Volume II Part 12 (1/2)
The congregations at Bitlis were composed mostly of young men, apparently drawn together by love for the truth. About twenty were known as Protestants, and five of them had gone through a fiery trial of persecution. The Bible cla.s.s, which had been broken up by that means, was now regularly attended by about thirty young men, some of whom developed rich natural endowments, and gave promise of future usefulness. Sabbath-school instruction was found a valuable auxiliary to the preaching of the missionaries, on account of the opportunity it afforded for free and familiar ill.u.s.tration and personal application of the truth. It also made the missionary acquainted with the superst.i.tions and errors of the Armenian religion. The women's meeting, conducted by Mrs. Knapp and Mrs.
Burbank, was well attended and influential. A school for girls, taught by the wife of the helper, was broken up by the violence of Armenian ecclesiastics. The missionaries appealed to the Pasha, and to Mr. Dalzell, the friendly British Consul at Erzroom. The result was that the priests commenced a free school for boys and girls, and also a preaching service, hoping thus to deter the people from becoming Protestants. The Porte had given orders that the Protestants in every city should have a suitable cemetery, but every effort to secure one at Bitlis had been without success.
Dr. Dwight was much interested in this city. Its population was thirty thousand, and one third were Armenians; the rest were Koords and Turks, and there were hundreds of villages within the district.
The place was proverbial for salubrity, and he saw enough to convince him that the leaven of the Gospel was working powerfully among the people. Moosh, an out-station of Bitlis, was occupied by the native pastor Simon. The truth had taken some hold there, but the people were more degraded than at Bitlis.
Erzroom had several changes of missionaries in the six years previous to 1862. Being near to Russia, it suffered greatly during the Crimean war. The church was disbanded, but was reorganized by Mr. Trowbridge. Mr. Pollard removed thither from Arabkir, and was received with unexpected favor. The government now granted an eligible cemetery; and the Armenian Bishop, having had the benefit of a two years' residence in the United States, was friendly towards the American missionary.
The removal of Mr. Pollard left Mr. Richardson alone at Arabkir. His report for 1862, shows that there was much to encourage him. Turkish women came to the female prayer-meetings; and the opening of Protestant schools had led the Armenians to establish schools for their own children, in some of which a large proportion of the pupils were girls, though but a few years had pa.s.sed since it was considered a shame for females to learn to read. Eleven young men from seven different cities and villages in this district, were connected with the Harpoot Seminary, giving the prospect of an improved cla.s.s of helpers. Yet most of the former helpers had proved themselves sincere and pious; and after having done what they could to bring forward younger men of higher attainments, they were themselves humbly and gracefully returning to their former trades and callings, and laboring for the advancement of the good cause as Sabbath-school teachers and private Christians.
At the close of 1862, Dr. Wood, the Corresponding Secretary of the Board at New York, in consideration of his former experience and his familiarity with the Armenian language, was requested by the Prudential Committee to reside at Constantinople for a year or more, laboring in connection with the mission to Western Turkey. This was necessary in consequence of the sickness of several missionaries, and the special demand, at that time, for labor at that important post. He returned in the summer of 1864, after having rendered important service to the mission.
The clerical accessions to the mission, in 1862 and 1863, were Messrs. John Francis Smith, Moses P. Parmelee, and Giles F.
Montgomery, with their wives; and their respective a.s.signments were to the Western, Central, and Eastern missions. In addition to these, Miss Arabella L. Babc.o.c.k went to Harpoot, Miss Ann Eliza Fritcher to Marsovan, and Miss Mary E. Reynolds to the Bulgarian Mission.
In May, 1863, native pastors were ordained at Antioch, Bitlis, Adana, and Tarsus. In June, a fifth was ordained at Killis, the officiating clergy in this last case, with a single exception, being natives.
CHAPTER x.x.xIV.
THE ARMENIANS.
1864-1866.
A reactionary movement took place among the Mohammedans of the capital in 1864. The government had encouraged the introduction of European science. Men high in civil positions had delivered courses of lectures on history and other topics, in a surprisingly liberal spirit, and to audiences embracing hundreds of Turks. A ”Literary and Scientific Gazette,” published monthly under the auspices of a native ”Oriental Society,” discussed questions of political and social economy from an occidental stand-point; and the press was active in issuing pamphlets and books by native writers, indicating and promoting a new intellectual life. All this the devotees of the ”Old School” regarded with suspicion. They were even more alarmed by the religious liberty, which had been successfully claimed for converts from Mohammedanism, who had been openly baptized, and lived unmolested as Christians. The government had some time before been led to discourage Christian education by missionaries and other foreigners, when they could do this indirectly and under plausible pretexts; and they were somewhat rigid in their censors.h.i.+p of the religious press. The Scriptures, however, were allowed to be printed and circulated in the Arabo-Turkish, or sacred character, and no objection was made to simple expositions of Christian truth in that language.
But when copies of Dr. Pfander's book[1] were brought to Constantinople, which defended Christianity against Mohammedanism, and a.s.sailed the latter, it was detained at the custom-house; yet copies got abroad in some way, without foreign agency, and were sought by Mohammedans who were interested in the great question it discussed. A Moslem published a bitter reply; and in July, the manifest increase of both Christian ideas and pantheistic infidelity among the people, and the growing excitement among the fanatical party, began to alarm the government. There was believed to be a somewhat large body, who wished to reform the Mohammedan faith; and it was said that a pet.i.tion was presented to the government, by some Moslems calling themselves Protestants, for a mosque in which to wors.h.i.+p in their own way.
[1] Dr. Pfander, was a highly respected missionary of the (English) Church Missionary Society. The work was printed in London.
The fears of the Sultan were aroused. For several weeks spies beset the missionaries at every step. Finally, on a set day, several Turkish converts were arrested, and cast into prison, some of them being treated with great indignity. On the next day, the printing presses used by the missionaries were seized and put under seal, and rooms occupied by English missionaries, and the bookstore of the American mission and the two Bible Societies were also closed by the police.
These proceedings, being in direct violation of rights secured by treaty, were at once met with a decided protest from Mr. Brown, who, in the absence of the American Minister Resident, was the representative of his government; and after some delay, the British Amba.s.sador, Sir Henry Bulwer, also sent in a remonstrance. An examination of the bookstore discovered no prohibited publications; and after two days it was allowed to be re-opened. The printing offices were likewise restored. A correspondence followed between Sir Henry Bulwer and the Turkish authorities, and between him and the missionaries resident at Constantinople. The Mohammedans professed not to oppose their people's embracing the Christian religion, but only such reckless proselytism, as endangered the public peace; and they declared their willingness to release the imprisoned converts if it could be done consistently with their personal safety. But the missionaries believed that the intention of the Turks, and also the tendency of Sir Henry's movements, were seriously to curtail their own liberty and that of their converts, and greatly to embarra.s.s the propagation of the Gospel, as well among all the nominally Christian sects, as among the Moslems.
The immediate effect of these things was to prevent attendance by the Turks on preaching, the circulation of Christian books, and personal intercourse with the missionaries.
The position of the entire field, at the opening of 1864, from Constantinople to Diarbekir on the East, and to Antioch on the south, was one to interest the intelligent observer. The laborers employed in this wide and populous region, not including the Bulgarians, were--
Missionaries 36 Missionary Physicians 2 Female a.s.sistant Missionaries 41 Native Pastors 20 Licensed Native Preachers 43 Teachers 83 Other Helpers 58 --- Total 283
The printing was done at Constantinople for all the missions; and that reported for the year 1863 was as follows:
In Armenian 1,821,000 pages In Armeno-Turkish 1,128,000 ”
In Arabo-Turkish 264,000 ”
In Greek 6,000 ”
In Bulgarian 1,896,000 ”
--------- Total 5,115,000 ”
Of Turkish Scriptures twice as many copies had been distributed as in previous years. More than twenty-five thousand copies of the Word of G.o.d went into circulation, in at least twenty different languages. The following is a statement of the Scriptures prepared and printed, under the supervision of the missionaries of the Board, from 1840 to 1863: