History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions Volume I Part 19

Mr. Calhoun visited Hasbeiya in February, 1846, accompanied by Tanns, and was there eighteen days. The congregations were smaller, but made up mainly of those who sought to know the way of life; while their townsmen, softened by last year's war, were not disposed to persecute, as before. Mr. Whiting, Mr. Hurter, and Butrus were there in June. The spirit of the congregation is thus described by the missionary. "They like to hear a good long exposition, and then to stay and hear and converse, after prayer, as long as we are able to sit up. Some are coming in during the day at all hours, so that we scarcely cease teaching and preaching from morning until bed-time." Some of the declared Protestants, and even some new inquirers, took a bold stand under persecution by the Governor; and many, who did not venture to call upon the missionary, were in an inquiring state of mind.

Mr. Laurie's health suffered at Mosul, and also in Syria, so that he was obliged to return home in the autumn of this year, and to relinquish the idea of resuming the foreign service. His subsequent labors through the press, have endeared him to a large number of the friends of missions.1

1 See his works: "_Dr. Grant and the Mountain Nestorians_." Boston, 1853; and "_Woman and her Saviour in Persia_." Boston, 1865.

The year 1847 opened with an earnest and eloquent appeal from the missionaries for an increase to their number.1 And there is nothing more painful in the retrospect of this mission, than the numerous and often unexpected and surprising openings for usefulness, that were so often effectually closed, solely, as it would seem, because there were not missionaries to enter and take possession. There is s.p.a.ce for only a single extract from this appeal. Addressing the Prudential Committee, they say:

1 See _Missionary Herald_, 1847, pp. 185-193.

"We tell you, with all earnestness, that there is great danger, that the work may languish almost to lifelessness, even at the two posts which you now occupy in Syria, before your new messengers can be found, cross the ocean, and pa.s.s through the primary process indispensable to fit them to prophesy upon the slain. Yes, we must make you understand with unmistakable explicitness, that unless you hasten the work, and quicken the flight of those who have the everlasting gospel to preach, the voice may cease to sound, even in the valleys and over the goodly hills of Lebanon! Your infant seminary for training native preachers may droop, or disband; your congregations on the mountains, and on the plain, may be left without any one to break to them the bread of life; and your press may cease to drop those leaves, which are for the healing of the nations. All this may, yes, must occur, by a necessity as inexorable as the decree that commands all back to dust, unless you hasten to renew the vitality of our mission, by throwing into it the young life of a new generation of laborers."

The appeal was published; but it continued painfully true, that the harvest was plenteous, while the laborers were few.

Among the interesting events of the year, were the accession of nine persons to the church at Abeih; and a "fetwa" of the mufti, or Moslem judge, at Beirt, deciding that the Druzes stand in the same relation to the Mohammedan community and law with the Jews, or any Christian sect; _i.e_. as "_infidels_;" and, consequently, that a Druze was not subject to prosecution in the Turkish courts, in case of his embracing Christianity. Mr. and Mrs. Benton joined the mission in the latter part of the year.

In the spring of 1847, the Protestants of Hasbeiya sent one of their number to Constantinople, to lay their grievances before the Sultan.

The agent was informed, that the Pasha of Damascus had been instructed to protect the Protestants. The British Amba.s.sador afterwards made inquiries, and received a copy of the doc.u.ment, which proved satisfactory. The Pasha sent a strong order to the Emir at Hasbeiya in 1848, for their protection; and he, though extremely reluctant to obey, sent word to the Protestants, that they might meet and wors.h.i.+p together as Protestants, and he publicly forbade all parties to interfere with them.

When the Greek Patriarch saw that the Turkish government had recognized the principle of toleration, and acknowledged the Protestants as a Christian sect, he resolved to try the effect of a bull of excommunication. The form of these missives is similar in the Latin and the Oriental Churches, and the reader will recall some of the specimens already given.1 The consequence at Hasbeiya, for a time, was that no Protestant could buy, sell, or transact any business, except with his fellow Protestants, and many of the poorer ones were at once thrown out of productive employment, and cut off from the means of living. They were compelled to pay their debts, but could collect nothing due to them, and no redress could they get from the Governor. Many suffered for the necessaries of life. But the faith of the brethren, with a single exception, did not fail.

The Druzes and other sects remonstrated against the whole proceeding, and the rigor of the excommunication began at length to fail, and in December it had lost its force.

1 See in the case of Dr. King, chapter xvii.; and Mr. Bird, chapter iii.

The most important event in the year 1848, was the formation of a purely native church at Beirt. Hitherto the native converts had joined the mission church, formed at an early period of the mission, which was composed mostly of the missionaries and their families.

Circ.u.mstances had made it seem inexpedient, hitherto, to form a church exclusively of native converts. Whether the brethren were right in this, it is not needful now to inquire. The new church originated in the best manner. At the annual meeting of the mission, a pet.i.tion was presented from the native Protestants at Beirt to the American missionaries, asking that they might be organized into a church, according to certain principles and rules embodied in their pet.i.tion. The whole originated with the native brethren. The principles proposed for the const.i.tution and discipline of the church were afterwards modified somewhat, at the suggestion of the mission, in order to a closer conformity with the organization adopted by the Protestant Armenians in another part of the empire.

For some special reasons, they were advised to delay the election of a native pastor.

The great work of translating the Scriptures into Arabic, was now committed to Mr. Smith; and he was a.s.sisted by Butrus el-Bistany and Nasif el-Yasijee.

Messrs. Ford and Benton removed to Aleppo, with a view to a permanent station. They were accompanied by Mr. Smith, Butrus, and Wortabet, the latter of whom remained there until his services were required at Hasbeiya. Mr. Smith visited on his return, the Nusairiyeh in Antioch, Suwaidiyeh, and around Ladikiyeh, and then both them and the Ismailiyeh in their mountain fastnesses back of Ladikiyeh. He found them a rude people in a rough country.

The Rev. Horace Foot and wife arrived in Beirt in August, 1848, and were a.s.sociated with Mr. Wilson at Tripoli. Bedros Vartabed, whose labors were so much blessed at Aintab, died after a very short illness at Aleppo, on the 13th of November, 1848. His last hours were spent in fervent prayer, and his last words were expressive of his grat.i.tude to G.o.d. His life had been characterized by visible progress in the way of holiness, by habitual prayerfulness, and by zeal in the work of urging upon men the claims of the gospel.

A very hopeful fact in the missions to Oriental Churches, has been the number of able men affected by the truth. Eminently such was a learned Greek Catholic of Damascus, named Michael Meshakah, who became convinced of the errors of his Church, and openly declared himself a Protestant in 1848. He had embraced infidel views to quiet his conscience, but the reading of "Keith on the Prophecies" in Arabic, and other books from the mission presses, especially the Scriptures, led him to relinquish these, and personal intercourse with missionaries, especially with Dr. Smith, induced him to take a decided stand for Christ. He used no reserve in professing his attachment to the gospel. This brought on a controversy between him and his Patriarch, and as he was esteemed the most intelligent native layman in the country, and the Patriarch the most learned ecclesiastic, attention from all quarters was directed to their debate. Having decided to publish the reasons of his secession from the Catholic Church, and to prove the corruptness of the doctrines and practices in that Church, he commenced a free and full correspondence with Dr. Smith in Arabic. The result was a treatise, which was published by the mission. After making the reader acquainted with his own history, he disproved the supremacy of the Pope, the existence of any priesthood but that of Christ, or of any atonement but his. He then showed that there was no authority for more than two grades of officers in the church, or for the doctrine of transubstantiation. There were, also, chapters on justification by faith and the new birth. Dr. Smith declares the treatise to have been "well and thoroughly argued, sometimes most impressively solemn, at others keenly sarcastic, and spirited and fearless throughout."1

1 The _Bibliotheca Sacra_, for October, 1858, contains an account of Dr. Meshakah by Dr. Thomas Laurie, and a translation of a treatise by him on skepticism.

Michael Aramon took the place of Butrus in the seminary, and gave the highest satisfaction both as to his literary and his religious qualifications for the post. A Hasbeiyan brother, well informed, upright, "a burning and s.h.i.+ning light," taught a school among the Druzes in the higher part of the mountains. Another, named Asaad el-Maalk, exercised a silent influence for good, in a school and upon the people of another mountain village where he taught. Through him, a priest in the Greek church of that village, named Elias, became gradually enlightened. When Asaad began declaring the truths of the gospel, the villagers appealed to priest Elias, and he several times endeavored publicly to defend the doctrines and ceremonies of his Church. Perceiving at length how much the Bible was against him, and that he could not answer his opponent, he became angry, and forbade all communication with Asaad. But the mild and earnest manner of the native brother at length won his heart, and he came to the conclusion, that nothing in his Church had any authority, which was not derived from the Bible. This change in his views he soon declared to his people, and absented himself from the church. Once and again they forced him to go and say ma.s.s. Sometimes he yielded, and sometimes refused; till, near the end of January, 1849, having performed ma.s.s, he went out with the people, locked the door of the church, threw the key down before the door, and declared, in the presence of them all, that he was a Protestant, and could no more act against his conscience by officiating as a priest.

Various methods were tried to bring him back, but in vain.

In May, 1849, Mrs. Thomson and Mrs. De Forest accompanied their husbands to Hasbeiya, and had delightful intercourse with the native Protestant women, who had from the first gone hand in hand with the men.

The brethren at Tripoli endeavored to secure a summer residence in the Maronite village of Ehden, where Mr. Bird had been so rudely a.s.sailed twenty years before, but were driven thence by similar acts of violence. The English Consul at Beirt, without the knowledge of the missionaries, laid the facts before the British Government, and Lord Palmerston promptly administered a severe rebuke to the Patriarch and Emir. The case was eventually settled by the offenders paying seventy dollars, and by the governor of the mountains furnis.h.i.+ng the missionaries with an official guaranty in writing, for their protection wherever they should be able to hire houses.

The American Amba.s.sador also procured a strong vizieral letter to the Pasha in the Tripoli district.

A fourth cla.s.s was admitted to the seminary at Abeih in October, 1849. One member of the cla.s.s was from the most influential family in Hasbeiya, another was a Greek Catholic from Ain Zehalty, another a Maronite from Kefr Shema, another from the Greek sect at El Hadet, and the fifth was a young Druze emir of the Raslan family. Three pupils had been expelled for bad conduct in the previous year, and the discipline had a good effect on the school. Arabic was the medium of instruction; English was taught only as a branch of knowledge, and near the end of the course.

The printing in 1849 exceeded a million of pages. There were two fonts of beautiful type, of different sizes, modeled on the best Arabic calligraphy, and cut by Mr. Hallock at New York. The type were cast in Syria under the supervision of Mr. Hurter.

Of the twenty-seven members in the native church at Beirut, up to the close of 1849, ten were from the Greek Church, four were Greek Catholics, four Maronites, five Armenians, three Druzes, and one a Jacobite Syrian; showing how men of different sects may be made one in Christ Jesus. These church members were widely dispersed, and most of them exerted a salutary influence in the places where they resided.

In the autumn of 1850, the Greeks and Greek Catholics of Aleppo were subjected to terrible outrages by the Mohammedans. Their number was from fifteen to twenty thousand, and they were more wealthy and refined than their brethren in most eastern cities. They looked upon themselves as the aristocracy of Syria. Instead of prudently concealing their wealth, they made an ostentatious display of it in furniture, dress, and costly decorations of their churches. Added to this was an arrogant bearing, often even towards the Moslems, rekindling their hereditary hate; while the recent efforts of the Sultan to establish liberty throughout his dominions, both inflated still more the pride of the Christians, and stirred up the indignation of the Moslems.

The arrival of a government order for a military conscription, a thing most unwelcome to the Moslems, occasioned a popular tumult.

They determined, while setting the Pasha at defiance, to gratify their hatred of the Christians. The attacks on these commenced on the 16th of October. Thousands of wild Arabs, along with ruffians from the city, filled the houses and churches, and splendid furniture, gorgeous dresses, and gold and silver h.o.a.rded for generations, were suddenly transferred to the swarthy Arabs. All the churches, save one, were rifled and then burnt or destroyed, together with a large number of private houses. Not a few of the Christians were murdered, or severely wounded. The Pasha, unequal to the crisis, took refuge among the soldiers of the barracks, and yielded to the demands of the populace until new orders should arrive from the Sultan. There was a fortnight of anarchy, while the Pasha was employed in collecting troops sufficient to regain his authority. Then, having received explicit instructions from the capital, he commenced a b.l.o.o.d.y attack upon the insurgents. These were all Moslems, and such was their desperation that they suffered more severely than had the Christians.

Until this outbreak, there had been a manifest change going on in the feelings of the nominally Christian community towards the Protestants. There was a growing respect among all cla.s.ses for the missionaries and their teachings, a readiness on the part of many to acknowledge the truth, and a more easy access to the houses of the people. All this the outbreak interrupted for a time, and the effect was not good on the whole. There was a b.l.o.o.d.y feud between the two great parties. Yet the bonds of superst.i.tion had been weakened; especially the faith of the people in the miraculous virtue of the pictures, which filled their churches and had been wors.h.i.+pped for centuries. Some of these pictures were supposed to be so sacred, that whoever touched them would have a withered hand. But they had now seen them torn in pieces, trampled under foot, and burned by the enemies of their religion.

Of the nineteen pupils in the seminary at Abeih in 1850, four were Druzes, three were Greeks, four Maronites, four Greek Catholics, two Protestants, one Syrian, and one Armenian; all on a level, eating at the same table, mingling in the same sports, and meeting at the same place of prayer.

The native brethren at Hasbeiya suffered considerably in their spiritual interests, from the delay in organizing a native church with a native pastor. A church of sixteen members was formed in July, 1851, and the number of members, before the end of the year, was increased to twenty-five. Mr. John Wortabet, son of the Armenian convert of that name, had been their preacher four years, and ultimately became their pastor. He inherited the abilities of his father, and was an acceptable, courageous, and zealous preacher.1 There were occasional dissensions among his people, but the church gradually increased in compactness, order, and efficiency. When there was a call for discipline, it was carried through firmly and wisely, without a.s.sistance from the mission.

1 He was educated in the first Seminary, in English and Arabic. When that closed, he commenced the study of medicine and Latin under Dr.

Van Dyck, and completed his medical course under Dr. De Forest.

After practicing for a time in Tripoli, he commenced his theological studies, Greek and Hebrew included, at Beirt, under the care of Messrs. Smith, Whiting, and Thomson. These studies he prosecuted for a time at Aleppo, and afterwards at Abeih. Upon the establishment of the Hasbeiya station, in 1851, he took up his residence at Hasbeiya as preacher, and was ordained at Beirt in the spring of 1853. The honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon him by Yale College, in view of an article from his pen on the fevers of Syria, published in the _American Journal of Medical Science_.

The annual meeting of the mission, in 1851, was favored with the valuable a.s.sistance of Dr. Leonard Bacon, and the meeting in 1852, with that of Dr. Edward Robinson; both corporate members of the Board.

A girls boarding-school had been commenced at Beirt, under the general superintendence of Dr. and Mrs. De Forest, and the instruction of Miss Whittlesey. The decease of the latter, in 1852, was a check to its growth. The Rev. William Bird, son of one of the pioneers in this mission, with his wife, and Miss Sarah Cheney, arrived in the year 1853. Miss Cheney was to take the place of Miss Whittlesey. The value of this school as a means of elevating women, became more and more evident. The marriage of the senior teacher in the seminary at Abeih with a young lady trained by Mrs. De Forest, gave them a native family, which Mr. Calhoun says, "in its domestic economy and religious order, would do no discredit to the best portions of New England." In this year a native church was formed at Abeih, and another at Aleppo.

The Rev. William W. Eddy and wife joined the mission in 1852, and were designated to Aleppo. The political condition of Hasbeiya and the surrounding region, now became so disordered as often to make it inaccessible to missionaries, or their native a.s.sistants. Yet Mr.

Wortabet persevered in his labors during all these troubles, and was afterwards ordained pastor of the church. Protestant communities at Ibel near Hasbeiya, and at Rasheiya over the mountain, survived the severe persecutions to which they were subjected by the combined efforts of bishops, priests, and local governors; until the governors, who had been the real cause of most of the difficulties, were summoned to Damascus, through the agency of the English Amba.s.sador at Constantinople, to answer for their conduct.

At Sidon, there was an average congregation of thirty-live, and persecution did not shake their constancy. In a dozen villages near that city, there were persons in the habit of reading the Scriptures, and visiting the missionaries. Mr. William Thomson, a son of the missionary, rendered valuable service in this portion of the field. Messrs. Foot and Wilson, on a visit to Hums and Hamath, northward of Damascus, found the former place peculiarly accessible to religious teaching, and that Dr. Meshakah of Damascus had sent books to several persons in this place, and been in correspondence with them. Dr. De Forest was much interested in what he saw in villages along the coast, as far south as Carmel. Everywhere the people were anxious to know more of the new way, which was everywhere spoken against.

One of the persons received to the Abeih church, about this time, had a somewhat singular experience. In the war with the Druzes, nine years before, his party plundered a large village. In one of the houses he saw a Bible, which he seized and carried home. Soon he became intensely interested in reading it, and learned from it the errors of his Church. He then sought the acquaintance of the missionaries, and several of his relatives adopted his new views. He was excommunicated, his house attacked, his property destroyed, and his just dues were withheld. But he remained firm, and was admitted to the church. His wife and other relatives became Protestants; and by his judicious course, at once decided and conciliatory, he lived down the persecution. A school which he opened, was attended mostly by Druze pupils, but several of his former co-religionists intrusted their children to his instruction.

In August, 1853, Dr. Smith had completed the translation of the Four Gospels. His work was then suspended by the failure of his health.

He was afterward able to resume it, and in May, 1854, he had translated the Acts, the Epistle to the Romans, and the greater part of the Epistles to the Corinthians.

In 1853, interesting developments occurred in the southern portion of the field, which was that year under the special charge of Dr.

Thomson. Yacob el-Hakim, interrupted in his school at Ibel by opposers, made two extended medical tours, and preached the Gospel, with another native helper, in villages to the south as far as Nazareth. In one village, after visiting from house to house for some time, he was invited to preach in the church on the Sabbath, and there the entire community listened for two hours to the Word of G.o.d. In consequence of these labors the whole village, with the priest at their head, declared themselves Protestants, and went to Nazareth to be enrolled with the Protestant community at that place, under the care of the Episcopal brethren at Jerusalem. In his last tour, Yacob reported fifty men in Rany, another village not far from Nazareth, who had adopted the same course, and he met with great encouragement in several other places. Indeed he became so much interested in this work, that he did not wish to return to his school. These tours were made wholly at his own expense, and he was able to support himself by his medical practice.

Elias Yacobe, a native of Rashaiah, spent the summer at Abeih in the study of theology, and was found to possess uncommon preaching talents. He subsequently labored with success at his native place, at Ibel, and especially at Khuraibeh. Wherever the native brethren went, they reported an unusual desire among the people to hear the Word of G.o.d. At Sidon the attention paid to the preaching of Mr.

Thomson and his helpers was marked and solemn. More than thirty were in a Bible-cla.s.s. It was somewhat remarkable that the whole cla.s.s found the study of Romans far more interesting than any other portion of the New Testament. The powerful arguments of Paul, when clearly opened to their comprehension, seemed to fall upon their minds with the charm of novelty. And having clearly understood and embraced the great fundamentals of Christian faith, there was good reason to hope, they would never return again to the beggarly elements of this world. What they learned in the cla.s.s they made known abroad. The surrounding country was awakened more or less to a spirit of inquiry. At a village directly east of Sidon, several families declared themselves Protestants. At Kanah, in the neighborhood of Tyre, at Alma, higher up on the mountain, and at Acre and Kaifeh, there were decided Protestants.

The clergy of the different sects became thoroughly alarmed, and for a time worked in concert to arrest this spirit of inquiry. A strong corps of women, under the general name of Sisters of Charity, settled in Sidon, and opened large schools to which the parents were commanded, by the clergy of the various sects, to send their children; and strenuous exertions were made to break up the mission school. Every possible measure was employed to intimidate the people.

Nearly all the professed converts stood firm; though subjected to want, cruel hatred, and banishment from their homes. There was an advance in religious character; more decision, more intelligence, more earnestness. The inquiry was, what is real religion, and how can one become a partaker in its infinite blessings. Progress was thus made towards organizing a church at Sidon.

The Protestants at Hasbeiya, under favor of the Druzes, who then had the upper hand in all political matters, and under the successful pastorate of Mr. Wortabet, now built a neat, substantial church, forty-five feet by thirty-five, with a bas.e.m.e.nt for schools and prayer meetings.

Mr. and Mrs. Foot left the mission in the autumn of 1854, on account of her illness, but too late to save her life. She died when near the sh.o.r.es of her native land. The Rev. Jerre L. Lyons and wife arrived at Beirt early in the following year. Dr. Smith had now completed the translation of the New Testament; and in addition to the Pentateuch, previously completed, he had gone through seven of the Minor Prophets, and commenced upon Isaiah.

The author made his second visit to this mission in 1855, on his return from India. During this visit he accompanied Dr. Smith to Ain Zehalty, a place of difficult access in the heart of Lebanon, where Mr. and Mrs. Lyons were residing, with no one to speak the English language, in order the sooner to learn the Arabic. There, through the teachings of a native brother from the church at Abeih, the people had lost all confidence in the ceremonies and superst.i.tions of their Church. The priest, after making vain attempts to bring them back, left the place in disgust, and begged the bishop to send him elsewhere. He was obliged to return, however, and as his flock would not support him, a salary was given him by the bishop, in the hope of ultimately recovering them to his fold. The experiences of this little community of Protestants will again claim our attention.

It was now agreed to leave Aleppo, and northern Syria from Kessab northward, to be cultivated by the Armenian mission; since the language in that region was chiefly the Turkish.

The Rev. Messrs. Edward Aiken, Daniel Bliss, and Henry H. Jessup, and their wives, were added to the mission in this year. Mrs. Aiken died at Hums before she had completed a residence in the field of half a year. In November, one of the older missionaries, the Rev.