This is all that can reasonably be expected from missionary efforts. The Millenium, whether it be near or remote, doubtless implies such a previous extension of gospel agencies as we are now attempting, but will be the actual result of a universal outpouring of the Spirit, such as we are taught to expect when the time comes for the ultimate triumphs of the Christian dispensation.
The question naturally arises, in closing this History, how far progress has been made in evangelizing Turkey, or in preparing the way for its future evangelization. From the nature of the case, there can be only an approximation towards an exact reply; and perhaps none can be given more satisfactory, than is furnished by the narrative already recorded in these pages. Yet a brief notice of some of the more important facts, may reasonably be expected here.
It must not be supposed, that some of the first facts that will be mentioned are regarded as direct results of missionary effort, or as indications of evangelizing progress; but even these mark a progress in the condition of society, which is very cheering, and full of promise with reference to future efforts for the introduction and establishment of a true and pure religion; white others noticed have a more direct and full connection with the missionary work.
Where there has been intellectual and social progress on a large scale, we naturally look for material improvements. Turning, first of all, to the great metropolis, Dr. Wood testifies to such improvements as these: "The streets are named, and doors designated by numbers. Scavenger carts are supplanting the dogs. The terrible conflagrations have secured broad avenues, and handsome stone and brick structures, in place of mean wooden buildings, on streets so narrow that the sun could hardly enter them. Spacious flag-stone sidewalks are taking the place of the rough pavements of horrible memory, and macadamized roadbeds help one to climb the steep hill-sides of Constantinople. 'Tramways' are built or building, a boon of inexpressible value to the aged and feeble, and a thousand dwellings have been demolished for the track of the Belgrade and Vienna Railroad, entering at the Seven Towers, and carried along the Marmora, and around the Seraglio Point, to its terminus on the Golden Horn. The demolition of much of the sea-wall to make way for it and furnish materials for embankments, is a suggestive symbol of the social and religious reconstruction, which is tearing up old foundations, and using the labors of ages past for that which is to be."
Dr. Wood next instances the significant telegraph lines, running to all points of the compass, of which he counted twelve on one side of a street, and four on the other. "The spectacle of small craft on the waters, sea-going steamers of the largest class, smaller passenger-boats for the Bosphorus and ports on the Marmora, and the magnificent iron-clads anchored in front of the Sultan's palaces, impresses both residents and strangers with a vivid sense of the greatness, wealth, and power, which, in spite of mismanagement, corruption, misrule, and all the elements of weakness and decline in the country, are here concentrated."
"Costumes," he says, "are changing, and customs and ideas change with them. Even Turkish women are adopting Frank articles of dress, worn beneath the external covering, and go about tottering on high-heeled shoes of latest Parisian style; and Armenian women appear in public with unveiled faces, attired like ladies of Europe. Thirteen newspapers—three of them dailies, three tri-weeklies, and seven weeklies (one of which issues a daily bulletin), for Armenians alone, at the capital—attest a new intellectual life, by the fact of their existence, and by the freedom of their discussions.
"Schools for girls are multiplying; even a normal school for Turkish girls has been established under government patronage; but a still greater zeal is displayed for the education of boys. The notions of the people concerning education are, indeed, very faulty, and much of the instruction given is poor enough in quality; but the waking up on the subject heralds a brighter day in the future. That this is far greater among the Christian populations, than in the Mohammedan and Jewish, and that the former are gaining more and more upon the latter in the possession of wealth, is suggestive of coming events, of the highest interest and importance."
Dr. Clarke, Foreign Secretary of the Board, writing in the same year (1871), after his visit to the East, mentions the following indications of progress: "Hundreds of miles of railway, begun and under contract; telegraphic communication between the principal towns; postal arrangements for the conveyance of money, as well as letters, established within a few years between many places; police regulations, securing protection to life and property as never before; the suppression of robber-hordes, which had infested different sections; and the beginning of a newspaper press. The public mind in the great centres is waking up to what is going on in the outside world. The war in our own country, by its derangement of commerce, led to much inquiry; and the later conflicts in Europe have excited a lively interest in many minds. And not the least significant matter is the change of sentiment in reference to France and French influence. Already is it said by native merchants, that their children must learn English, or German, instead of French; and the power of Romanism, upheld so long by French consuls, is sensibly weakened. And Protestantism is quietly doing its work of enlightenment,—directly, in thousands of minds, and indirectly, in thousands more."
Mr. Adams, of Adana, writing a year earlier, affirms that the Christian populations are far more ready to hear and read the Gospel than is commonly supposed, and that the Protestant faith has found its way into the remotest corners of the land. He says, we should not measure the success of missions by "tabular views" alone, for it often happens that a missionary's strongest grounds of hope are quite outside of the largest array of figures. "As I write this," he adds, "a statement of Hagop Effendi occurs to me. He said: "I have travelled a great deal among the Protestants of Syria and Turkey, and the strongest impression I have does not arise from the schools, books, or churches, as pledges that Protestantism is to be a success in Turkey, but from the prodigious extent to which the country at large is leavened by Protestant truth. The grandest results of your labors are not apparent."
Another testimony is by Mr. Leonard, of Marsovan, under date of January, 1871. "Evidence," he says, "of a gradual reform in the Oriental churches, especially the Armenian Church, chiefly as the result of evangelical labors, crops out in almost every city. Consecrated pictures leave church walls for the garret; silver crosses go into the refining pot; auricular confession is neglected; many superstitious ceremonies and foolish restrictions, imposed by the priesthood, are regarded only as a curious relic of the past. We note, also, a growing friendliness towards Protestants, and occasionally very sensible efforts, in emulation of them, to educate the people."