History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions Volume II Part 21

"The feelings of the mission on this point will be more fully expressed by individual communications from its several members, to the Prudential Committee.

"5. In view, however, of the weighty considerations which have been set before the mission for this change of their connection, considerations whose reasonableness and justice are apparent to their minds, and in view of the expressed opinion of what is their duty, on the part of the reunited Presbyterian Church, they cannot but feel that the call is from G.o.d, and the step to be taken is one demanded by the highest interests of Christ's Church.

"6. That the mission express their conviction, that no change is demanded in the ecclesiastical connections of any of its members.

"In accordance, therefore, with these views of this whole subject,--

"_Resolved_, 1st; that the mission present to the Prudential Committee a request for a release from their connection with the American Board, with a view to placing themselves under the direction of the Presbyterian Board.

"And 2d, That the mission accept the invitation conveyed in the letter of the Rev. J. F. Stearns, D. D., Chairman of the Committee of Conference of the Presbyterian Board of Missions, dated June 19, 1870, to place themselves under the care of the Presbyterian Board.

"Although the official ties which have bound us to those with whom we have been so long and so happily a.s.sociated may thus be severed, we feel that the bonds of sympathy and of prayer remain unchanged, and will continue so to remain until, in the higher work of praise, our hearts and voices shall be again and forever _united_."

In accordance with this action the individual members of the mission sent a request to be released from their connection with the American Board, and they were released by vote of the Prudential Committee.

The members of the mission, at that time, were Drs. Thomson, Van Dyck, and H. H. Jessup, and Messrs. Calhoun, Eddy, Bird, Samuel Jessup. I. N. Lowry, and James S. Dennis. The author would naturally have great pleasure in quoting from their letters of farewell, but can only refer the reader for them to the "Missionary Herald."[1]

[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1870, pp. 391-398.

RESULTS OF THE PAST.

The history of the mission of the American Board to Palestine and Syria cannot be closed better than by the retrospective summary made by the mission at the close of their relations with the Board. They are speaking of the results of past labors.

"To Protestant influence, in great part, may we ascribe the changed feeling, which has come over the minds of the Mohammedans towards Christians. The Christian religion has become understood by them to be not wholly the system of idolatry, which they once regarded it, nor professing Christians as devoid of morality as they once seemed.

As a consequence, there has been a sensible quenching of the flame of Moslem bigotry, and a greater respect for Christians, their rights, their Bible, and their religion. The relative positions of the crescent and the cross are not what they were when the missionaries came to Syria. The Bible has gained ground, and the Koran has lost it, as a controlling influence in the land. Some Mohammedans are among the attendants upon our preaching, and these would doubtless be more numerous, but for the risk to property and to life, which inquirers from among them incur.

"Not without results have the children of the Druzes been taught in our schools during all these years, and so many conversations been held with adults of that sect. The leaven of the Gospel has penetrated even to the secret inner sanctuaries of their religion; and the white turbans of the initiated Druzes seen in our Sabbath congregations, the inquirers who come to our houses, and the baptized converts from among them, show that not in vain to the Druzes has the light of the Gospel again dawned upon Syria.

"But princ.i.p.ally among the nominally Christian sects have the indirect results of missionary labor extended. These are visible in the changed power of the clergy. Once excommunication was a terror above all terrors. Now it is so powerless a weapon, that those who once wielded it so effectively are ashamed to challenge ridicule by exposing its weakness.

"Protestantism, once regarded by the ma.s.s of the people as the blackest of heresies, finds everywhere its defenders and vindicators, even where it lacks followers, and no longer can the lies gain currency, with which the clergy were accustomed to frighten away their flocks from gospel influence.

"The religious instruction given in their churches has been modified. More Bible is taught, and less tradition. The preaching is more of Christ, and less of the saints. The adoration of pictures has greatly lessened. All sects have been compelled to introduce schools, and to educate both boys and girls, to educate their priests, and to remove the restrictions from reading the Bible.

"The circulation of the Scriptures, and of religious books, has been wide-spread, and we have heard of some who have been enlightened by these silent teachers, and have through them found Christ as their Saviour, and died in joyful trust in Him; though they never had an opportunity to publicly profess their faith in Him.

"Among all sects, Mohammedan, Druze, Greek, Maronite, and Catholic, the glaciers of prejudice, which for centuries have been forming, are now melting under the warmth of the Gospel.

"The gift of the Bible to this people in their own tongue, is the rich golden tribute which the West has returned to the East, in acknowledgment of its obligation to the land whence the Bible came.

"Brighter than the light, which kindles early and lingers late upon the crests of Lebanon and Hermon, crowning them with glory, is the light of the Gospel, which has shone into dark hearts, in hamlet and city, recalling the memories of a past not inglorious, and presaging a fairer splendor in the future.

"Not in vain have Hebard, and Smith, and Whiting, and De Forest, and Ford, sowed the seed of the Word in tears, even though they went home with few gathered sheaves. From the heights of heaven they now behold the springing harvest. Not in vain have others toiled here, whose summons has not yet come. They bless G.o.d for what their eyes see and their ears hear of the Lord's working around them.

Reluctantly have those yielded to the sad necessity of returning home, who, having just thrust in the sickle, found their strength unequal to the toil.

"The churches in America, which have aided in sustaining the mission by their offerings and their prayers, have seen fewer results, than have crowned their labors in other fields; their faith has been sorely tried; but they have been permitted to hear, from time to time, of souls ransomed from darkness and sin; echoes of the songs of triumph sung by departing saints have been borne to their ears, and they have felt that their labors have not been unrewarded.

"By G.o.d's grace we have laid anew the foundations of G.o.d's living temple, Christ being the chief corner-stone, and we have seen some courses already built upon it. We have set up and maintained the banner of the cross in the face of its pretended friends and its avowed foes. We have collected a little army on the Lord's side, and armed them with the sword of the Spirit. We have prepared an a.r.s.enal of spiritual weapons for future conflicts, in the Scriptures and other religious books translated and committed to the people. We have established outposts of schools and seminaries, have raised strongholds of the truth in churches planted here and there throughout the land. We have taken possession of the land in the name of King Immanuel, and we aim to subdue and hold it wholly for him."[1]

[1] From the _Foreign Missionary of the Presbyterian Church_, April, 1871, p. 305-307.

CHAPTER XLII.

THE ARMENIANS.

1867-1869.

The year 1868 added five to the ordained missionary force of the missions; namely, Messrs. Alpheus N. Andrus, Carmi C. Thayer, John Edwin Pierce, Royal M. Cole, and Theodore S. Pond. Messrs. Milan H.

Hitchc.o.c.k, Edward Riggs, Henry Marden, and John Otis Barrows, were added in 1869. These were all accompanied by their wives. Besides these, there were George C. Reynolds, M. D., and wife, and ten unmarried women; namely, Misses Rebecca A. Tracy, Charlotte Elizabeth Ely, Mary A. C. Ely, Harriet G. Powers, Cyrene O. Van Duzee, Olive L. Parmelee, Isabella C. Baker, Flavia S. Bliss, Ursula C. Clarke, and Ardelle M. Griswold. Mardin was now manned, for the first time, with three missionaries, Messrs. Williams, Andrus, and Pond, with Misses Parmelee and Baker, two unmarried young women. Dr.

Van Lennep and Mr. Ladd closed their labors in connection with the mission in 1869.

It was not alone at Harpoot, that the year 1869 opened with a revival of religion. Aintab, Bitlis, Marash, and Mardin were favored with the like blessing. The "Week of Prayer" at Marash was described as a jubilee. Both houses of wors.h.i.+p were opened, each day, an hour before sunset, and in each was a gathering of at least two hundred and fifty; where the many spontaneous prayers, and the pastor's vain endeavors to close the services within the hour, showed that the attendance was not a mere form. Twenty-nine out of fifty-two candidates were admitted to the first church, and twenty-one out of forty to the second. Nearly all these were able to read; and the examination was deemed more remarkable than the number received.

In respect to Mardin, I cannot refrain from quoting the expressive words of Mr. Williams, whose pen had much of graphic power. "The community here received the proposal to observe the week of prayer most joyfully, and preferred two meetings a day to one,--the first at sunrise, the second an hour and a half before sunset, each an hour long. Our first meeting was in a pouring rain, thirty present.

This is the first pleasant day, and seventy-six were present in the morning. One of the preachers opens the meeting by singing, reading, remarks, and prayer. This occupies from twenty-five to thirty minutes, and then the meeting is thrown open to others, and six or eight prayers, short and pertinent, fill the time till the hour is up. We never before have been able to start a prayer-meeting here, and now they move off in a line, as if they had done nothing else all their lives. I think as many as twenty-five persons have led in prayer."

A church had not yet been formed, but the Protestant community undertook the entire support of their preacher, and also of one of their own number as a missionary to the Koords. The latter is thus described by Mr. Williams: "A great, six feet, brawny fellow, with unwashed clothes (he is a tanner), long, disheveled hair, large, open features, and eyes black as coal, that s.h.i.+ne like stars; but so simple in his trust, so tender in his love to Jesus, and earnest in his efforts to do good! He learned to read with steady, earnest application, and his questions are so spiritual, so humble, so childlike, that it is as the sun whenever he enters my door.

"One evening Oosee (Hosea) came in with clothes torn, fez[1] gone, face b.l.o.o.d.y, hair wildly disheveled, but the same genial l.u.s.tre beaming from his eyes, accompanied by another Protestant, Daoud (David), who was earnest, almost imperative, that I should at once go to the governor and enter complaint. Asking for particulars, I learned that, returning from his garden soon after sunset, Oosee was set upon by a crowd of Papists, and escaped in the plight I saw him.

Daoud insisted that unless those men were at once imprisoned, no one would be safe. I asked Oosee how he felt about it. 'Just as you say, Khowaja,[2] was his reply. I read to him parts of Rom. xii. and xiii., and showed him that he was justified in entering complaint, that he had a right to protection, and that those who had set upon him doubtless deserved punishment; but said I, 'Would those men have touched you when you were a Papist?' 'Not one.' 'Why?' 'They dare not. Why, they knew I could thrash the whole of them, and would have feared I'd kill them. They knew me.' 'And now?' 'Now they think I'm a Prote, and wont strike back.' 'Did you?' 'Not a bit; I only tried to get away from them.' 'And if now, instead of throwing them into prison, you forgive them, and treat them as if nothing had happened, do you think they will see any difference between Oosee the Papist, and Oosee the Prote?' 'Of course they will.' 'To what will they charge the difference?' 'To my new religion.' 'Will not that lead them to admit the power of the Gospel? Will it not honor Christ?'

'Yes, I believe it will.' 'Well, Oosee, just as _you_ say. If you on the whole wish it, I will go to the governor and enter complaint,--you have a clear right to this,--or I will let it drop just here, as you please.' 'No, Khowaja, I'll not complain, I forgive them. I'll go home and treat them as if nothing had happened. That is what Jesus says, and I'll do it. Perhaps they will come to Christ.' He has never since been molested.

[1] Red Turkish cap.

[2] Gentleman--a t.i.tle given to the missionaries in Eastern Turkey.

"When it was decided to take a new cla.s.s of training pupils in Arabic, Oosee was the first to whom I spoke about joining it. The proposition was wholly unexpected, and I wish you could have seen the joy that shone in his eyes and beamed from every feature! I asked him if he thought his wife would consent to his going. 'We will ask Jesus,' he said. 'If he wants me to go he will make her willing. I don't think she'll oppose.' To some, who attempted to dissuade him on the ground that the allowance was insufficient for his family, he said, 'If only they will let me study, we will consent to live in the yard; no matter about a house, we'll get on any way; anything for Jesus.' Some days after, I said; "How about the wife?' 'O, she says go, and if need be we'll sell our vineyard to meet expenses. She is more anxious to go than I.' The vineyard would possibly bring, if sold, forty dollars in currency."

A church was organized at Mardin in February, which engaged to choose and support a pastor. On Sabbath afternoon, when it was organized, and the sacraments were administered, there were present three hundred and fifty persons, in a room which Mr. Williams says, "I had always insisted would hold one hundred and fifty, if properly packed." While candidates were being examined, the wife of Oosee presented herself. "No one had thought of her as a church-member, but before her examination was through, each had written against her name 'accepted.' We were as much delighted as surprised at her answers, and the meek, loving spirit she showed." Oosee did not go on the proposed mission, not deeming himself sufficiently educated; but is understood to have adorned his Christian profession down to the present time.

The reader has already some acquaintance with the people of Zeitoon, inhabiting the mountains north of Marash. Until subdued by the Turks in 1862, they were famed for their defiance of all law. The town contained about twelve thousand inhabitants, all of them Armenians.

The men were described as of athletic make, quick step, and piercing eyes, showing in all their bearing that they breathed the free air of the mountains. The town is about thirty-five miles from Marash, built against the side of a high rock, the houses hanging one above another, so that the roof of the house below is the front yard of the house above.

Two years after their subjugation, Dr. Pratt made a professional visit, to attend one of their leaders then dangerously sick, and suffered no molestation. Two years later, at the earnest solicitation of several Protestants, Mr. Montgomery attempted a visit, with Pastor Avedis of the second church of Marash, and a deacon of the first church. The town being then under Turkish authority, they antic.i.p.ated no special danger. "At evening, as we were entering the city," writes Mr. Montgomery, "to visit the governor of the place, according to custom, a furious mob of men and boys dragged us from our horses, and at once began beating and stoning us with frantic rage, rending the air with savage yells. Our Protestant guide was driven out of sight amid volleys of stones, the mob crying, 'Kill him! kill the wretch!' The deacon was allowed to secrete himself; but for Avedis and myself there was no escape till the mob had spent their fury, stoning us, and afterwards kicking and beating our prostrate bodies, while we were looking for escape only through death."

At this crisis, a great strong man, yelling so as to appear in sympathy with the mob, rushed up to where Mr. Montgomery was lying, and threw him on his horse, saying to him in an under tone, "Don't be afraid, trust me;" and then with curses hurried him out of the way, and took him and the pastor in the dark to his own house, where, as he dared not to keep them, he got them ready, as well as he could, to return at once to Marash.

"Thus we were saved," continues Mr. Montgomery, "after having been in the hands of the mob over two hours. We had a hard ride that night, hatless, our clothes b.l.o.o.d.y and torn, and our bodies so bruised that we could scarce sit on our horses; but we were enabled to pick our way homeward by the rough mountain paths."

It was subsequently known that this outrage was instigated by the priests at Marash, with the connivance of the governor. Meanwhile the Zeitoon people were fearful lest they had gone too far, and the Protestants began to breathe more freely; and many, who had failed to declare themselves before, now stood up openly for the truth.