CHAPTER XL.

SYRIA.

1863-1869.

Mrs. Henry H. Jessup died at Alexandria, after a prolonged sickness, on the 2d of July, 1864, whither her husband had taken her on his way to the United States. Mr. George C. Hurter, after laboring twenty-three years as printer and secular agent with great usefulness, found himself constrained by domestic circumstances to withdraw from the mission. Mr. Bird was prostrated with a dangerous sickness for several months at Abeih, but a merciful Providence spared his valuable life.

A boarding high-school was established at Beirût by Mr. Butrus Bistany, with nearly a hundred and fifty pupils. The charge for tuition and board was large for that country, yet the school was self-supporting. The pupils were made up of Greeks, Maronites, Greek-Catholics, Druzes, Moslems, and Protestants. A girls' boarding-school in the same city, under native instruction and government, promised also to be soon self-sustaining. The common schools of the mission were twenty-five, with five hundred and forty-eight pupils. The Seminary at Abeih had thirty-three pupils, a larger number than ever before. Five were in the theological department, and several others gave good evidence of piety. The graduates of this institution were now scattered over a wide region. The boarding-school for girls at Sidon, under Miss Mason, had ten pupils, and was making a favorable impression. It became evident, however, that pupils could not be obtained there sufficient to warrant so large an outlay, taking also into view the unhealthiness of that climate, and Miss Mason returned home, though with great reluctance. The girls' boarding-school at Beirût, under the care of Mr. Aramon and Miss Rufka Gregory, was prosperous.

The printing, in 1862, amounted to eight thousand volumes and nine thousand tracts, making an aggregate of 6,869,000 pages, more than two thirds of which were Scripture. The number of pages from the beginning, was about 50,000,000. Somewhat more than six thousand volumes of Scripture were distributed during the year.

The translation of the Scriptures into Arabic was completed on the 22d of August, 1864, and the printing of the whole Arabic Bible in March of the next year. This event, of the highest importance to a large portion of the human race, was appropriately celebrated by the missionaries and their native brethren. In the upper room where Dr. Smith had labored on the translation eight years, and Dr. Van Dyck eight years more, the assembled missionaries gave thanks to God for the completion of this arduous work. "Just then," writes one of them, "the sound of many voices arose from below, and on throwing open the door, we heard a large company of native young men, laborers at the press and members of the Protestant community, singing to the tune of 'Hebron' a new song, 'even praise to our God,' composed for the occasion by one of their number in the Arabic language. Surely not for many centuries have the angels in heaven heard a sweeter sound arising from Syria, than the voices of this band of pious young men, singing a hymn composed by one of themselves, ascribing glory and praise to God, that now, for the first time, the Word of God is given to their nation and tongue in its purity." The hymn was composed by Mr. Ibrahim Sarkis and translated by Dr. H. H. Jessup, as follows:—

  "Hail day, thrice blessed of our God!
    Rejoice, let all men bear a part,
   Complete at length thy printed word,
    Lord, print its truth on every heart.

  "To Him who gave his precious word,
    Arise and with glad praises sing;
   Exalt and magnify our Lord,
    Our Maker and our Glorious King.

  "Doubting and darkness flee away
    Before thy truth's light-giving sun,
   Thy powerful word, if heeded, may
    Give guidance to each erring one.

  "Lord, spare thy servant, through whose toil
    Thou giv'st us this, of books the best;
   Bless all who shared the arduous task,
    From Eastern land, or distant West.

  "Amen! Amen! lift up the voice;
    Praise God whose mercy 's e'er the same;
   His goodness all our song employs,
    Thanksgivings then to His Great Name."

Ten different editions of parts of the Scriptures were printed as the version was gradually prepared for publication, and over thirty thousand copies had been put into circulation, nearly all by sale. The demand for the volume, in one form or another, after the version was completed, was greater than the mission presses could meet, though worked by steam. The American Bible Society wisely undertook to electrotype several editions of different sizes, and Dr. Van Dyck came to New York to superintend the work. But after the royal octavo edition had been stereotyped, it was thought best for him to return to Syria, with the understanding that the Bible Society would enable him to electrotype the version in other forms, at Beirût.

The press was now unable to meet the demand which had arisen for the books, as well as for the Bible. The issues were called for on the southern and eastern coasts of Arabia, and in India, and a box of them was sent to the interior of Africa.

The administration of Daoud Pasha, the Christian Governor of Mount Lebanon, continued to be marked by commendable justice, vigor, and liberality, and there was a sense of security to which the land had long been a stranger. Industry and thrift began to appear, and all the interests of society received an impulse. Much, however, depended on the foreign Protestant Powers exerting a proper influence on the councils of the Turkish government in favor of religious liberty.

The only ordination of a native preacher by the mission, up to this time, was that of the Rev. John Wortabet, in 1853, afterwards pastor of the Hasbeiya church. On the 10th of May, 1864, Mr. Suleeba Jerwan received ordination at Abeih. He had gone successfully through a four years' course of study in the Seminary, and had for some time proved himself faithful and efficient as a teacher and preacher.

The Druzes had a prosperous high school at Abeih, under the special patronage of His Excellency Daoud Pasha, supported by the income from their religious establishments. Both of the instructors were Protestants and graduates of the Abeih Seminary. Though not a religious institution, such a school must have had an important bearing on the future of that singular people. In 1866, the Principal left, and was succeeded by another Protestant, also a graduate of the mission Seminary. Referring to the Druzes, the brethren of the Abeih station close their report for the year 1864 with the following remarkable declaration:—

"While it is true that the government of the mountain was never better, and we are free to open schools wherever parents dare send their children, it is no less true that the Protestants are a small and hated minority. Providence has made the Druzes a wall of defense, for the present. To them, under God, it is due that we pursue our labors on this mountain."

Tannûs El Haddad, the oldest and most esteemed native helper in the mission, died in 1864, after more than thirty years of efficient labor. "A guileless, spiritual man, whose lovely spirit disarmed the enmity even of those who hated his religion. The church of Christ in Syria owes much to the holy life and faithful teaching of this man of God. The missionaries owe much. He long upheld their hands by the strength of his affection and sympathy."

The installation of Suleeba Jerwan as pastor of the church in Hums, occurred in 1865. The Protestants there had long resisted the settlement of a native pastor, hoping to obtain the residence of an American missionary, but their welcome to the native pastor was now cordial. His wife was an excellent young woman, formerly a pupil in Mr. Bird's family, and his assistant in the instruction of her sex. Both pastor and people had a varied experience in after years, not unlike what is often seen in Christian lands.

In the spring of 1865, the oppression of the Turkish government became so unbearable at Safeeta, in the district of Tripoli, that a large number of the people resolved to seek relief in Protestantism. A deputation of sixty heads of families, representing nearly five hundred souls, was accordingly sent to the missionaries at Tripoli. Their motives were wholly secular, and they were not at all aware of the spiritual object of the missionaries. This had to be explained, and they were told, that it was beyond the power of the mission to afford civil protection. The government allowed them to register their names as Protestants, and they listened with marked attention to the spiritual instructions of Dr. Post; Mr. Samuel Jessup, the other missionary, being then at Hums. On leaving, they asked for books, and to be more thoroughly inducted into the new way.

The region of Safeeta was new to Protestant missions, but was populous and fertile, and bordering on the Nusaireyeh. Among the names handed to Dr. Post, as interested in this movement, were one hundred and fifty of this strange people, and there were a number of them in the deputation; but all of this class soon fell away. Dr. Post visited Safeeta in May, and arrangements were effected with the government, which opened the door for Christian teaching. He had audiences of one hundred and fifty every night, listening with reverent attention to words they had never heard before. "I taught them hymns," he writes, "and heard them repeat passages of Scripture and answer religious questions. On Sunday they commenced coming at five, A. M., and kept pouring in upon me all day long, till ten P. M.,—just allowing me time to eat, and not even leaving the room while I did that. Our large meetings in the evenings were by the light of the moon, as an open light would have been extinguished, and we had no lantern. A most interesting feature was the number of women in the audiences, an exceptional thing in all new religious movements in Syria." Two horsemen came from distant villages, to inquire about the new faith and sect. The motive was doubtless secular, but there is always hope where the Gospel gains a hearing.

The fires of persecution soon began to burn with fury. The Greek bishop bribed the Turkish government, and the people were driven from their homes; everything was broken that could be broken, everything eaten that could be eaten, and women were left to the brutal lusts of the Turkish soldiers. It was surprising with what tenacity the people held out against all this. A few had become earnest inquirers; but without a more general acquaintance with the truth they could not be expected long to stand such an onset. Some relief came after a few weeks, through the death by cholera of the Greek bishop.

Failing to find relief from English intervention, the newly made Protestants went en masse to the governor of Tripoli; and failing to meet him, they then crossed the mountains to the Governor-general at Damascus, taking with them their wives, that the sight of their distress might move the heart of the Moslem ruler. At last they secured a hearing from him, and he promptly removed the oppressive tax-gatherer at Safeeta, and gave the poor people some money in token of his sympathy. But returning to their homes, they were still oppressed by their local governor. Mr. Samuel Jessup writes in October, that poverty and want had come upon them beyond anything seen elsewhere in Syria, excepting at Hasbeiya. Some had no means of buying their daily bread. They were promised a restoration of all that had been taken from them, if they would return to their old faith, but they stood firm. They desired a school for their girls, and a married teacher was sent them for a boys' school, so as to accommodate a female teacher in his family.

Some months later, the cattle of a Protestant strayed, and while driving them home he was met by one of their persecutors, of the house of Beshoor, who, with some savage Nusairiyeh, threw him on the ground, stamped upon him, and drew a sword, threatening to kill him if he did not desist from his unclean religion. They dared not do more through fear of witnesses. Again, the plowmen of this same house plowed up the wheat belonging to the Protestants, ruining their hopes of a coming harvest, and leaving them without means to pay their taxes; which they must pay or go to prison. They also gathered all the olives of the Protestants, reducing them to the greatest straits for the means of living. The Moslem governor received large bribes to exterminate the sect, and would give them no hearing, but quartered his soldiers on them, who ate up all their scanty food, and distrained even their miserable cooking utensils, that they might sell them for barley for their horses. Many lived from day to day on what they could beg, or borrow. Still, after a year of such trials, they remained firm; which is the more wonderful, as only a few of them gave evidence of piety, and the time had not come for organizing them into a church. The school was doubtless helpful, being a decided success. Even the shepherds took tracts and primers, and studied them while tending their flocks.

In January, 1867, the whole Protestant community of Safeeta were arrested, men, women, and children, and imprisoned in a small room, and a fire of cut straw was made on the floor to torture them with smoke. This wanton cruelty was based on a false demand made on them for money. Their sufferings were so great that they were finally released. In the evening, while assembled for worship, with their native preacher, government horsemen broke open and plundered their houses, and in the night drove them all, old and young, mothers and children, boys and girls, into the wilderness.

The terrible experience of this people in the summer of 1869, somewhat more than two years later, is too suggestive and interesting to be passed in silence. I give the facts as related by Mr. Samuel Jessup.

"For four years, a large number have been Protestants, and the oppressors have added persecution to oppression. Many fell away at first, but since then we have seen no special signs of apostasy until lately. Their enemies recently made a desperate effort to crush out Protestantism from that region. They took the leading men, one by one, and led them through fire and perils of all kinds; promising, at every step, to give immediate relief, if they would only return to the Greek Church. They fulfilled their promises to some who yielded, and then increased the pressure on the others. At length, seizing the opportunity when our teacher was absent, they made another grand onset. On Sunday morning, the Greek bishop and the abbots of the neighboring convents, with priests and people from all the region around, together with a great number of horsemen and footmen, made a grand parade, and came down like locusts upon the Protestants. Their former oppressor is dead, but his son, Tamir Beshoor, is making his little finger thicker than his father's loins. He headed a grand parade, and brought with him a supply of new garments, which he had purchased as bribes for the occasion. With the bishop and others, he entered the house of every Protestant, and by bribes and promises, followed by fiendish threats, carried off many captives. Some few had previously sold themselves, and agreed to take their stand on this occasion, and then they headed the crowd, and declared that every Protestant had decided to return, and that Protestantism was dead. Where they found a house locked, they forced it open, and sprinkled holy water in it.

"But though their success was far too great, it was not complete. They succeeded in taking with them, that morning, twenty-one males. Eleven of them have not been to the Greek church since that time, but continue to meet with our brethren for prayer; and though it is now an important Greek fast, they do not observe it. The other ten either dare not or care not to come back to us, though all came to see me.

"Before finishing their work that Sunday morning, they sent men to our school-room, broke it open, sprinkled it with holy water, and stole our bell."

The firmness of some of the church-members is thus described: "After exhausting their catalogue of promises and threats on one, he said to them,—'Take my property, my house, my clothes, my family, even my body, and do with them what you will, but my soul you cannot have, and nothing will induce me to leave Christ.' Another said, when they came to his house,—'Come in, and let us read in the New Testament together, and perhaps you will see that we are right.' One girl, who had been two years in the Sidon school, saw her parents and relatives all fall into the procession; but when special effort was made to induce her to yield, she said,—'Though you should cut my body in pieces, I will never go with you.'

"I reached Safeeta a few days after, and found that those who had stood firm had been obliged to flee for safety, and did not dare return until I went there. The wrath of their persecutors seems to have reached its height, and the poor people know not what to do. Appeal to the government seems useless, for it is from the government that their chief oppressor gets his power to persecute. All who went back came to call on me, and most of them attended the services. They said, in palliation of their course, 'We are flesh and blood, and have families to support. We have waited for deliverance for years, and now Tamir (the chief oppressor) says, Come back and I will restore to you all; remain as you are, and I will strip you of the little you have left, and drive you out of the country. And so we went back, but our hearts are with you, and we will come here too, though they compelled our bodies to go with them.' One woman showed a striped gown, threw it on the ground, and trampling on it said, with tears in her eyes, 'With that they bought my husband.' Some of the women, with tears and entreaties, tried to keep their husbands and friends from going, telling them that death was better."[1]

[1] Missionary Herald, 1869, pp. 407-409.

Twenty men were standing firm at Safeeta in February of the following year, though there had been little abatement of persecution. In April Dr. Jessup wrote, that it had just terminated, and the brethren at the Tripoli station had good hopes that there would be peace in that long persecuted community. This was owing, in great measure, to the interference of the American and English Consuls-general, and their influence with the Governor-general of Syria.

The people of Hums becoming dissatisfied with their pastor, Suleeba, his connection was dissolved, three years after his settlement. The church remained in a divided condition for a year or more, without any celebration of the Lord's Supper. In the summer of 1869, Mr. Samuel Jessup visited the city, and finding the Protestants in a better state of feeling, invited the communicants to assemble at the Lord's table. All came and seemed to enjoy it as a season of rest and refreshment, after a long and weary wandering. They were ready to take a native pastor who suited them, and pay the larger part of his salary. They needed one well acquainted with the historical defenses of the Gospel, because of the inroads of European Jesuits and French infidel literature. Suleeba found demands for his faithful labors in other places. "The news," says Dr. Jessup, "from 'scattered and peeled' Safeeta and from distracted Hums, is alike cheering, and indicative of progress in the right direction."

The Tripoli station sent forth two of the Safeeta church-members as missionaries to visit the villages to the north and east, sending two together, as it would not be safe for one to go alone. The native missionary society at Beirût employed a zealous colporter, whose tours took a wide range, from Acre on the south to Hamath and even to Aleppo on the north, and his monthly reports showed that, throughout the country, there was not only urgent need of such labor, but also an increasing number prepared to profit by the visits of the gospel messenger. During the latter part of the year, another person was employed in similar work near Beirût. He also testified to a great increase of desire among the people for religious instruction.

Daoud Pasha, alter inaugurating important reforms and improvements on Lebanon, was promoted to a seat in the cabinet at Constantinople. He had started a newspaper, "The Lebanon," established telegraphic lines, commenced a carriage road, encouraged education, and made his pashalic the safest in the empire for travelling. His successor was Franco Pasha, a Latin Catholic. The Beirût Arabic official journal, in speaking of his arrival, says, that "although attached to his own religion, he is free from bigotry, and will guarantee liberty of conscience to all."

The mission was strengthened in 1867 by the arrival of Samuel S. Mitchell and Isaac N. Lowry, and their wives; and in 1869, of James S. Dennis, and Misses Eliza D. Everett, and Nellie A. Carruth. Messrs. Berry and Mitchell were constrained, by the failure of health after a short service, to leave the mission. Miss Carruth, also, though deeply interested in the work, and after valuable service in the girls' school, felt constrained soon to return to the United States.

Among the books printed in this time, were Edwards' "History of Redemption;" Bickersteth's "Scripture Hand-book," with additions by Mr. Calhoun; a large Psalm and Hymn Book; Curwen's "New System of Musical Notation;"[1] a Children's Hymn Book; Bistany's Arabic Dictionary, and his Elements of Grammar; and an Arabic Almanac, probably the first ever printed in Arabic, although "Al-Manakh" (the climate) is an Arabic word. The press was now under the direction of Mr. Henry Thomson, a son of Dr. Thomson, who relieved the Beirût station of a heavy burden of care. The necessary preparations were completed in 1868 for electrotyping the Arabic Scriptures in Beirût.

[1] By this, musical notes written in a syllabic form can be given, like the Arabic, from right to left. The staff, notes, and signatures are dispensed with, and single letters are arranged in succession, with separations by dots and marks. As a result, the ordinary Arabic types can be used to print the most intricate music.

CHAPTER XLI.

SYRIA.

1869-1870.

Though the Seminary at Abeih had a few students preparing for the ministry, under Mr. Calhoun, it could not properly be called a Theological Seminary. Only at Hasbeiya, Hums, and Ain Zehalty had native pastors been found for the churches. There were five churches without pastors. The eight churches had two hundred and forty-five members. The thirty-one common schools numbered a thousand male and one hundred and seventy female pupils. Eight of the teachers were church-members, and four of these were females. The demand for education was beyond the ability of the mission to supply.

At the recommendation of the Prudential Committee, a Theological Seminary was commenced at Abeih in May, 1869; and Dr. Jessup from Beirût, and Mr. Eddy from Sidon, were associated with Mr. Calhoun in its instruction. Seven students composed the first class, and, with but one exception, evinced a good Christian spirit, studied hard, and seemed anxious to live an active and useful Christian life. The five winter months of their vacation were spent in evangelical labors.

As far back as 1865, there was a prosperous female boarding-school at Beirût, under the care of Mr. Aramon and Miss Rufka Gregory, natives of Syria. In the following year, this school had thirty boarders and twenty day scholars. It was the first Protestant school in Syria that demanded pay for the education of girls, but its receipts for tuition and board equaled about half the expenses. "Among the causes," say the brethren of the Beirût station, "which operated to prevent the raising of the rates of board and tuition to a self-supporting basis, was the existence of competing schools furnished with European teachers, rendering it difficult for the seminary to induce parents to pay the full expense. This was a grave difficulty, and one which, in one form or another, has met every attempt to establish the principle of self-support in Syria, in all departments of our work; but it only makes it the more important that this native institute, with native teachers and adapted to native tastes and habits, should be steadily sustained, lest the impulse already given in the direction of self-support, be lost." A building was completed for the school in 1867, at the cost of about $9,000, chiefly the result of contributions in the United States, but without any organic connection with the mission. Of its seventy-six pupils fifty-seven were boarders, and the income was $3,220 in gold, which was $1,000 short of its expenses. There was still the impediment of unwise competition. The pupils were from Moslem, Greek, and Greek-Catholic, as well as Protestant families; though it was well known that the institution was an evangelizing agency, and that all were expected to attend Protestant worship on the Sabbath, and were daily taught in the Bible.

In the absence of Miss Gregory on account of failing health, Mr. and Mrs. Aramon carried on the school, with the assistance of ladies from the mission. The school increased in numbers and the examination in 1868 was attended by a great throng of the people, from all classes and all sects. It was a noticeable fact that Mohammedan parents in Beirût were beginning to insist earnestly upon the education of their girls. The Beirût Arabic official journal, the "Kadethat el-Akhbax," published a list of schools in the city,—possibly somewhat exaggerated,—in which it was said, that there were two thousand girls and three thousand boys and young men in the various Protestant, Greek, Maronite, Catholic, and Mohammedan schools.

The school passed under the care of Misses Everett and Carruth on their arrival in Syria, and substantial progress was made towards self-support, but less than would have been but for the French, English, and German schools, which tended to draw away the girls, and the families they represented, from the influence of the missionaries.

There was, also, a female boarding-school at Sidon, which had been growing in numbers and influence. The scholars were all Protestants, selected with care from the various schools of the country. "They have come," wrote Mr. Eddy, "from all parts of the land,—from Hums and Safeeta on the north, from Mount Lebanon on the east, and the district of Merj Aiyun on the south; and besides the good they gain for themselves while here, they will carry light and civilization, and we trust religious influence with them to their widely scattered homes." The school was in the immediate charge of Mrs. Watson and her daughter, English ladies, and more recently Miss Jacombs, for five years a teacher on Mount Lebanon, and supported by a society of ladies in England. It was fully in sympathy, however, with the mission, and had the sympathy, prayers, and aid of English Christians. The number of pupils was twenty.

THE SYRIAN PROTESTANT COLLEGE.

The desire for education had visibly increased, and was due, in part, to commercial intercourse with western nations, and the interference of foreign powers in the political affairs of the country; but far more to the schools, books, preaching, and personal influence of missionaries. Schools had been multiplying for elementary and high school instruction, but there was no provision for a liberal education. The Jesuits, indeed, had institutions, but their teaching was partial, fitted to repress inquiry, and exclusively to foster their own ecclesiastical and sectarian ends.

THE SYRIAN PROTESTANT COLLEGE. [image]

The demand for a Protestant college was discussed at a meeting of the mission, in the spring of 1861, and again in the following August, when an outline of the proposed scheme was presented.[1]

[1] In this statement concerning the College, I make such use as my limits will allow, of an able document, drawn up by Prof. D. Stuart Dodge, and kindly sent me, at my request, by the President, Dr. Daniel Bliss. It bears date May, 1872.

"The objects deemed essential, were to enable natives to obtain, in their own country, in their own language, and at a moderate cost, a thorough literary, scientific, and professional education; to found an institution, which should be conducted on principles strictly evangelical, but not sectarian; with doors open to youth of every Oriental sect and nationality, who would conform to its regulations, but so ordered that students, while elevated intellectually and spiritually, should not materially change their native customs. The hope was entertained, that much of the instruction might at once be intrusted to pious and competent natives, and that ultimately the teaching could be left in the hands of those, who had been raised up by the College itself."

The curriculum embraced a period of four years; and the studies were the Arabic Language and Literature, Mathematics, the Natural Sciences, the Modern Languages, Turkish Law and Jurisprudence, and Medicine,—the last to have special prominence, since the East was filled with ignorant native quacks and medical jugglers. A leading place would also be given to Moral Science, and Biblical Literature, with the Scriptures as a constant text-book. Theology, as a system, would be left to the care of the several missions.

It was thought that the American Board could not undertake so large a literary work in any one mission, and that the College should be separate from and independent of the Board and its missions, as such; but that, being on so broad a basis, other evangelical bodies among the Arabic-speaking race might be invited to share in its advantages and control. Denominational distinctions set aside, those engaged in similar missionary operations could unite in an enterprise designed to advance their common interests.

The College was to be at Beirût, the chief seaport of Syria, and a place of enterprise and growing importance, occupying a central position in respect to all the Arabic races. The local Board of Directors was to be composed of American and British missionaries and residents of Syria and Egypt, with several consular officials and leading merchants; of which a quorum should always reside in Beirût and its immediate vicinity.

The Rev. Daniel Bliss, six years a missionary of the American Board on Mount Lebanon, was cheerfully released by the Prudential Committee from his connection with the mission, that he might take the Presidency of the College, and visit the United States and England to obtain the needful endowment.

To secure public confidence, it was found indispensable to have the institution incorporated in America, with a responsible Board of Trustees. A charter was accordingly obtained, in April, 1863, in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, and in May, 1864, additional power to hold real and personal estate was granted by act of the Legislature. A constitution was framed, binding the institution to evangelical and unsectarian principles; formally constituting the body, appointed by the mission, a local Board of Managers, with large liberty in administration; and defining the relations between the Boards in America and Syria and those of the various officers to be connected with the College. It further provided, that the Board of Trustees should have the right to exercise final authority in all matters, and that funds for endowments should be retained in the United States, the income only to be transmitted to the East.

An endowment fund of $100,000 was secured from a small number of contributors, the Trustees and their immediate friends being the largest donors.[1] In addition to this, Dr. Bliss obtained £3,000 in England; Lords Shaftesbury, Stratford de Redcliffe, Dufferin, Strangford, and Calthorpe, among the nobility, indorsing the enterprise; and the Turkish Missions Aid Society rendered valuable assistance. The "Syrian Improvement Committee" gave £1,000, from funds remaining after the relief of sufferers from the Lebanon massacres.

[1] Among the more active and influential of these, as I learn from other sources, was the Rev. D. Stuart Dodge. In 1872, the endowment fund was reported to be $130,000.

Dr. Bliss returned to Syria early in 1866. The first college class consisted of fourteen members. A preparatory department was afterwards added, and eighty names have been enrolled in the two departments. The students have evinced, in most instances, an aptitude and zeal for study, that would be creditable in more favored lands. The charge for tuition is twenty-five dollars for the collegiate year of nine mouths; and fifty-five dollars additional for those who board in the institution. The sects represented are the Protestant, Orthodox-Greek, Papal-Greek, Latin, Maronite, Druze, Armenian, and Coptic.

All boarders are required to be present at morning and evening prayers, and to attend Protestant worship and Bible classes on the Sabbath; and Bible lectures or Scripture recitations are of daily occurrence. A voluntary prayer-meeting is maintained by the students.

Most of the thirteen who have graduated from the Academic Department, are acceptably employed as teachers of a higher grade in Syria and Egypt. Two have entered the Medical Department, and two are studying Law. The first Commencement was in July, 1870, and the addresses were in three languages. The College has a Medical Department, and the first medical class was graduated in July, 1871.

A building fund of about $70,000 having been contributed chiefly by the donors to the endowment fund, a plot of nearly twenty acres of ground was purchased at Râs-Beirût, in the immediate vicinity of the city; facing Lebanon, overlooking the Mediterranean, healthy, accessible, yet sufficiently retired; and the edifice is in the process of erection. The corner stone was laid, December 7, 1871, by the Hon. William E. Dodge, and appropriate exercises, in English and Arabic, accompanied the ceremony.

The Medical Hall is located at some distance from the College edifice. These buildings may be seen from almost every quarter of the city, and from the villages on the western slopes of Lebanon; and they will be the first objects to greet the eyes of all who enter the harbor, and will stand as the exponents and dispensers of sound Christian learning.

The connection of this mission with the American Board continued until the latter part of the year 1870, wanting only two years of half a century, when the reunion of the Presbyterian Church gave rise to the question of a transfer of the mission to the Presbyterian Board. The events above described, connected with the Syrian Protestant College, favored such a result, and the question was kindly, though reluctantly entertained. On the 20th of September, 1870, the following paper was received at the Missionary House:—

"The Syria mission, at a special meeting held in Abeih, August 16, 1870, had laid before them two documents, one from the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the other from the Committee of Conference of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church with the American Board,—touching the transfer of the mission from the American Board to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions; and having given the subject their serious and prayerful consideration, they have adopted the following action:—

"1. That the mission regard the subject thus presented as one which has not originated with themselves, but as having been brought before them by the Providence of God; and as not to be decided at all by them on personal grounds or ecclesiastical preferences, but to be decided solely in view of its bearings upon the cause of Christ in this land, and among the churches at home.

"2. That the mission appreciate the delicacy and kindness with which the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions conveyed the consent of the Board to the withdrawal of its members from their service, with the view of forming a new connection, if they deem it expedient, and the hearty assurance of their readiness to continue the support of the mission should they decide to remain as heretofore.

"3. That they also equally appreciate the cordial invitation extended to them by the Committee of the Presbyterian Church, and the pledge conveyed to the mission, that they shall enjoy, in the new proposed connection, all the freedom of action, 'in respect to their policy and ecclesiastical relations,' which they have hitherto possessed.

"4. That the mission find great difficulty in considering calmly and impartially a question involving their separation from the American Board, the severing of ties which have existed until within two years of half a century, which have been interwoven with the earliest recollections of childhood, which have grown strong by personal connection and active coöperation during years of service, and which we had anticipated would only be dissolved by death. No language can express how much of pain to their hearts the thought of this separation involves. Their relations to the Secretaries, to the Prudential Committee, and through them to the churches, have been most tender and happy.

"In these relations they have found the largest liberty and the fullest sympathy, and personally, the mission have no cause to desire a change.

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

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

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

"In accordance, therefore, with these views of this whole subject,—

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

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

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

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

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

[1] Missionary Herald, 1870, pp. 391-398.

RESULTS OF THE PAST.

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

"To Protestant influence, in great part, may we ascribe the changed feeling, which has come over the minds of the Mohammedans towards Christians. The Christian religion has become understood by them to be not wholly the system of idolatry, which they once regarded it, nor professing Christians as devoid of morality as they once seemed. As a consequence, there has been a sensible quenching of the flame of Moslem bigotry, and a greater respect for Christians, their rights, their Bible, and their religion. The relative positions of the crescent and the cross are not what they were when the missionaries came to Syria. The Bible has gained ground, and the Koran has lost it, as a controlling influence in the land. Some Mohammedans are among the attendants upon our preaching, and these would doubtless be more numerous, but for the risk to property and to life, which inquirers from among them incur.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Not in vain have Hebard, and Smith, and Whiting, and De Forest, and Ford, sowed the seed of the Word in tears, even though they went home with few gathered sheaves. From the heights of heaven they now behold the springing harvest. Not in vain have others toiled here, whose summons has not yet come. They bless God for what their eyes see and their ears hear of the Lord's working around them. Reluctantly have those yielded to the sad necessity of returning home, who, having just thrust in the sickle, found their strength unequal to the toil.

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

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

[1] From the Foreign Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, April, 1871, p. 305-307.