"But experience in other fields, as well as our own, has proved that such labors can only be prosecuted for a time. From year to year we have found the old ecclesiastics more restive under their loss of support, and more jealous of the progress of spiritual life. Mar Shimon, as you are informed, has for years openly opposed the gospel, and now so intimidates the interior mountain districts under his immediate control, that it seems preposterous to attempt to prosecute labors there, unless on a separate foundation. And we now find the opposition on the plains, and all over the field, not less positive, and daily becoming more concerted and potent.

"Mar Yohanan has also, for years, secretly, and often openly and most offensively, opposed spiritual and reformatory labors. Priest John, a most untiring and reckless man, is arousing a furor of zeal for Old Churchism,—a fanaticism that will not be likely to subside with the spasmodic efforts he may make. He and others are now administering the communion every few weeks to the whole people, without distinction of character. They also enjoin the fasts and saints' days, resume the use of the liturgy in ancient Syriac, burn incense daily, bow before the altar, and make the sign of the cross; though some, as yet, refuse to come into all these measures.

"With the return of these old superstitions, there is also a painful throwing off of moral restraint, and intemperance and kindred vices have greatly increased.

"In these circumstances the question has arisen, first in Geog Tapa, and subsequently in other places; Can 'the evangelicals' further unite in the morning and evening service conducted by priests—and there happen to be five or six in that village—who are reviving these superstitions? Almost the whole church are surprisingly united in the decision to withdraw. This has been done for the last two months, and we find upwards of one hundred members there, who are firm, and daily waxing stronger in faith and opposition to the old superstitions."

These and other distractions seriously hindered the spiritual growth of the churches in the winter of 1869 and 1870. But in the spring, a very thorough work of grace was enjoyed at Degala, and it was believed that there were more than twenty genuine conversions, mostly among the aged and middle-aged. The church in that place paid half the salary of its pastor, and was expected soon to pay the whole. Mar Yooseph, the young bishop at Bootan, wrote that his congregation had increased to one hundred and fifty, and that, for much of the time, Christ and his salvation formed the only theme of conversation. He had hopes concerning considerably more than a score of new converts. Deacon Toma, who had spent a year in the Seminary, was with him as a helper, and promised to become another Deacon Guwergis.

The immediate foreign mission field of the Nestorians, is among the Armenians in Russia, and the same people at Tabriz, Hamadan (the ancient Ecbatana), Teheran, and Ispahan in Persia, with the numerous villages in the intervening regions; descendants, to a great extent, of Armenians carried captive, in the year 1605, from the regions of Ararat by Shah Abbas the Great. They furnish the field providentially offered to the Nestorians, as the Koords do for the Armenians in Turkey. Hamadan is about three hundred miles southeast of Oroomiah, on the great caravan road between Tabriz and Bagdad. On the 28th of May, 1870, the mission resolved, that they considered it a duty urged upon them to embrace at once within their efforts the Armenians and the Mussulman sects of Central Persia, by planting a station at Hamadan; and they expressed the hope that the Board would heartily endorse this action, and help them to carry it out without delay, and also to occupy Tabriz.

The members of the mission, in the spring of 1870, were the Rev. Messrs. Coan, Labaree, Cochran, and Shedd, and Dr. Van Norden, with their wives, and Miss Dean, principal of the female seminary. The mission was now known as the "Mission to Persia," in view of plans to reach the entire population of the country. To Mr. Cochran was assigned the superintendence of twenty out-stations in Oroomiah, Sooldooz, and Tergawer, and the field outlying these, together with the male Seminary, To Mr. Coan was committed the press, the editing of the "Rays of Light," care of the treasury, and the oversight of the city church, and of two out-stations. To Messrs. Shedd and Labaree, jointly, was given the care of twenty out-stations in Oroomiah and Salmas, besides Tabriz and Hamadan, with the Armenian work in general; and, separately, to Mr. Shedd the mountain field, and to Mr. Labaree the Mussulman work. Dr. Van Norden was to carry on his medical department, and to translate the Gospel of John into Turkish.

In the autumn of this year the Mission to Persia was formally transferred to the care of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions; reserving, however, the Armenian work in the northern portion of the field, from its intimate connection with the mission to the Armenians of Turkey.

It remains only to speak of the honored founder of the mission.

Dr. Perkins lived through the entire connection of the mission with the American Board, and died at Chicopee, Massachusetts, on the 31st of December, 1869, when he had nearly attained the age of sixty-five; having been born on the 12th of March, 1805. He graduated at Amherst College in 1829, taught the next year in Amherst Academy; spent the two following years in Andover Seminary; and was tutor in his Alma Mater for the greater part of another year. The engagement last named was shortened by his call to commence the mission among the Nestorians. His life, from the time of his sailing from Boston, with Mrs. Perkins, in September, 1833, for six-and-thirty years, is largely the history of the Nestorian mission.

The careful reader of this history will not need a portraiture of his character. He was evidently made for the position he so long occupied. He was an acknowledged leader in the Lord's host; a Moses and a Joshua, with traits of character resembling those both of Elijah, and of the Apostle Paul. To idleness, vagrancy, and drunkenness, besetting sins of the Nestorians, he was the old prophet; and in his longing desire to make them savingly acquainted with the gospel, he was the apostle. Their spoken language he reduced to a written form, and gave them, in their vernacular, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; with a commentary on Genesis and on Daniel. Is it too much to pronounce him the Apostle to the Nestorians? He came to his end as a shock of corn fully ripe; and glorious results of his self denying, and in some respects suffering mission, he will assuredly behold in the heavenly world. Where in his native land could he have labored, with the prospect of so large a spiritual harvest, taking no account of the widely reacting influence of his labors on the churches at home? And we might propose the same inquiry with respect to the departed Stoddard, and Rhea, and Grant, and Fidelia Fiske, and others, both among the dead, and the living.



CHAPTER XXXVIII.

SYRIA.

1857-1860.

Dr. Eli Smith, whose name has an honorable place among the translators of the Scriptures, died at Beirut, Sabbath morning, January 11th, 1857.[1] Thirty years had elapsed since his first arrival in Syria, and he had before been connected for several months with the press at Malta. In 1829, he made an exploring visit, with the author, to the Ionian Islands, the Morea, and the Grecian Archipelago; and the next year, he and Dr. Dwight explored Armenia, and a part of the Nestorian country. The other more important events of his life are so far known to the reader, that they need not be repeated.

[1] Dr. Smith expressed a decided opinion, in his last sickness, that no memoir of his life and labors should be published, since he had never kept a journal, and there were not sufficient materials. In this he was probably correct, considering what the public would have expected. A well written obituary, somewhat extended for that publication, may be found in the Missionary Herald for 1857, pp. 224-229. See, also, pp. 123-125.

The mind of Dr. Smith was rich in general principles, and in well-considered applications of them to the missionary work; though, in this latter respect, he was restricted more than his brethren among the Armenians, by the less pliable nature of the materials on which he was called to operate. After having explored countries which others were to occupy; after contributing largely to the accuracy, variety, and value of Dr. Robinson's "Biblical Researches"; and after securing the formation of type that would be acceptable to the most fastidious Arab; he set himself to prepare a new translation of the Bible into the Arabic language. With this in view, he pursued the study of Arabic and kindred languages to a greater extent than was necessary to become either a good speaker, or a good preacher. His learning was both extensive and accurate, and he was continually adding to his stores by a wide range of judicious reading. To a good knowledge of the ancient classics, he added an acquaintance, more or less perfect, with the French, Italian, German, and Turkish languages. With the Hebrew he was familiar; and the Arabic, by far the most difficult of all, was to him a second vernacular.

Dr. Smith was eminently a man of business, and was accustomed to give attention to the minutest details. He spent much time in superintending the cutting, casting, and perfecting of the various fonts of type, made from models that he had accurately drawn from the best specimens of Arabic caligraphy.[1] For many years he read the proof-sheets of nearly every work that was printed at the mission press; and he bestowed much thought and labor upon the mechanical apparatus and fixtures of that establishment.

[1] See. vol. i. p. 233.

To him every pursuit was subsidiary to a faithful translation of the Word of God into the Arabic language. Yet he did not neglect the regular preaching of the gospel, which he regarded as the first duty of every missionary; and having early become a fluent speaker in the Arabic, this was ever his delight. "Almost as a matter of course, his preaching was expository and didactic. In clear, lucid, logical exposition of divine truth, he had few equals. His language, though select and grammatical, was always simple, and within the comprehension of the humblest of his hearers. In regard to matter, his discourses were eminently Biblical, sound, and evangelical. In form and costume, his theology was that of Edwards, and Dwight, and Woods,—the theology of the Puritan fathers of New England. Upon this system of divine truth his own hopes of eternal life rested, and it was this which he earnestly labored, for thirty years, to infuse into the Arabic literature, and transplant into the hard and stony soil of Syria's moral desert."

The author, having had the best opportunities for knowing Dr. Smith, bears testimony to his excellent judgment, and to the great value of his correspondence with the executive officers of the Board, in the forming period of the missionary work.

It did not please the Lord to grant the earnest desire of Dr. Smith to live and complete his translation of the Scriptures; and it must be admitted, that his ideal of perfection in the work was such, that it is doubtful whether he ever could have been satisfied that his entire translation was ready for publication. Only Genesis, Exodus, and the first sixteen chapters of Matthew, had received his final revision, and were acknowledged by him as complete. But, with the help of Mr. Bistany, his assistant translator, he had put into Arabic the entire New Testament, the Pentateuch, the Historical Books of the Old Testament, and the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum. He had revised, and nearly prepared for the press, the whole of the New Testament, and all except Jeremiah, Lamentations, and the last fourteen chapters of Isaiah, of the books named in the Old Testament. With these finished specimens, and with so large a portion of the remainder translated and carefully revised, together with the helps to translation which he had accumulated, his brethren believed that he had laid the foundation for one of the best versions of the sacred Scriptures to be found in any language.

Dr. Van Dyck had been connected with the mission since 1840, and very soon made himself master of the spoken Arabic, in which he greatly excelled as a preacher. It soon appeared, that he was the man to succeed Dr. Smith as translator of the Scriptures, and the mission arranged his removal, for that purpose, from Sidon to Beirut; so that in due time he was enabled to bring the great work to successful completion.[1]

[1] See chapter xl.

Mr. Aiken had joined Mr. Wilson at Hums, a new station north of Damascus, where he was bereaved of his wife before she had been six months in the field. The arrangement for 1857 was that Beirut should be occupied by Messrs. Van Dyck and Ford, and Mr. Hurter, the printer; Abeih by Messrs. Calhoun and Bliss; Sidon by Mr. Eddy; Deir el Komr by Mr. Bird; Bhamdun by Mr. Benton; Tripoli by Messrs. Jessup and Lyons; and Hums by Mr. Wilson. Dr. Thomson and Mr. Aiken were in the United States; the latter with health so impaired as to forbid his resuming his mission. He had previously married Miss Cheney. In the following year, Miss Jane E. Johnson and Miss Amelia C. Temple arrived to take the care of a girls' boarding-school at Suk el Ghurb, on Mount Lebanon; but the former was soon found unable to endure the climate. Dr. Thomson, while in this country, published a valuable work on Biblical literature, in two volumes, entitled "The Land and the Book." Dr. and Mrs. De Forest had come to this country in the hope of a restoration of his health; but on the 24th of November, 1858, this excellent missionary was released from long and severe physical sufferings by a peaceful death.

The health of Mrs. Wilson made it necessary, for a time, to leave Hums without a resident missionary. The principal operations, both here and at Deir el-Komr, were through schools for both sexes, which had been embarrassed by Syrian and Greek opposers, but in no case suppressed. The female department of the school at Deir el-Komr commenced with a dozen pupils, but in six months the attendance exceeded fifty. When Mr. Bird came to that place, he thought there were not six females in the nominally Christian population, who could read; but a year had not passed before half the pupils in his girls' school could read their Bibles. There were other mountain schools under the care of the station, and in one there were more than sixty pupils.

The following contrast of the state of things in 1857 with what it had been fifteen years before, indicates a preparatory work in no small degree encouraging. "Then, the missionary could hardly purchase here the necessaries of life; and when he left, he was followed by stones and execrations. Now, he is welcomed and honored. Then, fear kept even his friends from venturing to visit him; now, priests and even a bishop are ashamed not to return his calls. Then, the Protestant sect could not be vilified enough; now, it is spoken of with favor in public and in high places. The old Emir Beshir, once the persecutor and terror of Protestants, has passed away, and his dilapidated palace is used as barracks for Turkish soldiers. His prime minister, or secretary, who did much injury to the cause of evangelical religion, and whose mansion was, as it were, the stronghold of the enemy, is no more. What remains of this Ahithophel's house is the abode of the missionary, and furnishes apartments for Scripture schools, and a Protestant chapel. His sons-in-law were leaders in the movement which brought us to Deir el-Komr, and are among our firmest friends. His grandchildren learn the folly of popery by the knowledge of the Bible they acquire in our schools.

"Time was, when every one trembled at the anathema of the clergy. Now, the latter dare not show their impotence by pronouncing it. Some of the people would be glad to be thus dissevered from a church which they abhor, for they would thus not only gain their end, but retain the sympathies of many who would else oppose them. Those who send their children to our schools, have been refused admission to the confessional and the eucharist; the Maronite bishop, however, has at length yielded the point, and tries to win, rather than compel. Their high school he has made free of charge, and has promised to open a girls' school beside. In the Greek Catholic communion, on the other hand, the men and some of the women remain "suspended;" yet they are of good courage, some glad of so excellent an excuse to get rid of the confessional, and others incensed at the glaring injustice that would admit the drunkard and the notoriously vicious, but exclude the respectable and the moral. We have here the anomaly of those being thrust out of the church, who are still its very pillars, its substantial supporters, whose names are known, and whose influence is felt, throughout the region.

"We have reason to thank God and take courage. Still we long to see a work more purely spiritual. Light is being diffused, but there is not the corresponding religious interest. The truth is viewed by many as a beautiful theory, the heart remaining a flint. We have to regret the fact, that some of the best minds in the place are tinged with skepticism. Happily the most influential are, notwithstanding, our firm friends, and are in favor of good education and good morals."

Ain Zehalty, a village situated in the heart of Lebanon, has been already mentioned.[1] Mr. Bird says, "We now have there five church-members. There have been regular Sabbath services under the charge of the native helper, Khalil. The audience has been on the increase, and is now not only larger than that in Deir el-Komr, but is composed of better materials. Those who come desire instruction, and are regular attendants and declared Protestants." An Ain Zehaltian, when out of his village, if not a Druze, was set down at once as a Protestant. The day school in that place had forty scholars, and half as many attended the evening school for adults. This school was for the special purpose of studying the Bible, and the pupils had gone through the historical books of the Old and New Testaments. Their custom on Saturday and Sabbath evenings was to read the devotional parts, and hold a prayer meeting.

[1] Vol. i. p. 383.

Mr. Ford made a visit to Hasbeiya in February, 1857, with Mr. Jones, Secretary of the Turkish Missions Aid Society. He had never before been in that region, and speaks highly of the native laborers. Of the church-members he says: "When compared with the rock from which they were hewn, and the hole of the pit from which they were digged, they show the genuineness of the work of grace in their hearts." "The signs of the times," he adds, "in the community around, are most encouraging. I will only refer now to a remarkable stirring up of the Maronites to defend themselves against the inroads made by the gospel upon their hitherto solid ranks. Their ecclesiastics have always maintained an attitude of proud contempt, as though conscious of the strength of their hold upon their people, and they have rarely deigned to come into personal contact with the despised preachers of the gospel. But the serious diminution of their numbers in various parts south of us, and the diffusion of spiritual light among the rest of their flocks, have forced them down from their assumed elevation, and now they select the ablest of their priests, ordain him bishop, and send him on a crusade through Deir el-Komr, Hasbeiya, Merj Aiun, and so on to Alma, where the spirit of Asaad es-Shidiak, the modern martyr of Syria, seems to be revived in the hearts of a simple people, preparing them to brave death itself for the Gospel's sake. This bishop has sought public discussions with Mr. Bird, at Deir el-Komr, and also with Mr. Wortabet, at Hasbeiya. In the latter place there had been two such discussions held just before we arrived. In the first, the bishop was effectually caught in his own craftiness, and so completely worsted, that he and his friends came to the second session prepared to regain by violence the advantage they had lost in argument; and the result was a stormy debate, terminated abruptly by an assault upon some of the Protestants present."

Kefr Shema, a promising out-station, became a station by the removal thither from Aleppo of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy. No objection to their residence was made by the people, though it was not four years since they had combined in a desperate attempt to drive all Protestants from the village. The missionaries were visited and welcomed by many.

Honorable mention is made of Antonius Yanni, the only native Protestant in Tripoli, who had been two years connected with the mission church, and had suffered much for the cause of Christ. He had refused the honorable and highly lucrative post of vice-consul for Russia, because its acceptance would necessarily have made him subservient to the corrupt Greek Church, and an attendant upon its services.

There had been preaching for several years at Aramon, three miles from Abeih. But the congregation was broken up in midsummer by a mob. Mr. Calhoun, who was regarded with great respect by the people, visited the place, and in a very kind, gentle manner, told the people that religious freedom was guaranteed to all, and that they of the mission should be allowed to worship in their own hired house. The people listened with attention. On Monday Mr. Calhoun referred the case to the English Consul-general, and to the acting Consul for the United States. Late in the week, two officials from the government in Beirut, and two from the governor of the mountain district, met Mr. Calhoun at Aramon. "When the time for service arrived, the officials publicly stated, that there is to be perfect religious freedom for all;—to-day, to-morrow, this year, next year, and for all time. This they repeated over and over again, as the will of the Sultan, and then ordered some one to go upon the house-top and proclaim aloud, after the manner of the Mohammedans, that it was time for prayers, and that all who wished to come might come. Services were then conducted as usual, with an attentive audience; and at the close, in a place appointed, the officials demanded that the persecutors should ask pardon of the persecuted, which was accordingly done, many kissing the hand of the man whose house they had entered, and which we had hired. The governor also called some of the men to his own village, and threatened them with severe punishment if they should again molest any one on account of his religion. He then, Mohammedan as he was, repeated, in substance, the sentiment advanced, in the presence of his officers, by Mr. Calhoun, that religion pertains to the individual conscience and to God alone." Henceforward Mr. Aramon, the first teacher in the seminary, met with no opposition in a regular preaching service.

The number of pupils in the Seminary, at the close of the year, was twenty-five, and some of them were of unusual promise. A theological class, of four middle-aged, married men, was kept up during the summer, and then they went forth preaching the gospel, or laboring as teachers and colporters. Thoroughly-educated young men, otherwise qualified to preach the gospel, could only be obtained to a limited extent. But men of riper age, of good common sense and simple-hearted piety, could be fitted, by a few months of direct Biblical training annually, to preach to the uninstructed peasantry,—a labor for which there was the loudest call.

On the 12th of January, 1858, a deputation of four young men was received by Mr. Eddy, at Sidon, from a large village east of Tyre, called Cana. These brought a letter, signed by twenty-six persons, professing their dissatisfaction with their own corrupt Church, in connection with which they obtained no knowledge of God or of heaven, and asking that a preacher might be sent to them at once, and a teacher for their children. They denied being actuated by any worldly motive, and were sent back with two New Testaments, and the assurance that some one would be sent to instruct them as soon as possible. They were, accordingly, visited by Daher Abud, a faithful native helper, who was much gratified with the zeal and interest he found among them. In February, Mr. Eddy went himself, and was warmly welcomed. About forty men attended his preaching, whose eagerness to hear and converse detained him over the next day.

From thence he went to Alma, a village of five hundred inhabitants, a long day from Cana, beautifully situated upon the summit of a high range of hills, two miles from the sea. The evangelical movement had commenced there two years before, and there was a Protestant community of about forty, including nine members of the church. "This was considered, in some respects," writes Mr. Eddy, "one of the brightest spots in the Syrian field. The great adversary of souls tried in vain, by the terrors of persecution and the seductions of flattery, to recover the people to himself. Failing in this, he sought to sow discord among brethren, and thus to conquer them; and for several months past he has rejoiced in seeing this 'house divided against itself.' I felt much anxiety as to the issue of my visit, and had made it the subject of special prayer. I spent three days among the people, one of which was the Sabbath. The conversation and the preaching were mainly directed to the end of securing peace, and a day of fasting and prayer was observed. On the morning of the fourth day the clouds parted, and the Saviour revealed himself in love. Then, amid tears, and confessions, and promises, and prayers, the covenant of peace was signed, and thanksgiving offered to God, and we separated."

Mr. Eddy visited Cana twice in the summer, and found the people, young and old, eager to be instructed in the Word of God. So many children attended the school from Catholic families, that the priest sent word to the bishop in Tyre, that if he did not interpose his authority, all the village would turn Protestant. Accordingly the bishop came, bringing with him several wealthy and influential men of the city. The Protestants were all invited to assemble at the house of the head man of the village, and then these friends of the bishop, in company with the head man and the priest, labored most of the night to induce them to return to their church. It would have been beneath the dignity of the bishop to have interceded directly with them, especially if he had not succeeded. The effort was a failure. Next the Prior of all the convents in that part of the country, hearing of the bishop's ill success, came, and sought to obtain, by love and promises, what the bishop had failed to accomplish by threats. But he too returned disappointed; and coincident with his departure, two persons came out from the Catholic Church and joined the Protestants.

The month of November found Mr. Eddy again at Alma, to dedicate the first completed Protestant church in Syria. The enrolled Protestants numbered then about fifty. Dr. Van Dyck, before leaving Sidon, had selected a site for the building and seen the foundation laid, and had since collected from native Christians and foreign residents nearly the amount required for the church, which was of stone, thirty-two feet long and twenty-two feet broad, and capable of holding from one hundred and fifty to two hundred persons. It cost about three hundred dollars; thirty of which were contributed by the people of Alma out of their deep poverty, besides a large amount freely bestowed in labor. No opposition was made by the government to its erection.

After the dedicatory sermon, the Lord's Supper was administered to the nine church-members, who renewed their vows to the Lord; and these, with other appropriate services, made it a Sabbath long to be remembered.

In the summer of 1859, Mr. Eddy again visited Cana, taking Mrs. Eddy with him to secure access to the women. He pitched his tent, the first night, on the banks of the ancient Leontes, six or seven miles north of Tyre, and the next day at noon they were at Cana. The poor women, ignorant, yet eager to be taught, had never before enjoyed such an opportunity, and prized it exceedingly.

The people had passed through severe sufferings. Several of the women had been beaten, and the men had a bitter tale to tell of oppression by their governor. He demanded a duplicate payment of taxes, and when the head man of the Protestants respectfully showed him a receipt, with his own seal affixed, he ordered him to be severely beaten and placed in confinement. He then sent officers to bring others of the Protestants before him, but, suspecting his intention, all except two fled into the open country. These two, when brought, were thrown down upon the ground before the governor, and beaten with staves without mercy upon their backs and feet, he encouraging his servants to deal harder blows with commands and threats. Thus beaten till their backs were livid and swollen, they were wounded also by being kicked and stepped on by those who beat them, to make them lie still. When hardly left alive, chains were placed upon their necks and feet, their hands were placed in wooden stocks, and they were cast into prison, where they spent the night with companions who had been previously beaten. Next morning they were brought before the governor, and two of them were again beaten, when they were dismissed with a threat, that if they left the village he would pull down their houses. They however, despite his threats, made their way to Tyre, whence they embarked in a vessel to Beirut, to seek redress from the Pasha, and sympathy from the missionaries. When they appeared before the Pasha's court, their backs were ordered to be uncovered, and their wounds exhibited; and the greatest indignation was expressed by the members of the council against him who had so barbarously treated them, in violation of the laws of the realm."

The governor was sent for, and the indications were, that he would be expelled from office. But he was not. The Pasha suddenly changed his tone towards the Protestants, ordered one of them to be cast into prison on a false charge by the governor, and forbade the council to proceed further against him. The Cana people were detained two months from their homes. The proffered interposition of the English Consul was rudely rejected, and their release, when it was effected, was with no regard to the claims of justice. The visit of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy at that time must have been very seasonable and acceptable.

From Cana they proceeded to Alma, where they remained about a week. The women here, being more numerous and more enlightened, and some of them members of the church, were prepared to receive greater benefit from the instruction of a Christian sister. Three additions were made to the church. The people, though poor, had here also been compelled by their governor to pay their taxes twice.

The Seminary at Abeih was now made more directly a training school for native preachers and helpers; and a female boarding-school was opened at Suk el-Ghurb, a village six miles north of Abeih, under the direction of Miss Temple. The training of female helpers was its leading object, and the removal of Mr. Bliss thither made a home for the pupils.

Ain Zehalty continued to be a marked village, and the papists made great efforts to reclaim it. A Maronite bishop at one time, and a wily Jesuit at another, repaired thither, at the urgent request of the papal party, to uproot the dangerous exotic. The coming of the bishop was with great boasting on the part of his adherents, but, much to their chagrin, he declined commencing a controversy with Khalil, the native helper there; and was afterwards so hotly plied with texts of Scripture by some of the church-members whom he ventured to attack, that he fled for refuge to the more accommodating "traditions of the elders." It was supposed that the disciple of Loyola would carry all before him; but the undaunted Bible-men were more than ready to meet him, which they did effectively; and his visit was productive of more good than harm.

The report of the mission for 1858, furnishes many striking evidences of the influence exerted, especially in the department of education. Soon after the opening of the first Protestant school at Tripoli, the Greeks opened a school for boys, which soon became large and prosperous. And when the Protestant girls' school became a success, a board of directors was organized, under the direction of the Greek bishop, to break up the other, if possible. Not finding an educated woman in Syria who was not a Protestant, the Greeks applied to two Protestant young ladies to take their school, but without success. To secure the needful pecuniary means, they constrained the Patriarch to surrender a part of the convent revenues for this purpose. The Russian government, moreover, took up the subject of education in Syria, and remitted twelve thousand piasters (four hundred and eighty dollars) to the Greek school directors in Tripoli for the city schools; but with the injunction, that the tenets of the Greek Church should be the chief subject of instruction.

Nineteen persons were added to the churches of the mission during the first half of the year 1859. This of course involved various local indications of progress, for which the limits of this history afford no space. A new place, however, is brought to our notice by Mr. Eddy, named Deir Mimas, a large village on the river Litany. A few had here professed Protestantism about two years before, and had encountered a storm of persecution from members of the Greek Church, and from the Mohammedan governor of their district. Yet they had constantly increased in numbers and strength. The missionary spending several days there, was delighted to find an audience each evening of more than one hundred, after their severe labors, all eager to hear. The number of men professing Protestantism was above sixty, and counting the women and the children, the number was one hundred and fifty, the largest in Syria. Their enemies were on the alert, and it was a sad fact, that no competent native teacher could be found to reside among them. They were then dependent on a native teacher, who came to them each Sabbath from a distance, having first preached in his own village.

The annual meeting of the mission in this year was one of unusual interest. "From the beginning to the end of the meeting, it was apparent that there was much of a spirit of prayer among the native brethren. The native female prayer meeting in Beirut was more fully attended than usual; and the union meetings in Arabic and English, held in the chapel, in which the missionaries and native brethren united and large audiences assembled, were occasions of deep interest. The statements made in the meeting when the annual reports were read, at which W. A. Booth, Esq., of New York City, and Hon. Alpheus Hardy, of Boston, a member of the Prudential Committee, were providentially present, filled the minds of all with the conviction, that never before in the history of the Syria mission have we had so much encouragement, or such strong proofs that God is with us, and that the work is going forward in this land."

Before this meeting, the mission had been favored with a visit from the Hon. James Williams, United States Ambassador at Constantinople, whose friendly and most useful agency was duly acknowledged by the mission. His reply to them may be found in the "Missionary Herald."[1]

[1] See Missionary Herald, 1860, p. 163.

The translation of the New Testament was now completed and published under the care of Dr. Van Dyck. The pocket edition was admitted to be one of the most beautiful books, in its typographical execution, in the Arabic language. It had this advantage, that it could be carried and read without attracting notice; which was something in a land where Bible readers met with so much determined opposition.



CHAPTER XXXIX.

SYRIA.

1860-1863.

The year 1860 was noted for a civil war in Syria, and for savage massacres on Lebanon, at Hasbeiya, Damascus, and elsewhere, which awakened the indignation of the Christian world. The Druzes were prominent in these massacres, and so suffered greatly in character; yet the Turks were believed to have been the instigators. The war commenced in June; but the government for months had foreborne to check private assassinations and angry collisions, until the condition became unbearable.

All the Greek and Papal Christians united against the Druzes, with the declared purpose of not leaving one of them on Lebanon, but they had miscalculated their power. The Protestants decided to take the side of neither party. It was believed at Beirut, that the main object of the foreign Jesuits and native Catholic clergy was to exterminate the Protestants, who had their homes chiefly among the Druzes. The Druzes were aroused to desperation, and thirty or forty Maronite and Greek villages were burned early in June. The inhabitants who escaped massacre fled to Beirut. Not one of these fugitives was a Protestant.

The missionaries at Abeih, Deir el-Komr, and Suk el-Ghurb were not molested, and Messrs. Calhoun and Bird and their families remained at their several stations. It was thought best for those at the Suk to descend to Beirut. Disturbance having arisen at Sidon, an English war steamer was sent thither to look after the foreigners. The steamer brought Mrs. Eddy and her children to Beirut, but Mr. Eddy and Mr. and Mrs. Ford decided to remain at Sidon.

In the country and gardens near that city, hundreds of unarmed men and defenseless women and children, many of whom had fled thither for their lives, were afterwards savagely butchered by Moslems and Druzes. The missionaries then asked for a guard from the city governor, which he refused until the American Consul in Beirut demanded it.

Mr. Bird, at Deir el-Komr, supposing that all was quiet around the city, left home to look after the little company of Protestants in Ain Zehalty. In his absence, the Druzes attacked Deir el-Komr on every side, and when Mr. Bird returned towards evening, he saw the town in flames, but could not enter. One of the more than one hundred houses burned, was a school-house belonging to the mission. The Druze Begs declared it was a mistake, and promised to rebuild it. The Christians had fought until their ammunition was exhausted, and then surrendered. Mr. Bird found his family unharmed, though the fighting and burning had been very near them. The Pasha coming up from Beirut made such arrangements that Mr. Bird and family decided to remain.

The Druzes were now masters of Mount Lebanon south of the Damascus road, and there was no power left in that district to oppose them, save in the town of Zahleh. It was from this town that a company of horsemen went to Hasbeiya, sixteen years before, to compel the Protestants there to recant; and from this same town, not many months before, Mr. Benton and his family had been expelled with great violence by a mob. Its time had now come. Mr. Lyons passing that way in October, with relief for the survivors of the massacre, thus speaks of Zahleh: "It presents one of the saddest spectacles in all the wide field of desolation. Only a few months before, I had seen this then flourishing town in all its beauty and pride. Now, nothing remained but a vast collection of roofless houses, with blackened, shattered walls, and shapeless heaps of stones and rubbish. Shops, magazines, costly dwellings, and elegant churches, all had shared in the common ruin."

The Protestants in Hasbeiya began to be troubled, early in the year, by premonitions of a coming storm. Mr. Eddy was there in May, accompanied by Mrs. Eddy and Miss Temple, who devoted themselves to labor for the spiritual good of the women in that community. Hardly had they returned to Sidon, when Hasbeiya was surrounded by hostile Druzes. They were driven off at first, but on the 3d of June the commander of the Turkish soldiers told the Christians to retire within the palace, and he would protect them. On the 11th the Druzes surrounded the palace, and the Turkish commander opened the gates, and allowed the Druzes to cut them in pieces. Some saved their lives by crawling under the dead bodies, and others by escaping over the walls. The Protestant church was partially destroyed, but not burned; its walls and roof remaining uninjured. At Rasheiya the Druzes told the Christians to give up their guns, and they would be safe. In the night, they set fire to the houses, and killed nearly all of one hundred and thirty men. More than one thousand persons were murdered in Hasbeiya and the surrounding region. Of these only nine were Protestants.

At Damascus, on the 9th of July, the wild Moslems, from one of the suburbs of the city, with Koords, Druzes, and Arabs, burst upon the Christian quarter, plundering, butchering, and burning; not opposed, but aided, by the Turkish soldiers, who could have suppressed the insurrection at any time. The slaughter continued several days, and the killed were estimated at five thousand. The whole Christian quarter of the city was plundered of its great wealth, and the houses and churches were laid in ruins.

Those who escaped these massacres fled towards Beirut and Sidon, destitute of everything. Appeals were at once made to the Christians of England and America, and the missionaries, acting for the "Anglo-American Relief Committee," were the chief almoners. The expenditure in August for food, clothing, bedding, shelter, hospital, and soup, was at the rate of about sixty thousand piasters a week, or two thousand four hundred dollars, and yet it seemed to make little impression on the mighty mass of misery. Dr. Thomson had the especial care of the clothing, bedding, shelter, and soup-kitchen, Dr. Van Dyck of the hospital and the sick in general, Mr. Jessup of the distribution of bread to about six thousand persons daily, and Butrus Bistany and Michael Aramon, two of the native brethren, had the daily distribution among about two thousand five hundred poor. The funds up to this time had come chiefly from the people of England, and English merchants at Beirut gave much time to managing the large financial business connected with so vast a charity. Dr. Thomson declares that the male children were generally murdered, and that the killed were largely mere boys; and who, he asks, were to support the thousands of widows, with their fatherless daughters? The country had no factories, and scarcely any kind of business by which such widows could gain a support. The silk, grape, and wheat harvests had been destroyed, the olive was likely to perish from neglect, there were no animals for the plough, no implements for husbandry, nor was life safe in the fields. He adds: "There was never, perhaps, a darker hour for missions in Syria; yet we are becoming acquainted with the people more rapidly than ever, and should we be permitted to visit them months hence, we shall have a most friendly welcome."

Rasheiya and Deir Mimas were burned. Cana and Alma, being far from the Druze district, were not invaded. Tripoli was undisturbed. The destroyers in the neighborhood of Baalbec were not Druzes, but Moslems and Metawales. It is a remarkable fact that, excepting perhaps in Damascus, no injury was offered to a missionary; and Protestants, when recognized as such, were generally safe. The arrival of ships of war and a detachment of the French army at Beirut, with apprehensions of an alliance of Christian powers for the protection of the Christian population, had, at first, a restraining, and finally, a controlling influence, on the Turkish government. The Prime Minister was sent to Damascus, and inflicted terrible justice on one or two hundred of the guilty there.

The direct effects of the war upon the missionary work were doubtless injurious. Immorality increased, the baser passions were aroused, and the hearts of many were hardened through suffering. But priestly and feudal power, the two greatest obstacles to the Gospel, were weakened, and new civil rights were secured to the Protestants. The respect for Protestant Christianity was increased, and prejudices were dissipated by witnessing its beneficent fruits; while multitudes were brought within the reach of the Gospel, who, but for these troubles, would never have heard its messages.

The connection of Mr. and Mrs. Benton with the Board and the mission terminated in June, 1861, though they remained in Syria some time longer.

The Arabic New Testament having been completed and published, the mission resolved to proceed, as soon as possible, with the translation and publication of the Old Testament, under the direction of Dr. Van Dyck. The British and Foreign Bible Society requested permission to adopt this version; instead of the one formerly issued by them. The result of a friendly negotiation was, that the American and the British and Foreign Bible Societies agreed to publish the version conjointly, from electrotype plates furnished by the former. The price of the reference edition was fixed at ten piasters, and of the pocket edition at five, or about forty and twenty cents, which placed them within reach of nearly all who could read.

The importance of this work cannot easily be overestimated. Imperfect translations, and type which seemed to caricature their alphabet, had done much to prejudice Arabic scholars against the Christian Scriptures. By the labors of the mission, these objections were now removed. The educated Arab finds a book printed in characters modeled after the most approved specimens of Arab caligraphy. He soon perceives the style to be that of a man who is master of this wonderful language in all its grammatical and idiomatic niceties and rich resources. As a literary work it secures his respect, and thus invites a candid perusal. If he reads it, he finds the truths of Christianity clearly and correctly stated. Its beneficial influence will yet be felt, it is hoped, not only by the Christian sects of Mount Lebanon and Syria, but by the many millions who speak that language in other parts of the world. This work alone, worth many times what the mission had cost, could not have been accomplished, except by Christian scholars residing permanently among Arabs, and for substantially missionary purposes.

The sale of the Scriptures, notwithstanding the poverty of the people, was unprecedented. In 1859, it amounted to four hundred and forty-eight copies; in 1860, to four thousand two hundred and ninety-three,—a nearly ten fold increase.

Dr. Van Dyck was preparing a voweled edition of the New Testament, suitable for Mohammedans, written in the style of the Koran, which required much care and labor. This was completed in 1863.

The field manifestly brightened in the two or three years after the war. There was an interesting development of the missionary spirit. Not less than six different missionary societies were formed, embracing nearly all the Protestants of the various towns and villages, and a commendable degree of liberality was shown by the natives in collecting and contributing. A hundred dollars thus raised will not appear a small amount to any one, who knows the extreme poverty of most of the congregations. There had been a great influx of population at Beirut, and preaching services, during some months, were held daily. The Sabbath-school numbered two hundred, and the children sang the same songs in Arabic, which American children love to sing in their own language. The mountain stations reported unusually large and attentive audiences. Ain Zehalty was wholly under Protestant influences. Its civil ruler was a member of the Protestant church, and its church edifice, purged of its altar and pictures, was no longer used for the idolatrous Greek service. The Gospel was preached in nine places in connection with the Sidon station, the congregations had doubled their number, and schools of both sexes were demanded. There were cases of unusual interest among the young men. Hasbeiya and Rasheiya were not yet safe for the return of their people, but their Protestants retained an ardor in the cause which was very encouraging. Ibl and Deir Mimas were still centres of evangelical light, and the people of Boaida, numbering one hundred, were all professed Protestants, and placed themselves under Biblical instruction. Mr. Ford and his family spent the summer in the district of which Deir Mimas is the centre, and more than thirty women were taught to read by Mrs. Ford. The field was open for schools, for preaching, and for influencing individuals, families, and communities. The only drawback was the want of laborers.

Brief extracts from a letter of Mr. H. H. Jessup, written in March, 1863, portray the work at that time.

"Delegation after delegation, of men from various villages and different sects, call upon and write to us, entreating us not to neglect them. They ask for preachers, and we have none to send. They ask for schools, and we have not the means to support them. We are in great straits, and lay the case before our Christian brethren at home, throwing the responsibility upon those to whom God has given the means, and especially upon the young men in a course of preparation for the ministry."

"The people of the village of Ain Kunyeh, near the Lake of Merom, on the upper waters of the Jordan, have with one consent turned away their priest, shut up their place of worship, and are entreating one of our Protestant helpers to come and teach them the way of life."

"A few Sabbaths since, while we were assembled for divine service in the Beirut chapel, a crowd of thirty men came in, and with difficulty found seats, so full was the chapel already. Upon inquiry, after service, we learned that they are from the village of Rasheiya-el-Wady, north of Mount Hermon, and are a part of the residue of the people who escaped the massacre in that place in 1860. They ask for a teacher, or native preacher, but we can give them only the most indefinite promises."

"Twenty men from the village of Koryet-el-Hosson, near the famous castle Kolat-el-Hosson, halfway between Tripoli and Hums, write that they too have seen the light, and wish some one to come and instruct them; but what can we do for them, when the twenty-five men of Sheikh Mohammed, who petitioned us some time since, have been sent away empty?"

"This morning a white-bearded priest called, with his aged brother, and several younger men. They declared their wish to become Protestants, and beg most earnestly for a school. They belong to a large and powerful family, and the Lord may use them as the entering wedge, to open that strong Greek district to the gospel. What shall we answer them?"

Daoud Pasha, the new papal Governor, secured in 1862 by foreign intervention for Mount Lebanon, was at first supposed to be a bigot, and a tool of the Jesuits, but he soon proved himself an impartial and excellent ruler. He had several Protestants in office about him, in very important situations. Instead of objecting to missionaries establishing schools, he encouraged all efforts to educate the people.

Among other evidences of an advance it may be stated, that in Hums two hundred and fifty persons avowed themselves Protestants, and sought earnestly for a Christian instructor. It was immediately decided to send them Suleeba Jerwan, who had lived two years in that place with Mr. Wilson, and was well acquainted with the people; and the native missionary society at Beirut decided to support him as their first missionary. This was done with a cordiality and earnestness that was most promising. Hasbeiya women and girls pledged weekly contributions for the spread of the Gospel, some promised two cents a week, and some half a cent; but even these small sums were large for them, and they gave with a hearty gladness that was most cheering. Two hundred and thirty Maronites in Bteddin had for months adhered steadfastly to the Protestant faith, and a flourishing school existed among them. In Cana the Protestant community had been augmented threefold, and the same was true of Deir Mimas. There had never been a time when so many were inquiring on the subject of religion; and a greater number avowed themselves Protestants within twelve months, than in the whole previous forty years. A new church edifice was built in Merj-Aiyun, costing about five hundred dollars, without drawing from the resources of the Board, and a new church had been formed in that district of seventeen members, most of them from the Hasbeiya church. In the Sidon field six persons had been admitted to the church, and there were twenty-two hopeful candidates. In Beirut and Abeih, there were seventeen such candidates, besides nine admitted to the communion. Bible classes were largely increased, and an unusual number of adults were learning to read, that they might study the Scriptures. Thirty of the best Sabbath-school songs published in America, had been translated into Arabic, and published at the expense of a sewing society at Beirut, and thus gospel truths, in an attractive form, were reaching the children all over the land.

The president of the missionary society at Beirut stated in May, 1862, that in the two previous months, they had not only sent a missionary to Hums, but had sent also a colporter to Jezzin, maintained religious meetings every Sabbath at Kefr Shima, and employed a city missionary in Beirut.

But with these signs of prosperity, there seems to have been a need of chastening. The clergy of the Greek church at Hums, excited, as was supposed, by foreign influence, set their people so against the Protestants, that it was feared few would be able to stand. The native brethren were stoned and beaten in the streets, and abused by all classes. Quite a large number returned, nominally, to the Greek church; but many of these commenced a Bible class in the Greek church itself, thus bringing the truth to many, who would not otherwise have heard it. About fifteen men stood firm, and met nightly with Suleeba, for reading the Scriptures, prayer, and conference. The priests had expected the utter overthrow of Protestantism, and were enraged at the firmness of these brethren, and forbade all dealings with them. Letters to Suleeba from the missionaries were taken from the mail, read, and destroyed, and the Protestant places of meeting were assailed with stones. In the midst of these trials, Suleeba wrote expressing his gratitude to God for sustaining grace. Some alleviation was experienced through the efforts of Colonel Fraser, Her Britannic Majesty's Commissioner, so that the Protestant community became regularly organized, with a representative in the Mejlis, and a tax roll distinct from other sects.

The Protestants in Ain Zehalty were also called to suffer. An order having come from Constantinople, requiring the restoration of all church edifices to their original sects, Daoud Pasha issued an order for giving up the edifice at Ain Zehalty. He must have acted under a misapprehension, since the building had never been the property of the bishop, but was built and still owned by the family of Khalil, the Protestant preacher. The Catholics were a very small minority in the village, yet the edifice appears not to have been recovered. Another convenient house of worship was soon after provided by Protestant friends.

Mr. H. H. Jessup wrote respecting Hums:—"Quite recently, one of the more enlightened among the Greeks was taken ill, and sent for Suleeba, the native helper. He went, and found quite a company of relatives and friends. The sick man asked him to read a portion of Scripture. The passage selected contained the ten commandments, and while he was reading the second, the wife of the sick man exclaimed,—'Is that the Word of God? If it is, read it again.' He did so, when she arose and tore down a wooden picture of a saint at the head of the bed, declaring that henceforth there should be no idol worship in that house; and then, taking a knife, she scraped the paint from the picture, and took it for use in the kitchen. This was done with the approbation of all present. The case is the more remarkable, as it was the first instance in Syria, in which a woman had taken so decided a stand in advance of the rest of the family."

The manifest agency of the Holy Spirit is the highest encouragement in the missionary work. "One of the members of the Beirut church," Mr. Jessup writes, "has passed through an interesting religious experience this summer. He was for a time troubled with blasphemous thoughts, till he gave himself up as lost. His language was not unlike that of Bunyan in his "Grace Abounding;" and only after protracted struggles in prayer, the study of God's word, and finally resolving to go forward and do his duty in both light and darkness, did he find relief. The case was interesting as indicating the presence of God's Spirit, in leading him through a most severe struggle into ultimate peace in believing. Several young Protestants of Hasbeiya, resident in Beirut, are now passing through very deep conviction of sin. I have rarely seen persons so completely broken down by a sense of their lost condition. On Monday I spent several hours with two young people, who were passing through deep waters. They burst into tears, exclaiming, "We are lost, we are lost!" The Spirit of God was striving with them. Never have I felt more deeply the need of Divine aid, than when trying to lead these heavy-laden ones to Christ. Yet the missionary can have no more delightful labor than this."

The mission was strengthened, in 1863, by the arrival of Rev. Messrs. Samuel Jessup, Philip Berry, and George Edward Post, M. D., and their wives. Miss Temple retired from the mission in consequence of the obstructions to the higher education of girls growing out of the massacres, but with the esteem of all her associates. Mr. Lyons, broken down by overwork, was also under the necessity of withdrawing from the field. The girls' boarding-school had been transferred from Suk el Ghurb to Sidon, where it was under the care of Miss Mason.

The population of Beirut was now not less than seventy thousand. A bank, a carriage road to Damascus, steamers plying to almost every maritime country in Europe, telegraphs in several directions, numerous schools and hospitals, and three printing presses, made it the commercial and intellectual capital of Syria.

The tendency was to intellectual rather than spiritual progress, and there was a growing demand for education. The Jesuits were striving to reap the benefit of this, by opening colleges and seminaries in various parts of the country; nor could the fact be overlooked, that zealous Protestant educators, from different parts of Europe, were becoming so numerous at Beirut as to embarrass the mission in its natural development. The exigency at length constrained the mission to consider whether advantage should not be taken of the offer of Christian friends at home to found a Protestant College at Beirut.

This was well, as will appear in the sequel. But it is impossible not to see, that the progress of the mission, in the years immediately following 1863,—in the increase of converts, and the multiplication of churches, with native preachers and pastors,—was not such as the facts already stated gave reason to expect. This the brethren on the ground foresaw, and their anxious appeals for help abound on the pages of the "Missionary Herald," and were enforced by appeals from the Prudential Committee. The "Annual Report" for 1863 thus states the deficiency of laborers at that time:—

"The field north of Beirut, a hundred miles long and fifty wide, has no missionary, although hundreds in Hums, and the large district of Akkar, are looking to the mission for instruction. A score of villages, in each one of which a faithful preacher would find an audience, do not receive a visit once a year from a gospel minister. Mount Lebanon, with its four hundred thousand inhabitants, scattered through its thousand villages, into nearly every one of which more or less light has penetrated, and from which cries for help constantly come, has but two missionaries; and one of them is confined, for the most part, to the Abeih Seminary. The southern district, comprising one half of the Syria mission field, with its ten regular preaching places, crippled by the disability of its oldest native helper and by the death of another, has but two missionaries, one of whom is just commencing to learn Arabic. Within the last eight years, thirteen missionary laborers, male and female, have entered the Syria field, while twenty-five have left it. During this period, the work has increased tenfold. Many who have fallen asleep took part in sowing, where now the harvest is so great that the few who remain cannot gather it; and unless the Lord of the harvest send more laborers, much precious fruit will be lost."

It is painfully evident, that the degree of missionary spirit in the churches at home then fell short of the providential calls for evangelical labor in this field. Yet it is by no means certain what would have been the effect of a very large, sudden increase in the working forces. Without the restraining grace of God, it might have been the occasion of a fierce and malignant outbreak of opposition.

The deficiency of laborers sufficiently accounts for the slow progress, and even the decline there was in not a few of the places named; as in Tripoli, and Hums, not to speak of promising villages in the western and southern sections. Churches, towns, cities in the most favored portions of New England would suffer a decline in religion and morals, if left, as these places necessarily were, with no more of the means of grace.



CHAPTER XL.

SYRIA.

1863-1869.

Mrs. Henry H. Jessup died at Alexandria, after a prolonged sickness, on the 2d of July, 1864, whither her husband had taken her on his way to the United States. Mr. George C. Hurter, after laboring twenty-three years as printer and secular agent with great usefulness, found himself constrained by domestic circumstances to withdraw from the mission. Mr. Bird was prostrated with a dangerous sickness for several months at Abeih, but a merciful Providence spared his valuable life.

A boarding high-school was established at Beirut by Mr. Butrus Bistany, with nearly a hundred and fifty pupils. The charge for tuition and board was large for that country, yet the school was self-supporting. The pupils were made up of Greeks, Maronites, Greek-Catholics, Druzes, Moslems, and Protestants. A girls' boarding-school in the same city, under native instruction and government, promised also to be soon self-sustaining. The common schools of the mission were twenty-five, with five hundred and forty-eight pupils. The Seminary at Abeih had thirty-three pupils, a larger number than ever before. Five were in the theological department, and several others gave good evidence of piety. The graduates of this institution were now scattered over a wide region. The boarding-school for girls at Sidon, under Miss Mason, had ten pupils, and was making a favorable impression. It became evident, however, that pupils could not be obtained there sufficient to warrant so large an outlay, taking also into view the unhealthiness of that climate, and Miss Mason returned home, though with great reluctance. The girls' boarding-school at Beirut, under the care of Mr. Aramon and Miss Rufka Gregory, was prosperous.

The printing, in 1862, amounted to eight thousand volumes and nine thousand tracts, making an aggregate of 6,869,000 pages, more than two thirds of which were Scripture. The number of pages from the beginning, was about 50,000,000. Somewhat more than six thousand volumes of Scripture were distributed during the year.

The translation of the Scriptures into Arabic was completed on the 22d of August, 1864, and the printing of the whole Arabic Bible in March of the next year. This event, of the highest importance to a large portion of the human race, was appropriately celebrated by the missionaries and their native brethren. In the upper room where Dr. Smith had labored on the translation eight years, and Dr. Van Dyck eight years more, the assembled missionaries gave thanks to God for the completion of this arduous work. "Just then," writes one of them, "the sound of many voices arose from below, and on throwing open the door, we heard a large company of native young men, laborers at the press and members of the Protestant community, singing to the tune of 'Hebron' a new song, 'even praise to our God,' composed for the occasion by one of their number in the Arabic language. Surely not for many centuries have the angels in heaven heard a sweeter sound arising from Syria, than the voices of this band of pious young men, singing a hymn composed by one of themselves, ascribing glory and praise to God, that now, for the first time, the Word of God is given to their nation and tongue in its purity." The hymn was composed by Mr. Ibrahim Sarkis and translated by Dr. H. H. Jessup, as follows:—

"Hail day, thrice blessed of our God! Rejoice, let all men bear a part, Complete at length thy printed word, Lord, print its truth on every heart.

"To Him who gave his precious word, Arise and with glad praises sing; Exalt and magnify our Lord, Our Maker and our Glorious King.

"Doubting and darkness flee away Before thy truth's light-giving sun, Thy powerful word, if heeded, may Give guidance to each erring one.

"Lord, spare thy servant, through whose toil Thou giv'st us this, of books the best; Bless all who shared the arduous task, From Eastern land, or distant West.

"Amen! Amen! lift up the voice; Praise God whose mercy 's e'er the same; His goodness all our song employs, Thanksgivings then to His Great Name."

Ten different editions of parts of the Scriptures were printed as the version was gradually prepared for publication, and over thirty thousand copies had been put into circulation, nearly all by sale. The demand for the volume, in one form or another, after the version was completed, was greater than the mission presses could meet, though worked by steam. The American Bible Society wisely undertook to electrotype several editions of different sizes, and Dr. Van Dyck came to New York to superintend the work. But after the royal octavo edition had been stereotyped, it was thought best for him to return to Syria, with the understanding that the Bible Society would enable him to electrotype the version in other forms, at Beirut.

The press was now unable to meet the demand which had arisen for the books, as well as for the Bible. The issues were called for on the southern and eastern coasts of Arabia, and in India, and a box of them was sent to the interior of Africa.

The administration of Daoud Pasha, the Christian Governor of Mount Lebanon, continued to be marked by commendable justice, vigor, and liberality, and there was a sense of security to which the land had long been a stranger. Industry and thrift began to appear, and all the interests of society received an impulse. Much, however, depended on the foreign Protestant Powers exerting a proper influence on the councils of the Turkish government in favor of religious liberty.

The only ordination of a native preacher by the mission, up to this time, was that of the Rev. John Wortabet, in 1853, afterwards pastor of the Hasbeiya church. On the 10th of May, 1864, Mr. Suleeba Jerwan received ordination at Abeih. He had gone successfully through a four years' course of study in the Seminary, and had for some time proved himself faithful and efficient as a teacher and preacher.

The Druzes had a prosperous high school at Abeih, under the special patronage of His Excellency Daoud Pasha, supported by the income from their religious establishments. Both of the instructors were Protestants and graduates of the Abeih Seminary. Though not a religious institution, such a school must have had an important bearing on the future of that singular people. In 1866, the Principal left, and was succeeded by another Protestant, also a graduate of the mission Seminary. Referring to the Druzes, the brethren of the Abeih station close their report for the year 1864 with the following remarkable declaration:—

"While it is true that the government of the mountain was never better, and we are free to open schools wherever parents dare send their children, it is no less true that the Protestants are a small and hated minority. Providence has made the Druzes a wall of defense, for the present. To them, under God, it is due that we pursue our labors on this mountain."

Tannus El Haddad, the oldest and most esteemed native helper in the mission, died in 1864, after more than thirty years of efficient labor. "A guileless, spiritual man, whose lovely spirit disarmed the enmity even of those who hated his religion. The church of Christ in Syria owes much to the holy life and faithful teaching of this man of God. The missionaries owe much. He long upheld their hands by the strength of his affection and sympathy."

The installation of Suleeba Jerwan as pastor of the church in Hums, occurred in 1865. The Protestants there had long resisted the settlement of a native pastor, hoping to obtain the residence of an American missionary, but their welcome to the native pastor was now cordial. His wife was an excellent young woman, formerly a pupil in Mr. Bird's family, and his assistant in the instruction of her sex. Both pastor and people had a varied experience in after years, not unlike what is often seen in Christian lands.

In the spring of 1865, the oppression of the Turkish government became so unbearable at Safeeta, in the district of Tripoli, that a large number of the people resolved to seek relief in Protestantism. A deputation of sixty heads of families, representing nearly five hundred souls, was accordingly sent to the missionaries at Tripoli. Their motives were wholly secular, and they were not at all aware of the spiritual object of the missionaries. This had to be explained, and they were told, that it was beyond the power of the mission to afford civil protection. The government allowed them to register their names as Protestants, and they listened with marked attention to the spiritual instructions of Dr. Post; Mr. Samuel Jessup, the other missionary, being then at Hums. On leaving, they asked for books, and to be more thoroughly inducted into the new way.

The region of Safeeta was new to Protestant missions, but was populous and fertile, and bordering on the Nusaireyeh. Among the names handed to Dr. Post, as interested in this movement, were one hundred and fifty of this strange people, and there were a number of them in the deputation; but all of this class soon fell away. Dr. Post visited Safeeta in May, and arrangements were effected with the government, which opened the door for Christian teaching. He had audiences of one hundred and fifty every night, listening with reverent attention to words they had never heard before. "I taught them hymns," he writes, "and heard them repeat passages of Scripture and answer religious questions. On Sunday they commenced coming at five, A. M., and kept pouring in upon me all day long, till ten P. M.,—just allowing me time to eat, and not even leaving the room while I did that. Our large meetings in the evenings were by the light of the moon, as an open light would have been extinguished, and we had no lantern. A most interesting feature was the number of women in the audiences, an exceptional thing in all new religious movements in Syria." Two horsemen came from distant villages, to inquire about the new faith and sect. The motive was doubtless secular, but there is always hope where the Gospel gains a hearing.

The fires of persecution soon began to burn with fury. The Greek bishop bribed the Turkish government, and the people were driven from their homes; everything was broken that could be broken, everything eaten that could be eaten, and women were left to the brutal lusts of the Turkish soldiers. It was surprising with what tenacity the people held out against all this. A few had become earnest inquirers; but without a more general acquaintance with the truth they could not be expected long to stand such an onset. Some relief came after a few weeks, through the death by cholera of the Greek bishop.

Failing to find relief from English intervention, the newly made Protestants went en masse to the governor of Tripoli; and failing to meet him, they then crossed the mountains to the Governor-general at Damascus, taking with them their wives, that the sight of their distress might move the heart of the Moslem ruler. At last they secured a hearing from him, and he promptly removed the oppressive tax-gatherer at Safeeta, and gave the poor people some money in token of his sympathy. But returning to their homes, they were still oppressed by their local governor. Mr. Samuel Jessup writes in October, that poverty and want had come upon them beyond anything seen elsewhere in Syria, excepting at Hasbeiya. Some had no means of buying their daily bread. They were promised a restoration of all that had been taken from them, if they would return to their old faith, but they stood firm. They desired a school for their girls, and a married teacher was sent them for a boys' school, so as to accommodate a female teacher in his family.

Some months later, the cattle of a Protestant strayed, and while driving them home he was met by one of their persecutors, of the house of Beshoor, who, with some savage Nusairiyeh, threw him on the ground, stamped upon him, and drew a sword, threatening to kill him if he did not desist from his unclean religion. They dared not do more through fear of witnesses. Again, the plowmen of this same house plowed up the wheat belonging to the Protestants, ruining their hopes of a coming harvest, and leaving them without means to pay their taxes; which they must pay or go to prison. They also gathered all the olives of the Protestants, reducing them to the greatest straits for the means of living. The Moslem governor received large bribes to exterminate the sect, and would give them no hearing, but quartered his soldiers on them, who ate up all their scanty food, and distrained even their miserable cooking utensils, that they might sell them for barley for their horses. Many lived from day to day on what they could beg, or borrow. Still, after a year of such trials, they remained firm; which is the more wonderful, as only a few of them gave evidence of piety, and the time had not come for organizing them into a church. The school was doubtless helpful, being a decided success. Even the shepherds took tracts and primers, and studied them while tending their flocks.

In January, 1867, the whole Protestant community of Safeeta were arrested, men, women, and children, and imprisoned in a small room, and a fire of cut straw was made on the floor to torture them with smoke. This wanton cruelty was based on a false demand made on them for money. Their sufferings were so great that they were finally released. In the evening, while assembled for worship, with their native preacher, government horsemen broke open and plundered their houses, and in the night drove them all, old and young, mothers and children, boys and girls, into the wilderness.

The terrible experience of this people in the summer of 1869, somewhat more than two years later, is too suggestive and interesting to be passed in silence. I give the facts as related by Mr. Samuel Jessup.

"For four years, a large number have been Protestants, and the oppressors have added persecution to oppression. Many fell away at first, but since then we have seen no special signs of apostasy until lately. Their enemies recently made a desperate effort to crush out Protestantism from that region. They took the leading men, one by one, and led them through fire and perils of all kinds; promising, at every step, to give immediate relief, if they would only return to the Greek Church. They fulfilled their promises to some who yielded, and then increased the pressure on the others. At length, seizing the opportunity when our teacher was absent, they made another grand onset. On Sunday morning, the Greek bishop and the abbots of the neighboring convents, with priests and people from all the region around, together with a great number of horsemen and footmen, made a grand parade, and came down like locusts upon the Protestants. Their former oppressor is dead, but his son, Tamir Beshoor, is making his little finger thicker than his father's loins. He headed a grand parade, and brought with him a supply of new garments, which he had purchased as bribes for the occasion. With the bishop and others, he entered the house of every Protestant, and by bribes and promises, followed by fiendish threats, carried off many captives. Some few had previously sold themselves, and agreed to take their stand on this occasion, and then they headed the crowd, and declared that every Protestant had decided to return, and that Protestantism was dead. Where they found a house locked, they forced it open, and sprinkled holy water in it.

"But though their success was far too great, it was not complete. They succeeded in taking with them, that morning, twenty-one males. Eleven of them have not been to the Greek church since that time, but continue to meet with our brethren for prayer; and though it is now an important Greek fast, they do not observe it. The other ten either dare not or care not to come back to us, though all came to see me.

"Before finishing their work that Sunday morning, they sent men to our school-room, broke it open, sprinkled it with holy water, and stole our bell."

The firmness of some of the church-members is thus described: "After exhausting their catalogue of promises and threats on one, he said to them,—'Take my property, my house, my clothes, my family, even my body, and do with them what you will, but my soul you cannot have, and nothing will induce me to leave Christ.' Another said, when they came to his house,—'Come in, and let us read in the New Testament together, and perhaps you will see that we are right.' One girl, who had been two years in the Sidon school, saw her parents and relatives all fall into the procession; but when special effort was made to induce her to yield, she said,—'Though you should cut my body in pieces, I will never go with you.'

"I reached Safeeta a few days after, and found that those who had stood firm had been obliged to flee for safety, and did not dare return until I went there. The wrath of their persecutors seems to have reached its height, and the poor people know not what to do. Appeal to the government seems useless, for it is from the government that their chief oppressor gets his power to persecute. All who went back came to call on me, and most of them attended the services. They said, in palliation of their course, 'We are flesh and blood, and have families to support. We have waited for deliverance for years, and now Tamir (the chief oppressor) says, Come back and I will restore to you all; remain as you are, and I will strip you of the little you have left, and drive you out of the country. And so we went back, but our hearts are with you, and we will come here too, though they compelled our bodies to go with them.' One woman showed a striped gown, threw it on the ground, and trampling on it said, with tears in her eyes, 'With that they bought my husband.' Some of the women, with tears and entreaties, tried to keep their husbands and friends from going, telling them that death was better."[1]

[1] Missionary Herald, 1869, pp. 407-409.

Twenty men were standing firm at Safeeta in February of the following year, though there had been little abatement of persecution. In April Dr. Jessup wrote, that it had just terminated, and the brethren at the Tripoli station had good hopes that there would be peace in that long persecuted community. This was owing, in great measure, to the interference of the American and English Consuls-general, and their influence with the Governor-general of Syria.

The people of Hums becoming dissatisfied with their pastor, Suleeba, his connection was dissolved, three years after his settlement. The church remained in a divided condition for a year or more, without any celebration of the Lord's Supper. In the summer of 1869, Mr. Samuel Jessup visited the city, and finding the Protestants in a better state of feeling, invited the communicants to assemble at the Lord's table. All came and seemed to enjoy it as a season of rest and refreshment, after a long and weary wandering. They were ready to take a native pastor who suited them, and pay the larger part of his salary. They needed one well acquainted with the historical defenses of the Gospel, because of the inroads of European Jesuits and French infidel literature. Suleeba found demands for his faithful labors in other places. "The news," says Dr. Jessup, "from 'scattered and peeled' Safeeta and from distracted Hums, is alike cheering, and indicative of progress in the right direction."

The Tripoli station sent forth two of the Safeeta church-members as missionaries to visit the villages to the north and east, sending two together, as it would not be safe for one to go alone. The native missionary society at Beirut employed a zealous colporter, whose tours took a wide range, from Acre on the south to Hamath and even to Aleppo on the north, and his monthly reports showed that, throughout the country, there was not only urgent need of such labor, but also an increasing number prepared to profit by the visits of the gospel messenger. During the latter part of the year, another person was employed in similar work near Beirut. He also testified to a great increase of desire among the people for religious instruction.

Daoud Pasha, alter inaugurating important reforms and improvements on Lebanon, was promoted to a seat in the cabinet at Constantinople. He had started a newspaper, "The Lebanon," established telegraphic lines, commenced a carriage road, encouraged education, and made his pashalic the safest in the empire for travelling. His successor was Franco Pasha, a Latin Catholic. The Beirut Arabic official journal, in speaking of his arrival, says, that "although attached to his own religion, he is free from bigotry, and will guarantee liberty of conscience to all."

The mission was strengthened in 1867 by the arrival of Samuel S. Mitchell and Isaac N. Lowry, and their wives; and in 1869, of James S. Dennis, and Misses Eliza D. Everett, and Nellie A. Carruth. Messrs. Berry and Mitchell were constrained, by the failure of health after a short service, to leave the mission. Miss Carruth, also, though deeply interested in the work, and after valuable service in the girls' school, felt constrained soon to return to the United States.

Among the books printed in this time, were Edwards' "History of Redemption;" Bickersteth's "Scripture Hand-book," with additions by Mr. Calhoun; a large Psalm and Hymn Book; Curwen's "New System of Musical Notation;"[1] a Children's Hymn Book; Bistany's Arabic Dictionary, and his Elements of Grammar; and an Arabic Almanac, probably the first ever printed in Arabic, although "Al-Manakh" (the climate) is an Arabic word. The press was now under the direction of Mr. Henry Thomson, a son of Dr. Thomson, who relieved the Beirut station of a heavy burden of care. The necessary preparations were completed in 1868 for electrotyping the Arabic Scriptures in Beirut.

[1] By this, musical notes written in a syllabic form can be given, like the Arabic, from right to left. The staff, notes, and signatures are dispensed with, and single letters are arranged in succession, with separations by dots and marks. As a result, the ordinary Arabic types can be used to print the most intricate music.