Volume II Part 26 (1/2)
There is no more satisfactory way of ill.u.s.trating this than by a simple statement of some of the more important facts. Indeed, it is requisite to the completeness of this history, that these be now stated, since they were designedly omitted in the preceding pages, in their various connections, in order to be recorded here.
I begin with the year 1854, when the Imperial Firman of 1850 became known in the provinces.[1] Mr. Dunmore, on his way from Arabkir to Diarbekir, with Priest Kevork, spent the first night at a Moslem village. They had travelled in the rain, and were scarcely dry, says Mr. Dunmore, ”when a company of Turks asked us to read to them from the New Testament, and tell them something of our belief. Kevork read to them from the Gospels, explaining, as he pa.s.sed along, the precious teachings of our Lord, and closed with prayer. All listened attentively, and p.r.o.nounced it, 'Good,' 'True,' 'Just.'”
[1] See Chapters xxiv. and xxv.
At another place, Mr. Dunmore found Turks desirous to hear the Gospel. ”More than once,” he says, ”in pa.s.sing through the streets, rich Moslem merchants called us into their shops, expressed their sympathy with us, and an earnest desire that we would remain. They called the Armenians to discuss questions with us, but the latter did so only when constrained by fear, or shame. We were frequently followed by a number of respectable Moslems, as we went from shop to shop to converse with the Armenians; and one day so many gathered about us that we could scarcely proceed on our way; all exclaiming, 'Right,' 'True,' 'Good,' to all that we said.”
The Hutti Humaoun was promulgated in 1855. In that year the Turkish Scriptures were sold openly on the bridge between Galata and Constantinople, no man forbidding.
In September, 1857, Dr. Hamlin described the official examination, at his house, of a family converted from Mohammedanism. It was made at the instigation of the mother of the wife, who was almost frantic at the baptism of her daughter and grandchild. ”Our dear friends,”
wrote Dr. Hamlin, ”stood firm as a rock, and at length the officers arose and said to me, as nearly as I can state; 'We are fully convinced that no compulsion has been used in this case, and, so far as we can see, the accusations of the mother are false. It is the will of his Majesty, our Sovereign, and it has become the law of the empire, that every subject, without exception, should enjoy entire religious freedom. The Mussulman is now as free to become a Christian, as a Christian is free to become a Mussulman. The government will know no difference in the two cases. It will only undertake, whenever an accusation of restraint or compulsion is brought, to ascertain the true state of the case; and then only in order to secure the most unexceptionable freedom of choice.'”
In May of the following year, Dr. Hamlin wrote, that Selim Effendi, a converted Mussulman employed as an evangelist among his countrymen, had many inquirers. ”I think he conversed with eleven last week; among whom a woman expressed a very decided desire to embrace Christianity, but she was afraid of her son. Her son had sometimes expressed the same wish, but he was afraid of his mother!
Selim introduced them to each other.”
”Let the following statements be appreciated,” said Dr. Schauffler, in September, 1858, ”and the difference between the present and the former state of things will be better understood. (1.) The Imans and Ulemas are obliged to resort to moral suasion and entreaty. No threats of persecution are employed; the government takes no responsibility in these matters; the police has nothing to do with them. (2.) Although there are fewer purchasers of the New Testament, yet men buy it publicly, fearing no civil penalty. 'Why do you buy this infidel book?' says a bigot to a Mohammedan purchaser of the Gospel. He replies: 'I chose to buy it, and with my own money; you are welcome to mind your own business;' and so the matter ends. (3.) We hear of no search being made for the books in circulation among Mussulmans, No New Testaments have been burned yet, that we know of, by the Turks, as many copies have been by the Greek or Catholic priests and bishops.”
Mr. Dunmore wrote, in the same year, after visiting thirty villages, mostly Kuzzelbash and Turkish: ”I really felt ashamed, that in touring I had ever pa.s.sed by a Turkish village, without stopping to point them to the Lamb of G.o.d, which taketh away the sins of the world? And I testify what I have seen, when I say, that the Turks are approachable; and many of them ready to listen to the Gospel; while others are anxious to search the Scriptures, and are restrained only by the pressure of fears, which, as yet, the Hatti-humaioun has scarcely begun to remove in this region.”
I quote again from the same missionary: ”At a Koordish village of twenty houses we spent two hours in preaching the Word to a company of thirty. One of them, who seemed to have received a few rays of light from enlightened men, boldly declared, that he believed the time was near, when the sword would no more be used to keep men in Moslem bonds, but that they all would soon be free to embrace the Gospel, if they wished. We spent a night at a Kuzzelbash village of forty houses. Immediately on our arrival, we had an audience of thirty or forty; and during the long evening, fifty or more listened to the great truths of the Gospel. We preached 'Christ crucified; the way, the truth, and the life;' and they received the word with eagerness. When the evening was far spent, we bowed together before the mercy-seat, after which our audience reluctantly retired. These are but samples of our visits among Kuzzelbashes and Turks on this tour.”
Dr. Hamlin, speaking of Turks near the close of 1858, says: ”There have been, here and there, some burnings of the New Testament; not publicly, but in private, or in small social circles. Among Mussulmans themselves a spirited debate has repeatedly arisen as to the moral character of the act. Some have approved, others have most decidedly condemned it, affirming that the New Testament is the Word of G.o.d. What impressed us most strongly is the bold manner in which orthodox Turks have declared it to be the Word of G.o.d, and that to burn it is a sin.”[1]
[1] See _Missionary Herald_ for 1858, p. 380.
Dr. Dwight wrote in May, 1859: ”The work among the Turks is looming up; and if not hindered by some untoward event, or by our neglect, it will by and by a.s.sume very large proportions. That Turkish officials through the country have been instructed not to persecute Mohammedans who embrace Christianity, is very evident. The governors of Sivas, Cesarea, and Diarbekir have, to our knowledge, within a short time, and with actual cases before them, publicly declared, that a Mohammedan who became a Christian could not be molested.”
Mr. White visited a place on the north of the Taurus Mountains in May, 1860, and had many calls from Mussulmans. ”Every day they came,” he says, ”with an apparently sincere desire to learn the truth; and held long conversations on man's sinfulness, and how it was possible for G.o.d to forgive sin. 'We have lost G.o.d;' 'We have lost the road;' 'We cannot find G.o.d;' were expressions they used very often. At almost every meeting, from three to five Mussulmans were present. One is known all over the city as a Protestant; and a second is a member of the Governor's Council.”
Mr. Herrick, speaking of the Turkish department in the Bebek Seminary, wrote thus, in the same year: ”Quite a number of Mohammedans have renounced Islam, and become true Christians; many more are soberly inquiring after the truth; and many others are turning, unsatisfied, from a religion which cannot save, or wavering in a merely nominal devotion to Islamism. That which is most striking is the clear evidence, often, of the work of G.o.d's Spirit in individual cases, and in general movements.”