Rufus Anderson

“ I felt myself rebuked when I saw the earnest, self-devoted spirit of my missionary sisters, who are laboring in Aintab, in Marash, in Antioch, in Aleppo, and in Oorfa, for the salvation of their degraded sex; thinking little of the sacrifices they have made in leaving America, to live in such a country as Turkey. It would be difficult to find in Christendom a more happy class than these, our helpers in Christ Jesus. The holy object which fills their hearts lifts them above the distracting and embittering influences of external circumstances. ”

“ INTRODUCTION. We may not hope for the conversion of the Mohammedans, unless true Christianity be exemplified before them by the Oriental Churches. To them the native Christians represent the Christian religion, and they see that these are no better than themselves. They think them worse; and therefore the Moslem believes the Koran to be more excellent than the Bible.
It is vain to say, that the native Christians have so far departed from the truth that they do not feel the power of the Gospel, and that therefore the immorality of their lives is not to be attributed to its influence. ”

“ Never again will there be a theocracy with a sensuous external economy, limited to a single nation. Never again, in the kingdom of God, will he be accounted a Jew, in the evangelical sense, who is one outwardly, nor that be accounted circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he will be a Jew, who is one inwardly, and is, of course, heir to all the spiritual promises made to the Jews in the Old Testament; and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter. On these broad, fundamental Scripture principles, rested the whole superstructure of our mission to the Jews. ”

“ A deplorable change had come over the Greeks, both in Greece and Turkey, since the freedom of Greece from Turkish rule; and money, time, and labor could be more profitably expended on other equally needy populations in that part of the world. The old ambition for the recovery of Constantinople and the restoration of the Eastern Empire, had been quickened into life; and the unity of the Greek Church as a means to this end, was craftily kept before the minds of the people by Russian agency, and had a wonderful influence, especially among the higher classes. ”

“ Thus a ministry to offer sacrifices is substituted for a ministry to feed the flock of God with sound doctrine, and the spiritual worship of God is converted into the formal adoration of a wafer. Preaching is nowhere regarded as the leading duty of the clergy, but to say mass. By exalting the eucharist into an expiatory sacrifice, the partaking of the elements by the people came to be considered quite unessential, and is generally neglected. They need not understand, nor even hear the language of the officiating priest. It is enough, if they see and adore. ”

“ For twenty years there had not been such a religious ferment in Constantinople, as there was at the time of issuing this Reformed Prayer-book. It was not a revival of religion. The question was not, "What must I do to be saved?" but "What did our Church teach in the days of its purity?" and "What are the doctrines of the Word of God?" Meanwhile the advocates of reform were continually driven to take higher ground; and such was their progress while carrying their book through the press, that they were obliged to reprint some of the first sheets, to make them conform to their new convictions. ”

“ The Greek Church held the worst errors of Popery, such as transubstantiation, worshipping the Virgin Mary, praying to saints, baptismal regeneration, and the inherent efficacy of ordinances to save the soul. The power of excommunication in the hands of the priests, was regarded by the people with extreme dread, as sealing the soul over to perdition; and believing, as they did, that salvation is certain in the Church, and nowhere else, they regarded every attempt at innovation as an attack upon their dearest interests, and resisted it with persecution, or turned away with disgust and scorn. ”

“ I have often wished I might introduce some of our American friends into our teachers' meetings on a Sabbath afternoon, or to the Sabbath-school at the intermission of public worship, where nearly the whole congregation remains, exhibiting a zeal and aptness in the discussion of religious truths scarcely surpassed in the most favored churches in New England. The weekly woman's prayer-meeting is sometimes left entirely in the hands of the native sisters, and any one of half a dozen is always ready without embarrassment to take the lead, discoursing very appropriately from her Turkish Testament. ”

“ A mere citizen of Greece could not have maintained his ground after the persecuting hierarchy had overawed the courts of justice and the officers of state. His courage resembled that of Martin Luther. He was a sturdy Puritan, which no Greek at that time could have been; and he had strong resemblances to the great Reformer, as will abundantly appear in the sequel. Yet the fact of his foreign origin made him to be no more than the forerunner of a Grecian Luther. His labors and sufferings only prepared the way for a national reformation, which it may be hoped is yet to come. ”

“ Every mile increased our numbers. Our way was often almost blocked up by the people who came to meet us, some on horseback, some on foot; bishops, priests, deacons, village teachers, members of the seminary, with whom I had many times wept and prayed, all pressing forward in eager haste to grasp our hands, and swell the notes of welcome. Three years ago, they followed us out of the city, holding our horses by the bridle, and begging us not to leave them, while their mournful looks bespoke the sorrow of their hearts. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The national pride of the Greeks had also created an aversion to foreigners, and made it difficult for such to gain their confidence, or awaken their gratitude by acts of benevolence. Then there were the arrogant assumptions of the Greek Church, more exclusive than the Roman, claiming for her clergy the only apostolical succession, and that her trine immersion, performed by her clergy, was the only baptism, while all not thus baptized were beyond the hope of salvation. Of course all Protestant preachers, whether episcopal or non-episcopal, were regarded by the Greeks as unbaptized heretics. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In July of the same year, a series of articles appeared in a leading newspaper of Athens called the "Age," designed to excite the prejudices of the Greeks against our missionary, and to urge them to put a stop to the scandal of his preaching. The last and most extraordinary of these was avowedly from Simonides, and was fitted to produce an excitement in the Greek community. Its statements were improbable in the highest degree, and there could not have been a more affecting proof of the superstition and bigotry of the people of Athens, than the general credence given to this gross fabrication. ”

“ The sick man, though in extreme bodily weakness, spoke very faithfully to his visitor, and told him of his joy in view of death, and his hope of going to be forever with the Lord Jesus Christ, and added: "This is the only way of peace and salvation, and Christ is the only Saviour of sinners for you, and for me, and for all the world." The eyes of the Turk filled with tears. He had never seen a Christian die before; and to hear a man talk with so much gladness of his departure from the world overcame him, and he hurried from the room. ”

“ It could not truly be said, that any material change had taken place in the character and condition of the people at large, as a consequence of Protestant missions. But this at least was true, that the impression given by the Jesuits, that Protestants had no religion, no priesthood, and no churches, had been extensively removed. The missionaries unite in their testimony, that the circulation of the Scriptures is not alone sufficient to regenerate a people. ”

“ I suppose there is some good done by public preaching, but it is the preacher who is ready, in the face-to-face opportunity, who comes home laden with sheaves. Mr. Walker was always ready. Meet a man when he might, where he might, just the right word was on his tongue. And that warm grip of his hand, into how many souls has it infused a new and spiritual life. So he begot his children in the gospel; and by his sermons, which were always thoughtful, he built them up into Christian characters, as a workman who needeth not to be ashamed. ”

“ The continued existence of large bodies of nominal Christians among these Mohammedans, is a remarkable fact. They constitute more than a third part of the population of Constantinople, and are found in all the provinces of the empire, as, also, in Persia, and are supposed to number at least twelve millions. Being so numerous and so widely dispersed, should spiritual life be revived among them a flood of light would illumine the Turkish empire, and shine far up into Central Asia. The followers of Mohammed would look on with wonder, and perhaps, at first, with hatred and persecution ”

“ Time was, when every one trembled at the anathema of the clergy. Now, the latter dare not show their impotence by pronouncing it. Some of the people would be glad to be thus dissevered from a church which they abhor, for they would thus not only gain their end, but retain the sympathies of many who would else oppose them. Those who send their children to our schools, have been refused admission to the confessional and the eucharist; the Maronite bishop, however, has at length yielded the point, and tries to win, rather than compel. ”

“ A. I have already said that my preaching consists in teaching what is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, that is, the Word of God, which all the most distinguished early Fathers in the Eastern Church, especially Chrysostom and Athanasius, declared to be the only school of godliness, the fountain at which all Christians ought to drink; and if the Eastern Church acknowledges these sacred Scriptures as the foundations of its religion, I cannot be guilty of the charge, for I have said nothing against those bases. ”

“ To the devoted missionary, who dies at the outset of his career, all is satisfactory, however painful the circumstances, as soon as he passes the dark portal. Then, too, in contemplating the reverses which were now beginning to thicken upon the mission, we should bear in mind, that the divine plan for the Mountain Nestorian mission, as afterwards appeared, was not that it be prosecuted from the western side of the mountains, but from Oroomiah, the position first taken by the mission; where, as we shall soon see, Gospel influences were gathering a peculiar and most needful strength. ”

“ Doubtless great evil would result from extensive inroads of sectarian zeal. But there is hope of triumph even then,—from the Bible in their own language, brought by the press within reach of thousands of families, with fathers, mothers, and children able and free to read it; from self-governed, self-supported, self-propagating churches, scattered over the empire, each with its indoctrinated native pastor; from woman holding such a place in the family and social circle, as she never held before ”

“ His courage, his calmness and yet firmness of purpose, his skill in the healing art, his devotion to the cause of his Saviour, his tact in winning the confidence even of those who never before trusted their own friends, his fearlessness in the presence of unscrupulous and cruel men and his ascendency over them, his lively faith under appalling discouragements, and his unyielding perseverance, form an array of excellence rarely combined in one man. ”

“ The Harpoot Evangelical Union resolved at Diarbekir, in 1866, to send a mission into the wild region eastward of that city, where the Armenians, living among the Koords, had lost all knowledge of both the Armenian and Turkish languages, and were in the grossest darkness. A dozen small churches, with a membership of hardly more than five hundred, undertook to educate seven young men to go as their missionaries, and the movement excited much enthusiasm. ”

“ The Church in Greece, no longer subject to the Greek Patriarch at Constantinople, was under the government of the "Holy Council of the kingdom of Greece;" which was required to guard the clergy and schools against heresy, and report to the government any attempt at proselyting. No school could be established without permission from the government, nor without such permission could any teacher instruct, even in private families. No books could be sold or given away in any place, without obtaining a license for that place, and strong guards were thrown around the press. ”

“ So entirely unconscious are the people of the Balkan's being the boundary, that when I spoke of Bulgaria, I was repeatedly corrected by the remark, 'You are now in Bulgaria.' The soil along our route is of the finest quality, and large villages were occasionally seen on our right and left, with magnificent views of cultivated lands and vast pastures, the snowy Balkan summits bounding the north, and lower ranges of hills the south. ”

“ About fifty men came at one time to Beirût for that purpose, and asked for ministers to teach them. Their dissatisfaction with their Church was not of recent date, but had been increasing for years. It had arisen from the selfishness and worldliness of their clergy, and their consequent neglect of the flock. These men had some acquaintance with the mission, Hasbeiya having been visited by more than one of the native book agents. It was evident, however, that concern for the salvation of the soul was not the cause of their coming. What they sought had reference solely to the present life. ”