At the present time the nearly two hundred evangelical Protestant churches in the empire, with some twenty thousand church-members, do not begin to tell the tale of what has been accomplished. The story is written in the awakened intellect of all classes and races, in new conceptions of what Christianity demands of its followers, and in a changed atmosphere affecting the life and character of nearly all the youth born in the last generation, and is destined to affect the empire still more vitally as the years go on. The seed of intelligent belief and of right living has been sown and it is finding soil in which to germinate. The fruit thereof shall be for the healing of the nation.
XVII. INTELLECTUAL RENAISSANCE
Education has accomplished more toward the regeneration of these lands than anything else. While it has been very broad, especially in the higher institutions, it has likewise been thoroughly permeated with Christianity. Though Robert College is not directly connected with any missionary society it “has exerted an incalculable influence for Christian life all over the empire. Among its graduates are many of the most prominent men in Bulgaria, and it is perhaps not too much to say that the nation really owes its existence to the influence exerted by President George Washburn and his associates. Its students have included representatives of twenty nationalities, and its Young Men’s Christian Association is unique among the college associations of the world in that it is divided into four departments according to the prevailing language spoken,—English, Greek, Armenian and Bulgarian.” The Syrian Protestant College at Beirut is likewise independent, though in closest sympathy and cooperation with the Presbyterian Board, North. Concerning the college, Mr. John R. Mott writes: “This is one of the three most important institutions in all Asia. In fact there is no college which has within one generation accomplished a greater work and which to-day has a larger opportunity. It has practically created the medical profession of the Levant. It has been the most influential factor of the East. It has been and is the center for genuine Christian and scientific literature in all that region. Fully one-fourth of the graduates of the collegiate department have entered Christian work either as preachers or as teachers in Christian schools.” In less degree the same results noted in the case of these two institutions are furnished by the records of the American Board’s colleges at Aintab, Harpoot, Samakov, Marsovan, and of its colleges for girls at Marash and Constantinople, as well as of the less ambitious Bishop Gobat School of the Church Missionary Society and the Beirut Female Seminary of the Presbyterians.
—Prof. Harlan P. Beach, F. R. G. S. etc.,
in “Geography and Atlas of Protestant Missions.”
It has already been stated that in 1820 throughout the Turkish empire there was practically no modern education. The few schools which did exist were almost entirely ecclesiastical, maintained for the purpose of teaching a few men to conduct religious services. This was largely true of all schools, whether Armenian, Greek, or Turkish. Nowhere in the country were there schools for girls, the idea prevailing generally that girls could not learn to read, even if they were worth educating. The great mass of the people were unable either to read or to write. Ignorance even in the capital was dense, but it was much greater in the interior cities and towns. Often a large group of villages possessed not one person who could write or read a letter.
Argument is not required to show that no real reform could be introduced into the country without inaugurating some system of education. There must be produced readers and a literature if the intellectual and moral life of the people was to be raised. If the old Gregorian Church was to become enlightened in its belief and practise, there must be educated leaders as well as an intelligent laity. For this reason the missionaries began with an effort to awaken the intellects of the people. The Lancasterian schools that were so popular for a period in the capital had their value and exerted a good influence. The school of Pashtimaljian sprang from the aroused desire of the people for education and the conviction of the leaders of the Church that only educated leaders could be wisely trusted and followed. There were other schools supported and directed by the Armenians themselves, but springing largely from the persistent effort of the missionaries. Until 1839 it was hoped that all the work of modern education among the Armenians would be carried on by the Armenians themselves, so that the missionaries need not open schools of any kind.
As the zealous ecclesiastics became more and more suspicious, restrictive measures were applied. It was observed that those who studied in the schools were among the leaders seeking to reform the errors which were destroying the spiritual influence of the Church. It soon became evident to the missionaries that they must take a direct part in the work of education. In 1840 Bebek Seminary for training the young men was opened. The head of this school was Cyrus Hamlin, who the year before had arrived at Constantinople, designated to this work. He was a man of rare qualifications for the task assigned him, knowing no fear, never disheartened in the face of insuperable obstacles, of tireless industry, practical wisdom and unbounded resourcefulness and devotion to the cause to which he had given his life.