Daybreak in Turkey / Second Edition

by James L. Barton

Messrs. Fisk and Parsons landed at Smyrna early in 1820 and at once began the study of modern Greek. They explored the sites of the seven churches of the Apocalypse and noted their conditions and needs. Careful and minute journals were kept of all their labors and observations. In order to facilitate the work of exploration, Mr. Parsons went on alone to Palestine, where he arrived in February, 1821. One of his chief objects there was to get into touch with the Christian pilgrims who flock to the holy city in great numbers. The Greek revolution drove him back to Smyrna after several tours in Palestine, and from there he went to Alexandria, Egypt, where he died Feb. 10, 1822. Mr. Fisk was joined by Jonas King, who left his studies in Oriental literature at Paris for that purpose, and early in January, 1823, the two set out for Jerusalem by way of Alexandria and Cairo. They ascended the Nile as far as Thebes, distributing everywhere Bibles and tracts in Arabic. With a caravan made up of Turks, Arabs, Greeks, and Armenians, they made the overland journey to Jerusalem and from there went down to Beirut upon the coast. Here they separated, Mr. King taking up his residence in the Lebanon mountains among the Druses, where he was most hospitably received, in order that he might the better study the Arabic language and the people. By this time, these men were using with much freedom Arabic, modern Greek, and Italian.

The tours of these first missionaries covered Tripoli, the Lebanon, Baalbec, Jaffa, Hebron, Damascus, Antioch, and Latakia, thus bringing them into close personal touch with the desert tribes as well as with the Druses, Maronites, Turks, Greeks, and other races. Mr. King returned to Smyrna overland from Tarsus, and Mr. Fisk died at Beirut Oct. 23, 1825, two years after the arrival there of Mr. and Mrs. William Goodell.

These pioneer operations were accompanied with great hardship and even peril. The difficulties were increased at this early period by the efforts of the Roman Catholics to drive all Protestants from Syria. In 1824 the missionaries in Jerusalem were apprehended, at the instigation of the Catholics, and brought before a Moslem judge, charged with distributing books which they declared to be neither Jewish, Moslem, nor Christian. Attacks by robbers were of no infrequent occurrence and fanatical uprisings were constantly to be expected. The Greco-Turkish war brought many personal perils and hardships, but did not result in the loss of missionary lives.

These experiences and subsequent investigations led to the choice of Beirut as the missionary center for Syria and Palestine, contrary to the previous expectation that Jerusalem would be chosen. Jerusalem was carefully tested and its climate was found to be unfit for the permanent residence of American missionaries. Beirut was upon the sea, and at the same time in such relation to the Lebanon mountains that, during the heated time of the year, the missionaries could withdraw into the mountains without becoming entirely separated from the people and their work.

The matter of healthfulness was most wisely taken into consideration in selecting the location for permanent mission stations. Not that this was the solely decisive feature, but it was given due place in the weighing of arguments pro and con. Subsequent experience has proven that it is the poorest and most wasteful policy to permit missionaries to reside permanently in cities that are found to be unhealthy, or to plant in such places central institutions. Beirut has been occupied to the present day as the great mission center for Syria, and the wisdom of its choice eighty years ago has been abundantly justified. In selecting other stations in different parts of Turkey the same wise, careful method was followed.

During the ten years from 1820 to 1830 the explorations made in that country by missionaries of the Board were extensive, embracing, as has been stated, the site of the seven churches, the shores of the Nile as far as Thebes, the whole of Palestine, and the greater part of Syria. Cappadocia had been entered from Smyrna; while the Peloponnesus, the more important of the Ionian and Ægean Islands, as well as Tripoli and Tunis upon the north coast of Africa, had also received missionary visits. These careful and scientific investigations had brought to the attention of the Western world the religious beliefs and practises and the moral condition of the Copts, the Maronite and Greek Churches, as well as the condition and needs of other races dwelling in that wide extent of territory.

Vast regions in that empire were still unexplored and peoples like the Armenians, Nestorians, Chaldeans, as well as Turks, Turkomans, Koords, and Persians, dwelt in the far east of Turkey and in Persia and about them little was known. The conditions and needs, and how best to meet these needs, could not be determined until all parts of the empire, all its peoples and their interrelations, were fairly well understood.

Owing to the Greco-Turkish war, which involved some of the European nations, it became necessary in 1828 to withdraw from Beirut, the center of the Syrian and Palestine work, to Malta, and for two years Beirut was unoccupied. Towards the close of 1828, Rev. Rufus Anderson, then Assistant Secretary of the American Board, was sent to Malta to meet and confer with the brethren and later to make personal investigations in Greece and the Levant. This conference led to the location of Mr. Bird in Beirut, and in sending Dr. Goodell to Constantinople.

At the same time the Prudential Committee decided to send Rev. Eli Smith and Rev. H. G. O. Dwight upon an extended tour of investigation across Asia Minor, Armenia, and Koordistan into Georgia and Persia. Mr. Smith had learned Arabic in Syria and was also somewhat familiar with the Turkish language, besides being an experienced traveler and a close and accurate observer. Mr. Dwight was just entering upon his missionary career and was full of energy and pluck.

These two men proceeded from Malta to Smyrna in March, 1830, and from there to Constantinople, overland, in April. Before beginning the journey, they placed themselves under the protection of a chief of the Tartars, who witnessed the seal of the Tartar guide to a document acknowledging responsibility for the safe delivery at Constantinople of the persons and property of the missionaries. Beds, bedding, clothing, cooking utensils, dishes, writing material, books, food, etc. were carried in waterproof leather bags upon the backs of horses. They clothed themselves in the flowing native dress of the country so as to attract as little annoying attention by the way as possible. They were also supplied with passports from the government and official letters of introduction.