CHAPTER XXXII.

THE BULGARIANS OF EUROPEAN TURKEY.

1862-1871.

Brigandage has at times prevailed in some parts of Bulgaria, especially in the Balkan Mountains. In the spring of 1862, the roads were more or less infested with highwaymen, but the one from Philippopolis to Adrianople, and thence to Rodosto, being constantly travelled, was deemed safe. By this road Mr. Byington, and Mr. Meriam with his wife and child, went to Constantinople, to attend the annual meeting of the Western Turkey Mission. Returning, Mr. Byington started a week before Mr. Meriam, and reached Eski Zagra safely, going from Adrianople to Philippopolis alone. Mr. Meriam passed over the same route with his family. Nothing noticeable occurred till they reached Hermanli, twelve hours from Adrianople, at noon, July 3d. Here they found a company of half a score or more of men, with four wagons, hesitating to proceed on account of a band of mounted brigands, said to be lying in wait to rob them. Unfortunately the courageous advice of Mr. Meriam decided them to proceed, accompanied by two armed guards. After they had started, Mr. Meriam became convinced that it would have been safer for him and his family to have gone alone; and such was the fact, for the robbers did not know of his presence, and designed only to plunder the rayahs. The brigands came upon them about three o'clock in the afternoon. The faithless guards fled at once, and some valuable horses were seized. The drivers of the two forward talaccas, of which Mr. Meriam's was one, then increased their speed, endeavoring to escape; when the robbers pursued, firing rapidly upon the wagons, piercing the covering of Mr. Meriam's, and killing or wounding two or three occupants of the next vehicle. The missionary and his family were shielded for a time by the boxes in the hinder part of the carriage, till the fall of one of the horses wheeled it round, so as to face the assailants. Mr. Meriam sprang out to protect his wife and child, and immediately fell, pierced by two balls. When the agonized wife expostulated with one of the brigands, saying, that "he loved the Osmanlees, and wished to do them good," he replied, "Why then did you flee"? Had they quietly waited, though they might have been robbed, life would probably have been spared.

Mrs. Meriam retained her presence of mind, and placing her infant upon the ground, carefully collected the papers and other articles which the robbers had scattered about, and then sat down to watch the lifeless remains of her husband. The Turkish authorities of the next village sent a conveyance to take her and her precious treasure to a khan. When the moodir saw her in her little room, with her babe and the corpse of her husband, he was much moved, and did what he could for her comfort. He sent a telegram to the governor of Philippopolis, designed for Mr. Clarke, but Mr. Clarke received no notice, and consequently no friend came to meet her. She conveyed the body in her own carriage; and spent the whole of the next night, with her babe, watching the talacca in the open air, vainly listening for the coming of the messenger whom she had so much reason to expect. On the next and last day, she prevailed on a Bulgarian boy to hasten on with a message, which brought Mr. Clarke to her relief, but only just before she entered the city. An immediate burial was necessary. The Austrian, Greek, and French Consuls were very kind, and the Bulgarian church was offered for the funeral.

Mrs. Meriam possessed an excellent constitution, but the strain had been too much for her. A premature confinement followed, and fever, which assumed a typhoid form, closed her earthly career, July 25, about three weeks after her husband's murder.[1]

[1] A statement, made at the time, that Mr. Meriam fired on the assassins was afterwards found to be untrue. Nor did Mrs. Meriam receive any injury at the time of the murder. Nothing was taken from her personally, and no violence was offered her. Missionary Herald, 1863, p. 143.

It was necessary that an example should be made of the murderers. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State at Washington, took Mr. Webster's view as to the rights of missionaries, and removed the doubts of Mr. Morris, the American Minister at the Porte, which had occasioned an unfortunate delay; so that he, with Mr. Goddard the Consul General, put matters in train at Adrianople, which led the Pasha of that province to offer four hundred dollars, and soon after as much more, for information that would insure the detection of the assassins, and to distribute bands of soldiers over the country. Mr. Blunt, the English Consul at Adrianople, offered a reward of ninety dollars on his own responsibility; and with him the Austrian Consul, Mr. Camerlobe, actively coöperated.

These efforts resulted in the arrest, conviction, and execution of three of the five engaged in the murder. The remaining two met with an ignominious and violent death; one having been assassinated, and the other shot down while committing highway robbery in an adjacent province.

A very effectual check was thus put to the brigandage so prevalent before, and the attention of all classes was drawn to the character, position, and aims of the missionaries.

Scarcely a year had elapsed, since Mr. Coffing had fallen by the hands of assassins in Central Turkey; and who can tell how much the punishment inflicted on the murderers of these missionaries, has contributed to the safety of their brethren, or how much it will be instrumental in preventing future massacres of native Christians, as well as missionaries, by fanatical Mohammedans.

The Rev. Henry C. Haskell and wife joined the mission in the autumn of 1862, and assisted Mr. Morse in forming a new station at Sophia, about four days' journey northwest of Philippopolis. In the following year, Miss Mary E. Reynolds took charge of a school for girls at Eski Zagra, which had been successfully commenced by a young woman from Catholic Bohemia, who spoke the Bulgarian like a native, and gave good evidence of piety. The school was designed for the education of female teachers. The health of Mrs. Crane obliged her and her husband to return home, and ask for a release from their connection with the Board. Adrianople was thus left, for a time, without a missionary. The death of Mr. and Mrs. Meriam stirred up several young men in the school at Philippopolis who became active and successful colporters in the surrounding villages. Many of the people in Sophia were found to possess the Scriptures, and a considerable number were known to read them with interest; but as soon as the fact became known to their acquaintance, they were subjected to persecution.

At Samokov, a pleasant town nine hours to the southeast of Sophia, with a Bulgarian population of ten thousand, there were encouraging indications, and that place proving to be more healthful and a better centre than Sophia, the station was removed thither in 1869.

In 1863, the missionaries of the American Board and the Methodists working in this field held a meeting at Eski Zagra, for cultivating the friendly relations already existing between them. Dr. Wood and Mr. Isaac G. Bliss were present from the Armenian Mission. They found themselves in substantial agreement as to the methods of missionary labor, and also as to the nature of the field. "While some facts of a more or less hopeful nature," writes Mr. Byington, "were reported, the general feeling seemed to be, that the Bulgarians were a very different people from what they were supposed to be, six or eight years ago, and that in our efforts for their good, patience must have her perfect work. They cannot be said to be a particularly depraved people; they are not probably addicted to the grosser sins in any unusual degree; but there seems to be among them a great want of impressibility. When the truth is presented, they at once assent to it, but without any apparent impression on the heart. The brethren generally spoke of the pleasant social intercourse which they enjoyed with the people, but upon religious matters a very painful indifference was manifested."

One great obstacle to the reception of evangelical truth among the Bulgarians, was the attachment of all classes to their national unity. The same had been found among the Armenians and Greeks. Men objected to the examination of evangelical doctrines, lest the result should be a schism in the nation; not being able to see how a change in religious belief could consist with national loyalty. Yet, though the progress of the work had not equaled the expectations awakened at the outset, it was obvious that increasing acquaintance with the missionaries was perceptibly removing prejudice. The conviction was gaining strength with many, not only that Protestants had a Christian faith, but that it was purer than their own. The girls' school at Eski Zagra had thirty pupils in regular attendance, and a score of applicants were refused for want of room. Mr. Clarke having been overworked, it was necessary to secure aid for him, and Mr. Haskell removed to Philippopolis. Mr. Ball, after a long detention at home by the decline of his wife's health, joined the Adrianople station in 1865. Some new prejudice against the missionaries was now created by accusations transferred from English newspapers, made in defense of the intolerance of the Turkish authorities, and of what certainly seemed an unfriendly policy in Sir Henry Bulwer, the English Ambassador.

But the school for young men at Philippopolis, and that for girls at Eski Zagra, conciliated favor. The former had fourteen pupils, who made good improvement in mental and moral character, and manifested a good degree of religious feeling, a spirit of benevolence, and a readiness to labor for the good of others. During vacation, six of them were employed as colporters. Nearly all the older students seemed ready to take their stand on the Bible, and did not fear the name of Protestant. The girls' school numbered about thirty pupils, whose progress in study had been gratifying, and there had often been deep feeling under religious instruction. Members of the common council of the town, and others who witnessed an examination of the school, sent to Mr. Byington a letter of thanks, and assured him that the missionaries would yet be recognized by the Bulgarians as benefactors of their nation.

The people could not, as yet, be drawn, in any numbers, to attend the regular religious services of the missionaries. They were banded together against receiving spiritual truth. Still something could be done by personal conversations and the circulation of books and tracts. Touring in the villages was often attended with encouragement.

The year 1867 was one of peculiar promise. The moral stupor, which for so many years had taxed the faith of the mission, seemed to be yielding to the awakening power of the Word of God, and Gospel truth was not only better apprehended by the intellect, but also was impressing the heart and conscience. Though the awakening was neither as extensive, or thorough, or spiritual as was desired, it was real, and indicated the entering upon a new stage of the work.

Miss Roseltha A. Norcross became the associate of Miss Reynolds in the school at Eski Zagra. The arrival of a new teacher and many applications for admission, led to an enlargement of the school. Two sisters, however, who were among the most interesting pupils, were called to severe trials. One of them left in 1866, but the other remained, and was the best scholar in the school. Both possessed more than ordinary intelligence and amiability, and for more than two years had been heartily devoted to Christ. "The younger who had left the school," says the report of the mission, "was taken, a few days since, into a room where many of her relatives and a priest had assembled, to extort from her a renunciation of her faith, and was told that she would either have to give up, or die; that they would give her no peace so long as she persisted in her present course. But the Lord sustained her. They resorted to entreaty, and besought her merely to make the sign of submission, telling her that she need not in her heart change her belief. But their seductions were as unavailing as their threats. It is more than a year since she left the school, and though, during this time, her closet, her Bible, and the conversation of her sister have been her only means of grace, it is evident that, in the midst of this wearing domestic persecution, a Christian character of unusual loveliness is being developed. She is as frail as a lily, but the strength of the Lord rests upon her."

Another case was that of a pupil who had left a year and a half before, to teach a Bulgarian school. "Unaided," says the mission, "except from on high, she has fought a good fight during the past year. The parents of her pupils complain because she will not conform to the rites of their Church, but the trustees of the school, not wishing to lose her services, have been wise enough not to make conformity a condition of remaining in their service. Her parents have forbidden her visiting the missionary premises, but they have not been able to separate her from her Lord, nor to prevent her laboring for the spiritual good of her pupils. Although she has been occupying, for more than a year, a position beset with temptations, and has been in a great degree deprived of the sympathy and advice of Christian friends, we still hear from her that she is kept by the power of God."

The mission suffered a most serious loss in the return of Mr. and Mrs. Byington to their native land, in consequence of the failing health of the latter.

The great complaint of the missionaries had been of the indifference of the people. But after the departure of Mr. Byington, there was no ground for this at Eski Zagra. False reports were circulated with such effect, that the day-scholars were taken from the school, and the boarding-school was reassembled with difficulty. The oldest assistant teacher was forcibly abducted, but escaped and returned. A mob soon gathered, broke open an outer door, cut away some of the bars to the windows, and broke sixty panes of glass with stones. The proprietor of the house now sent for the police, which dispersed the rioters. Such outrages could not be allowed, and representations were made to Mr. Morris, the American Minister at Constantinople, and to Mr. Blunt, the friendly English Consul at Adrianople. Their prompt efforts were effectual. More than a score of the offenders were sentenced to imprisonment of different lengths, but were pardoned at the request of the missionaries. This act of clemency had a happy influence on the people, and the persecution had a good effect on the school.

A young man who had been for five years a student at Philippopolis, was licensed to preach the gospel on the 24th of July; and on the following Sabbath, ten Bulgarians, six of whom were girls in the school, sat down at the Lord's table, in the presence of forty spectators. This was the more significant, as the Bulgarian council, a month before, had enjoined upon the different "trades" of the city and neighboring villages, to have no dealings with two individuals whose names and places of business were specified, nor with any others who were known as inclined to Protestantism. Such persons were therefore refused bread, or the right of baking at the public ovens, and some were reduced to great distress. The missionaries talked seriously with the leading men of the city in favor of religious freedom, but only a few of them conversed reasonably on the subject, and the masses were wholly opposed to it. Three men, as a means of asserting their religious liberty, went before the Turkish authorities and declared themselves Protestants, which seemed to be the beginning of a Protestant Bulgarian community. The missionaries were sometimes threatened with personal violence, but the Turkish government was ready to defend them.

In January, 1869, four Bulgarians were admitted to the communion at
Eski Zagra, two of them pupils in the school, and two married men.
The number of Bulgarian communicants in that place was now eleven.

The mission was strengthened, in 1868, by the arrival of Messrs. Lewis Bond, William Edwin Locke, and Henry Pitt Page, all ordained missionaries, and their wives. Mr. Bond was stationed at Eski Zagra, and Miss Esther P. Maltbie came thither as a teacher in 1870. Mr. Haskell welcomed the arrival, at Philippopolis, of Miss Minnie C. Beach, in 1869, and Messrs. Locke and Page commenced a new station, before noticed, at Samokov, in ancient Macedonia. Mr. and Mrs. Ball of Adrianople and Miss Reynolds of Eski Zagra found it necessary to return to the United States on account of their health; and it soon appeared that it was too late for them to recover. Mr. Ball died at Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, June 6, 1870, after a useful connection of seventeen years with the missionary work, and Miss Reynolds, at Springfield, Massachusetts, June 1, 1871, just eight years from the day of her sailing for Turkey, and after a life of singular devotedness and success.[1]

[1] See Missionary Herald, 1871, p. 247.

Previous to the year 1870, the missionaries to the Bulgarians had sustained a nominal relation to the Western Armenian Mission. This connection was now dissolved, and the associated brethren took the name of the EUROPEAN TURKEY MISSION. Its stations were Eski Zagra, Philippopolis, Samokov, and Adrianople; and Dr. Riggs was reckoned as a member of it, though he continued to reside in Constantinople, his labors being chiefly for the Bulgarians. The Rev. Henry A. Schauffler, then in the United States, was also transferred from the Western Turkey Mission, and was expected, on his return to the field, to go to Philippopolis, where he would use the Turkish and Greek for the benefit of those who spoke these languages; and with the expectation that the work among the Bulgarians would everywhere connect itself, as soon as possible, with that of the large Mohammedan and Greek population, with whom they were intermingled.

The Sultan, having confirmed the appointment of Bishop Anthimas, of Widdin, to be Exarch of Bulgaria, the Bulgarians thus virtually acquired their ecclesiastical independence, and so both their national spirit and their unwillingness to allow Protestantism to come in as an element of apprehended division, acquired strength. Few were yet able to see how one could be both a Bulgarian and a Protestant, and no general movement on the part of rulers and ecclesiastics towards Protestantism, was to be expected. But the Scriptures and evangelical publications were extensively circulated. Thoughtful minds were reached, and examples of what the Gospel could do to regenerate character and give peace to troubled spirits were beginning to attract attention. There was not such liberty to persecute as there had been in Asiatic Turkey. Truth was gaining a hold in cities and villages. The girls' school at Eski Zagra, under Miss Norcross, numbering twenty-six pupils, contained several who gave evidence of spiritual renewal, and applications for teachers had come from several towns and villages, accompanied by comparatively liberal subscriptions for their support. The hope, at Philippopolis, of getting helpers from the high school for young men, had been much disappointed, but some of its pupils were doing good. An influential merchant in Samokov was an active convert, and there was much to encourage in that region.

Early in the autumn of 1870, Miss Norcross sickened, and on the 4th of November died, greatly to the grief of her pupils and of the whole mission.[1] Miss Maltbie arrived in less than a month after she had passed away. It was soon resolved to remove the school to Samokov, as a more healthful place, and more eligible on other accounts. A regular Sabbath service was held at this station, and a weekly prayer-meeting. The audiences were very small, and but five persons were deemed worthy to be received to church fellowship. At the out-stations, though there had been no striking success, there were everywhere signs of an advance. The native helper in the beautiful town of Bansko had a school of twenty-two pupils, and a congregation of sixty-five, and the little company contributed to Christian objects, during the year, nearly two hundred dollars, including the purchase of a site for a house of worship. The cause was greatly advanced by the labors of an earnest and devoted Bible-woman, whom the women of Bansko helped to support.

[1] See Missionary Herald, 1871, p. 53.

Bansko will have the ecclesiastical distinction, hereafter, of being the place where the first evangelical Bulgarian church was formed, and fully organized. This was in August, 1871. The candidates were fifteen, nine men, and six women. In accordance with a written invitation from the people, Messrs. Locke, Bond, and Page started on Tuesday, August 22d, and went by a circuitous, though a pleasant, picturesque and easy route, passing through two cities, where they found several who were examining the truth, and reached their place of destination on the 24th. The brethren at Bansko had arranged liberally for the brethren and their horses, at their own houses, and gave them a hearty welcome. The candidates for church-membership were all examined, and answered the questions put to them more clearly than the missionaries had thought possible, considering the advantages they had enjoyed. The candidate for ordination as pastor, Mr. Evansko Touzorve, was examined on Saturday afternoon. He had been preaching there as a helper of the mission, and the examination was quite satisfactory, especially on the evidences of Christianity, just then a subject of special importance in that field, owing to the influx of German and French infidelity.

Sabbath, August 27th, was devoted to the organization of the church, and the ordination of the pastor. A deacon had been previously chosen. The service was concluded with the Lord's Supper. The people were to have the services of the pastor eight months in the year, and to pay half his salary for that time, and the mission was to employ him the other four months in another part of the field. The new church could not then pay more towards the salary, having bought a lot of land, on which to build a church. The little flock was jubilant and of good courage. "What a contrast," exclaims the missionary, "between this state of things, and that two years ago, when the people seized our horses, and drove us from the village!"

One of the most important results of the mission to the Bulgarians, has doubtless been the translation of the whole Bible into their present spoken language.[1] This was published for the first time, in the year 1871. "Methodius and Cyril, who first preached the gospel to the Bulgarians a thousand years ago, gave them the Scriptures in their then spoken language, the Slavic. But this ancient tongue, the mother of the modern Russian, Bulgarian, Servian, Polish, Illyrian, etc., has long since ceased to be the vernacular of any of the nations. Hence the necessity of new translations of the Word of God in all these dialects." One of the earliest results of the waking up of the Bulgarian people, was a translation of the four Gospels by Messrs. Seraphim of Eski Zagra, and Sapoonoff of Trevna, published at Bucharest in 1828. The first edition of the whole New Testament in Bulgarian was issued at Smyrna, in 1840, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society; but the literary labor was performed by a Bulgarian, the Rev. Neophytus P. Petroff, of Rila, with the aid of Hilarion, the Metropolitan Bishop of Ternovo. This edition was well received, and sold rapidly. It was faithfully, carefully, and ably prepared.

[1] See Dr. Riggs' statement in the Missionary Herald, for 1872, pp. 76-79.

The British and Foreign Bible Society published seven editions of this Testament, or about forty thousand copies, and authorized the preparation of a translation of the Old Testament. Mr. Constantine Photinoff, of Smyrna, to whom this work was committed, just lived to complete the first draft of a translation of the Old Testament, and died in 1858, only a few days after having removed from Smyrna to Constantinople, in order to revise it for publication, with Dr. Riggs.

Meanwhile a rapid change had been going on in the Bulgarian language, and it had become manifest that the work must have a thorough revision. The translations of both the Old and New Testaments had been made in the Western, or Macedonian dialect; but the Eastern, or Slavic, was now taking the lead, and the language was evidently to be mainly moulded after that model.

It is an interesting fact, stated by Dr. Riggs, that the government censor for Bulgarian publications called on him, the day after Mr. Photinoff's death, and expressed his hearty interest in the work of translating the Scriptures, and his hope that it would not be delayed.

In the preparation of this work, Dr. Riggs was aided by two of the best Bulgarian scholars, the one trained in the use of the Western, and the other of the Eastern dialect. In the revision of the New Testament, he was also aided by the Rev. A. L. Long, D. D., of the Methodist Bulgarian mission. With such assistance, it is believed that this translation of the Bible will become a standard work. The first edition was printed in an imperial octavo volume of one thousand and sixty pages, with the references of our English Bible, which will be of special value to a people having as yet no Concordances, Bible Dictionaries, or Commentaries. Dr. Riggs brought to the annual meeting of the newly organized mission, in 1871, the first copy received from the binders.

It should be borne in mind, that only preliminary work has been done as yet in this most inviting field. Scarcely fourteen years have elapsed since the field was first explored, and only twelve since stations began to be occupied. It is not time to expect any other results than first fruits. The missionaries have become thoroughly acquainted with the field, with its wants, and its strategetic points, and are ready to move forward as fast as they shall receive the needful aid.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE ARMENIANS.

1861-1863.

Dr. Dwight having completed his eastern tour, visited the United States, where he arrived in November, 1861. It was arranged, that he should prepare and publish the results of his extended missionary observations. But the Head of the Church had ordered otherwise. On Saturday, January 25, 1862, while passing in the cars through Shaftsbury, Vermont, on his way to spend a Sabbath at Middlebury College, "the stormy wind, fulfilling His word," lifted the car from off the rails, and tossed it down a steep embankment; and one of the heavy trucks, following and dashing through it, at once set free the sanctified spirit of our brother, and gave him a sort of translation to the regions of the blessed. It was a sudden and unexpected close of a most useful life.

Dr. Dwight was born at Conway, Massachusetts, on the 22d of November, 1803. His family removed to Utica, New York, and there, at the age of fifteen, he was hopefully converted during a revival of religion, and united with a Presbyterian church. He graduated at Hamilton College in 1825, and, while in the Theological Seminary at Andover, became deeply interested in the missionary work, and took great pains, along with some fellow-students, to illustrate the beginning of foreign missions from the United States. In his last year at the Seminary he offered himself to the American Board, and was appointed one of its missionaries. After completing his studies, he entered upon an agency for the Board, which continued until 1829. From this time, through more than thirty years, the events of his life form an important part of the history of the mission to the Armenians. That mission grew, in his time, from a single station at Constantinople to twenty-three stations, and eighty-one out-stations, extending over the greater part of Western Asia; and whereas, at the commencement of his labors, he did not know of a single convert in the whole country, at their close, there were forty-two churches, with sixteen hundred members, twelve ordained native pastors, forty-three licensed native preachers, thirty-four catechists, fifty-five teachers, and thirty-nine other helpers.

He was made to be a leader in the Lord's host. There was in him a rare combination of sound common sense, piety, resolution, firmness, candor, and courtesy, and withal an honest simplicity, a godly sincerity, and a practical tact, that seldom failed to secure for him a commanding influence; and the mission, of which he was so long a member, was sufficiently eventful to give full exercise to all his powers.

It affords much pleasure to the writer, that he is unable to recall an instance, in all the thirty years, where Dr. Dwight's opinions were seriously at variance with those of the Committee and Secretaries of the Board. It may be that, under the influence of a more extended correspondence, there was sometimes greater progress in their opinions on questions of missionary experience, than in his; but there was never any collision of thought; and it was most gratifying, on his arrival in this country, after his instructive and interesting tour of observation among the missions and mission churches, to find this eminent servant of Christ in full accord with his Committee on all the great points of missionary practice. The prominent trait, however, in his character was spirituality. This was in him an ever-growing quality. From day to day, from month to month, from the commencement of his missionary life until his death, he was wholly devoted to the kingdom and glory of his Redeemer. He walked with God, and was not, for God took him.

It will be appropriate, at this stage of the history, to quote some of the views of Dr. Dwight on missionary policy in Turkey, as they were embodied in a circular letter to the brethren of his own mission, and substantially communicated to the Secretaries in their personal intercourse with him just before his lamented death. Coming from such a man, after so long and varied an experience, they deserve thoughtful attention. He speaks first of the education of a native ministry.

"I am inclined to think that we have made our education at the Bebek Seminary too comprehensive, considering the actual circumstances and wants of the people. True, our course of study is nothing compared with that of American colleges; but it is much, compared with the amount of education existing in this country; and it seems to me we are in danger from two sources; namely, first, that our native preachers will be educated too far above their people; and, secondly, that they will require much more for their support, in consequence of their education, than their people can give. The plan of removing the Bebek Seminary to the interior, strikes me very favorably."

Again, as to the support of the native ministry: "I think it very evident, that the past system is fraught with too many evils to be continued. I would not favor any sudden change, but it seems to me, that the experience we have gained, by the working of the past, would lead us to begin immediately on a new plan; and the providence of God, in restricting our means, is giving us an admirable opportunity for so doing. We may urge with great weight upon the churches the support of their own pastors, and leave the responsibility there, even when the treasury of the Board shall be relieved. I begin to question, whether we ought even to give regular aid from our funds, for the support of settled pastors, or even stated supplies of churches fully organized. Would it not simplify our relations to those churches, as well as call forth much more efficient effort from themselves, if we were to leave them, as the Apostles did their native churches, to take care of their own pastors, after such have been ordained? The native churches should be expected and encouraged to take, as fast as possible, the work of evangelizing surrounding districts upon themselves; and it will be better to leave them to choose and support wholly their own laborers. The plan of having such men supported partly by the mission and partly by the native churches, does not work well. If it is necessary for the mission to assist the churches in this work, I would do it irregularly, and without any pledges as to the amount or frequency of such aid."

These views had been already exemplified, substantially, in the Central mission; and they have since had a more full practical development in the Eastern mission; as will appear in the progress of the history.

It was not found easy to determine the number of stations or of missionaries desirable in Eastern or Western Turkey. The early theories in relation to this matter have been considerably modified by experience. It was natural to suppose, that many missionaries could labor among the million of people in Constantinople, without interfering with each other, or standing in the way of a native ministry. And so they might, could they at once have access to a considerable part of the population. But this was not true in fact, either as to missionaries, or the native ministry. It has been found, that it results in loss to place more preachers on the ground, than can find full scope for their ministry. Even should the overcrowded ministry be of the same denomination, it works badly, but far worse if made up of rival sects. For a time at least, all must operate upon nearly the same persons. In the rural districts, the missionaries reside in the centres of population, and generally where two families can dwell together, and where each missionary can have a distinct field of labor. But even there it is deemed expedient for the churches to have native pastors; nor there alone. The aim is to have constellations of churches with native office-bearers, around every missionary station. Not otherwise can the whole country be permeated by evangelical influences.

It is plain that in a work so unlike anything at home, missionaries ought to have large discretion as to the time and manner of organizing native churches. Nor, since these infant communities are only partially enlightened and sanctified, is there reason for discouragement should they sometimes be not perfectly harmonious with their missionary fathers. It was so for a time with one of the first churches formed at the metropolis. The missionaries had of course the sole responsibility of determining what use should be made of the funds remitted by the Board. But the pastor and a portion of the church thought they ought to have a voice in their disposal. As this could not be, dissatisfaction arose, and complaints were publicly made against their American brethren. But these misunderstandings have in good measure passed away.[1]

[1] See Missionary Herald, 1862, p. 300, 1863, p. 268; and Report of the Board for 1871, p. 23.

The Western Turkey Mission resolved, in 1862, to suspend the Bebek Seminary, with the expectation of reviving it at Marsovan. This institution was commenced by Dr. Hamlin, in November, 1840. It was a boarding-school, with a course of study believed to be adapted to the great ends of the mission, and soon became a very efficient means of gaining access to the people. Its third year, ending November, 1843, was called the "year of a thousand visits," because so many came desirous to learn the religious belief of the missionaries. The Principal was obliged to stop their coming, in order to save the school; but the work among the Armenians then received an impulse which it never lost. Dr. Hamlin continued in charge of the Seminary till the year 1857; aided, at different times, by most of his brethren. Messrs. Clark, Bliss, and Pettibone, had charge of it afterward. The building at Bebek, which had been some time occupied on a lease, became the property of the Board in 1849. In 1853, the number of students was fifty, of whom fifteen were Greeks, under the instruction mainly of Dr. Riggs; and there was then a theological class of eleven Armenians. The Greek department was suspended in 1855. The students were very useful as evangelical laborers within and around Constantinople; and not a few of the graduates occupy, and have occupied, important posts of usefulness in different parts of the empire. It is recorded that, in 1857, sixty applicants were rejected for want of means to support them; and it was believed that, with adequate pecuniary means, one hundred could have received instruction as easily as fifty.

The metropolis was not found the best place to train men for the seclusion and small salaries of interior pastorates; but the school was nevertheless a most important instrument for good, and quite essential in the early progress of the mission. Of the forty-five students in the five years from 1857 to 1861, for which the Seminary was fairly held responsible, seven were preachers at the opening of 1862, and thirteen were members of the theological class.

The expediency of continuing the Seminary at the metropolis, had been discussed in the mission for several years. The other missions preferred training their native ministry within their own bounds; and the interior stations of the Western mission had strong objections to sending their pupils to be educated where expensive habits were almost necessarily acquired.

It was resolved, in the same year, to discontinue the boarding-school for girls at Constantinople, with the expectation of reviving it, also, at Marsovan. It was commenced in 1845. The whole number of pupils had been one hundred and twenty-eight, of whom one half became members of the church. Eighty-three were from Constantinople and vicinity, and forty-five from the interior. Thirty-seven completed the course of four years. Two of the older graduates were teachers of self-supporting schools at Nicomedia; another, whose parents lived at Trebizond, taught at Marsovan; a fourth, since married to a graduate of the Bebek seminary, devoted herself to teaching the girls in a day-school at Adabazar, in charge of the native pastor; another was mistress of a school of forty pupils at Baghchejuk; and still another had a school of forty-five girls at Diarbekir, and was otherwise a shining light. Five were wives of pastors,—at Constantinople, Broosa, Bilijik, Harpoot, and Diarbekir; three of preachers,—at Nicomedia, Bandurma, and Aidin; and several of helpers in different places. The school was located successively at Pera, Bebek, and Hass-Keuy; and its teachers were Miss Lovell, Mrs. Everett, and the two Misses West.

The summer heat at Adana was supposed to be too intense for the health of a missionary family. Mr. Coffing was therefore commissioned, by his brethren, to explore the Taurus Mountains, west and north of Marash, for a suitable summer residence. He performed this service in the autumn of 1860, accompanied by Mrs. Coffing and Deacon Sarkis. An interesting account of the tour may be found in the "Missionary Herald," for 1861.[1] Mr. Coffing requested permission, on his return, to occupy the new field, and left Aintab, with his family, for this purpose, in July, 1861; intending to reside at Hadjin, or Nigdeh in the mountains during the summer heat, and in the winter at Adana. As they went forth from Aintab, nearly the whole Protestant population, about fifteen hundred, stood on both sides of the road to bid them farewell, and as they passed, sang,—

   "How sweet the tie that binds
    Our hearts in Christian love;"

and also an original hymn, expressive of their feelings on parting with this mission family. More than a hundred persons accompanied them during that afternoon, returning the next day; and many were the prayers offered for them, and for the dark town in the mountains whither they went. Their road through or rather upon the Taurus Mountains, was difficult, and in some places dangerous; but without serious accident they reached Hadjin on Saturday, July 14th. There they were kindly welcomed by the people, and commenced their labors with pleasant prospects of success. But, after a few weeks, the Moslem governor and the Armenian priests commenced a cruel opposition, scarcely paralleled in the missionary experiences of Turkey, and drove them from the place, with much loss and suffering. Arriving at Adana, where the native brethren gave them a kind reception, Mr. Coffing sought redress from the government, but in vain, as the Pasha was unfriendly; and the native Protestants of that city were subjected to many outrages during the winter.

[1] Missionary Herald, 1861, pp. 169, 170.

After six months, Mr. Coffing left Adana to attend the annual meeting of his mission at Aleppo, going by way of Alexandretta. The road being dangerous around the head of the gulf, he took a guard of three soldiers; but in the latter part of the route, he dismissed two of them, going on with the other, two muleteers, and a pious Armenian servant. When three miles from Alexandretta, he was fired upon by two men concealed in a thicket near the road. Two balls struck his left arm above the elbow, shattering the bone and severing an artery, and one entered the body. Though severely wounded, he rode on two miles further; and then, from loss of blood, sunk down upon the beach, not far from Alexandretta, and sent to that place for help. It was promptly rendered by Mr. Levi, the American Vice Consul, Arthur Roby, Esq., the English Vice Consul, and other gentlemen, and the fainting missionary was taken to the house of Mr. Levi, where he died the next morning, March 26th, 1862. The Armenian servant died four days later from his wounds, and another, who was wounded, recovered.

Mr. Johnson, United States Consul at Beirût, took energetic measures, in connection with Mr. Morgan at Antioch, for apprehending the murderers. They had the coöperation not only of the gentlemen above mentioned, but also of Capt. Hobart of H. B. Majesty's Ship Foxhound, Capt. Simon, of the French Frigate Mogador, and Col. A. S. Frazer, H. B. M. Commissioner to Syria. The Turkish authorities acted with commendable decision, and two young Moslem robbers of the mountains, to whom the crime was traced, were finally captured; though one of them afterwards escaped, and was protected by the Pasha of the district. The other was executed in September, 1862, and the offending Pasha was removed from office. Robbery was evidently no object with the assassins, and it was believed, that they were instigated by others. The hostile Armenians of Hadjin and Adana were, for a time, under great apprehension, and were so much impressed by the forbearance of Mr. Johnson and Mr. Morgan, that they assured the latter of their readiness to receive any preacher he might choose to send among them. The sorely afflicted widow resolved to remain in the mission, where she is still very usefully employed among her own sex. It should be added, that this is the only instance in the history of the Board, in which a missionary has suffered a violent death, inflicted because he was a missionary, from the hands of the people among whom he labored.

Dr. Goodell attended the annual meeting of the Central mission in 1862; and so strong were his impressions that the appropriate work of the missionary was nearly accomplished at some of the stations, that he apprehended there might be more danger of the missionary's staying too long, than that he would go too soon.

At Aintab, for example, he found the church supporting its own pastors and common schools, and taking upon itself the supply of nearly all its out-stations. No appropriations were asked of the Board, except for the theological class, the female boarding-school, and one out-station; for all the rest the church provided. For these objects, for their own poor, and for their taxes to government, the sum total raised by the Protestants, in the then closing year, had been two thousand five hundred and fifty-six dollars, averaging one dollar and a quarter for every man, woman, and child in the community. The congregation being too large for one pastor, arrangements had been made to form a second church, and thus to have two churches instead of one. The theological school was on the point of being removed to Marash, and it was his opinion that, were it not for the female boarding-school, which would probably remain, the missionaries at Aintab should be preparing to withdraw from that place, and go to "regions beyond." While he deprecated too sudden changes, he thought the great question for the brethren at that station was: "How can we, in the most graceful manner, set up in life this first born child of ours, now come of age, and ready to act for itself?"

Dr. Goodell speaks of Oorfu, along with Aintab and Marash, as advanced in Christian knowledge. About the year 1851, a native helper from Aintab spent three years in Oorfa, working at his trade as a weaver, but receiving a partial support from the mission, and reading and explaining the Scriptures to all that came. Mr. Schneider visited this place in 1854; a church was organized by Dr. Pratt in December, 1855, and Mr. Nutting commenced his residence there in 1857. Mr. White was also there a year or more, till 1859. The church was then small, and very partially sanctified. The number of church-members, in 1861, was fifteen, and nearly all the members were active, working Christians; and the real progress had been greater than the statistics indicated. Protestantism had become known, and was exerting a good influence. The congregation supported three schools, containing ninety-four pupils, of whom thirty-one were from non-protestant and non-paying parents, and thirty were girls. The Oorfa church regarded the evangelization of Germish, a neighboring Armenian village of a thousand souls, as their appropriate work.

The report of the Harpoot station for 1862 states, that there was an increasing number in the city, and at nearly all the fifteen out-stations, who gave serious attention to the truth; and that there was a growing agitation among those who kept aloof from the preaching. A reform party among the old Armenians was rapidly acquiring influence; and to satisfy their demands, mid-day Sabbath services, for expounding the Scriptures in the modern tongue, were held in the churches of several villages. In the city, the party had formed a society for mutual improvement, and one of its rules was, that the Bible should be read in all their meetings. The sale of Bibles, or portions of it, in two years, exceeded two thousand, and the same was true of other volumes. The Theological school contained thirty-nine pupils,—twenty-one in the first class, and eighteen in the second. It occupied the upper story of a substantial building, erected chiefly by the aid of friends in America; while the lower story furnished a neat and well lighted place of worship. Mr. Wheeler writes: "Supplied as it is, without expense to the Board, with solar reflectors and two neat pulpit lamps, it is exerting an influence for good in the villages. Already the people of three villages have covered the black mud walls of their chapels with a neat white plaster, and four villages have each purchased one of the 'wonderful lamps, by the light of which a man can read on the opposite side of the room.' At their own expense they are also furnishing their places of worship with clocks, and are beginning to learn that (to an oriental) very difficult lesson, to be prompt, and to value time." A girls' boarding-school was opened in 1862.

Hadji Hagop, an old and valued helper at this station, went one Sabbath to Hulakegh, an out-station, to preach. On leaving the Protestant chapel, he met the teacher of the Armenian school with a Bible under his arm, going to the church, where they were to have a "preaching meeting,"—as was the case in several villages where the mission had congregations, partly in imitation of the mission, and partly to counteract its influence,—and he asked Hagop to go with him. He went, and the leading men urged him to preach, which he consented to do. The news spread through the village, and the congregation almost immediately swelled to two hundred and fifty. He preached Christ and Him crucified for about an hour, securing most fixed attention, and it is said the women were nearly all moved to tears.

Mr. Walker, the resident missionary at Diarbekir, visited Mosul in 1861, and found the congregation in that city about as it was when the missionaries left. Subsequently, when visited by Mr. Williams, the Mosul church sent an earnest plea for a missionary to the Prudential Committee. Mr. Williams was with them three months, married three couples, baptized several children, and admitted one to the church.

Mr. Walker's tour was extended more than a thousand miles, and he found much that was very painful, and yet much that was encouraging, among the Arabic-speaking people in Eastern Turkey.

The church in Diarbekir numbered eighty-four members in 1862, and the pupils in the Sabbath-school were two hundred and eighty-four. At Cutterbul a house had been built, to be occupied as a place of worship on the Sabbath, and for a school-house during the week, and there were hopeful indications in places near. At the annual meeting of the mission, in the following year, Baron Tomas Boyajian[1] was ordained as pastor of the first evangelical church in Diarbekir. His examination was well sustained. The ordaining services were necessarily in the open air, and were conducted in Armenian, Turkish, and Arabic. More than a thousand, adults were present, besides hundreds of children, and the interest was sustained to the end. The members of the church pledged themselves to furnish nearly half the salary. Thirteen members, heretofore connected with that church, were formed into a separate organization at Cutterbul.

[1] Known to the reader as Tomas. Baron is equivalent to Mr.

These services were like our own; and how much more rational and appropriate must they have appeared to the people, than the ordination services prescribed in the Liturgy of the Armenian Church, as described by Mr. Goss. "In the first place, the exercises are all performed in an unknown tongue, the old Armenian. The bishop sits at one end of the church, the candidate enters at the other, walking on his knees, and thus proceeds to the altar. The skirt of the bishop is thrown over his head, and the bishop asks a few general questions, which are answered by a third person, either priest or deacon. They are such as these: 'Does this man understand the Scriptures'? 'Is he the child of a lawful marriage'? etc. An affirmative reply is given, when perhaps the man cannot read. He is then asked, if he is a disciple, not of Christ, but of certain church fathers. Also, if he will pronounce 'Anathema maranatha' upon all heretics. Then Arians, Nestorians, and other heretical sects are mentioned, and the sweeping question is put,—'Will you pronounce all accursed who do not acknowledge Mary to be the mother of God?' The candidate repeats the names of these sects, and curses them all. Then follows the re-baptism, with the sacred oil, according to the Armenian custom with infants. The hands of the new priest are then bound together and oiled, and he is made to stand outside of the church, when the congregation come, and, kissing his hands, put their paras[1] on a plate, which is near by to receive them. The priest is then imprisoned forty days in the church, with the cuffs of his sleeves and his trousers sewed close to his limbs. In this condition, he is not allowed to brush off an insect, or to relieve his body from any unpleasant sensation whatever. He cannot change his clothes during the whole time, and his food is of the coarsest quality. His wife passes through a similar ordeal at home."

[1] About a mill of our money.

Considerable annoyance was felt, about this time, growing out of the efforts of an Armenian, named Garabed, to form a church at Diarbekir, which should admit persons to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper without requiring evidence of piety, and baptize the children of any who might desire it. He made similar efforts at Aleppo, Aintab, and Marash. He visited Jerusalem, and so far gained the confidence of English missionaries residing there, that the excellent Bishop Gobat was induced to give him ordination. But he failed to secure the confidence of the missionaries and native pastors in Central and Eastern Turkey, where he was better known; and the evidence at hand constrains me to add, that the missionaries at all the stations anticipated nothing but evil from such intrusions, at this stage of the missionary enterprise in Turkey.[1]

[1] "We desire to call your attention to the efforts of our English (Church) brethren to obtain a foothold in Aintab. It seems that large sums of money have been appropriated under the direction of Bishop Gobat, of Jerusalem, for this purpose; and a large and costly church building is being begun under the superintendence of the English Consul at Aleppo. We are surprised and grieved at this breach of courtesy on the part of these English friends, especially so soon after the earnest protests of the officers of our Board against such interference by other missionary societies."—Letter written in 1872.

The congregations at Bitlis were composed mostly of young men, apparently drawn together by love for the truth. About twenty were known as Protestants, and five of them had gone through a fiery trial of persecution. The Bible class, which had been broken up by that means, was now regularly attended by about thirty young men, some of whom developed rich natural endowments, and gave promise of future usefulness. Sabbath-school instruction was found a valuable auxiliary to the preaching of the missionaries, on account of the opportunity it afforded for free and familiar illustration and personal application of the truth. It also made the missionary acquainted with the superstitions and errors of the Armenian religion. The women's meeting, conducted by Mrs. Knapp and Mrs. Burbank, was well attended and influential. A school for girls, taught by the wife of the helper, was broken up by the violence of Armenian ecclesiastics. The missionaries appealed to the Pasha, and to Mr. Dalzell, the friendly British Consul at Erzroom. The result was that the priests commenced a free school for boys and girls, and also a preaching service, hoping thus to deter the people from becoming Protestants. The Porte had given orders that the Protestants in every city should have a suitable cemetery, but every effort to secure one at Bitlis had been without success.

Dr. Dwight was much interested in this city. Its population was thirty thousand, and one third were Armenians; the rest were Koords and Turks, and there were hundreds of villages within the district. The place was proverbial for salubrity, and he saw enough to convince him that the leaven of the Gospel was working powerfully among the people. Moosh, an out-station of Bitlis, was occupied by the native pastor Simon. The truth had taken some hold there, but the people were more degraded than at Bitlis.

Erzroom had several changes of missionaries in the six years previous to 1862. Being near to Russia, it suffered greatly during the Crimean war. The church was disbanded, but was reorganized by Mr. Trowbridge. Mr. Pollard removed thither from Arabkir, and was received with unexpected favor. The government now granted an eligible cemetery; and the Armenian Bishop, having had the benefit of a two years' residence in the United States, was friendly towards the American missionary.

The removal of Mr. Pollard left Mr. Richardson alone at Arabkir. His report for 1862, shows that there was much to encourage him. Turkish women came to the female prayer-meetings; and the opening of Protestant schools had led the Armenians to establish schools for their own children, in some of which a large proportion of the pupils were girls, though but a few years had passed since it was considered a shame for females to learn to read. Eleven young men from seven different cities and villages in this district, were connected with the Harpoot Seminary, giving the prospect of an improved class of helpers. Yet most of the former helpers had proved themselves sincere and pious; and after having done what they could to bring forward younger men of higher attainments, they were themselves humbly and gracefully returning to their former trades and callings, and laboring for the advancement of the good cause as Sabbath-school teachers and private Christians.

At the close of 1862, Dr. Wood, the Corresponding Secretary of the Board at New York, in consideration of his former experience and his familiarity with the Armenian language, was requested by the Prudential Committee to reside at Constantinople for a year or more, laboring in connection with the mission to Western Turkey. This was necessary in consequence of the sickness of several missionaries, and the special demand, at that time, for labor at that important post. He returned in the summer of 1864, after having rendered important service to the mission.

The clerical accessions to the mission, in 1862 and 1863, were
Messrs. John Francis Smith, Moses P. Parmelee, and Giles F.
Montgomery, with their wives; and their respective assignments were
to the Western, Central, and Eastern missions. In addition to these,
Miss Arabella L. Babcock went to Harpoot, Miss Ann Eliza Fritcher to
Marsovan, and Miss Mary E. Reynolds to the Bulgarian Mission.

In May, 1863, native pastors were ordained at Antioch, Bitlis, Adana, and Tarsus. In June, a fifth was ordained at Killis, the officiating clergy in this last case, with a single exception, being natives.