THE NESTORIANS.
1841-1848.
Mr. and Mrs. Perkins, finding a sea voyage necessary for the recovery of her health, left Oroomiah July 5, 1841, and arrived at New York on the 11th of January, just in time to be present at the special meeting of the Board in that city. Their passage from Smyrna had been prolonged to one hundred and nine days, and much solicitude was felt for their safety. They were accompanied by Mar Yohannan, who desired so earnestly to see the new world, that he could not be dissuaded from coming. As the early friend and constant helper of the mission, and as representing one of the most interesting branches of the ancient Church of Christ, he was received by the Board and the religious community with Christian affection, and his visits to different parts of the country with Mr. Perkins were both pleasant and useful.
The number of pupils in the seminary at the close of 1841 was forty-six; there were also eighteen in the boarding-school for girls, and there were twenty free schools in as many villages, all taught by Nestorian priests. The free schools contained four hundred and seventy pupils, of whom forty were girls; making the whole number in the schools five hundred and sixteen. The press, during its first year, sent forth sixteen hundred volumes, and three thousand six hundred tracts, containing in all five hundred and ten thousand pages. Under the superintendence of Mr. Perkins, Mr. Homan Hallock cut and cast a new font of type, modeled on the best Syriac manuscripts. This was in the year 1841. Three years later, Mr. Breath, the printer at Oroomiah, with the help of a native assistant, cut and prepared two sets of type after the most approved forms of Syriac calligraphy. The natives pronounced these types perfect. The two sets resembled each other, the only difference being that in one the stroke was larger and the letter more open. Mr. Breath afterwards prepared a third set, of a medium size compared with the other two.
While the plain of Oroomiah is perhaps one of the most fertile and beautiful in the world, its luxuriant vegetation occasions fevers at certain seasons, and ophthalmia is prevalent. To escape fevers, the missionaries built dormitories on the tops of their flat-roofed houses. This preventive not being found sufficient, a health-station was formed in the elevated village of Seir, about six miles from Oroomiah, where dwellings were provided for two families, which were surrounded by a strong stone wall, to serve as a defense against any sudden incursion of the Koords.
Mr. and Mrs. Perkins and Mar Yohannan embarked at Boston on their return in March, 1843. They were accompanied by the Rev. David T. Stoddard and wife, and by Misses Catherine E. Myers and Fidelia Fiske, who went to promote the education of their own sex among the Nestorians. They reached Oroomiah on the 14th of June, and were received by the Nestorians with great manifestations of joy. Mr. Perkins, while at home, prepared for the press an octavo volume of five hundred pages, entitled "A Residence of Eight Years among the Nestorian Christians." It is in the form of a journal, is illustrated by a map and plates, and is a history of the mission during that time.
The ancient Syriac version of the Scriptures was held in such veneration by the people, that there were strong reasons for making it the basis of the proposed version in the modern language. The case was referred to the Prudential Committee, who decided that the only proper course was to translate from the original Hebrew and Greek, and the translation was made accordingly.
The female seminary at Oroomiah now came under the efficient superintendence of Miss Fiske, and soon assumed a very interesting religious character. The whole number under instruction in the two seminaries, and in the forty-four village free schools, was eleven hundred and forty-two. The call for preaching tasked the capacity of the mission. The missionaries were free to preach in the Nestorian churches, and generally found attentive congregations, and they were aided in the ministry of the word by five intelligent native preachers. Dr. Perkins thus speaks of a congregation at Ardishai: "The church was crowded to overflowing. It would have been difficult for half a dozen more to press themselves into it. Priest Abraham read the first chapter of the Epistle of James, which we expounded for more than an hour, to the great satisfaction of the people, who did not suppress their audible Amen, and ejaculatory comments of approbation. Priest Abraham spoke very appropriately and feelingly on the subject of temptations, applying it to his hearers, who are now so sorely beset by the Jesuits. That crowd of eager listeners presented a thrilling spectacle. I could not help thanking God for the privilege of addressing them on the things that pertain to their everlasting well being."
The efforts of the Jesuits among the Nestorians began in 1838. In 1842, they pushed their proselyting measures so recklessly among the Armenians of Ispahan and Tabriz, as to lead the Persian King, at the instance of the Russian Ambassador, to send them out of the kingdom. A "permanent order" was at the same time adopted, probably on Russian suggestion, growing out of repugnance to the political influence of the Jesuits, that no native Christian should be proselyted from one Christian sect to another. The French government, after some delay, sent an envoy to Persia to effect, if possible, the return of the Jesuits; but before his arrival, they had covertly made their way to Oroomiah, run another race of proselytism among the Nestorians, and been a second time expelled. The French agent therefore took cognizance of both expulsions, and gave the greater prominence to the more recent one, since it had just occurred, and was fresh in mind, and since the Jesuits were just then specially intent on adding the Nestorians to their sect. His demand, however, that they should have leave to return, was refused. He then required the expulsion of the American missionaries, as being obnoxious to the same law. The Russian Ambassador, whose protection the mission had enjoyed since the departure of the English embassy in 1839, denied that it was the object of the mission to proselyte in the sense contemplated by the law. The French envoy then demanded an investigation, and to this the Ambassador and the Persian government readily assented. Two Mohammedan meerzas were sent from Tabriz to Oroomiah to make the investigation. These fell under the papal influence at Oroomiah, and made a report so strongly prejudiced against the mission, that it was thought necessary to send a committee to the capital to counteract their misrepresentations. Messrs. Perkins and Stocking were sent accordingly. Riding rapidly on horseback, many hundred miles, over cold regions just as winter was setting in, and sleeping on the ground at night without beds, with other similar discomforts, seemed to them not the least trial of this undertaking. On their arrival at Teheran, the importance of their errand was very obvious. They found the report of the meerzas bearing manifest traces of Jesuit influence. It made but few tangible charges, yet contained many serious and unjust insinuations. They were able to meet it with satisfactory explanations, and thus the storm passed by, without inflicting the injury which the mission feared. I am not aware that the "permanent order" against proselyting ever proved any serious embarrassment to the mission. The banishment of the Jesuits had not been requested by the Nestorians, nor by the missionaries. The Russian Ambassador assumed the whole responsibility, saying that the business was his own, that he was authorized to protect the Christians in Persia, which could not be done while these papal disturbers remained in the country. An attempt by the Jesuits to wrest from the Nestorians one of their ancient and favorite churches, appears to have been the immediate cause of the decisive measures last mentioned. Of course these papal emissaries returned again, but with a somewhat diminished arrogance.1
1 Manuscript letter from Rev. Justin Perkins, D. D., dated Oroomiah, Persia, March 28, 1844.