Volume II Part 11 (1/2)
It is an interesting fact, stated by Dr. Riggs, that the government censor for Bulgarian publications called on him, the day after Mr.
Photinoff's death, and expressed his hearty interest in the work of translating the Scriptures, and his hope that it would not be delayed.
In the preparation of this work, Dr. Riggs was aided by two of the best Bulgarian scholars, the one trained in the use of the Western, and the other of the Eastern dialect. In the revision of the New Testament, he was also aided by the Rev. A. L. Long, D. D., of the Methodist Bulgarian mission. With such a.s.sistance, it is believed that this translation of the Bible will become a standard work. The first edition was printed in an imperial octavo volume of one thousand and sixty pages, with the references of our English Bible, which will be of special value to a people having as yet no Concordances, Bible Dictionaries, or Commentaries. Dr. Riggs brought to the annual meeting of the newly organized mission, in 1871, the first copy received from the binders.
It should be borne in mind, that only preliminary work has been done as yet in this most inviting field. Scarcely fourteen years have elapsed since the field was first explored, and only twelve since stations began to be occupied. It is not time to expect any other results than first fruits. The missionaries have become thoroughly acquainted with the field, with its wants, and its strategetic points, and are ready to move forward as fast as they shall receive the needful aid.
CHAPTER x.x.xIII.
THE ARMENIANS.
1861-1863.
Dr. Dwight having completed his eastern tour, visited the United States, where he arrived in November, 1861. It was arranged, that he should prepare and publish the results of his extended missionary observations. But the Head of the Church had ordered otherwise. On Sat.u.r.day, January 25, 1862, while pa.s.sing in the cars through Shaftsbury, Vermont, on his way to spend a Sabbath at Middlebury College, ”the stormy wind, fulfilling His word,” lifted the car from off the rails, and tossed it down a steep embankment; and one of the heavy trucks, following and das.h.i.+ng through it, at once set free the sanctified spirit of our brother, and gave him a sort of translation to the regions of the blessed. It was a sudden and unexpected close of a most useful life.
Dr. Dwight was born at Conway, Ma.s.sachusetts, on the 22d of November, 1803. His family removed to Utica, New York, and there, at the age of fifteen, he was hopefully converted during a revival of religion, and united with a Presbyterian church. He graduated at Hamilton College in 1825, and, while in the Theological Seminary at Andover, became deeply interested in the missionary work, and took great pains, along with some fellow-students, to ill.u.s.trate the beginning of foreign missions from the United States. In his last year at the Seminary he offered himself to the American Board, and was appointed one of its missionaries. After completing his studies, he entered upon an agency for the Board, which continued until 1829.
From this time, through more than thirty years, the events of his life form an important part of the history of the mission to the Armenians. That mission grew, in his time, from a single station at Constantinople to twenty-three stations, and eighty-one out-stations, extending over the greater part of Western Asia; and whereas, at the commencement of his labors, he did not know of a single convert in the whole country, at their close, there were forty-two churches, with sixteen hundred members, twelve ordained native pastors, forty-three licensed native preachers, thirty-four catechists, fifty-five teachers, and thirty-nine other helpers.
He was made to be a leader in the Lord's host. There was in him a rare combination of sound common sense, piety, resolution, firmness, candor, and courtesy, and withal an honest simplicity, a G.o.dly sincerity, and a practical tact, that seldom failed to secure for him a commanding influence; and the mission, of which he was so long a member, was sufficiently eventful to give full exercise to all his powers.
It affords much pleasure to the writer, that he is unable to recall an instance, in all the thirty years, where Dr. Dwight's opinions were seriously at variance with those of the Committee and Secretaries of the Board. It may be that, under the influence of a more extended correspondence, there was sometimes greater progress in their opinions on questions of missionary experience, than in his; but there was never any collision of thought; and it was most gratifying, on his arrival in this country, after his instructive and interesting tour of observation among the missions and mission churches, to find this eminent servant of Christ in full accord with his Committee on all the great points of missionary practice. The prominent trait, however, in his character was spirituality. This was in him an ever-growing quality. From day to day, from month to month, from the commencement of his missionary life until his death, he was wholly devoted to the kingdom and glory of his Redeemer. He walked with G.o.d, and was not, for G.o.d took him.
It will be appropriate, at this stage of the history, to quote some of the views of Dr. Dwight on missionary policy in Turkey, as they were embodied in a circular letter to the brethren of his own mission, and substantially communicated to the Secretaries in their personal intercourse with him just before his lamented death. Coming from such a man, after so long and varied an experience, they deserve thoughtful attention. He speaks first of the education of a native ministry.
”I am inclined to think that we have made our education at the Bebek Seminary too comprehensive, considering the actual circ.u.mstances and wants of the people. True, our course of study is nothing compared with that of American colleges; but it is much, compared with the amount of education existing in this country; and it seems to me we are in danger from two sources; namely, first, that our native preachers will be educated too far above their people; and, secondly, that they will require much more for their support, in consequence of their education, than their people can give. The plan of removing the Bebek Seminary to the interior, strikes me very favorably.”
Again, as to the support of the native ministry: ”I think it very evident, that the past system is fraught with too many evils to be continued. I would not favor any sudden change, but it seems to me, that the experience we have gained, by the working of the past, would lead us to begin immediately on a new plan; and the providence of G.o.d, in restricting our means, is giving us an admirable opportunity for so doing. We may urge with great weight upon the churches the support of their own pastors, and leave the responsibility there, even when the treasury of the Board shall be relieved. I begin to question, whether we ought even to give regular aid from our funds, for the support of settled pastors, or even stated supplies of churches fully organized. Would it not simplify our relations to those churches, as well as call forth much more efficient effort from themselves, if we were to leave them, as the Apostles did their native churches, to take care of their own pastors, after such have been ordained? The native churches should be expected and encouraged to take, as fast as possible, the work of evangelizing surrounding districts upon themselves; and it will be better to leave them to choose and support wholly their own laborers. The plan of having such men supported partly by the mission and partly by the native churches, does not work well. If it is necessary for the mission to a.s.sist the churches in this work, I would do it irregularly, and without any pledges as to the amount or frequency of such aid.”
These views had been already exemplified, substantially, in the Central mission; and they have since had a more full practical development in the Eastern mission; as will appear in the progress of the history.
It was not found easy to determine the number of stations or of missionaries desirable in Eastern or Western Turkey. The early theories in relation to this matter have been considerably modified by experience. It was natural to suppose, that many missionaries could labor among the million of people in Constantinople, without interfering with each other, or standing in the way of a native ministry. And so they might, could they at once have access to a considerable part of the population. But this was not true in fact, either as to missionaries, or the native ministry. It has been found, that it results in loss to place more preachers on the ground, than can find full scope for their ministry. Even should the overcrowded ministry be of the same denomination, it works badly, but far worse if made up of rival sects. For a time at least, all must operate upon nearly the same persons. In the rural districts, the missionaries reside in the centres of population, and generally where two families can dwell together, and where each missionary can have a distinct field of labor. But even there it is deemed expedient for the churches to have native pastors; nor there alone.
The aim is to have constellations of churches with native office-bearers, around every missionary station. Not otherwise can the whole country be permeated by evangelical influences.
It is plain that in a work so unlike anything at home, missionaries ought to have large discretion as to the time and manner of organizing native churches. Nor, since these infant communities are only partially enlightened and sanctified, is there reason for discouragement should they sometimes be not perfectly harmonious with their missionary fathers. It was so for a time with one of the first churches formed at the metropolis. The missionaries had of course the sole responsibility of determining what use should be made of the funds remitted by the Board. But the pastor and a portion of the church thought they ought to have a voice in their disposal. As this could not be, dissatisfaction arose, and complaints were publicly made against their American brethren. But these misunderstandings have in good measure pa.s.sed away.[1]
[1] See _Missionary Herald_, 1862, p. 300, 1863, p. 268; and Report of the Board for 1871, p. 23.
The Western Turkey Mission resolved, in 1862, to suspend the Bebek Seminary, with the expectation of reviving it at Marsovan. This inst.i.tution was commenced by Dr. Hamlin, in November, 1840. It was a boarding-school, with a course of study believed to be adapted to the great ends of the mission, and soon became a very efficient means of gaining access to the people. Its third year, ending November, 1843, was called the ”year of a thousand visits,” because so many came desirous to learn the religious belief of the missionaries. The Princ.i.p.al was obliged to stop their coming, in order to save the school; but the work among the Armenians then received an impulse which it never lost. Dr. Hamlin continued in charge of the Seminary till the year 1857; aided, at different times, by most of his brethren. Messrs. Clark, Bliss, and Pettibone, had charge of it afterward. The building at Bebek, which had been some time occupied on a lease, became the property of the Board in 1849. In 1853, the number of students was fifty, of whom fifteen were Greeks, under the instruction mainly of Dr. Riggs; and there was then a theological cla.s.s of eleven Armenians. The Greek department was suspended in 1855. The students were very useful as evangelical laborers within and around Constantinople; and not a few of the graduates occupy, and have occupied, important posts of usefulness in different parts of the empire. It is recorded that, in 1857, sixty applicants were rejected for want of means to support them; and it was believed that, with adequate pecuniary means, one hundred could have received instruction as easily as fifty.
The metropolis was not found the best place to train men for the seclusion and small salaries of interior pastorates; but the school was nevertheless a most important instrument for good, and quite essential in the early progress of the mission. Of the forty-five students in the five years from 1857 to 1861, for which the Seminary was fairly held responsible, seven were preachers at the opening of 1862, and thirteen were members of the theological cla.s.s.
The expediency of continuing the Seminary at the metropolis, had been discussed in the mission for several years. The other missions preferred training their native ministry within their own bounds; and the interior stations of the Western mission had strong objections to sending their pupils to be educated where expensive habits were almost necessarily acquired.
It was resolved, in the same year, to discontinue the boarding-school for girls at Constantinople, with the expectation of reviving it, also, at Marsovan. It was commenced in 1845. The whole number of pupils had been one hundred and twenty-eight, of whom one half became members of the church. Eighty-three were from Constantinople and vicinity, and forty-five from the interior.
Thirty-seven completed the course of four years. Two of the older graduates were teachers of self-supporting schools at Nicomedia; another, whose parents lived at Trebizond, taught at Marsovan; a fourth, since married to a graduate of the Bebek seminary, devoted herself to teaching the girls in a day-school at Adabazar, in charge of the native pastor; another was mistress of a school of forty pupils at Baghchejuk; and still another had a school of forty-five girls at Diarbekir, and was otherwise a s.h.i.+ning light. Five were wives of pastors,--at Constantinople, Broosa, Bilijik, Harpoot, and Diarbekir; three of preachers,--at Nicomedia, Bandurma, and Aidin; and several of helpers in different places. The school was located successively at Pera, Bebek, and Ha.s.s-Keuy; and its teachers were Miss Lovell, Mrs. Everett, and the two Misses West.
The summer heat at Adana was supposed to be too intense for the health of a missionary family. Mr. Coffing was therefore commissioned, by his brethren, to explore the Taurus Mountains, west and north of Marash, for a suitable summer residence. He performed this service in the autumn of 1860, accompanied by Mrs. Coffing and Deacon Sarkis. An interesting account of the tour may be found in the ”Missionary Herald,” for 1861.[1] Mr. Coffing requested permission, on his return, to occupy the new field, and left Aintab, with his family, for this purpose, in July, 1861; intending to reside at Hadjin, or Nigdeh in the mountains during the summer heat, and in the winter at Adana. As they went forth from Aintab, nearly the whole Protestant population, about fifteen hundred, stood on both sides of the road to bid them farewell, and as they pa.s.sed, sang,--
”How sweet the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love;”
and also an original hymn, expressive of their feelings on parting with this mission family. More than a hundred persons accompanied them during that afternoon, returning the next day; and many were the prayers offered for them, and for the dark town in the mountains whither they went. Their road through or rather upon the Taurus Mountains, was difficult, and in some places dangerous; but without serious accident they reached Hadjin on Sat.u.r.day, July 14th. There they were kindly welcomed by the people, and commenced their labors with pleasant prospects of success. But, after a few weeks, the Moslem governor and the Armenian priests commenced a cruel opposition, scarcely paralleled in the missionary experiences of Turkey, and drove them from the place, with much loss and suffering.