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 Nurullah 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 assistant in the medical department. Leaving Oroomiah on the 4th of May, they reached Julamerk, the home of Nurullah 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 principal 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. Nurullah 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 Ambassador at Constantinople, to restore the Nestorian Patriarch to his native regions, and constitute 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 assail 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 cooeperation, 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. Rassam. 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 pronounced 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 circumscribed by the providential embarrassments 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 Embassy 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 assistants 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 nobles 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 Shimon 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 Shimon. 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 Shimon 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 Shimon'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 assembled 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 Shimon 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.

Nurullah 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 passed 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 institution, 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 institution, was under the care of Misses Fiske and Rice.

Mar Shimon 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 associates 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. Rassam, 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 passed 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 worship. 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 fellowship 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.

The revival scenes of 1849, were renewed in the first month of 1850. The awakening commenced on the same day in each of the seminaries, without any communication between them, though they were six miles apart. The first manifestation of deep feeling in the male seminary, was at the evening prayer-meeting. While deacon Tamo was speaking of the need of preparation for death, the school gave signs of deep feeling. The emotion was increased when Dr. Perkins came in, and took up the same strain, until the weeping became so loud and general that he feared the result of further excitement, and requested the pupils to repair to their closets. There were similar indications the next morning.

The strength of feeling was as intense in the girls' school, but was manifested in a different manner. The devout among them were disposed to spend much time in prayer, while at the same time they were very active in efforts for the conversion of their associates, as well as of the members of their families that visited the school. For two months, until the close of the term, there was no diminution of interest. The regular attendance on preaching at Oroomiah, Seir, Degala, Geog Tapa, and Ardishai, was greater than ever before. The same may be said of numerous other villages, where meetings were occasionally held. Divine truth seemed to reach and affect the mass of the people. Geog Tapa was specially favored. The people were affected, not as in former years with the overwhelming convictions of the law, but with a deep and intelligent persuasion of the claims of truth.

Perhaps the most distinguished among the Nestorian laborers, at this time, next to priest Abraham, was deacon John. He is described as unwearied in the work, often preaching three times a day during the week, and performing other arduous labors. The missionaries admired the grace of God, as developed in his active piety, discreet zeal, and indomitable perseverance.1

1 Mr. Stocking gives the following description of the study of deacon John at that time. "His study is a small chamber about five feet by eight, entered by a ladder, built of mud, and plastered on the inside with the same material mixed with straw. It has two small windows covered with paper instead of glass, to let in the light. On the floor is a coarse woolen rug, but as yet no chair. His library is neatly arranged on a high shelf, reaching from one side to the other, and protected from the loose earth and dust of the roof by a paper ceiling. It consists of a copy of the Syriac, the Hebrew, and the English Bibles, the Comprehensive Commentary, the Scripture Manual, a Dictionary, and a few other choice books, lent or given him by friends. Through these books and his knowledge of the English language, he derives much assistance in preparation for his pastoral duties. When his friends in the village heard that a table was needed to complete the furniture, they made at once a voluntary contribution to procure one. This is the first study of the first Nestorian pastor, and is likely to introduce a new idea into the minds of Nestorian ecclesiastics in regard to their appropriate calling."

Among the interesting converts was deacon Jeremiah, who came with Messrs. Perkins and Stocking from Mosul. He was formerly in a papal monastery near Elkoosh. Becoming disgusted with the abominations of the place, he at last, after many attempts, effected his escape. His convictions of sin were very deep, and seemed to result in his full consecration to the service of Christ. He returned to Mosul on the reestablishment of a mission in that city.

The year 1850 was one of great activity. Deacon Jeremiah visited Bootan in the spring, at the invitation of some of the leading Nestorians in that region.1 Yonan and Khamis, native helpers, made a preaching tour through a part of Koordistan.2 Deacons Syad and Mosheil encountered many hardships and dangers in a visit to Bootan.3 In July, Messrs. Wright and Cochran accompanied by deacons John, Tamo, and Guwergis, made a tour in the mountains by way of Bashkallah, Kochanis, Julamerk, and Asheta.4 Messrs. Perkins, Stocking and Coan, went in the autumn to Gawar and beyond, and the results were interesting and satisfactory.5

1 Missionary Herald, 1851, p. 90.

2 Ibid. 1851, pp. 91-97.

3 Ibid. 1851, p. 139.

4 Ibid. 1851, pp. 54-58.

5 Ibid. 1851, pp. 61-63.

The mission was much strengthened in the year 1851, by the return of Mr. Stoddard, accompanied by Mrs. Stoddard, and by the accession of the Rev. Samuel A. Rhea. In this year, through the efforts of Mr. Stevens, British Consul at Tabriz, and Colonel Shiel the Ambassador, the Persian government promulgated an edict of toleration, granting equal protection to all its Christian subjects, including the right of proselyting, following in this the example of Turkey. The mission was now received again under British protection, and the Persian government notified the authorities at Oroomiah of the change.

The advance of public sentiment in respect to the education of women, is worthy of special notice. Only a few years had elapsed since it was deemed disgraceful to instruct that sex. Now, an examination of the female seminary drew together all the principal men and women of the Nestorian community, who listened with unwearied interest for two days. The examinations of both seminaries were highly satisfactory, Mar Yohannan, who had been present on similar occasions at colleges in the United States, and had desired to see the same things in his own country, was greatly delighted. Mr. Stoddard doubted whether he had ever attended an examination of greater excellence than that of the seminary for girls. "The pupils," he says, "were thoroughly acquainted with all their secular studies, and their familiarity with the Scriptures was truly wonderful." Three-fourths of the forty in the male seminary were also in the school of Christ, and there was the same prevalence of piety in the female seminary. Dr. Perkins regarded the latter school as unsurpassed by any in America in system, studiousness, good conduct, and rapid improvement.

The fifty-eight village schools contained a thousand and twenty-three pupils, and were generally under evangelical teachers. On the Sabbath, these schools took the form of Sabbath-schools, and many of the parents came in to hear their children, or to take part with them. The Sabbath-school in Geog Tapa numbered more than two hundred. Every school was a place for preaching, and when there was no one to preach, a meeting was sustained by the teacher. An increasing interest was felt by the Nestorians in the monthly concert of prayer for the conversion of the world. At Geog Tapa three or four hundred were present at the concert, and they joined contributions with their prayers.

The labors of the mission were widely extended. Mr. Cochran and deacon Moses preached in villages along the southern border of Oroomiah, and found the people there eager to hear the word of life. Messrs. Stocking and Coan, and Misses Fiske and Rice, with several native helpers, spent a month in Gawar, preparing the way for a station there. That place is seventy miles from Oroomiah, and within the Turkish dominions.1

1 Missionary Herald, 1852, p. 67.

Mr. Coan went from here with some Nestorian helpers through the mountains beyond Tiary, till their way was hedged up by hostile Koords. They met with great encouragement in their proclamation of the gospel.1 Mention has been made of the preaching of deacons Syad and Mosheil in Bootan, in the summer of 1850. The next winter was spent by deacons Murad Khan and Mosheil in the same region; and their journal affords evidence of singular talent for the labors of an evangelist. They were gone six months.2

1 Ibid. 1852, p. 71.

2 Missionary Herald, 1852, pp. 257-262.

Among the native helpers, who accompanied Mr. Stocking to Gawar, was deacon Isaac. After spending a few days with Mr. Stocking, he proceeded to Kochanis, the residence of his brother, whither his family had previously gone on a visit. The influence of this deacon and his amiable wife was the probable cause of the unusual conduct of the Patriarch in a visit he shortly afterwards made to Gawar, when he received the missionary and his native helpers with the greatest apparent cordiality in the presence of a large number of ecclesiastics, and charged the people to see that they were treated with the regard due to good men.

This was in the summer of 1851. The station was commenced by Messrs. Coan and Rhea in the autumn of that year. The plain of Gawar is large and beautiful, and is hemmed in by some of the wildest of the Koordish mountains. The village of Memikan, selected for the station, lay on the southwest base of the great Jeloo mountains. That village was preferred to the larger ones, as having received much religious instruction from deacon Tamo. It was also central. The rigors of a severe climate cut them off three mouths from communication with the plain of Oroomiah, and these rigors were to be encountered in native huts. But they enjoyed comfortable health, and were happy and successful in their work. The Bishop of Gawar sent orders to the villagers not to attend their services, nor to send children to their schools; but the order produced only a momentary effect. Mrs. Coan had a school for the mothers and daughters of the village, who came barefooted through the snow day after day, the mothers bringing their children on their backs. All the young men and all the boys of suitable age learned to read the gospel, and the fathers came to the school-room every Saturday, to listen while the scholars were learning their Sabbath-school lessons. Thirty or forty were accustomed to assemble every night to hear the Word of God expounded, and all attended on the services of the Sabbath. Deacon Tamo preached in the surrounding villages. Though threatened at times, he encountered no active opposition.

The year was distinguished by the death of a youth of seventeen years of age, of whom Dr. Perkins speaks as being a remarkable instance of the triumph of faith. His name was Guwergis. He was a nephew of deacon Tamo, and a member of the seminary. Guwergis came a rude mountain boy from Memikan, and was one of the converts of 1849. His convictions of sin were pungent, and his interest in the welfare of souls was engrossing. His prayerfulness was unequaled. During the period of greatest interest in the revivals, he would occasionally pray for nearly the whole night. Quite frequently he would rise at midnight, and repair to his cold and dark closet, which he ever found warm with a Saviour's love, and radiant with his presence. He was often known to spend two hours in prayer, and as might be supposed, in this exercise he soon excelled many of his superiors.

His sickness was very severe. Mr. Coan, after relating an interesting conversation with the dying youth, speaks of him in the following manner: "He then closed his eyes, and offered one of the most touching prayers I ever heard. It were vain for me to attempt repeating it. He began by expressing a desire to die, and be with Christ; but he checked himself by saying, 'Not my will, but thine be done.' He then proceeded in a most humble and penitent strain, to speak of his own vileness, and to adore the sovereign love of God in calling him to be an heir of his grace.

"His humble confession of sin, his strong confidence in the efficacy of the atonement, even for him sinful as he was, his entire renunciation of all dependence on anything save the grace of God in Christ, were deeply affecting. He ceased, and on opening his eyes he saw us weeping. 'Why do you weep?' said he. 'If it is the will of God that I die, my heart is burning to see Christ in his glory.' Surely, this is far more than a return for all that has been expended by the Church in the work of missions."

"I have been happy during his sickness," wrote Dr. Perkins, "to try to alleviate his bodily pains; but I have also been greatly refreshed in spirit; and I have been instructed and comforted in watching the remarkable exercises of his mind, and the ardent longing of his soul after Christ and heaven. Since the death of Mrs. Grant, more than twelve years ago, I have been present at no such rapturous deathbed, nor have I ever beheld any more wonderful."

The Rev. Edward H. Crane and wife, and Miss Martha A. Harris, were added to the mission in the year 1852.

Among the adverse influences of the year, was the conscription of a regiment of Christian soldiers by the Persian government. This was made in that arbitrary and oppressive manner, in which Moslems deal with their Christian subjects. The Romanists, also, taking advantage of the edict of toleration, and relying on French protection, became very unscrupulous and troublesome. Mar Shimon, having been recognized by the Turkish government as the civil head of the mountain Nestorians, became intent on driving the missionaries from Gawar, and the Turkish authorities were only too willing to unite with him in this effort.

Among the extreme measures of the Turkish rulers, under such an influence, was the arrest of deacon Tamo, with his two brothers, and several of the chief villagers, on the strange charge of murdering a Turkish soldier, who was spending the night near the house of the deacon, and was shot by a company of marauders. Deacon Tamo was arrested as the chief offender, and along with the others was taken to Bashkallah, the residence of the local Pasha. They were there chained together, made to work in brick under taskmasters, and thrown at night into a vile prison. It so happened, that Lieutenant-colonel W. F. Williams, the British Commissioner for settling the boundary between Turkey and Persia, was in that district at the time of this outrage. On learning it, his generous nature was aroused, and he immediately proceeded to Bashkallah, a distance of twenty hours. The Pasha was absent, and not securing the release of the prisoners, he continued his journey to Van, three days further, to see the Pasha of Koordistan. He made him many fair promises, but forgot them on the departure of Colonel Williams. He however had the prisoners removed in October to Van, and there, after the form of a trial, dismissed all except deacon Tamo to their homes. To him the Pasha said, "I shall exact from you thirty thousand piastres, and retain you a prisoner three years." He had promised Colonel Williams, that both the fine and the imprisonment of Tamo should be merely nominal. No one believed the deacon to be guilty. And it is interesting to note the persons, who put forth efforts through a whole year from this time, to effect his release. Colonel Williams went to Constantinople, and laid the case before Colonel Rose, H. B. M. Charge d'Affairs, and Mr. Brown, the American Charge. Mr. Brant, English Consul at Erzroom, and Mr. Stevens, English Consul at Tabriz, cooperated with Colonel Williams; and finally Sir Stratford de Redcliffe, British Ambassador at the Porte, made a decisive and successful appeal; and deacon Tamo once more appeared among his friends at Memikan, exhibiting a truly Christian spirit towards his enemies.

The interposition of such powerful friends in behalf of this persecuted Nestorian Christian, exerted a favorable influence upon the local authorities. Kamil Pasha sent reiterated friendly assurances from Bashkallah to Messrs. Coan and Rhea. He also removed from office the Moodir of Gawar, who had been one of the chief causes of the trouble, and put one of his own household in his place; and the restriction upon building at Memikan was so far modified, that their accommodations were tolerable before the arrival of winter, when the thermometer sometimes sank fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five degrees below zero.

In this year Dr. Perkins completed his translation of the Old Testament into the modern Syriac, and the whole Bible was given to the people in their spoken language.



CHAPTER XXI.

SYRIA.

1845-1856.

Good tidings were received in 1845 concerning Aintab, in Northern Syria, communicated by Dr. Kerns, of the London Jews Society, and by Bedros, an Armenian vartabed, who had been banished from Constantinople by the Patriarch Matteos.1 His banishment was to the Armenian monastery at Jerusalem, but he turned aside from Beirut to Northern Syria. Letters came also from prominent men in Aintab, written in behalf of a large number of families in that place who had heard the gospel from Bedros, and were resolved to abandon the errors of their Church. They asked for a missionary to instruct them, and said their need of aid was the greater, as they were violently persecuted by their bishop.

1 See chapter xxii.

Mr. Thomson was instructed by the mission to visit Aleppo and Aintab. He went by way of Antioch, and reached Aleppo in August. Bedros was there, having been driven from Aintab, and Mr. Thomson concluded it was not prudent for him to proceed farther. He accordingly wrote to the Protestants of Aintab, requesting more information as to their condition and wishes. The distance was two long days' ride from Aleppo, and on the fifth day an answer came, that eighteen of their number, including two priests, were coming to see him. A message arrived soon after, stating that they had prepared to come, but fearing the commotion it would produce, they had concluded to abandon the visit and write. Their letter contained a very earnest appeal for a missionary, with strong affirmations of attachment to the gospel, and their determination to adhere to it at all hazards. Mr. Thomson stated, in his reply, why a missionary could not be sent from Beirut, and that he would forward their letters, and those of Bedros, to the missionaries at Constantinople, with a request, that a missionary might be sent who could preach both in Turkish and Armenian; or at least an experienced Armenian preacher, to assist Bedros in this important work. Just before leaving Aleppo, Mr. Thomson received from them another letter, declaring their satisfaction with this arrangement, and their gratitude for his interest in their welfare. "We are the fish in the great sea," they said, "and wait for you to spread the gospel net for us."

Mr. Thomson estimated the nominally Christian population of Aleppo at twenty thousand, and the whole number of inhabitants at sixty thousand. The most promising were the Armenians, though at that time they were kept aloof by the excommunication of Bedros and all associated with him. The Protestant Armenians in that city were thought to be about fifty. The orthodox Greeks were not numerous. Their bishop was in poor health, but received the missionary with much cordiality, and appeared quite pleased with the prospect of a missionary in Aleppo. The Greek Catholics were by far the largest body of Christians. To this body belonged Athanasius, the Archbishop of Tripoli, so called, but residing at Aleppo. He was not forty years old, and had been two years in England, and two in Malta. Mr. Thomson had much intercourse with this man, and spoke of him as the most learned theologian of his sect, and the most promising ecclesiastic he had seen in Syria. He seemed to be serious and earnest, evangelical in sentiment, desirous of reforming his countrymen, and enlightened enough to take a comprehensive view of the work to be done, and make a rational estimate of the obstacles to be overcome. He was highly respected by all classes; and though his Protestant sentiments were well-known, there was said to be no power in his Church to depose him.1

1 Missionary Herald, 1846, p. 418.

Mr. Calhoun visited Hasbeiya in February, 1846, accompanied by Tannus, 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 space 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 pass 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 Beirut, 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 Ambassador afterwards made inquiries, and received a copy of the document, 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 worship 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 Beirut. 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. Circumstances 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 petition was presented from the native Protestants at Beirut to the American missionaries, asking that they might be organized into a church, according to certain principles and rules embodied in their petition. The whole originated with the native brethren. The principles proposed for the constitution 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 assisted 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 Beirut in August, 1848, and were associated 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 gratitude to God. 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 shining light," taught a school among the Druzes in the higher part of the mountains. Another, named Asaad el-Maaluk, 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 mass. Sometimes he yielded, and sometimes refused; till, near the end of January, 1849, having performed mass, 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 assailed twenty years before, but were driven thence by similar acts of violence. The English Consul at Beirut, 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 furnishing the missionaries with an official guaranty in writing, for their protection wherever they should be able to hire houses. The American Ambassador also procured a strong vizieral letter to the Pasha in the Tripoli district.

A fourth class was admitted to the seminary at Abeih in October, 1849. One member of the class 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 hoarded 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 bloody 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 classes 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 bloody feud between the two great parties. Yet the bonds of superstition had been weakened; especially the faith of the people in the miraculous virtue of the pictures, which filled their churches and had been worshipped 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 assistance 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 Beirut, 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 Beirut 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 assistance 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 Beirut, 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 assistants. 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 Ambassador 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 God. 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 God. 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-class. It was somewhat remarkable that the whole class 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 class 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 basement 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 shores of her native land. The Rev. Jerre L. Lyons and wife arrived at Beirut 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 superstitions 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. George B. Whiting, finished his course, after a devoted service as a missionary through a fourth part of a century.1 Mrs. Whiting returned, in poor health, to the United States.

1 For an obituary notice of Mr. Whiting by Mr. Calhoun, see Missionary Herald for 1856, pp. 129-133.

The Gospel was preached statedly at sixteen places. At four of these—Beirut, Abeih, Sidon, and Hasbeiya—churches had been organized. Fifteen members were added during the year 1856. The number admitted from the beginning was one hundred and six, of whom eighty were living and in regular standing. The average number of hearers was about four hundred and twenty; but the whole number was of course much larger. The sons-in-law of the old Emir Beshir, the unrelenting persecutor no longer among the living, were among the firmest friends of the mission, and his grandchildren were in its schools. The anathemas of the Maronite clergy, once so terrific, had lost their power. Light was spreading; and though there was not a corresponding religious interest, yet the most influential inhabitants were on friendly terms with the mission, and in favor of education and good morals.



CHAPTER XXII.

THE ARMENIANS.

1845-1846.

We come now to the grand crisis, when the evangelical Armenians, who claimed the right of worshipping God according to the teachings of his Word, were on that account excommunicated, pronounced accursed, and subjected to a protracted and most cruel persecution. But inasmuch as this made it necessary to organize Protestant churches all over the country, it was overruled, in God's providence, for the furtherance of his kingdom.

Matteos, the leader of this persecution, became Patriarch of Constantinople in the autumn of 1844. Peshtimaljian, the celebrated, teacher, who knew him as one of his scholars, said of him, ten years before, when he was on very friendly terms with the missionaries, that he was a man of enlightened views, but without principle, and always governed by what he considered the wishes of those who were likely to promote his interests. His position as Patriarch was one of great difficulty. The evangelical doctrines were spreading in all directions, and their enemies demanded that they be rooted out. A report was even started, that Matteos himself was a Protestant, and his convictions were known to have been at one time in that direction; but his interests and his ambition now led him to oppose. He had attained the highest post in his nation, and was resolved to keep it. As the evangelical brethren would not yield, he must, if possible, put them down. He resolved to sacrifice the Protestants; and all his powers, personal and official, were employed to eradicate Protestantism from the land.1

1 Dr. Dwight, in his Christianity Revived in the East is severe on Bishop Horatio Southgate, of the American Episcopal mission in Turkey, on the ground of his publicly declared sympathy with the Patriarch Matteos, and the advice and countenance he was believed to have given that cruel persecutor. How far the Patriarch was actually influenced by Bishop Southgate, it is impossible to say; and I have supposed that at this late day, the demands of history would be satisfied with this brief allusion to the case. See Christianity Revived, pp. 211-213.

He first secretly directed those among his own flock, who were patrons or regular customers of the evangelical brethren, silently to withdraw their patronage. Many of the Protestants thus suddenly found themselves deprived of business, and that remonstrances availed nothing, unless they pledged themselves to withdraw from the preaching of the missionaries. A more decisive measure was, ordering the priests to hand in to the Patriarch the names of those who did not come to confession, and partake of the communion, in their respective churches. All such were threatened with excommunication and all its dreaded consequences.

As two or three vartabeds and some of the priests continued to attend the preaching of the missionaries, and others were known to be friendly, something must be done to operate upon those spiritual guides of the people. Bedros Vartabed was the first to be made an example. He was ordered to perform a mass, but declined on conscientious grounds. He was then instructed to proceed forthwith to a town on the Russian frontier, ostensibly to take charge of a diocese, but really to get him where he could easily be conveyed as a prisoner to the monastery of Echmiadzin. He politely declined to go, and the Patriarch was not then prepared to resort to force. After some delay, it was arranged that Bedros should go to the monastery at Jerusalem. He proceeded no farther, however, than Beirut, and from thence went to Aleppo and Aintab. His usefulness at the latter place, and his Christian death at Aleppo, have been already stated.1

1 See chapter xxi.

The Patriarch's attention was next turned to Priest Vertanes, who was already in his hands as a prisoner at the monastery of Armash, whither he had been sent by his predecessor. It was found that he had been preaching to the monks salvation through the blood of Christ alone, without the deeds of the law. It was represented to Matteos, that if the Protestant priest was not removed, the inmates of the monastery would soon become corrupted. An imperial firman was therefore procured for his banishment to Cesarea, whither Hohannes had been sent, six years before, for a like offense. On his way there, in charge of a Turkish officer, and indeed after his arrival, he ceased not to preach the Gospel for which he was in bonds. In the same year the Sultan gave orders, on occasion of a great feast, to have all the exiles in the country set at liberty, and Vertanes returned to Constantinople. Letters came to the Patriarch from Cesarea, soon after, saying that he had seduced many, and that had he remained there much longer, all would have gone after him.1

1 Christianity Revived, p. 152. Authority for most of the following statements concerning these persecutions, may be found in the Missionary Herald for 1846: pp. 193-203, 218-230, 263-273, 298-304, 397-406; and for 1847, pp. 16-22, 37-45, 75-83, 150, 193-199, 264-273, 298-301, 372-374. The account of them given by Dr. H. G. O. Dwight, in his work entitled Christianity Revived in the East, published in 1850, is so well written, that I cannot confer upon the reader a greater favor than by a free, though much abridged, use of his language.

At the metropolis there were restraints upon the hierarchy, that were unfelt in the provinces. Ephrem, bishop of Erzroom, had once acknowledged the errors of his Church, and had often strongly expressed his desires for reform, though now among the most zealous and persevering of the persecutors. The same was lamentably true of Boghos, Vartabed of Trebizond. Ephrem and Boghos had actually suffered persecution, on the charge of being Protestants. The change in their conduct was owing to the change in their relations, and to their loving the praise of men more than the praise of God.

The Bishop of Erzroom exceeded all others in bitterness against the followers of the Gospel. He had spies in every part of the town, and often upon the roofs of houses adjacent to the dwellings of the missionaries, to observe who were their visitors. He never allowed disobedience to his orders to go unpunished. The bastinado was repeatedly applied under his own eye, merely for an expression indicating reverence for the Word of God. Twenty blows were inflicted on the bare feet of a young man, and he was thrown into prison, because he had sold a copy of the Psalms in modern Armenian, and called at the house of a missionary. A teacher of a country school was severely bastinadoed for teaching the Gospel to the villagers. A merchant, who had early embraced the truth, was cruelly beaten in the bishop's own room, and the people were commanded to spit in his face in the streets, merely because he visited the missionary. A priest, for showing so much sympathy as to call upon him, was summoned before the bishop and bastinadoed. Another, who had called once at Mr. Peabody's house and procured some books, was seized, put in irons, and thrown into prison, and his books were burnt before his eyes. In most cases these violent measures confirmed the individuals in their new ways; and the truth is said never to have made so much progress among the permanent Armenian residents of Erzroom, as during the period of these outrages.

One principal reason for the determination of the ecclesiastics to uproot Bible religion from Erzroom, was the central and consequently influential position of that city in the interior of Armenia. In the district of Pasin, to the east, were nearly two hundred villages, in which Mr. Peabody found both priests and people remarkably accessible. In the nearer villages, a few were always found so much awake to the truth as to pay little regard to the injunctions of their spiritual rulers, who were opposed to Bible teachings. Not unfrequently individuals from Egin, Diarbekir, and other distant places, called on Messrs. Peabody and Smith for religious inquiry. A tour of Haritun of Nicomedia to Sivas, Erzroom, Egin, etc., brought to light many encouraging facts in those places. In every important place some inquirers were found, and only laborers seemed needful to gather in an abundant harvest.

The author can bear witness to the increase of intelligence at Trebizond. The quiet preaching of the word by Messrs. Johnston and Bliss, and the distribution of the Scriptures and other evangelical books, had, by the blessing of God, moved many minds, and taught the difference between truth and error; and they gladly availed themselves of every opportunity to come together for conference and prayer. Not many, however, were willing to run much risk for the truth's sake, and few gave satisfactory evidence of being "born again."

A young man of superior attainments in Trebizond, belonging to the Papal Armenians, died in the spring of 1844, giving the most satisfactory evidence of conversion. His priest had made every effort to reclaim him, but Mugurdich, for that was his name, was very decided, and a few days before his death made a formal renunciation of his Church in writing, and peacefully committed his all to Christ. His body was not allowed a burial in the graveyard, or with the usual religious ceremonies, but was carried out at a late hour, in a dark stormy night, by common street porters, under the direction of a Turkish police-officer, and buried in a waste place about a mile out of the city. His priest had threatened to bury him like a dog; but he told them, at the time, that they could thus do him no harm, as they could not reach his soul.

The Vartabed in this city was not deemed sufficiently energetic as a persecutor. But Boghos, his successor, was. On receiving instructions from the Patriarch in the spring of 1845, he immediately set the whole persecuting machinery in motion. And so terrific did it become, that in the space of ten days about one half of the Bible readers had recanted.

Just at this juncture, a highly respected evangelical inhabitant of Trebizond, named Tateos, returned from a visit to Constantinople, Smyrna, Broosa, Nicomedia, and Adabazar, whither he had been to make the acquaintance of the missionaries and native brethren in those places. Fearing the influence of such a man, the persecuting party resolved to put him out of the way. He was accordingly decoyed on board the steamer as it was leaving for Constantinople, thrust down into the hold, and confined there by order of the Turkish Pasha. Thus was he torn from his affectionate wife and children, and carried off like a felon, they knew not whither, without even the show of a trial. Arriving at the capital, he was taken to the Armenian hospital, and shut up in the mad-house. Placed in a sitting posture, he was fastened with two chains, one from his neck to the wall, the other from his feet to the floor. Orders from the Patriarchate were, that no one should have access to him, but some of the native brethren discovered the place of his confinement, and gained admittance. He was then removed to another place, where it was believed he could not be found. On the Sabbath, the eighth day of his imprisonment, while the Armenian congregation was engaged in singing in the chapel at Pera, he entered, a free man! Much prayer had been offered for him, and his sudden liberation reminded all of Peter the Apostle. Sir Stratford Canning had been informed of his case, and there was no doubt that the remonstrances of this benevolent statesman had caused the Patriarch to loosen his grasp upon this innocent victim of his oppression.

But whatever was the influence exerted to moderate the proceedings of the Patriarch in this case, he was fully resolved not to fail of success. In the beginning of 1846, he entered upon the more decisive course of subjecting the evangelical Armenians to the pains and penalties of excommunication. He began with Vertanes, who escaped arrest only through the friendly agency of his landlord, (not a Protestant,) and was concealed for several weeks in the house of a friend. At the patriarchal church, after the morning service, January 25th, the church was darkened by extinguishing the candles, the great veil was drawn in front of the altar, and a bull of anathema was solemnly read against Priest Vertanes; and, on the next Sabbath, against all who were of his sentiments,—"followers," as the instrument read, "of the corrupt new sect, who are accursed, excommunicated, and anathematized." Vertanes was denounced in the usual style of such documents, as "a contemptible wretch," "a vagabond," "a seducer of the people," "a traitor and murderer of Christ," "a child of the devil," "an offspring of Antichrist," and "worse than an infidel or a heathen." "Wherefore," says the Patriarch, "we expel him, and forbid him, as a devil and a child of the devil, to enter into the company of our believers; we cut him off from the priesthood, as an amputated member of the spiritual body of Christ, and as a branch cut off from the vine, which is good for nothing but to be cast into the fire. By this admonitory bull, I therefore command and warn my beloved in every city far and near, not to look upon his face, regarding it as the face of Belial, not to receive him into your holy dwellings, for he is a house destroying and ravening wolf; not to receive his salutation, but to refuse it as a soul-destroying poison; and to beware, with all your households, of the seducing and impious followers of the false doctrine of modern sectarists, and to pray for them to the God who remembereth not iniquity, if perchance, they may repent, and turn from their wicked paths, and secure the salvation of their souls, through the grace of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever and ever. Amen."1

1 Missionary Herald, 1846, pp. 197, 198.

The Patriarch immediately issued orders to his clergy, to see that the temporal penalties threatened in the anathema were all inflicted. Most of the clergy obeyed these orders with good will, but some reluctantly. The leading men in the different trade corporations were required to deprive the persons anathematized, and their families, of their employments and means of living, and they evinced more pitiless zeal than did even the clergy. Many of the brethren were forcibly driven from their houses and shops, and some were expelled even from the paternal roof. A form of recantation was drawn up, and a new creed, and these were sent throughout the country for the signature of the Protestants. The evangelical brethren were everywhere summoned before their ecclesiastical rulers for this purpose. The creed contained the worst errors of Popery. The recantation required was, in substance, a confession that "being deceived by the enticements of Satan" they had "separated from the spotless bosom of the holy Church," and had "lovingly joined the impious New Sectaries," which they now saw to be "nothing else but an invention of arrogance, a snare of Satan, a sect of confusion, a broad road which leadeth to destruction." Wherefore repenting of their "impious deeds," they "fled again to the bosom of the immaculate and holy Armenian Church," and confessed that "her faith is spotless, her sacraments divine, her rites of apostolic origin, her ritual pious," and promised to receive "whatever this same holy Church receiveth, whether it be a matter of faith or ceremony," and to "reject with anathemas whatever doctrines she rejects."1

1 Appendix to Christianity Revived in the East, p. 272.

The persecutions designed to enforce this bold and cruel measure, both at Constantinople and elsewhere, were too numerous to be fully set forth in this history. It appears, from a statement drawn up by the missionaries at Constantinople, that nearly forty persons, in that city alone, had their shops closed and their licenses taken away, and were thus debarred from laboring for an honest livelihood. Nearly seventy were ejected from their own hired houses, and sometimes from houses owned by themselves, and were thus exposed as vagabonds, to be taken up by the patrol and committed to prison; and could find shelter only in houses provided for the emergency at Pera, or Galata, through the charity of Europeans or Americans. To increase the distress, bakers were forbidden to furnish them with bread, and water-carriers to supply them with water. Thirty or more persons were exiled, imprisoned, or bastinadoed, on no other charge than their faith. Many were compelled to dissolve partnerships, and bring their accounts to a forced settlement, involving their utter ruin. Where the agents of the Patriarch ascertained that debts were due from the anathematized to faithful sons of the Church, the latter, however reluctant, were compelled to urge an immediate settlement.1

1 Annual Report for 1846, p. 98.

Dr. Dwight gives us a glimpse of the working of the Anathema in the following narrative: "At one time the Patriarch called before him several of the leading Protestants, and sought to win them by gentleness and argument. When he found that they could outreason him, he said, rather petulantly, 'What is the use of your talking? I only called you to sign this paper. If you cannot do it, you may go, and next Sabbath you will all be anathematized.'

"One of the number he retained for a more private conversation. This was Mr. Apisoghom Khachadurian, who afterwards became the first Protestant pastor. After those present had been sent away, the Patriarch, with a great show of kindness, entreated our brother to yield to the demands of the Church, for the sake of peace. 'Let me know,' said he, 'how much you receive as a salary from those men (meaning us), and I will pledge myself to secure more for you, if you will only come over to our side.' Ap. Khachadurian begged the Patriarch not to pain his feelings again by addressing to him any such motives, which, in a matter of such solemn moment, were worthy of no consideration.

"The Patriarch then said: 'If you will only come back to us, you may retain your own private opinions and nobody shall molest you; only you must not speak of them to others. Why should you preach? You are no priest.'

"K. 'I cannot return on any such conditions. It is every man's duty to try to enlighten his neighbors in things pertaining to salvation, so far as he understands the Gospel.'

"Patriarch. 'But, if the evangelical men are permitted to remain in the Church on such conditions, the time is not distant when they will make the whole Church evangelical.'

"K. 'And what if they should? Would it be a calamity to our people to receive the Word of God as a body, and endeavor to follow it? You well know that this is the true way. You know that you confessed this to me some years ago. The course you are now pursuing will be destructive to our nation. I well understand your motive. You have been called a Protestant, and you seek to wipe this blot from your name; but have you not already done enough? Surely everybody must be convinced, by this time, that you are an Armenian, and no Protestant. Desist, I beseech you, from this work; for your own sake, I beseech you desist; otherwise it may result in something very bad for you.'

"Patriarch. 'Why? what will they (meaning the missionaries) do unto me?'

"K. 'They will do nothing to you, but your own nation will, if you go on in this way.'

"This conversation continued for some time, and the Patriarch's conscience seemed, for the moment, to be touched by our brother's faithful appeals, and he looked very thoughtful. He requested Mr. Khachadurian to call again after two days, which he accordingly did, but was not received. A vartabed was sent to say, that if he continued of the same mind as before, the Patriarch did not wish to see him; and on the following Sabbath he was publicly anathematized in all the churches."1

1 Christianity Revived, pp. 199-201.

Soon after this anathema, the persecuted brethren addressed a letter to the Patriarch, explaining their religious sentiments, and asking to be relieved from their sufferings. This producing no effect, they addressed themselves to the Primates of the Armenian community, but no one of them was disposed to interfere in their behalf. At length they presented a petition to Reschid Pasha, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs. This petition was treated with respect; but, owing to the influence of some of the Armenian Primates, it procured no relief. Subsequently they carried their case before the English, Prussian, and American Ministers, asking their intervention. These gentlemen took the kindest interest in their case, and made repeated efforts to procure redress. Still the persecution went on. The Patriarch even ventured, within a month after the excommunication, to send the names of thirteen leading Protestants to the Porte, requesting their banishment. This was going a step too far. The English Ambassador, Sir Stratford Canning, had called the attention of the Turkish ministry to the pledge given, three years before, by the Sultan, that "henceforth there should be no more persecution for religious opinions in Turkey;" and it was now decided, in accordance with this pledge, that the persecution of the evangelical Armenians could not be allowed.

Scores of men, women, and children were wandering houseless, for the faith of Jesus, in the streets of the great metropolis, but they could not be left thus to suffer. Through the kindness of Mr. Allan, missionary of the Free Church of Scotland to the Jews, twenty individuals were comfortably lodged in a large building he had secured for a chapel and mission house. For the rest, the missionaries hired such tenements as could be found; at the same time providing bread for those cut off from all means of procuring their own subsistence. Nor was any time lost in appealing for aid to evangelical Christians throughout the world; and responses were received from the United States, from England, from every country in Europe, and from India; and five hundred dollars were contributed by foreign Protestant residents on the ground.