Mr. Pond next visited Mosul, and found it no longer an unpleasant part of their field. "Once, and that not long ago, it was the least hopeful spot in all our bishopric. For over thirty years has the Gospel been preached there, and by such men as Grant, and Lobdell, and Williams, Marsh, and Hinsdale. The church contained at one time twenty members, but had dwindled to ten."
A pastor was to be ordained at Mosul, and Mr. Andrus, missionary from Mardin, Pastor Jurgis of Mardin, Pastor Elias of Sert, and delegates from these two churches were there to aid in that service. The pastor elect was ordained, the dead branches in the church were cut off, and eight new members were added, while as many more were ready to join at the next communion.
Dr. Williams died at Mardin on the l4th of February, 1871, at the age of fifty-three, broken down by an accumulation of labors and cares, which, until near the close of his life, he had been compelled to bear alone. It was a great loss to the mission, but especially to Mardin; and he was called from earth just when the clouds, which had made his field seem dark to him, began to break. He saw it, and rejoiced. He said he was like Moses, who was permitted to look into the promised land from Pisgah, but was not allowed to enter it.
Mr. H. N. Barnum, who knew Dr. Williams intimately, while admitting that he was unduly disposed to distrust his own powers and judgment, says that, aside from this, he was a rare man. "He had great self-control, and was so undemonstrative, that those who did not know him intimately can scarcely be said to have known him at all. He possessed genuine refinement; and with his marvelous fund of information in almost all departments of knowledge, his fine command of language, and his good nature and enthusiasm, he was, in his more cheerful moods, a fascinating member of our social circle. His clear mind had been carefully cultivated, and his acquisitions were very exact. However much he distrusted his own judgment, his associates confided in it. He was forward to acknowledge any mistake, and correct it, and he was enthusiastic in his zeal for the policy of self-support in the missionary work. His students held him in the highest admiration, and very few missionaries have secured the affection of the people for whom they labor so fully as he did. Had he remained at home, I am sure he would have stood conspicuous among the clergy. He was very careful in the use of missionary funds, and in everything maintained a conscience void of offense. He was, withal, eminently spiritual. His many trials had wrought in him a deep and thorough work of grace."
"The one attraction of heaven for Mr. Williams," writes his bereaved wife, "was Jesus. 'Like Jesus,' and 'without sin,' and 'to be with Jesus and see Him as He is,' were phrases ever on his lips. He used often to speak of the great host gone before, and of the loved ones constantly gathering there; but it was rare to hear him speak of joy at the prospect of meeting them. It was always 'Jesus, the joy of loving hearts.' Neither did he long for heaven as a place of rest, until very near the end. He loved toil, and felt a great desire to live and labor for the Master." "At last," she says, "he did grow very weary, and often exclaimed; 'So tired, O, so tired.' In one of those weariest hours, he asked me if I remembered Bickersteth's description of Paradise. 'Well,' he said, 'I can't bear to think of it. To think of climbing over those mountains, it is so wearisome. I think, 'In my Father's house are many mansions,' and I want to be taken right into one of them, and laid down to rest—to rest—O, how sweet.' His intellect was clouded in the last hours."
I find some facts, received in 1871, concerning the women in the region of Cesarea, indicating a decided progress. "Three years ago, with the exception of Cesarea, Yozgat, and Moonjasoon, the truth seemed to have gained but very slight hold upon the women at our several out-stations. But few were ever found in the Sabbath congregation, scarcely any could read, and some bitterly persecuted their husbands. But now a marked change is visible, and the women form no inconsiderable part of all our congregations; large numbers are learning to read; female prayer-meetings are held at nearly or quite every out-station; and an earnest desire for improvement is everywhere apparent. As a consequence, a corresponding change is observed in the conduct of these women. They become better wives and mothers, and their influence is felt for good upon those around them."
Messrs. Wheeler and Reynolds made a visit to Van in the summer of 1871, preparatory to the occupation of that important post. Most of the ninety miles from Bitlis to Van, was within sight of the lake; its waters reposing in quiet beauty amid the mountains, on whose loftiest peaks there still lingered patches of snow. They reached the city in September, and were there a week. They found more readiness to receive the Word of God, and its teachers, and to have intercourse with them, than they had expected. They were also agreeably disappointed in the number, who were desirous that missionaries should reside among them. The region southeast of Van, which they had supposed was exclusively a Koordish-speaking section, they found to contain a number of Armenian villages, speaking their own language, with Bibles in the modern tongue, and men accustomed to read them. At the time of writing these pages, missionaries are understood to be on their way for the permanent occupation of Van, should such be the will of Providence.
The church at Cutterbul, and indeed the whole region around Diarbekir, experienced a severe bereavement early in 1872, in the death of its first pastor Abd en Noor. "He was a thoughtful man," writes Mr. Andrus of Mardin, "and a more independent thinker than many. He had made him a place in the village, so that even the young men of the Jacobite community looked to him as their father. He was very anxious to improve the condition of his race, was faithful both as a preacher and as a pastor, and in the latter capacity was more especially active during the past winter. He was one of the eight pupils received into the first class formed by Dr. Williams in Mardin, in September, 1862 (was then about thirty years old), and remained three years in the class, supplying the pulpit in Cutterbul during the winter months, where he had been preaching before he entered the school."
The impressions made on Dr. Clarke, Foreign Secretary of the Board, by occurrences in 1871, on his way from Adana to Aintab, are significant of the work of grace, now in progress in the region distinguished by the early labors of the Apostle Paul. His route was across the Cilician and Antioch plains, over the Amarus mountains and another range, and for the most part through a region of wonderful fertility, needing only proper cultivation.
"The journey," Dr. Clarke writes, "was not without some items of missionary interest, as showing how widely the truth is diffused. The first night out we encamped a little distance from a village that bears the name of Missis, built on the ruins of the ancient Mopsuestia—a place of some note in the early history of the Church. As we were setting up our tent, two Armenians from the village accosted us with the question,—'Are you the men that are bringing light into this dark land?' On being assured that we were just those very men, they gave us a hearty welcome, and did their best to assist us in every way, remaining till dark, and coming again in the early morning. This they did as a labor of love, and to receive some words of counsel and cheer. They were Protestants, but not church-members, who had come here for business—one from near Antioch, and the other from the neighborhood of Harpoot. Here, where no preacher of the truth had ever been stationed by us, these men were faithful to the light they had, spending the Sabbath together in studying the Scriptures and in prayer, and speaking to all who would listen of the Gospel of Christ. One of the men had formerly been a keeper of a drinking shop. One day, while plying his trade, he called out to a passer-by to come in and drink. The reply, 'I cannot, I am a Protestant,' arrested his attention, and eventually led him to give up his wicked traffic for an honest calling.