1835-1842.
We now enter upon a period of some special difficulty in the prosecution of the missionary work. Turkey, Egypt, and several great European powers, conflicting for secular objects, brought the Druzes into very singular and as it proved unfortunate, relations to the mission.
The Druzes are found chiefly on the mountains of Lebanon, and in the country called the Hauran, south of Damascus, and number sixty or seventy thousand souls. The sect originated with Hakem, a Caliph of Egypt, but derived its name from El Drusi, a zealous disciple of the Caliph. They believe Hakem to be the tenth, last, and most important incarnation of God, and render him divine honors. They have ever taken great pains to conceal their tenets, which seem to be compounded from Mohammedanism and Paganism, and it is only a portion of themselves that know what the tenets are. Those are called the Akkâl, or initiated; the others are the Jebal, or uninitiated. Four centuries and a half after the death of the founder of the sect, it became powerful under a single chief. Inhabiting the rugged mountains of Lebanon, they maintained for many ages a free and independent spirit in the midst of despotism, and were a semi-independent people within the Turkish dominions down to the summer of 1835, when they were subdued by Ibrahim Pasha.
As early as 1831, a hope was awakened in the mission, that the Gospel might be successfully introduced among that people. A Druze woman was in the habit of coming daily to listen to the reading of the Scriptures and to religious conversation, and would often say, "That's the truth," with her face bathed in tears. Her visits were continued until she fell a victim to the plague. An old man, also, who was one of the "initiated," came, and, after much disputation, professed to receive the Gospel. In proof of his sincerity, he brought one of the secret books of his religion, and gave it to the missionaries. Mr. Smith, moreover, when on the mountains, was invited to attend one of their stated meetings, and, at its close, was requested to read and expound a portion of the word of God.
The prospects became more favorable in 1835. Mr. Bird and others spent the hot months of summer at Aaleih, a Druze village on Lebanon. Mrs. Dodge gathered a school of girls there, and Mr. Bird had ten or fifteen Druzes present at his Arabic preaching every Sabbath, and among them the young sheiks of the village, with their servants. Many of the people listened with attention, and received and read the New Testament and other religious books, with apparent eagerness. They readily acknowledged that neither repentance, alms-giving, prayers, nor any works of their own, were sufficient to insure the pardon of sin; and when pointed to the great atonement of the Lord Jesus, it seemed to commend itself to their understanding and conscience. Though nominally the disciples of the Koran, they did not cry out "blasphemy," as did the Moslems, when told that Jesus is the Son of God, thus partaking of the divine nature; but they seemed to feel that this character was necessary for one who should undertake to be a Saviour for a world of sinners.
Mr. Bird coming down from the mountains to accompany his sick wife to Smyrna, Mr. Smith took his place, and visited eight or nine villages, with every opportunity afforded him for preaching the Gospel; and he was everywhere listened to with respectful attention. Though aware of the deceitfulness of the people, he could not but see how open they then were to this species of missionary labor. Yet he could not find among them any real spirit of inquiry, and his only hope was in the influences of the Holy Spirit, giving efficacy to the truth. The Druzes, though wrapped up in hypocrisy, and apparently without one spiritual thought, were of the same race with all other men, and the preaching of the word might be expected, in the end, to have the same effect upon them.
There was reason to believe, that this movement among the Druzes grew mainly out of their recent subjugation by the Egyptians, and their apprehension of a military conscription. They had always professed Mohammedanism hypocritically, to escape the oppressions which Christians suffered under Moslem rule; but now the Christians fared better than the Moslems, in that they were not liable to be drafted into the army, to which as Moslems the Druzes were exposed. They had very painful apprehensions of such a levy, and the reason having ceased that had led them to profess Mohammedanism, they were disposed to renounce that religion; and some among the uninitiated seemed ready to renounce the Druze religion also. Their great object was to enjoy equal rights with the Christians, and especially to escape the military conscription.
A levy had been demanded of the Druzes before this visit of the brethren to the mountains, and had been refused, with an urgent request to Mohammed Ali that he would not impose upon them so odious a burden. Nothing was heard in reply until the fourth day after Mr. Smith's return to Beirût, when Ibrahim Pasha presented himself at Deir el-Kamr, at the head of eighteen thousand men. Taken by surprise, no opposition was made. Both Druzes and Christians were at once disarmed, and officers were left to collect recruits.
With the dreaded evil thus strongly upon them, there was a more general disposition to throw off the Druze religion. Applications came from individuals and from families in different and distant villages. Among them were some of the higher ranks. One whole family connection of eighty individuals declared their readiness to pledge their property as security that they would never apostatize from the Christian faith; and had it been in the power of the mission to secure to them the political standing of Christian sects, and had the brethren been disposed to favor a national conversion, after the example of the early and middle ages, it is probable that the whole body of the Jebal Druzes, at least, would have become nominal Protestants. Of course the missionaries explained to them how inconsistent with the spirituality of our religion would be such a mere profession of Christianity. For a few Sabbaths, the Arab congregation was composed chiefly of Druzes; and Mr. Smith threw open his doors to them at the time of family prayers, and had the opportunity of reading and explaining the Gospel to from ten to fifteen for two months; but without finding evidence, with perhaps a single exception, of a sincere desire to know the truth.
That exception was in the case of a Druze named Kasim. Mr. Smith saw him first in October, 1835. Residing in the mountains, Kasim had two of his sons already baptized by the Maronites, and had openly professed himself to be no longer a Druze, but a Christian. He had not himself received baptism, for fear of his relatives, who had once gone in a body and beaten him. He now removed into the immediate neighborhood of the missionary, where he hoped for protection, and he and his family became regular attendants upon Christian worship. He professed a strong attachment to the Saviour, as did also his wife, and they both made evident progress in religious knowledge. Both openly declared themselves Protestants, and were anxious for baptism. The officer of the Emir Beshir, finding in his hands a testimonial from Mr. Smith, that he was a Christian, respected him in this character, while he was seizing all his Druze neighbors for soldiers; but he had not then been admitted to the church, for want of sufficient evidence of true conversion.