Eshoo, Dunka, Abraham, and John, who called to obtain his cooperation, with apparent cordiality, and gave his full consent to their preaching in all the dioceses. He told them that his letter from Mosul, forbidding preaching and schools, was written through the importunity of Mr. Ra.s.sam. He spent a month at Seir, where he had much friendly intercourse with the missionaries. He even invited Dr. Perkins to preach in his tent, and Messrs. Wright and Stoddard led in prayer, before and after the sermon, while the Patriarch himself p.r.o.nounced the benediction at the close. The hymns sung on this occasion were from the new Nestorian Hymnbook.

The Patriarch's friendly deportment continued till some time in April, 1848, when he threw off the mask, if he had worn one, and took the stand of open and decided opposition. This was not wholly unexpected, and while it was matter for regret, it did not occasion much alarm. His power to do harm had been greatly circ.u.mscribed by the providential embarra.s.sments of his civil and ecclesiastical relations; by the extensive prevalence of evangelical truth among the Nestorians; by their friendliness, and the good will of the Persian government towards the mission; and by the number, standing, and influence of the religious among his people. His first unfriendly act he concealed from our brethren, but it was made known to them by the British Consul at Tabriz. It was a formal communication to the Russian Consul at that place, designed to prejudice him against the American missionaries, of whom his Emba.s.sy was the nominal protector. The Consul made no response to this. The first open attack was on the seminary under the care of Mr.

Stoddard. The Patriarch next endeavored to withdraw the native a.s.sistants from the missionaries; at one time calling into exercise all his powers of persuasion, and at another uttering the severest threats. Though his people were deriving great advantages, in many ways, from the educational system introduced by the mission, he recklessly determined to deprive them of it, without providing anything to supply its place. He ordered the leading men of Geog Tapa to break up the schools in that village, and received a respectful but decided refusal. The priest of Charbush was ordered to suspend his school, but declined. The Patriarch came to that village soon after, and his servants, meeting the priest in the street, beat him severely and wounded him. Those same servants returning to the city intoxicated, entered the mission premises, and fell to beating Mar Yohannan and his brother Joseph, and priest Dunka, who happened to be sitting within the gate. The Governor at once interfered. At that juncture, an order arrived from the Heir Apparent, the ruler of Azerbijan, directing the Mohammedan authorities to allow no one to molest the missionaries, or any one in their employment. In September, the Patriarch sought the intervention of the chief Doctor of the Mohammedan law against the mission. It so happened that the missionaries were paying their respects to the Moolah, at the very time when the Patriarch called, with a large retinue of Nestorians, on this business. The Moslem doctor made him a public and mortifying reply: "These gentlemen," he said, "are peaceable men; the Mohammedans respect them, and are pleased with them. Why are you falling out with them? You, who are Christians, ought to respect them even more than the Mohammedans."

For a time the Patriarch and the Jesuits, both aiming at the overthrow of the mission, were in practical combination. As a necessary means to this end, both wished to expel from office Dawood Khan, the Christian Governor and civil protector of the Nestorians of that province; and the Mohammedan n.o.bles were in sympathy with them in this, as that dignitary stood in the way of their exactions.

But this political alliance, though at first promising success both to the Patriarch and the Jesuits, in the end led to the signal overthrow of both. It was stated to the mission by Mr. Stevens, the English Consul, as a well ascertained fact, that Mar s.h.i.+mon had united his interests with the French Jesuits, and that they had strong hope of making use of him to cast their net over his people.1 Up to this time, the mission had not applied to any European functionary for interference in their troubles with Mar s.h.i.+mon. Nor did they now; but Mr. Stevens, hearing of his persecuting course, took up the matter of his own accord, gave the information as above stated, and befriended the missionaries in various ways. The Patriarch having declared, that he had the countenance and support of the Russian Consul, that official wrote sharply rebuked him for so doing. The four bishops of Oroomiah and nearly all the priests and deacons, with many of the leading Nestorians in the province, now united in a representation to the Persian Government, highly commending the character, objects, and labors of the mission. It is recorded, that the converted Nestorians also, with scarce an exception, stood firmly by the mission, in the face of trials and reproaches; and the same was true of many who made no pretensions to piety.

1 _Missionary Herald_, 1849, p. 30.

News of the death of the King arrived at Oroomiah on the 14th of September. He was succeeded by his eldest son, a young man of twenty years, who for the last year had been Prince Governor of Azerbijan.

In Persia, the death of the King interrupts for a time the regular transaction of public business.

An immediate effect of the news was to displace the Governor of Oroomiah, Yahyah Khan, with whom Mar s.h.i.+mon had been forming an alliance, to strengthen him in his persecutions.

Through the friendly, but unsolicited agency of the English Consul, five of the most prominent of Mar s.h.i.+mon's coadjutors were put under heavy bonds in no way to aid or abet him again in similar proceedings. Should they violate their written engagements to the authorities, they would expose themselves to severe corporal punishment and heavy fines.

Another requisition from the government was, that the two servants who had entered the mission premises, and beaten and insulted several of the ecclesiastics, should be taken to that same inclosure, and be bastinadoed to the satisfaction of the mission.

Only one of the two could be found. He was brought thither, and laid upon the pavement with his feet tied to a pole, and a large bunch of rods by his side; and the missionaries were requested to come and see that due punishment was inflicted. But they, greatly to the satisfaction of the crowd of Nestorians who had a.s.sembled to witness the punishment, complied with the earnest entreaties of the culprit to excuse the crime he had committed, and he was at once released.

The repeated mention of Suleiman Bey's friendly attentions to Dr.

Grant, must have interested the reader in his behalf. But we are now obliged to place him among the persecutors of the Lord's people.

Tamo was teacher in the male seminary for about ten years, and became hopefully pious in the revival of 1846. He accompanied Dr.

Wright and Mr. Breath in their visit to Bader Khan. His family resided in the mountain district of Gawar, within the limits of Turkey. Being fleet, athletic, and capable of great endurance, he was well fitted for a mountain evangelist. After an extended preaching tour in the summer of 1848, he spent some time at his mountain home. The Bishop of Gawar had received a charge from Mar s.h.i.+mon to ruin him, and made complaint against him to Suleiman Bey.

He was seized by that chief, heavily fined, and his life threatened.

But Suleiman Bey was taken, meanwhile, a prisoner by the Turks.

Afterwards, Tamo, while on his return to Oroomiah with two of his brothers and a nephew, all members of the seminary, was attacked in the night by a party of ruffian Koords, also incited by the Patriarch, who beat all the company with clubs, and called to each other to "kill them." Friendly Koords came to their rescue, but not until they had been stripped of nearly all their clothing and suffered cruelly from the hands of the barbarians.

In the year 1848, Bader Khan Bey, failing in one of his favorite night attacks on the Turkish army, was taken prisoner in his own castle of Dergooleh, and placed, as such, on one of the islands of the Grecian Archipelago.

Nrllah Bey, also, some time in 1849, was driven from his stronghold at Julamerk, and fled from castle to castle, till he also was taken captive by the Turks, whom he had aided to destroy the Nestorians, and went into captivity, far from the scenes of his former power. Suleiman Bey, as already stated, was taken captive while cruelly persecuting deacon Tamo, and died at Erzroom, while on his way to Constantinople.1

1 _Missionary Herald_, 1850, p. 96.

CHAPTER XX.

THE NESTORIANS.

1848-1852.

The health of Mr. Stoddard became so prostrated, early in the summer of 1848, as to leave no hope of his recovery without a change of climate. At Trebizond, on his way home, he and his family were subjected to a quarantine of eight days. His wife and children were then in good health, and they had no reason to apprehend cholera there, as it pa.s.sed beyond that place westward. But it returned, and Mrs. Stoddard was one of its victims. The death of this excellent woman was a grievous loss, not only to her husband and infant children, but to the mission. The nurse also sickened of the same disease, while on the voyage to Constantinople, and died soon after her arrival; and it was a remarkable Providence that spared the enfeebled and overtasked husband and father. But he lived to serve Christ in his native land, and afterwards again among the Nestorians. The Rev. George W. Coan and wife joined the mission in the autumn of 1849.

Mr. Cochran succeeded Mr. Stoddard in charge of the male seminary.

Twelve had gone from the inst.i.tution, and most of them were exerting a good Christian influence. The new scholars, as a consequence of these village schools, were older and more advanced than their predecessors had been. The thirty-two schools contained five hundred and ninety-eight pupils, of whom one hundred and twenty-five were girls. Twelve of the teachers were priests, and about half of them would have been welcomed into New England churches. The female seminary, a most valuable inst.i.tution, was under the care of Misses Fiske and Rice.

Mar s.h.i.+mon returned to the mountains early in 1849, though not without apprehension of being sent into exile, as the Koordish chieftains had been.

Hearing that the good seed sown by Dr. Grant and his a.s.sociates at Mosul was giving promise of a harvest, the mission deemed it expedient for Dr. Perkins and Mr. Stocking to visit that city, preaching the Gospel as they went. Mar Yohannan and deacons Isaac and Tamo went with them.1 They were hospitably entertained by Mr.

Ra.s.sam, the English Consul at Mosul, during the eleven days of their visit. Many of the Mosulians were thought to have come under evangelical influences. Some of them were much enlightened, and a few were regarded as truly pious. All would gladly have welcomed a Protestant missionary to reside among them. These were chiefly Jacobites, but a few were Papists. The mountain districts were found to be accessible to the Gospel; though everywhere they heard of messengers and letters from the Patriarch, warning the people against them as deceivers, and particularly against deacon Isaac, his brother, who, he said, had become "English." Nevertheless they were treated in all places with kindness, and found attentive listeners to their preaching.

1 For a full account of this tour by Dr. Perkins, see _Missionary Herald_ for 1850, pp. 53-61, and 83-97.

The first revival of religion, already described, was in 1846; the second was in 1849; and there was a third in 1850. The severe trials of the years 1847 and 1848 seem to have produced in the mission a subdued feeling, and unusual earnestness in prayer. This resulted in the revival of 1849.

In the seminary for boys, the converts of the previous revival were, for two or three days after this began, the subjects of intense heart-searchings, and of piercing compunctions for their backslidings. This was not less true of the more devoted Christians, than of others. The irreligious members of the seminary were also deeply moved; and there was a similar experience in the girls'

seminary. Geog Tapa again shared largely in the spiritual blessings of a revived religious feeling. In the village of Seir, hardly a person was unaffected. In Degala, Charbush, Ardeshai, and other places, there were large and attentive congregations, and many gave delightful evidence of having pa.s.sed from death unto life. A vacation occurred in the male seminary, and pious students labored with great zeal and success in the houses of the people. Deacon Isaac had been known for many years as an evangelical man and a friend of the mission, but now he gave good evidence of conversion, and the pious natives beheld the change in him with wonder and thanksgiving. Mar Yohannan had never before given satisfactory evidence of a thorough change of heart. He now made full confession of his sins as a man, and of his unfaithfulness as a bishop. The revival was marked by a deep sense of the lost condition of men by nature, by a vivid sense of the evil of sin, by an intelligent and cordial embrace of salvation as the gift of sovereign grace, by a hearty self-consecration to the service of Christ, by earnest desires for the salvation of others, and by a remarkable quickening of the moral and intellectual powers.

One of the most noted among the native evangelists at this time, was deacon Guwergis of Tergawar. Before conversion in 1846, he was as wild and wicked as a Koord. In the autumn of 1845, he brought his eldest daughter, then twelve years of age, to Oroomiah, and begged Miss Fiske to receive her into the seminary. She consented reluctantly, being painfully impressed by the gross avarice and selfishness of the father, who even asked permission to take away with him the clothes she had on. He came again in February, with his belt of ammunition, his dagger at his side, and his gun thrown over his shoulder. Many of the pupils were then weeping over their sins, among them his own daughter, and the teacher felt that the wolf had come into the fold. Guwergis ridiculed the anxiety of the girls for their souls till his daughter, distressed by his conduct, asked him to go alone with her to pray. He went and repeated his form in ancient Syriac, while she, in her native tongue, poured forth her soul in earnest prayer, first for herself, and then for her father.

When he heard her say, "Save, O save my father, going down to destruction," as he afterwards confessed, he raised his hand to strike her. Sabbath morning found him toiling to prevent others from coming to Christ. At noon, Miss Fiske went to his room, and was received with sullen rudeness, but he broke down under her affectionate and faithful appeals, and retired to pray. He soon entered the place of wors.h.i.+p. His gun and his dagger had been laid aside, and he sank into the nearest seat, and laid his head upon the desk. That night Mr. Stocking took him to his study, and the recent blasphemer cried out in agony, "My sins, my sins, they are higher than the mountains of Jeloo!" Next morning, Mr. Stoddard found him subdued and humbled. All Guwergis could say was, "My great sins, my great Saviour." Before noon, he left for his mountain home, saying, as he left, "I must tell my friends and neighbors of sin and of Jesus."

Nothing was heard from him for two weeks, when priest Eshoo was sent to his village to look after him, and found him in his own house, surrounded by his friends, and discoursing to them on these very topics,--of sin and of Jesus. The deacon accompanied priest Eshoo to Oroomiah, and his relations of Christian fellows.h.i.+p with the members of the mission were at once firmly and forever established.1 His conversion and his self-consecration to the service of the Lord Jesus were entire. He became known as the "mountain evangelist," and was faithful unto death. He rested from his labors on the 12th of March, 1856.

1 _Woman and her Saviour in Persia_, pp. 87-93.