Meanwhile the spirit of persecution was rising. The Greek Patriarch at Damascus became alarmed, and tidings were received that a company of horsemen was coming from Zahleh, a large nominally Christian town at the eastern foot of Lebanon, to force a recantation from the Protestants of Hasbeiya. Mr. Smith and Butrus were there at the time. The stony-ground hearers had fallen off; yet fifty adults were present at the preaching, and gave close attention. Of women a larger number than usual were present, and seemed to be waking up to the idea, that religion was a thing for them. From twelve to fifteen women attended a daily afternoon prayermeeting. It was affecting to think how lately these were blind devotees of the virgin and the saints, and profaning the name of God a hundred times a day. "Going to the afternoon service," says Mr. Smith, "where Butrus addressed the people, I found the children of the congregation assembled in the court, and engaged in repeating the Assembly's Catechism. Their order was perfect, their attention solemn, and their answers generally given with correctness, while the teacher showed his own improvement by the explanations he gave them. Their parents and friends stood around, and listened with evident gratification, while curiosity had drawn the members of a neighboring Greek family to their windows, and they too were quietly looking on. To appreciate its interest you must have been present, and heard the shouts rising at the same time from an opposite quarter, where the boys of the town were assembled in belligerent array, and making a mimic (or rather real) war, by throwing stones at each other, to see which would gain the victory. The little company before me, when I first came to the place, scarcely two months ago, were as fully carried away as any of them with these wild sports, and even parental authority could not, for a Sabbath or two, bring them to break off for an hour to learn the word of God. Now, what a change! It was as if the devil had been cast out of them, and they were sitting in their right minds. Such are missionary triumphs, and the joy that springs from them is what the world can neither give nor take away."
Some members of the community not being satisfied with the strictness of the mission in regard to baptism and the Lord's Supper, the two brethren went into a thorough explanation of the subject. This led to a long and earnest conversation. The next day, July 4, the people gave in their reply; which was, that they would yield entirely to the judgment of the missionaries, who might admit them to the rites of the church when they thought them qualified.
On Sabbath, July 14, it being certain that the people of Zahleh were coming, the Protestants assembled in the house of the missionary, to enter into a solemn covenant to stand by each other to the last. After the service, they drew up an engagement in the following terms: "We, whose names are hereto subscribed, do covenant together before God and this assembly, and pledge ourselves upon the holy Gospel, that we will remain leagued together in one faith; that we will not forsake this faith, nor shall any separate us from each other while we are in this world; and that we will be of one hand and one heart in the worship of God, according to the doctrines of the Gospel. In God is our help." The covenant was taken by them separately, each one standing by the table, and laying his hand upon the Bible as it was read to him. Sixty-eight names were subscribed on the spot; and the number was increased next day to seventy-six, all of them adult males.
"The affecting solemnity of this scene," writes Mr. Smith, "I leave you to imagine. I have been many years a missionary, and have witnessed a great variety of heart-thrilling events, but this is one of the last that I shall ever forget. Would that that chamber, as then crowded with those hardy mountaineers, in the interesting attitude of that moment, could have been thrown upon the painter's canvas! At some future day, when the Gospel shall have triumphed here, it would be cherished and admired as the first declaration of independence against ecclesiastical tyranny and traditionary superstition."
About thirty horsemen arrived the next day from Zahleh, to quarter themselves on the Protestant families until they yielded, or were impoverished; but the people, foreseeing their intentions, had closed their houses, and assembled elsewhere. The storm seemed now ready to burst upon them. At this moment two Druzes, one the leading feudal sheik of the province, the other a man of unequaled personal bravery, made their way through the excited crowd; seated themselves by the side of the Emir; protested in the strongest language against the treatment the Protestants were receiving from their townsmen; warned all against treating them as men who had no friends to take their part; and called upon the Emir to stand forth in their defense, promising to support him if he did. This decided interference checked a little the progress of events.
The people of Zahleh had been accompanied by a number of Greek priests, and in prosecuting their object employed entreaties, threats, bribes, reproaches, and actual violence. They were countenanced by the Emir, and backed up by a "Young Men's Party," which had grown into an organization under the political excitement of the times. They returned home in consequence of an order obtained from the Pasha of Damascus, but not until they had drawn away perhaps twenty, old and young, some of whom soon after returned to the instructions of Mr. Thomson and Tannûs, who had taken the place of Mr. Smith and Butrus. While they were absent on the mountain to recover from illness, the result of confinement, anxiety, and a suffocating sirocco, the "Young Men" rose in arms, against the Protestant brethren. They virtually took the government of the place into their own hands, and the Protestant men fled to escape their murderous violence. Returning to Hasbeiya, Mr. Thomson found only the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of those who had fled; some of them so poor as not to know how or where they could find their daily bread, yet apparently without fear. He overtook the fugitive people the next day, who were half perishing with hunger. Abeih was their place of refuge; and there they remained till October, zealously attending upon religious instruction.
In that month, one of the two Druze skeiks [sic] arrived, who had interposed on their behalf on the fifteenth of July, bringing with him a document from the Pasha of Damascus, procured, it was said, by Mr. Wood, English Consul there, directing their return and guaranteeing their entire security. The guaranty proved to be illusive, though probably not intended to be so. Strong, unfriendly influences were subsequently brought to bear on the Pasha.1 They were accompanied by Butrus, and it was intended that one of the missionaries should soon follow. The party reached Hasbeiya on the fourteenth of October, and found those who had remained there in great fear. The Patriarch having arrived the same day, to inflame the passions of their enemies, intimidate the governor, and weaken the hands of the Druze sheiks. Butrus wrote, advising that no missionary come there until the Patriarch was gone, and things had become more quiet. He was succeeded by Tannûs, in October, and he, in the following month, by Elias el-Fuaz. The friendly governor was at length set aside for one more in sympathy with their persecutors. On the two following Sabbaths, the Bible-men were stoned in the streets, and Elias el-Fuaz was seriously wounded; while the governor made only a sham resistance, that emboldened the evil-doers, as he intended it should, till the native preacher was driven from the place, and some of the Protestants fled to Lebanon. Others, wearied with persecutions to which they could see no end, complied so far with the demands of the Patriarch, as to visit the Greek church, though they took no part in the services, and openly spoke against its idolatries. This very partial compliance relieved them from persecution, but inwardly set them more firmly against an organization that resorted to such measures to retain them.
1 Not only the influence of the Patriarch of Damascus, but also of the Russian Consul-general of Syria, who wrote to the Pasha as follows, on learning that Mr. Wood had privately secured permission for the Protestants to return home:—
"However, I may desire to address your Excellency on this subject in a friendly manner, I must remind you, that I am serving the magnificent Emperor of Russia, and that we have the right of protecting the Greek Church in the Ottoman dominions. I should greatly regret, if I were compelled to change my language and protest against every proceeding which may lead to the humiliation of the Greek Church at Hasbeiya, and the encouragement of pretended Protestants, especially as the Sublime Porte does not recognize among her subjects such a community."
I give this on the authority of the Rev. J. L. Porter, English missionary at Damascus, a man every way competent to give testimony in this case.