CHAPTER XXXVIII.
SYRIA.
1857-1860.
Dr. Eli Smith, whose name has an honorable place among the translators of the Scriptures, died at Beirût, Sabbath morning, January 11th, 1857.[1] Thirty years had elapsed since his first arrival in Syria, and he had before been connected for several months with the press at Malta. In 1829, he made an exploring visit, with the author, to the Ionian Islands, the Morea, and the Grecian Archipelago; and the next year, he and Dr. Dwight explored Armenia, and a part of the Nestorian country. The other more important events of his life are so far known to the reader, that they need not be repeated.
[1] Dr. Smith expressed a decided opinion, in his last sickness, that no memoir of his life and labors should be published, since he had never kept a journal, and there were not sufficient materials. In this he was probably correct, considering what the public would have expected. A well written obituary, somewhat extended for that publication, may be found in the Missionary Herald for 1857, pp. 224-229. See, also, pp. 123-125.
The mind of Dr. Smith was rich in general principles, and in well-considered applications of them to the missionary work; though, in this latter respect, he was restricted more than his brethren among the Armenians, by the less pliable nature of the materials on which he was called to operate. After having explored countries which others were to occupy; after contributing largely to the accuracy, variety, and value of Dr. Robinson's "Biblical Researches"; and after securing the formation of type that would be acceptable to the most fastidious Arab; he set himself to prepare a new translation of the Bible into the Arabic language. With this in view, he pursued the study of Arabic and kindred languages to a greater extent than was necessary to become either a good speaker, or a good preacher. His learning was both extensive and accurate, and he was continually adding to his stores by a wide range of judicious reading. To a good knowledge of the ancient classics, he added an acquaintance, more or less perfect, with the French, Italian, German, and Turkish languages. With the Hebrew he was familiar; and the Arabic, by far the most difficult of all, was to him a second vernacular.
Dr. Smith was eminently a man of business, and was accustomed to give attention to the minutest details. He spent much time in superintending the cutting, casting, and perfecting of the various fonts of type, made from models that he had accurately drawn from the best specimens of Arabic caligraphy.[1] For many years he read the proof-sheets of nearly every work that was printed at the mission press; and he bestowed much thought and labor upon the mechanical apparatus and fixtures of that establishment.
[1] See. vol. i. p. 233.
To him every pursuit was subsidiary to a faithful translation of the Word of God into the Arabic language. Yet he did not neglect the regular preaching of the gospel, which he regarded as the first duty of every missionary; and having early become a fluent speaker in the Arabic, this was ever his delight. "Almost as a matter of course, his preaching was expository and didactic. In clear, lucid, logical exposition of divine truth, he had few equals. His language, though select and grammatical, was always simple, and within the comprehension of the humblest of his hearers. In regard to matter, his discourses were eminently Biblical, sound, and evangelical. In form and costume, his theology was that of Edwards, and Dwight, and Woods,—the theology of the Puritan fathers of New England. Upon this system of divine truth his own hopes of eternal life rested, and it was this which he earnestly labored, for thirty years, to infuse into the Arabic literature, and transplant into the hard and stony soil of Syria's moral desert."
The author, having had the best opportunities for knowing Dr. Smith, bears testimony to his excellent judgment, and to the great value of his correspondence with the executive officers of the Board, in the forming period of the missionary work.
It did not please the Lord to grant the earnest desire of Dr. Smith to live and complete his translation of the Scriptures; and it must be admitted, that his ideal of perfection in the work was such, that it is doubtful whether he ever could have been satisfied that his entire translation was ready for publication. Only Genesis, Exodus, and the first sixteen chapters of Matthew, had received his final revision, and were acknowledged by him as complete. But, with the help of Mr. Bistâny, his assistant translator, he had put into Arabic the entire New Testament, the Pentateuch, the Historical Books of the Old Testament, and the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum. He had revised, and nearly prepared for the press, the whole of the New Testament, and all except Jeremiah, Lamentations, and the last fourteen chapters of Isaiah, of the books named in the Old Testament. With these finished specimens, and with so large a portion of the remainder translated and carefully revised, together with the helps to translation which he had accumulated, his brethren believed that he had laid the foundation for one of the best versions of the sacred Scriptures to be found in any language.
Dr. Van Dyck had been connected with the mission since 1840, and very soon made himself master of the spoken Arabic, in which he greatly excelled as a preacher. It soon appeared, that he was the man to succeed Dr. Smith as translator of the Scriptures, and the mission arranged his removal, for that purpose, from Sidon to Beirût; so that in due time he was enabled to bring the great work to successful completion.[1]
[1] See chapter xl.
Mr. Aiken had joined Mr. Wilson at Hums, a new station north of Damascus, where he was bereaved of his wife before she had been six months in the field. The arrangement for 1857 was that Beirût should be occupied by Messrs. Van Dyck and Ford, and Mr. Hurter, the printer; Abeih by Messrs. Calhoun and Bliss; Sidon by Mr. Eddy; Deir el Komr by Mr. Bird; Bhamdûn by Mr. Benton; Tripoli by Messrs. Jessup and Lyons; and Hums by Mr. Wilson. Dr. Thomson and Mr. Aiken were in the United States; the latter with health so impaired as to forbid his resuming his mission. He had previously married Miss Cheney. In the following year, Miss Jane E. Johnson and Miss Amelia C. Temple arrived to take the care of a girls' boarding-school at Sûk el Ghurb, on Mount Lebanon; but the former was soon found unable to endure the climate. Dr. Thomson, while in this country, published a valuable work on Biblical literature, in two volumes, entitled "The Land and the Book." Dr. and Mrs. De Forest had come to this country in the hope of a restoration of his health; but on the 24th of November, 1858, this excellent missionary was released from long and severe physical sufferings by a peaceful death.
The health of Mrs. Wilson made it necessary, for a time, to leave Hums without a resident missionary. The principal operations, both here and at Deir el-Komr, were through schools for both sexes, which had been embarrassed by Syrian and Greek opposers, but in no case suppressed. The female department of the school at Deir el-Komr commenced with a dozen pupils, but in six months the attendance exceeded fifty. When Mr. Bird came to that place, he thought there were not six females in the nominally Christian population, who could read; but a year had not passed before half the pupils in his girls' school could read their Bibles. There were other mountain schools under the care of the station, and in one there were more than sixty pupils.
The following contrast of the state of things in 1857 with what it had been fifteen years before, indicates a preparatory work in no small degree encouraging. "Then, the missionary could hardly purchase here the necessaries of life; and when he left, he was followed by stones and execrations. Now, he is welcomed and honored. Then, fear kept even his friends from venturing to visit him; now, priests and even a bishop are ashamed not to return his calls. Then, the Protestant sect could not be vilified enough; now, it is spoken of with favor in public and in high places. The old Emir Beshir, once the persecutor and terror of Protestants, has passed away, and his dilapidated palace is used as barracks for Turkish soldiers. His prime minister, or secretary, who did much injury to the cause of evangelical religion, and whose mansion was, as it were, the stronghold of the enemy, is no more. What remains of this Ahithophel's house is the abode of the missionary, and furnishes apartments for Scripture schools, and a Protestant chapel. His sons-in-law were leaders in the movement which brought us to Deir el-Komr, and are among our firmest friends. His grandchildren learn the folly of popery by the knowledge of the Bible they acquire in our schools.
"Time was, when every one trembled at the anathema of the clergy. Now, the latter dare not show their impotence by pronouncing it. Some of the people would be glad to be thus dissevered from a church which they abhor, for they would thus not only gain their end, but retain the sympathies of many who would else oppose them. Those who send their children to our schools, have been refused admission to the confessional and the eucharist; the Maronite bishop, however, has at length yielded the point, and tries to win, rather than compel. Their high school he has made free of charge, and has promised to open a girls' school beside. In the Greek Catholic communion, on the other hand, the men and some of the women remain "suspended;" yet they are of good courage, some glad of so excellent an excuse to get rid of the confessional, and others incensed at the glaring injustice that would admit the drunkard and the notoriously vicious, but exclude the respectable and the moral. We have here the anomaly of those being thrust out of the church, who are still its very pillars, its substantial supporters, whose names are known, and whose influence is felt, throughout the region.
"We have reason to thank God and take courage. Still we long to see a work more purely spiritual. Light is being diffused, but there is not the corresponding religious interest. The truth is viewed by many as a beautiful theory, the heart remaining a flint. We have to regret the fact, that some of the best minds in the place are tinged with skepticism. Happily the most influential are, notwithstanding, our firm friends, and are in favor of good education and good morals."
Ain Zehalty, a village situated in the heart of Lebanon, has been already mentioned.[1] Mr. Bird says, "We now have there five church-members. There have been regular Sabbath services under the charge of the native helper, Khalil. The audience has been on the increase, and is now not only larger than that in Deir el-Komr, but is composed of better materials. Those who come desire instruction, and are regular attendants and declared Protestants." An Ain Zehaltian, when out of his village, if not a Druze, was set down at once as a Protestant. The day school in that place had forty scholars, and half as many attended the evening school for adults. This school was for the special purpose of studying the Bible, and the pupils had gone through the historical books of the Old and New Testaments. Their custom on Saturday and Sabbath evenings was to read the devotional parts, and hold a prayer meeting.
[1] Vol. i. p. 383.
Mr. Ford made a visit to Hasbeiya in February, 1857, with Mr. Jones, Secretary of the Turkish Missions Aid Society. He had never before been in that region, and speaks highly of the native laborers. Of the church-members he says: "When compared with the rock from which they were hewn, and the hole of the pit from which they were digged, they show the genuineness of the work of grace in their hearts." "The signs of the times," he adds, "in the community around, are most encouraging. I will only refer now to a remarkable stirring up of the Maronites to defend themselves against the inroads made by the gospel upon their hitherto solid ranks. Their ecclesiastics have always maintained an attitude of proud contempt, as though conscious of the strength of their hold upon their people, and they have rarely deigned to come into personal contact with the despised preachers of the gospel. But the serious diminution of their numbers in various parts south of us, and the diffusion of spiritual light among the rest of their flocks, have forced them down from their assumed elevation, and now they select the ablest of their priests, ordain him bishop, and send him on a crusade through Deir el-Komr, Hasbeiya, Merj Aiun, and so on to Alma, where the spirit of Asaad es-Shidiak, the modern martyr of Syria, seems to be revived in the hearts of a simple people, preparing them to brave death itself for the Gospel's sake. This bishop has sought public discussions with Mr. Bird, at Deir el-Komr, and also with Mr. Wortabet, at Hasbeiya. In the latter place there had been two such discussions held just before we arrived. In the first, the bishop was effectually caught in his own craftiness, and so completely worsted, that he and his friends came to the second session prepared to regain by violence the advantage they had lost in argument; and the result was a stormy debate, terminated abruptly by an assault upon some of the Protestants present."
Kefr Shema, a promising out-station, became a station by the removal thither from Aleppo of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy. No objection to their residence was made by the people, though it was not four years since they had combined in a desperate attempt to drive all Protestants from the village. The missionaries were visited and welcomed by many.
Honorable mention is made of Antonius Yanni, the only native Protestant in Tripoli, who had been two years connected with the mission church, and had suffered much for the cause of Christ. He had refused the honorable and highly lucrative post of vice-consul for Russia, because its acceptance would necessarily have made him subservient to the corrupt Greek Church, and an attendant upon its services.
There had been preaching for several years at Aramon, three miles from Abeih. But the congregation was broken up in midsummer by a mob. Mr. Calhoun, who was regarded with great respect by the people, visited the place, and in a very kind, gentle manner, told the people that religious freedom was guaranteed to all, and that they of the mission should be allowed to worship in their own hired house. The people listened with attention. On Monday Mr. Calhoun referred the case to the English Consul-general, and to the acting Consul for the United States. Late in the week, two officials from the government in Beirût, and two from the governor of the mountain district, met Mr. Calhoun at Aramon. "When the time for service arrived, the officials publicly stated, that there is to be perfect religious freedom for all;—to-day, to-morrow, this year, next year, and for all time. This they repeated over and over again, as the will of the Sultan, and then ordered some one to go upon the house-top and proclaim aloud, after the manner of the Mohammedans, that it was time for prayers, and that all who wished to come might come. Services were then conducted as usual, with an attentive audience; and at the close, in a place appointed, the officials demanded that the persecutors should ask pardon of the persecuted, which was accordingly done, many kissing the hand of the man whose house they had entered, and which we had hired. The governor also called some of the men to his own village, and threatened them with severe punishment if they should again molest any one on account of his religion. He then, Mohammedan as he was, repeated, in substance, the sentiment advanced, in the presence of his officers, by Mr. Calhoun, that religion pertains to the individual conscience and to God alone." Henceforward Mr. Aramon, the first teacher in the seminary, met with no opposition in a regular preaching service.
The number of pupils in the Seminary, at the close of the year, was twenty-five, and some of them were of unusual promise. A theological class, of four middle-aged, married men, was kept up during the summer, and then they went forth preaching the gospel, or laboring as teachers and colporters. Thoroughly-educated young men, otherwise qualified to preach the gospel, could only be obtained to a limited extent. But men of riper age, of good common sense and simple-hearted piety, could be fitted, by a few months of direct Biblical training annually, to preach to the uninstructed peasantry,—a labor for which there was the loudest call.
On the 12th of January, 1858, a deputation of four young men was received by Mr. Eddy, at Sidon, from a large village east of Tyre, called Cana. These brought a letter, signed by twenty-six persons, professing their dissatisfaction with their own corrupt Church, in connection with which they obtained no knowledge of God or of heaven, and asking that a preacher might be sent to them at once, and a teacher for their children. They denied being actuated by any worldly motive, and were sent back with two New Testaments, and the assurance that some one would be sent to instruct them as soon as possible. They were, accordingly, visited by Daher Abud, a faithful native helper, who was much gratified with the zeal and interest he found among them. In February, Mr. Eddy went himself, and was warmly welcomed. About forty men attended his preaching, whose eagerness to hear and converse detained him over the next day.
From thence he went to Alma, a village of five hundred inhabitants, a long day from Cana, beautifully situated upon the summit of a high range of hills, two miles from the sea. The evangelical movement had commenced there two years before, and there was a Protestant community of about forty, including nine members of the church. "This was considered, in some respects," writes Mr. Eddy, "one of the brightest spots in the Syrian field. The great adversary of souls tried in vain, by the terrors of persecution and the seductions of flattery, to recover the people to himself. Failing in this, he sought to sow discord among brethren, and thus to conquer them; and for several months past he has rejoiced in seeing this 'house divided against itself.' I felt much anxiety as to the issue of my visit, and had made it the subject of special prayer. I spent three days among the people, one of which was the Sabbath. The conversation and the preaching were mainly directed to the end of securing peace, and a day of fasting and prayer was observed. On the morning of the fourth day the clouds parted, and the Saviour revealed himself in love. Then, amid tears, and confessions, and promises, and prayers, the covenant of peace was signed, and thanksgiving offered to God, and we separated."
Mr. Eddy visited Cana twice in the summer, and found the people, young and old, eager to be instructed in the Word of God. So many children attended the school from Catholic families, that the priest sent word to the bishop in Tyre, that if he did not interpose his authority, all the village would turn Protestant. Accordingly the bishop came, bringing with him several wealthy and influential men of the city. The Protestants were all invited to assemble at the house of the head man of the village, and then these friends of the bishop, in company with the head man and the priest, labored most of the night to induce them to return to their church. It would have been beneath the dignity of the bishop to have interceded directly with them, especially if he had not succeeded. The effort was a failure. Next the Prior of all the convents in that part of the country, hearing of the bishop's ill success, came, and sought to obtain, by love and promises, what the bishop had failed to accomplish by threats. But he too returned disappointed; and coincident with his departure, two persons came out from the Catholic Church and joined the Protestants.
The month of November found Mr. Eddy again at Alma, to dedicate the first completed Protestant church in Syria. The enrolled Protestants numbered then about fifty. Dr. Van Dyck, before leaving Sidon, had selected a site for the building and seen the foundation laid, and had since collected from native Christians and foreign residents nearly the amount required for the church, which was of stone, thirty-two feet long and twenty-two feet broad, and capable of holding from one hundred and fifty to two hundred persons. It cost about three hundred dollars; thirty of which were contributed by the people of Alma out of their deep poverty, besides a large amount freely bestowed in labor. No opposition was made by the government to its erection.
After the dedicatory sermon, the Lord's Supper was administered to the nine church-members, who renewed their vows to the Lord; and these, with other appropriate services, made it a Sabbath long to be remembered.
In the summer of 1859, Mr. Eddy again visited Cana, taking Mrs. Eddy with him to secure access to the women. He pitched his tent, the first night, on the banks of the ancient Leontes, six or seven miles north of Tyre, and the next day at noon they were at Cana. The poor women, ignorant, yet eager to be taught, had never before enjoyed such an opportunity, and prized it exceedingly.
The people had passed through severe sufferings. Several of the women had been beaten, and the men had a bitter tale to tell of oppression by their governor. He demanded a duplicate payment of taxes, and when the head man of the Protestants respectfully showed him a receipt, with his own seal affixed, he ordered him to be severely beaten and placed in confinement. He then sent officers to bring others of the Protestants before him, but, suspecting his intention, all except two fled into the open country. These two, when brought, were thrown down upon the ground before the governor, and beaten with staves without mercy upon their backs and feet, he encouraging his servants to deal harder blows with commands and threats. Thus beaten till their backs were livid and swollen, they were wounded also by being kicked and stepped on by those who beat them, to make them lie still. When hardly left alive, chains were placed upon their necks and feet, their hands were placed in wooden stocks, and they were cast into prison, where they spent the night with companions who had been previously beaten. Next morning they were brought before the governor, and two of them were again beaten, when they were dismissed with a threat, that if they left the village he would pull down their houses. They however, despite his threats, made their way to Tyre, whence they embarked in a vessel to Beirût, to seek redress from the Pasha, and sympathy from the missionaries. When they appeared before the Pasha's court, their backs were ordered to be uncovered, and their wounds exhibited; and the greatest indignation was expressed by the members of the council against him who had so barbarously treated them, in violation of the laws of the realm."
The governor was sent for, and the indications were, that he would be expelled from office. But he was not. The Pasha suddenly changed his tone towards the Protestants, ordered one of them to be cast into prison on a false charge by the governor, and forbade the council to proceed further against him. The Cana people were detained two months from their homes. The proffered interposition of the English Consul was rudely rejected, and their release, when it was effected, was with no regard to the claims of justice. The visit of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy at that time must have been very seasonable and acceptable.
From Cana they proceeded to Alma, where they remained about a week. The women here, being more numerous and more enlightened, and some of them members of the church, were prepared to receive greater benefit from the instruction of a Christian sister. Three additions were made to the church. The people, though poor, had here also been compelled by their governor to pay their taxes twice.
The Seminary at Abeih was now made more directly a training school for native preachers and helpers; and a female boarding-school was opened at Sûk el-Ghûrb, a village six miles north of Abeih, under the direction of Miss Temple. The training of female helpers was its leading object, and the removal of Mr. Bliss thither made a home for the pupils.
Ain Zehalty continued to be a marked village, and the papists made great efforts to reclaim it. A Maronite bishop at one time, and a wily Jesuit at another, repaired thither, at the urgent request of the papal party, to uproot the dangerous exotic. The coming of the bishop was with great boasting on the part of his adherents, but, much to their chagrin, he declined commencing a controversy with Khalil, the native helper there; and was afterwards so hotly plied with texts of Scripture by some of the church-members whom he ventured to attack, that he fled for refuge to the more accommodating "traditions of the elders." It was supposed that the disciple of Loyola would carry all before him; but the undaunted Bible-men were more than ready to meet him, which they did effectively; and his visit was productive of more good than harm.
The report of the mission for 1858, furnishes many striking evidences of the influence exerted, especially in the department of education. Soon after the opening of the first Protestant school at Tripoli, the Greeks opened a school for boys, which soon became large and prosperous. And when the Protestant girls' school became a success, a board of directors was organized, under the direction of the Greek bishop, to break up the other, if possible. Not finding an educated woman in Syria who was not a Protestant, the Greeks applied to two Protestant young ladies to take their school, but without success. To secure the needful pecuniary means, they constrained the Patriarch to surrender a part of the convent revenues for this purpose. The Russian government, moreover, took up the subject of education in Syria, and remitted twelve thousand piasters (four hundred and eighty dollars) to the Greek school directors in Tripoli for the city schools; but with the injunction, that the tenets of the Greek Church should be the chief subject of instruction.
Nineteen persons were added to the churches of the mission during the first half of the year 1859. This of course involved various local indications of progress, for which the limits of this history afford no space. A new place, however, is brought to our notice by Mr. Eddy, named Deir Mimas, a large village on the river Litany. A few had here professed Protestantism about two years before, and had encountered a storm of persecution from members of the Greek Church, and from the Mohammedan governor of their district. Yet they had constantly increased in numbers and strength. The missionary spending several days there, was delighted to find an audience each evening of more than one hundred, after their severe labors, all eager to hear. The number of men professing Protestantism was above sixty, and counting the women and the children, the number was one hundred and fifty, the largest in Syria. Their enemies were on the alert, and it was a sad fact, that no competent native teacher could be found to reside among them. They were then dependent on a native teacher, who came to them each Sabbath from a distance, having first preached in his own village.
The annual meeting of the mission in this year was one of unusual interest. "From the beginning to the end of the meeting, it was apparent that there was much of a spirit of prayer among the native brethren. The native female prayer meeting in Beirût was more fully attended than usual; and the union meetings in Arabic and English, held in the chapel, in which the missionaries and native brethren united and large audiences assembled, were occasions of deep interest. The statements made in the meeting when the annual reports were read, at which W. A. Booth, Esq., of New York City, and Hon. Alpheus Hardy, of Boston, a member of the Prudential Committee, were providentially present, filled the minds of all with the conviction, that never before in the history of the Syria mission have we had so much encouragement, or such strong proofs that God is with us, and that the work is going forward in this land."
Before this meeting, the mission had been favored with a visit from the Hon. James Williams, United States Ambassador at Constantinople, whose friendly and most useful agency was duly acknowledged by the mission. His reply to them may be found in the "Missionary Herald."[1]
[1] See Missionary Herald, 1860, p. 163.
The translation of the New Testament was now completed and published under the care of Dr. Van Dyck. The pocket edition was admitted to be one of the most beautiful books, in its typographical execution, in the Arabic language. It had this advantage, that it could be carried and read without attracting notice; which was something in a land where Bible readers met with so much determined opposition.