Volume II Part 19 (1/2)

They burst into tears, exclaiming, ”We are lost, we are lost!” The Spirit of G.o.d 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 ma.s.sacres, but with the esteem of all her a.s.sociates. Mr. Lyons, broken down by overwork, was also under the necessity of withdrawing from the field. The girls' boarding-school had been transferred from Sk el Ghrb to Sidon, where it was under the care of Miss Mason.

The population of Beirt 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 Beirt as to embarra.s.s 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 Beirt.

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 Beirt, 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 G.o.d, 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 circ.u.mstances 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 Beirt 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 inst.i.tution 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 Beirt, 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 a.s.sembled missionaries gave thanks to G.o.d 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 G.o.d,' 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 G.o.d, that now, for the first time, the Word of G.o.d 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 G.o.d!

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 G.o.d 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 Beirt.