Volume II Part 21 (1/2)

”The feelings of the mission on this point will be more fully expressed by individual communications from its several members, to the Prudential Committee.

”5. In view, however, of the weighty considerations which have been set before the mission for this change of their connection, considerations whose reasonableness and justice are apparent to their minds, and in view of the expressed opinion of what is their duty, on the part of the reunited Presbyterian Church, they cannot but feel that the call is from G.o.d, and the step to be taken is one demanded by the highest interests of Christ's Church.

”6. That the mission express their conviction, that no change is demanded in the ecclesiastical connections of any of its members.

”In accordance, therefore, with these views of this whole subject,--

”_Resolved_, 1st; that the mission present to the Prudential Committee a request for a release from their connection with the American Board, with a view to placing themselves under the direction of the Presbyterian Board.

”And 2d, That the mission accept the invitation conveyed in the letter of the Rev. J. F. Stearns, D. D., Chairman of the Committee of Conference of the Presbyterian Board of Missions, dated June 19, 1870, to place themselves under the care of the Presbyterian Board.

”Although the official ties which have bound us to those with whom we have been so long and so happily a.s.sociated may thus be severed, we feel that the bonds of sympathy and of prayer remain unchanged, and will continue so to remain until, in the higher work of praise, our hearts and voices shall be again and forever _united_.”

In accordance with this action the individual members of the mission sent a request to be released from their connection with the American Board, and they were released by vote of the Prudential Committee.

The members of the mission, at that time, were Drs. Thomson, Van Dyck, and H. H. Jessup, and Messrs. Calhoun, Eddy, Bird, Samuel Jessup. I. N. Lowry, and James S. Dennis. The author would naturally have great pleasure in quoting from their letters of farewell, but can only refer the reader for them to the ”Missionary Herald.”[1]

[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1870, pp. 391-398.

RESULTS OF THE PAST.

The history of the mission of the American Board to Palestine and Syria cannot be closed better than by the retrospective summary made by the mission at the close of their relations with the Board. They are speaking of the results of past labors.

”To Protestant influence, in great part, may we ascribe the changed feeling, which has come over the minds of the Mohammedans towards Christians. The Christian religion has become understood by them to be not wholly the system of idolatry, which they once regarded it, nor professing Christians as devoid of morality as they once seemed.

As a consequence, there has been a sensible quenching of the flame of Moslem bigotry, and a greater respect for Christians, their rights, their Bible, and their religion. The relative positions of the crescent and the cross are not what they were when the missionaries came to Syria. The Bible has gained ground, and the Koran has lost it, as a controlling influence in the land. Some Mohammedans are among the attendants upon our preaching, and these would doubtless be more numerous, but for the risk to property and to life, which inquirers from among them incur.

”Not without results have the children of the Druzes been taught in our schools during all these years, and so many conversations been held with adults of that sect. The leaven of the Gospel has penetrated even to the secret inner sanctuaries of their religion; and the white turbans of the initiated Druzes seen in our Sabbath congregations, the inquirers who come to our houses, and the baptized converts from among them, show that not in vain to the Druzes has the light of the Gospel again dawned upon Syria.

”But princ.i.p.ally among the nominally Christian sects have the indirect results of missionary labor extended. These are visible in the changed power of the clergy. Once excommunication was a terror above all terrors. Now it is so powerless a weapon, that those who once wielded it so effectively are ashamed to challenge ridicule by exposing its weakness.

”Protestantism, once regarded by the ma.s.s of the people as the blackest of heresies, finds everywhere its defenders and vindicators, even where it lacks followers, and no longer can the lies gain currency, with which the clergy were accustomed to frighten away their flocks from gospel influence.

”The religious instruction given in their churches has been modified. More Bible is taught, and less tradition. The preaching is more of Christ, and less of the saints. The adoration of pictures has greatly lessened. All sects have been compelled to introduce schools, and to educate both boys and girls, to educate their priests, and to remove the restrictions from reading the Bible.

”The circulation of the Scriptures, and of religious books, has been wide-spread, and we have heard of some who have been enlightened by these silent teachers, and have through them found Christ as their Saviour, and died in joyful trust in Him; though they never had an opportunity to publicly profess their faith in Him.

”Among all sects, Mohammedan, Druze, Greek, Maronite, and Catholic, the glaciers of prejudice, which for centuries have been forming, are now melting under the warmth of the Gospel.

”The gift of the Bible to this people in their own tongue, is the rich golden tribute which the West has returned to the East, in acknowledgment of its obligation to the land whence the Bible came.

”Brighter than the light, which kindles early and lingers late upon the crests of Lebanon and Hermon, crowning them with glory, is the light of the Gospel, which has shone into dark hearts, in hamlet and city, recalling the memories of a past not inglorious, and presaging a fairer splendor in the future.

”Not in vain have Hebard, and Smith, and Whiting, and De Forest, and Ford, sowed the seed of the Word in tears, even though they went home with few gathered sheaves. From the heights of heaven they now behold the springing harvest. Not in vain have others toiled here, whose summons has not yet come. They bless G.o.d for what their eyes see and their ears hear of the Lord's working around them.

Reluctantly have those yielded to the sad necessity of returning home, who, having just thrust in the sickle, found their strength unequal to the toil.

”The churches in America, which have aided in sustaining the mission by their offerings and their prayers, have seen fewer results, than have crowned their labors in other fields; their faith has been sorely tried; but they have been permitted to hear, from time to time, of souls ransomed from darkness and sin; echoes of the songs of triumph sung by departing saints have been borne to their ears, and they have felt that their labors have not been unrewarded.

”By G.o.d's grace we have laid anew the foundations of G.o.d's living temple, Christ being the chief corner-stone, and we have seen some courses already built upon it. We have set up and maintained the banner of the cross in the face of its pretended friends and its avowed foes. We have collected a little army on the Lord's side, and armed them with the sword of the Spirit. We have prepared an a.r.s.enal of spiritual weapons for future conflicts, in the Scriptures and other religious books translated and committed to the people. We have established outposts of schools and seminaries, have raised strongholds of the truth in churches planted here and there throughout the land. We have taken possession of the land in the name of King Immanuel, and we aim to subdue and hold it wholly for him.”[1]