Volume I Part 13 (1/2)
CHAPTER XVI.
SYRIA.
1842-1846.
The mission was strengthened, early in 1842, by the arrival of Dr.
Henry A. DeForest and wife; and suffered a new bereavement in the death of the second Mrs. Smith, but little more than a year after her arrival. Some months later, Mr. and Mrs. Sherman retired from the field, in consequence of failing health. Messrs, Beadle, Wolcott, and Leander Thompson, and Miss Tilden, also returned home soon after. Mr. Lanneau rejoined the mission, with his wife, early in 1843.
The Foreign Secretary and Dr. Hawes, visited the mission in the early part of 1844, and a.s.sisted in a meeting of the missionaries, which continued several days. Facts and principles were freely discussed, and the results were embodied in written reports, drawn up by committees appointed for the purpose. There is s.p.a.ce for only a concise statement of a few of these results.
It was recognized as a fact of fundamental importance, that the people within the bounds of the mission were Arabs, whether called Greeks, Greek Catholics, Druzes, or Maronites, and that the divers religious sects really const.i.tuted one race. There were believed to be advantages, in the fact, that these sects were intermingled in the several villages, since the population was less inclined to oppose, and more easily accessible, than where the villages were exclusively of one sect. The most hopeful parts of Lebanon were the southern districts, inhabited by a people social in their habits, owners of the soil, shrewd, inquisitive, industrious, and capable of devising and executing with tact and efficiency.
There was much discussion as to the best manner of cultivating the field, but all agreed that wherever small companies were ready to make a credible profession of piety, they were ent.i.tled to be recognized as churches, and had a right to such a native ministry as could be given them. The reformed churches might combine persons from several, and perhaps from all, the various sects; and the method of church organization should be such as to throw the greatest responsibility on the individual members.
The question was raised, whether the marked disposition in the mountain communities to place themselves collectively under the instruction of the mission, would justify a lowering of the qualifications for church-members.h.i.+p, especially with reference to the baptism of children. It was believed that no good would result from this; especially, as the people are so bent on regarding baptism as a renewing ordinance. To form churches in this way, would only be to multiply communities of merely nominal Christians.
The brethren admitted, that their labors had been too little adapted, hitherto, to awaken religious feeling among the people. The reasons a.s.signed for this were, the absorbing demands of the press and of education; the habits of preaching and laboring formed under past unfavorable states of the field; and finally, a painful impression of the suffering that converts must endure, with no civil power to interpose between them and their persecutors.
To counteract the first of these causes, it was decided to suspend the printing for a year; and the seminary was revived, which had been suspended in 1842, to counteract the second. The remedy for the last two, was a more perfect reliance on the Holy Spirit and the divine energy of the Gospel. It was the general opinion, that education in all its parts should bear a fixed proportion to the frequency, spirituality, and power of the more formal preaching. Nor was it less clear, that the press should be kept strictly subservient to the pulpit.
The most remarkable call for preaching, at this time, was at Hasbeiya, a village of four or five thousand inhabitants, situated at the foot of Mount Hermon.1 Druzes and members of the Greek Church made up the population, with some Greek Catholics, Moslems, and Jews. The village lay about fifty miles southeast of Beirt, bordering on the country of the Bedawin, with whom was its princ.i.p.al trade. As the result of this, the people had much personal independence, with a tendency to segregation; features which Mr.
Smith noticed as specially predominant among other native Christians similarly situated, especially in the Hauran.
1 The _New York Observer_, from July 18th to August 29th, 1846, has an instructive series of articles on Hasbeiya, from the pen of Dr.
Eli Smith.
Early in the year 1844, a considerable body of the Hasbeiyans seceded from the Greek Church, declared themselves Protestants, and made a formal application to the mission for religious instruction.
About fifty men came at one time to Beirt for that purpose, and asked for ministers to teach them. Their dissatisfaction with their Church was not of recent date, but had been increasing for years. It had arisen from the selfishness and worldliness of their clergy, and their consequent neglect of the flock. These men had some acquaintance with the mission, Hasbeiya having been visited by more than one of the native book agents. It was evident, however, that concern for the salvation of the soul was not the cause of their coming. What they sought had reference solely to the present life.
Appropriate instruction was given, and they were advised to go home, pay their taxes (which they had not done), and do what they could to live in peace with their townsmen, and then to write to the mission.
A letter was received after a few days, stating that they had done as they were advised, and urging the visit of a missionary. In this request they were earnestly seconded by the two brethren from the United States, who arrived at Beirt, just before the letter came.
The mission sent two of their native helpers; but these had not left Beirt before a second delegation arrived, more urgent than the first. The native helpers were followed in May by Messrs. Smith and Whiting, who soon saw that they had been too backward to credit the sincerity of these men. The hope of political advantage had been abandoned, but their decision and their numbers had steadily increased. The men were about one hundred and fifty, and among them were some of the most respectable inhabitants, and a large proportion of enterprising men. Their love of peace, as well as their decision, had secured for them general respect. Some had made considerable progress in Christian knowledge, and the neighbors acknowledged that the profane among them had left off swearing, and the drunkard had abandoned his cups. The Sabbath, moreover, was carefully observed; the old church fasts were given up; prayers to saints and to the virgin had ceased; pictures for adoration had disappeared from their houses; and it was remarkable that in these changes the women were more zealous than the men. Still their knowledge in all cases was very imperfect, and it was uncertain how well they would endure persecution. Nearly all the members of the mission were there at different times; as also Tanns el Haddad, and Butrus el-Bistany, of the native helpers.
Meanwhile the spirit of persecution was rising. The Greek Patriarch at Damascus became alarmed, and tidings were received that a company of hors.e.m.e.n was coming from Zahleh, a large nominally Christian town at the eastern foot of Lebanon, to force a recantation from the Protestants of Hasbeiya. Mr. Smith and Butrus were there at the time. The stony-ground hearers had fallen off; yet fifty adults were present at the preaching, and gave close attention. Of women a larger number than usual were present, and seemed to be waking up to the idea, that religion was a thing for them. From twelve to fifteen women attended a daily afternoon prayermeeting. It was affecting to think how lately these were blind devotees of the virgin and the saints, and profaning the name of G.o.d a hundred times a day. ”Going to the afternoon service,” says Mr. Smith, ”where Butrus addressed the people, I found the children of the congregation a.s.sembled in the court, and engaged in repeating the a.s.sembly's Catechism. Their order was perfect, their attention solemn, and their answers generally given with correctness, while the teacher showed his own improvement by the explanations he gave them. Their parents and friends stood around, and listened with evident gratification, while curiosity had drawn the members of a neighboring Greek family to their windows, and they too were quietly looking on. To appreciate its interest you must have been present, and heard the shouts rising at the same time from an opposite quarter, where the boys of the town were a.s.sembled in belligerent array, and making a mimic (or rather real) war, by throwing stones at each other, to see which would gain the victory. The little company before me, when I first came to the place, scarcely two months ago, were as fully carried away as any of them with these wild sports, and even parental authority could not, for a Sabbath or two, bring them to break off for an hour to learn the word of G.o.d. Now, what a change! It was as if the devil had been cast out of them, and they were sitting in their right minds. Such are missionary triumphs, and the joy that springs from them is what the world can neither give nor take away.”
Some members of the community not being satisfied with the strictness of the mission in regard to baptism and the Lord's Supper, the two brethren went into a thorough explanation of the subject. This led to a long and earnest conversation. The next day, July 4, the people gave in their reply; which was, that they would yield entirely to the judgment of the missionaries, who might admit them to the rites of the church when they thought them qualified.
On Sabbath, July 14, it being certain that the people of Zahleh were coming, the Protestants a.s.sembled in the house of the missionary, to enter into a solemn covenant to stand by each other to the last.
After the service, they drew up an engagement in the following terms: ”We, whose names are hereto subscribed, do covenant together before G.o.d and this a.s.sembly, and pledge ourselves upon the holy Gospel, that we will remain leagued together in one faith; that we will not forsake this faith, nor shall any separate us from each other while we are in this world; and that we will be of one hand and one heart in the wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d, according to the doctrines of the Gospel. In G.o.d is our help.” The covenant was taken by them separately, each one standing by the table, and laying his hand upon the Bible as it was read to him. Sixty-eight names were subscribed on the spot; and the number was increased next day to seventy-six, all of them adult males.
”The affecting solemnity of this scene,” writes Mr. Smith, ”I leave you to imagine. I have been many years a missionary, and have witnessed a great variety of heart-thrilling events, but this is one of the last that I shall ever forget. Would that that chamber, as then crowded with those hardy mountaineers, in the interesting att.i.tude of that moment, could have been thrown upon the painter's canvas! At some future day, when the Gospel shall have triumphed here, it would be cherished and admired as the first declaration of independence against ecclesiastical tyranny and traditionary superst.i.tion.”
About thirty hors.e.m.e.n arrived the next day from Zahleh, to quarter themselves on the Protestant families until they yielded, or were impoverished; but the people, foreseeing their intentions, had closed their houses, and a.s.sembled elsewhere. The storm seemed now ready to burst upon them. At this moment two Druzes, one the leading feudal sheik of the province, the other a man of unequaled personal bravery, made their way through the excited crowd; seated themselves by the side of the Emir; protested in the strongest language against the treatment the Protestants were receiving from their townsmen; warned all against treating them as men who had no friends to take their part; and called upon the Emir to stand forth in their defense, promising to support him if he did. This decided interference checked a little the progress of events.
The people of Zahleh had been accompanied by a number of Greek priests, and in prosecuting their object employed entreaties, threats, bribes, reproaches, and actual violence. They were countenanced by the Emir, and backed up by a ”Young Men's Party,”