The author made his second visit to this mission in 1855, on his return from India. During this visit he accompanied Dr. Smith to Ain Zehalty, a place of difficult access in the heart of Lebanon, where Mr. and Mrs. Lyons were residing, with no one to speak the English language, in order the sooner to learn the Arabic. There, through the teachings of a native brother from the church at Abeih, the people had lost all confidence in the ceremonies and superstitions of their Church. The priest, after making vain attempts to bring them back, left the place in disgust, and begged the bishop to send him elsewhere. He was obliged to return, however, and as his flock would not support him, a salary was given him by the bishop, in the hope of ultimately recovering them to his fold. The experiences of this little community of Protestants will again claim our attention.
It was now agreed to leave Aleppo, and northern Syria from Kessab northward, to be cultivated by the Armenian mission; since the language in that region was chiefly the Turkish.
The Rev. Messrs. Edward Aiken, Daniel Bliss, and Henry H. Jessup, and their wives, were added to the mission in this year. Mrs. Aiken died at Hums before she had completed a residence in the field of half a year. In November, one of the older missionaries, the Rev. George B. Whiting, finished his course, after a devoted service as a missionary through a fourth part of a century.1 Mrs. Whiting returned, in poor health, to the United States.
1 For an obituary notice of Mr. Whiting by Mr. Calhoun, see Missionary Herald for 1856, pp. 129-133.
The Gospel was preached statedly at sixteen places. At four of these—Beirût, Abeih, Sidon, and Hasbeiya—churches had been organized. Fifteen members were added during the year 1856. The number admitted from the beginning was one hundred and six, of whom eighty were living and in regular standing. The average number of hearers was about four hundred and twenty; but the whole number was of course much larger. The sons-in-law of the old Emir Beshir, the unrelenting persecutor no longer among the living, were among the firmest friends of the mission, and his grandchildren were in its schools. The anathemas of the Maronite clergy, once so terrific, had lost their power. Light was spreading; and though there was not a corresponding religious interest, yet the most influential inhabitants were on friendly terms with the mission, and in favor of education and good morals.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE ARMENIANS.
1845-1846.
We come now to the grand crisis, when the evangelical Armenians, who claimed the right of worshipping God according to the teachings of his Word, were on that account excommunicated, pronounced accursed, and subjected to a protracted and most cruel persecution. But inasmuch as this made it necessary to organize Protestant churches all over the country, it was overruled, in God's providence, for the furtherance of his kingdom.
Matteos, the leader of this persecution, became Patriarch of Constantinople in the autumn of 1844. Peshtimaljian, the celebrated, teacher, who knew him as one of his scholars, said of him, ten years before, when he was on very friendly terms with the missionaries, that he was a man of enlightened views, but without principle, and always governed by what he considered the wishes of those who were likely to promote his interests. His position as Patriarch was one of great difficulty. The evangelical doctrines were spreading in all directions, and their enemies demanded that they be rooted out. A report was even started, that Matteos himself was a Protestant, and his convictions were known to have been at one time in that direction; but his interests and his ambition now led him to oppose. He had attained the highest post in his nation, and was resolved to keep it. As the evangelical brethren would not yield, he must, if possible, put them down. He resolved to sacrifice the Protestants; and all his powers, personal and official, were employed to eradicate Protestantism from the land.1