Rufus Anderson

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ An intelligent and judicious friend, well acquainted with him, expressed a decided opinion in favor of his piety and preaching. Bambas appeared then to be about fifty years old; and his sweet countenance enlivened by a quick eye, and the deliberation, judgment, and kindness, with which he replied to inquiries, made a most favorable impression, which subsequent intercourse fully sustained.
With such a specimen of a Greek before them, we cannot wonder that Messrs. Fisk and Parsons cherished strong hopes as to the future of the nation. ”

“ No one was to be condemned without trial, and none were to suffer the penalty of death without the sanction of the Sultan himself. No person at all conversant with Turkey, would expect such a change in the administration of the government to be effected at once, nor indeed for a long course of years. Yet this was the beginning of changes, which were momentous in their influence on the Christian and Jewish population of Turkey. ”

“ 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 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 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As all believe that the sufferings of the departed may be shortened by the merit of good works performed by surviving relatives and imputed to them, prayers for the dead are frequent in churches and over graves, and masses are celebrated in their name.
Though the Nestorians renounced auricular confession, they no more looked to the redemption of Christ for pardon, than did their neighbors, and they knew of no other regeneration than baptism.
There is no need of entering here on the practical influence of such a religion on the lives of the people. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Female education, which had been almost entirely neglected, began now to receive attention, both at Constantinople and at Smyrna. No regular school, indeed, had as yet been opened for females in the former place, but a few parents were providing means for the instruction of their daughters, and one of the evangelical brethren had a class of twelve Armenian girls. In Smyrna, a school for Armenian girls was opened by the mission in a commodious room, with desks, benches, and cards, and was commenced with the express approval of influential men in the community. ”

“ Priest Eshoo called his neighbors together, and told them of the great change in his feelings. So upright had he been as a priest, that a confession of his need of salvation through the blood of Christ made a strong impression. It became more and more evident that he was truly a child of God. On the 5th of February, he announced his great joy that his oldest daughter, a member of Miss Fiske's school, was hopefully born again, and he thought she knew the way to the cross better than himself. ”

“ There is such a thing as attempting too much. Many a missionary has attempted such great things, and so many, in a new field, that he has accomplished little, and perhaps nothing as he ought. Your surveys may extend over a great surface; but a richer and speedier harvest will crown your labors, if your cultivation is applied to a single field."
The Nestorians are a branch of the ancient Christian Church, and derive their name from Nestorius, a native of Syria and Bishop of Constantinople, who was excommunicated by the third General Council at Ephesus, in the year 431. ”

“ Twenty blows were inflicted on the bare feet of a young man, and he was thrown into prison, because he had sold a copy of the Psalms in modern Armenian, and called at the house of a missionary. A teacher of a country school was severely bastinadoed for teaching the Gospel to the villagers. A merchant, who had early embraced the truth, was cruelly beaten in the bishop's own room, and the people were commanded to spit in his face in the streets, merely because he visited the missionary. A priest, for showing so much sympathy as to call upon him, was summoned before the bishop and bastinadoed. ”

“ The people, as a body, had sense enough to refuse obedience. In view of the attitude thus assumed by the patriarchal family, and the questionable conduct of some of the bishops, a thorough reconstruction of the school system was rendered necessary. The seminary for boys and the village schools were accordingly dismissed, and finally the female boarding-school under Miss Fiske. "When this last result was announced to the pupils," writes one of the mission, "there was a general burst of grief. Their tears and sobs told, more expressively than language, the bitterness of their hearts. ”

“ The English Ambassador, Sir Stratford Canning, had called the attention of the Turkish ministry to the pledge given, three years before, by the Sultan, that "henceforth there should be no more persecution for religious opinions in Turkey;" and it was now decided, in accordance with this pledge, that the persecution of the evangelical Armenians could not be allowed.
Scores of men, women, and children were wandering houseless, for the faith of Jesus, in the streets of the great metropolis, but they could not be left thus to suffer. ”

“ At the metropolis there were restraints upon the hierarchy, that were unfelt in the provinces. Ephrem, bishop of Erzroom, had once acknowledged the errors of his Church, and had often strongly expressed his desires for reform, though now among the most zealous and persevering of the persecutors. The same was lamentably true of Boghos, Vartabed of Trebizond. Ephrem and Boghos had actually suffered persecution, on the charge of being Protestants. The change in their conduct was owing to the change in their relations, and to their loving the praise of men more than the praise of God. ”

“ The Armenians at Constantinople were estimated at one hundred thousand. As a body, they were intelligent, ingenuous, and frank; and many were found who regarded the ritual of their Church as encumbered with burdensome ceremonies, unsustained by the Scriptures, and of no practical advantage. The outset of the Armenian mission was in some respects unlike that to the Maronites of Syria, among whom the converts were at once excommunicated, and treated as outlaws. ”

“ While the Sultan would not interfere with the spiritual duties of the Patriarch, he could not allow his Protestant subjects to be hindered in their lawful pursuits. As the Armenian Primate had converted the law, requiring every subject entering into business to provide sureties for his good behavior, into an instrument of oppression, by refusing to accept Protestants as sureties for each other, the Pasha was to see that they had the same liberty, in this respect, as was enjoyed by their countrymen. ”

“ The mother of the sheiks in A. is married to the most powerful sheik in B.'T., and she sent word to her children, encouraging them to become Christians, and approving also of their plan to place the youngest boys in our seminary.
"I had no time to converse with the common people in B.'T., but one of our Christian Druzes who accompanied me, spent the day with them, and tells me, that a great many of the villagers wished to join us. Here also the Papists are busy as bees, both with arguments and terrors. What the end will be, is known only to God." ”

“ In the work of missions, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." The history before us often presents cases, in which there is no more reason to doubt the divine agency, than the human; and no intelligent missionary would labor hopefully and cheerfully, after becoming a disbeliever in a particular providence.
Nearly all the early laborers in the fields here presented, have finished their work on earth. Parsons and Fisk were the only ones, with whom the writer had not a personal acquaintance. ”

“ Inhabiting the rugged mountains of Lebanon, they maintained for many ages a free and independent spirit in the midst of despotism, and were a semi-independent people within the Turkish dominions down to the summer of 1835, when they were subdued by Ibrahim Pasha.
As early as 1831, a hope was awakened in the mission, that the Gospel might be successfully introduced among that people. A Druze woman was in the habit of coming daily to listen to the reading of the Scriptures and to religious conversation, and would often say, "That's the truth," with her face bathed in tears. ”

“ The mission now had eight native helpers, among whom were three bishops and two priests, all, except one, residing with the mission. That one was the venerable Mar Elias, the oldest bishop in the province, who superintended one of the schools. He had adopted the practice of translating portions of the Epistles, which he read statedly in his church. Some of the people were much delighted with the innovation; but others, and a profligate priest among them, complained that he annoyed them with the precepts of "Paul, Paul, Paul," of whom they had scarcely ever heard before. ”