History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions Volume I Part 6

It is worthy of special note, that up to this time, the banker was wholly unknown to the missionaries, and to the evangelical brethren generally. He was evidently raised up by divine Providence for the occasion. Not only did the Has Keuy school greatly exceed the mission school at Pera in the number of its pupils, but it was formally adopted as the school of the nation, and Hohannes was appointed its princ.i.p.al by the Armenian Synod. Having liberty of action, he devoted an hour each day to giving special religious instruction to a select cla.s.s of sixty of the more advanced pupils, besides his more general teaching, and the daily good influence exerted by Der Kevork and himself. The course of study was liberal, the philosophical apparatus of the mission was purchased by the directors, lectures were given on the natural sciences, and the school obtained a temporary popularity.

Yet there were secret opposing influences too powerful to allow this state of things long to continue. In the middle of the year 1838, the distinguished patron understood, not only that there was a growing dissatisfaction among the leading Armenians with the school, and especially with its princ.i.p.al, but that his munificence was attracting the attention of the Turks; and he deemed it prudent to withdraw his patronage. Before the close of the year, the teachers were dismissed, and the school was reduced to its former footing.

The leading men of Has Keuy sent a delegation to the Patriarch deprecating the disaster, but obtained only fair promises. Hohannes now renewed his connection with the mission, and was placed in charge of the book distribution. Der Kevork spent much time in going from house to house, reading the Scriptures to the people, and exhorting them to obey the Gospel.

At Broosa, the number of visitors at the house of the missionaries was increasing, and among them were two young teachers in the Armenian public school, who were specially interested in the subject of personal religion. They were among the first to make the acquaintance of Mr. Powers, on his coming to take up his residence in their quarter of the city. One of these young men, named Serope, had the sole charge of about fifty of the most advanced scholars, whom he instructed daily in the Word of G.o.d. The princ.i.p.al men in the Armenian community at Broosa soon decided to place a select cla.s.s of boys under his instruction, to be trained for the priest's office, and eight were thus set apart. Before the end of the year both of these teachers gave hopeful evidence of piety.

Very interesting cases of conversion occurred at Nicodemia, at the head of the gulf bearing that name. Mr. Goodell, when pa.s.sing through this place in 1832, gave several tracts to some Armenian boys. One of these, a translation of the "Dairyman's Daughter," came into the hands of a priest, whom Mr. Goodell did not see. This led him to study the Word of G.o.d. A brother priest, on intimate terms with him, was induced to join in the study, and the result was the hopeful conversion of both. Their united efforts were now directed to the conversion of their flock, and a spirit of inquiry was awakened. In the spring of 1838, Mr. Dwight found sixteen at Nicomedia, who appeared to be truly converted men. He was surprised at the seriousness and intelligence with which they conversed on the great truths of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit had evidently been their teacher, and the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone, was the foundation of their hopes. The joy with which they greeted the missionary of the cross for the first time, was most gratifying to him, as was the earnest attention they gave to his instructions. Compared with their countrymen in the same place, they might be called intelligent men, and some of them were in very easy circ.u.mstances. The two converted priests, Der Vertanes and Der Haritn, became afterwards well known in the mission. Of their own accord they removed to Constantinople, and were placed together in charge of a village church on the Bosphorus; and the Patriarch Stepan, being an old acquaintance, spent several weeks with them, and generally a.s.sented to the views advanced by them in their free conversations.

We now enter the year 1839, which was a year of severe persecution.

Of this persecution, in which the Porte itself became a party, I am now to give a brief account.

The missionary force at Constantinople had become unusually small.

Mr. Dwight was absent until September, on a visit to the United States. Mr. Schauffler left in May for Vienna, to superintend the printing of the Hebrew Spanish Old Testament. He went by way of Odessa, and both there, and among the German churches in that part of Russia, he did much to sustain a religious revival that had been long in progress. Mr. Homes left in the spring to join Dr. Grant in exploring Kurdistan. Mr. Hamlin arrived early in the year, but was occupied in the study of the language. Mr. Goodell was, therefore, almost alone in this trying season.

The extent and violence of the persecution were convincing proof of the progress of the reformation. A corrupt priesthood dreaded its tendency to deprive them of their sinful gains. Certain persons no longer enjoyed a monopoly of Armenian printing. Education ceased to be exclusively in the hands of a few bankers. And the popularity of Hohannes and Boghos Fizika was thought to operate against the great Armenian college at Scutari. Nor were the members of the Romish Church idle.

The patriarchs were elected by the primates, who were chiefly bankers, and were in an important sense their creatures. The bankers were divested of much of their power in 1839, by the rise of three men of the artisan cla.s.s, who suddenly stood before the nation as its guides and dictators, and more especially as extirpators of heresy. These were the two chief architects of the Sultan, and the superintendent of the government powder works. The two first, being employed in erecting the most splendid of all the imperial palaces, were often in contact with the Sultan. The expulsion of Protestantism lay near their hearts, and they resolved to make use of the strong arm of Mahmood to effect it. What were the representations made to him is not known; but it is known that the three favorites were authorized to call on the civil power to aid them in extirpating the dangerous heresy.

The first thing was to get the tolerant Patriarch out of the way.

For some reason they did not at once remove him from office, but procured from the interior a man named Hagopos, notorious for his bigotry and sternness, whom they appointed a.s.sistant Patriarch. A month later, Stepan was deposed, and permitted to retire to his convent near Nicomedia, and Hagopos was installed in his place.

Before this, Hohannes had been thrown into the patriarchal prison, without even the form of an accusation; but every one knew that his crime consisted in following the Bible, rather than the Church.

Boghos Fizika was arrested, and cast into the same prison; and four days after, they were both banished by an imperial firman. Their place of exile was a convent near Cesarea, four hundred miles distant. Stepan took leave of them with tears, well knowing the deep injustice of the act. This was in the month of February, and the Turkish police-officer sent back word from Scutari, that Boghos, being an invalid, was too feeble to bear the fatigues and exposures of such a journey in that inclement season; but positive orders were returned to carry him to Cesarea, either dead or alive. Nicomedia lay on their route; and the brethren of that place hastened in a body to the post-house, and had a season of prayer with the exiles, which greatly comforted them. This intercourse was kept up during a delay of several days authorized by the Nicomedia primate. When the Armenians of Cesarea were told, on their arrival at that place, that their banishment was for receiving the Bible as the only infallible guide in religious matters, they said the Patriarch might as well banish them all, for they were all of that opinion.

It was reported in Constantinople, that the Patriarch had a list of five hundred persons suspected of heresy, and that among them were bishops, priests, and bankers, some of whom were to be banished immediately. Few dared to visit the missionaries, and those only under cover of the night. A proclamation was issued by Hagopos, forbidding the reading of books printed or circulated by the missionaries, and all who had such books were required to deliver them up without delay. On the 14th of March, Der Kevork was arrested and thrown into prison; and when respectable Armenians of Has Keuy made application for his release, they were rudely told to mind their own business. After lying in prison for more than a month, he and several others were banished into the interior. A rich banker, who had long been on friendly terms with the missionaries, was arrested and imprisoned in a hospital as an insane person,--a method of persecution not unfrequently resorted to in Turkey. He was released after a week's confinement, on paying a large sum for the college at Scutari.

Nor were the Greek ecclesiastics behind the Armenian in hostility to the reformation. The Greek Synod and Patriarch issued a decree, excommunicating all who should buy, sell, or read the books of the "Luthero-Calvinists;" and condemning in like manner the writings of Korai, the ill.u.s.trious restorer of learning among the Greeks, and of the learned Bambas, the friend of Fisk and Parsons. An imperial firman was also published, authorizing, and even requiring, the several Patriarchs to look well to their several communions, and to guard them from infidelity and foreign influence; thus connecting the Porte itself with the persecution.

A strong effort was made to procure the expulsion of the missionaries. Mult.i.tudes were active, from diverse motives, to secure this end. One of the most conspicuous of these was a renegade Jew, once baptized by an English missionary, but now an infidel who seemed to have satanic aid in the invention of slanders against Protestants and Protestantism. Another was a disappointed infidel teacher, whose malice and bitterness made him a fit ally for the Jew. The enemy seemed to be having everything in his own way, and strong was his confidence of success.

At this crisis, Divine Providence interposed. The army of the Egyptians was on the march towards Constantinople, and the Sultan deemed it necessary to call upon all the Patriarchs and the chief Rabbi of the Jews, each to furnish several thousand men for his army. It was an unprecedented demand, and occasioned great consternation, but must be obeyed. The army was raised, and was estimated at eighty thousand. It encountered an Egyptian army of about the same number on the plains of Nezib near Aleppo, on the 24th of June, and the Turkish troops were scattered in all directions. The tidings of this disaster never reached Mahmood, as he died in his palace on the first day of July. A few days after, the Capudan Pasha surrendered the Turkish fleet to Mohammed Ali; and on the 11th of July, Abdl Medjid, a boy of seventeen, was placed upon the throne. The news of the entire loss of his army and navy arrived in a few days, and the empire seemed on the verge of dissolution. It was saved by the intervention of the great powers of Europe. The apostate Jew, to avoid punishment for various crimes, professed himself a Mohammedan; and for crimes subsequently committed, he was strangled by the Turks, and thrown into the Bosphorus. On the 12th of August, between three and four thousand houses in Pera were consumed by fire, with the loss of several lives and an immense amount of property.

The persecution had extended to Broosa and Trebizond; and at Erzroom, in ancient Armenia, where Mr. Jackson had commenced a new station, a letter was read from the patriarchate, warning the people against the Americans, and their schools and books.

The Egyptian war and its consequences broke the power of the persecution. The Armenian Synod voted to recall all the exiles, except Hohannes, whom they adjudged to perpetual banishment as the ringleader of the "Evangelicals." At length an English physician, of humane feelings, being informed as to the facts in the case, stated them to one of the sisters of the late Sultan. The result was that, on the fourteenth of November, an imperial _request_ for Hohannes's release was sent to the Patriarch. He resorted to various devices, first to procure the reversal, and then to delay the execution of the order, which was addressed by the Turkish minister of foreign affairs to the governor of Cesarea, and had on it the Sultan's sign-manual, and the seals of several high offices of state. Not daring to delay longer, on the tenth of February, 1840, he placed the imperial requisition in the hands of the father of Hohannes, by whom it was immediately forwarded to Cesarea, and Hohannes arrived at Constantinople on the twenty-fourth of May.

The persecutors, one after another, were brought low. A change was made, about this time, in the mode of collecting the revenue of the empire, rendering the board of Armenian government bankers useless, and they were directed to settle up their accounts and close their offices. This reduced some of them to poverty, and stripped them all of a great part of their power. The Greek Patriarch was deposed, on complaint by the British Amba.s.sador of his interference with matters in the Ionian Islands; and the Armenian Patriarch found himself in trouble with his own people. He was too overbearing, and was obliged, in November, 1840, to resign his office, to avoid a forcible deposition; and it was a significant sign of the times, that Stepan, who had been ejected from office on account of his forbearance towards the Protestants, was now re-elected; first, by the vote of the princ.i.p.al bankers, and afterwards by acclamation in an immense popular a.s.sembly convened for the purpose. He was immediately recognized by the Turkish government.

CHAPTER IX.

THE ARMENIANS.

1840-1844.

The young Sultan, soon after coming to the throne, pledged himself; in the presence of all the foreign amba.s.sadors, to guard the liberty, property, and honor of his subjects equally, whatever their religious creed. No one was to be condemned without trial, and none were to suffer the penalty of death without the sanction of the Sultan himself. No person at all conversant with Turkey, would expect such a change in the administration of the government to be effected at once, nor indeed for a long course of years. Yet this was the beginning of changes, which were momentous in their influence on the Christian and Jewish population of Turkey.

There was now such a number of Armenian boys and young men around the mission thirsting for knowledge, both religious and secular, that a boarding-school for such could no longer be properly delayed.

Mr. Hamlin accordingly opened such a school at Bebek, on the European side of the Bosphorus, six miles above Constantinople.

Mr. Jackson commenced a station at Erzroom in 1840. At first he was almost disheartened when he saw how confidently the people rested their hopes of heaven on saint-wors.h.i.+p, and the rigor of their fasts; but he soon saw reason to expect a better state of things.

Messrs. Dwight and Hamlin made a visit, about this time, to Nicomedia. Their intercourse with the native brethren there was generally private because of persecutors, but it was in the highest degree satisfactory. The first meeting was on the Sabbath, in a retired garden, where they sat four successive hours, in the middle of a circle of hungry souls, expounding to them the Gospel. After partaking of some refreshment, they sat three hours more in an adjacent house. Later in the day, they spent three hours in the same manner, in another garden; making in all ten hours of preaching and conversation in the course of one Sabbath; besides an hour more in their own room, with transient visitors from abroad. Many of the questions asked were of a highly practical nature. During this visit, a stranger called upon them, whose curiosity had been excited by the Patriarch's letter of warning against the American missionaries. He, in common with many of his brethren, was anxious to know more about this new way. Considerable time was spent with him in needful explanations, and with these, and a copy of the New Testament in modern Armenian and several tracts, he departed highly delighted. It was thus that a knowledge of the Gospel was first carried to Adabazar where this man resided, twenty-seven miles east of Nicomedia.

The papists took advantage of the religious interest awakened in the Armenian Church; and there was reason to apprehend, that dark, dissatisfied minds, if not made acquainted with the Gospel, were in danger of falling into the iron embrace of the Romish Church. The papal missions had been roused to activity in all the Levant, and their numerous adherents enabled them to come extensively into contact with the native mind. Nor were they scrupulous as to their manner of exciting the jealousies of the people against Protestant missionaries. There is evidence also, that, after the Greek revolution, they took advantage of the fact that nearly all the dragomen of foreign ministers at the Turkish court were Roman Catholics.

The obstacles in the way of preaching the Gospel at Broosa, became so great as to make it a question whether the preachers ought not to go elsewhere. Just then there began to be indications of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Individuals came to Mr. Schneider, almost every Sabbath, deeply affected by the truth, and there were several hopeful conversions. Not only there, but elsewhere and especially at Constantinople, during the year commencing May, 1840, there was a manifest reaction, caused by the persecutions of 1839, which became more and more decided during the year. Minds were awakened, which, but for the banishments, anathemas, burning of books, and shutting up of schools, might have been aroused only by the angel of death. Some of these became hopeful converts, and one a preacher of the faith he had endeavored to destroy. The spirit of freedom and Christian boldness was increased. Priest Kevork and Priest Vertanes were more active than ever. Attempts to break up the mission seminary failed, because neither scholars nor parents would obey the mandate of the vakeel to withdraw from connection with the missionaries.

The Rev. Henry J. Van Lennep and wife joined the mission in April, 1840, and were stationed at Smyrna. Mrs. Van Lennep lived only till the following September. The Rev. Josiah Peabody and wife became the a.s.sociates of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, at Erzroom, in the following year; and in that year Mr. Ladd was transferred from Cyprus to Broosa. Mr. Hallock, the missionary printer at Smyrna, returned to the United States, but continued to manufacture Arabic and Syriac types for the printing establishments in the Syrian and Nestorian missions. The printing at Smyrna, during this year, was equivalent to 10,843,704 pages duodecimo; and the pages printed at that establishment from the beginning, had been 51,910,260. Two printing-presses and seven fonts of native type were in use. An "Armenian Magazine" was edited by Mr. Adger; and a Greek "Monthly Magazine" by Mr. Temple, with the efficient aid of Mr. Petrokokino.

In November, Mr. Goodell completed the translation of the Old Testament into Armeno-Turkish, and immediately commenced revising the New Testament, which he finished in a few months. The Old Testament had now been translated into Armeno-Turkish from the Hebrew, and the New Testament from the Greek. The Armenians had, also, Zohrab's popular translation of the New Testament in their modern tongue, revised by Mr. Adger, and published under his superintendence, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The ancient Armenian translation, which is said to be a good one, and to be much valued by the people, was made about fourteen hundred years ago.

Mr. Dwight began a course of lectures on systematic theology, commencing with a cla.s.s of three Armenians, one of them a priest.

The Armenian college at Scutari was closed by the bankers in October, after having been in operation three years, at great expense to the community. But the seminary at Bebek was so full of promise, that grants were made to place it on a broader and firmer basis.

The change in the Armenian community, in the course of five or six years, had been very encouraging. At the beginning of that time, some were truly interested in the things of religion, and the missionaries had religious conversation with many. But by far the greater part then came for the purpose of general inquiry, or to see the philosophical apparatus, or hear a lecture on the sciences; and it was matter of joy, if mere human knowledge could be made the entering wedge to their minds for the knowledge which is divine. How marked the change! They now came in large numbers, drawn by the power of the truth of G.o.d alone, not to inquire about electricity, or galvanism, as before, but about the eternal destiny of the soul, and the way by which it might be saved. There had been, also, a favorable change in the general style of preaching at the capital; and among the people there was a growing disposition to compare every doctrine and practice with the Scriptures. This the vartabeds, or preachers, could not disregard. It was not an uncommon thing to hear of sermons on Repentance, the Sabbath, the Judgment-day, etc.; and sometimes the preachers were largely indebted for their materials to the publications of the mission. Indeed, one of the most respectable vartabeds in Constantinople made repeated applications to the missionaries to furnish mutter for his sermons.

Instances of pungent convictions of sin became more common. Some who had been drunkards, gamblers, adulterers, and downright infidels, were thoroughly converted, and exhibited that humility, purity, spirituality, and Christian zeal, which are the fruits of the Spirit alone. The older converts, also, appeared to grow in the knowledge of Christ, and one striking characteristic was an active zeal for the salvation of others.

Vertanes was full of hope and activity. It is mentioned by Mr.

Dwight, in his excellent "History of Christianity in Turkey," that a report reached Constantinople, in the spring of 1841, that a considerable number of Armenians in Nicomedia, members of the old Church, had become disaffected, and were about going over to the Jesuits; and that the Patriarch commissioned this same Vertanes to go thither with all speed, and endeavor to bring them back to their Mother Church. He was successful in the object of his visit; and while he heartily and faithfully obeyed the Patriarch, and endeavored to persuade men not to suffer themselves to fall into the snares of Rome, he also labored zealously to bring them to a sense of their sins against G.o.d, and to a hearty reception of Christ alone as the Saviour of their souls. His visit was very comforting and useful to the brethren in Nicomedia.

The intelligence received from Adabazar early in this year, was most cheering. An attempt had been made to raise a storm of persecution, and one of the brethren was thrown into prison, but he was soon liberated by a powerful friend, and afterwards the truth spread more rapidly. Meetings for prayer and reading the Scriptures were held every Sabbath, at which from twenty-five to fifty were present, and one of the priests seemed to have become obedient to the faith. No missionary had yet been among these brethren, and the issues from the press were almost the only instrumentality employed among them by the Holy Spirit. One year previously, it is believed, not a single soul could have been found among the four thousand inhabitants of Adabazar, who was not groping in the deepest spiritual darkness. Now, some forty or more were convinced of the errors of their Church, and ready to take the Bible as their only religious guide, of whom several appeared to be truly converted men, and even willing to lay down their lives for Christ. It was not until the autumn of 1841, that a missionary was able to visit them.

Mr. Schneider, of Broosa, was then hailed with joy by all the evangelical brethren, and returned with the most delightful and cheering impressions. A spirit of inquiry had extended into many of the neighboring villages.

The Rev. George W. Wood1 was transferred to this mission from Singapore in 1842, and was a.s.sociated with Mr. Hamlin in the Seminary. The Rev. Simeon H. Calhoun, for some time resident at Smyrna as agent of the American Bible Society, received now an appointment as a missionary of the Board; the Rev. Edwin E. Bliss, designated to the mountain Nestorians, having been refused a firman to go thither by the Turkish government, was a.s.sociated with Mr.

Johnston at Trebizond; and Mr. Schauffler devoted himself to the Jews. Mr. Homes had the special charge of the book distribution at Constantinople.

1 Afterwards one of the Corresponding Secretaries of the Board.

There being so little to impart peace to a really awakened conscience in either the Roman or the Oriental Churches, individuals were often found wandering to and fro, as in pagan India, vainly seeking for rest. One of the most noted cases of this kind was that of an Armenian. To pacify the clamors of conscience, he became an inmate of a monastery far in the interior, where he undertook to perform the most menial services for the monks. Failing to find peace in this, he penetrated into the depths of a wilderness, clothed himself in sackcloth, and lived on the coa.r.s.est fare, away from the abodes of man. Here also he was disappointed. Returning to Constantinople, he united himself to the papal Armenians, hoping in their communion to find the relief he sought. He became chief singer in one of the churches near the capital, and endeavored to derive comfort, but found nothing to impart peace in the strictest forms of papal wors.h.i.+p. A friend now advised him to visit the American missionaries. He had heard of them only as heretics and enemies of the Christian faith, but was at length persuaded to accompany some friends to Mr. Hamlin's house. Taking a seat as near the door as possible, he listened in silence; then proposed some objections; but gradually became interested, and drew his chair nearer and nearer to his newly found teacher; until at length he seated himself on the floor, literally at the very feet of Mr. Hamlin, and there drank in, with mute astonishment, those divine truths which he had never heard before, but which revealed to him the only sure foundation for peace of mind. There was an instantaneous change in his whole character; and we hear of him twelve years afterwards, as a living witness of the truth, and a faithful laborer in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.1

1 Dwight's _Christianity Revived in the East_, p.118.

In October of this year, it was deemed advisable to suspend the preaching service at Constantinople for a few Sabbaths, in consequence of violent opposition on the part of some Armenians, formerly reckoned as brethren. This unexpected and painful change was owing to their forming an acquaintance with individuals who had imbibed the errors, which threaten the unity of the Episcopal Churches of England and America. Just before the outbreaking of this opposition, Mr. Dwight thus gives utterance to his feelings: "How wonderful are the ways of Providence in regard to the Armenians! In one way or another, men are continually brought from distant places to the capital, and here they become acquainted for the first time with the Gospel; and returning to their homes, they spread abroad that which they have seen and heard. There is something quite wonderful in the state of the Armenian mind at the present time."

The persecuting spirit above noted was directed more especially towards Hohannes, and this induced him to go to the United States to prepare himself for preaching the Gospel.

In the early part of this year, the Armenian brethren met in a retired part of the hills adjacent to the capital, and there, after united prayer, agreed to send one of their own number, at their own expense, on a missionary tour among their countrymen in the interior of Asia Minor. Of their own accord they also agreed to set apart the first Tuesday in each month, for special prayer to G.o.d in behalf of their nation, and for his blessing on the means used for their spiritual illumination. Not unfrequently they remained after Mr.

Dwight's preaching, to have a prayer meeting by themselves for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; and if there was any one present at the meeting who was particularly anxious about his soul, they kept him with them, and talked and prayed with him. It is recorded also, that at one time as many as thirty Armenian men were present at the monthly concert for prayer, which was necessarily held in the middle of the day, and that some of them prayed as if they felt true longings of heart for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

About forty different works, and more than forty-four thousand volumes and tracts, were issued from the Smyrna depot during the year 1842. Eight or ten booksellers at the capital were kept constantly supplied, and the products of the press were sent into almost every part of the interior.

It is worthy of note that Mr. Dwight's first formal sermon to Armenian women, was in May, 1843. It was in Pera, and four of them had walked not less than three miles to attend the service. One was forty-five or fifty years old, and her sentiments were decidedly evangelical. The religion of the Gospel shone beautifully in some of the Armenian families. Mr. Hamlin had an interesting experience at Bebek. On the 13th of August, on returning from Constantinople, he found nine women and one man waiting his return to preach to them the Gospel. On the 21st, sixteen listened with breathless attention to a sermon on the unsearchable riches of Christ, and nine of these were women. On the 25th, another company of men and women called.

Mr. Hamlin was at work upon some philosophical apparatus, when one of the men put his head through the door, and said, "Good-morning, reverend sir, come here, and preach to us the Gospel." September 22d, a company of Armenian men and women, four of them from Nicomedia, came and asked him "to teach them out of the Gospel." On the 24th eight, besides the students, were present at the services, forenoon and afternoon; two from Galata, one from Constantinople, three from Nicomedia, and two from Adabazar. On the day following, thirteen were present, most of whom had heard the maledictions of the Armenian Patriarch p.r.o.nounced, the day before, on all who should visit the missionaries. On a day in December devoted to family visitations, Mr. Dwight preached the Gospel to more than thirty women.

It was not the missionaries alone, who labored in word and doctrine.

Several priests were "obedient to the faith," and preached it more or less formally; and intelligent lay brethren,--scattered abroad, some by persecution, some in the prosecution of their worldly business,--like the primitive disciples, preached the Word; that is, they took such opportunities as they could get, to make known the truth to those of their countrymen who were disposed to hear it.