Mr. Leonard doubtless had a special reference to the Armenian Bishop of Amasia, who, having secured a majority of the people in his favor, swept two churches of their gold and silver images, crosses, and vestments, and appropriated the avails to the erection of school-houses and the support of teachers. The minority appealed to the Patriarch at Constantinople; but he is known to have been in sympathy with the reforming party in the church before his election, while at Van and Moosh, and is said to have sanctioned the whole proceeding, and to have followed his sanction with an exhortation to preach the Gospel.[1]
[1] Report of the Board for 1871, p. 27.
Another testimony is from Mr. Wheeler, of Harpoot, written in April of the same year: "Henceforth we shall need less money, and more prayer; for this finishing of the work is, in some respects, even more perilous than was its beginning. The people expect and demand a thousand things, which they cannot now have; and sometimes the more earnest ones are inclined to take the missionaries by the throat, with a 'Pay us that ye owe!' We are encouraged by the reflection that such experiences necessarily enter into such a work of awakening and reform, as is here going on."
The testimony of Hagop Effendi, the Civil Head of the Protestants of Turkey, should also be adduced. He says: "The fact that eighty-five per cent. of the adults in the Protestant community can read, speaks greatly in favor of its members. Any one acquainted with the social condition and religious ideas of the Orient, who will take pains to compare them with the liberal institutions now introduced, can readily imagine the state of society that must necessarily follow such a change. As yet, the people do not possess the intellectual and moral elements necessary for the maintenance of the liberal institutions of Protestantism independent of foreign aid." "Those," he adds, "who have become Protestant in principle, far exceed in number the registered Protestants. The indirect influence of Protestantism has been greater and healthier than is apparent." He then instances the strictly sober habits of the Protestants, among whom the use of strong drink is very rare, and habitual drunkenness is hardly known. And he was everywhere gratified to find, throughout the empire, a great improvement in domestic relations, as compared with the condition of families before they became Protestants.
The districts of Harpoot, Aintab, and Marash are probably more advanced in the matter of self-governing, self-supporting, evangelical churches, than any other considerable portions of the field in Western Asia. The Rev. Herman N. Barnum, of the Harpoot station, while in the United States, drew up, at my request, a statement of some of the more important results of missionary labor in his own district, which may be regarded as illustrative of the results of missionary labor in other districts.
He states these as rules,—that no church is to be organized without a native pastor; that no church is to receive aid from the mission for more than one half the salary of the pastor, and none for more than five years. Eighteen churches have been formed in the district, with six hundred and fifty members, and most of them on this plan. The church at Harpoot was self-supporting from the outset. Wherever a fully organized and self-supporting church existed, the peculiar work of the missionaries was regarded as completed in that place; the church and pastor, rather than the missionaries, being henceforth held responsible for the evangelization of the surrounding community. The missionaries aid, if necessary, by their counsel and in other ways, but what they do is through the church. His response as to the character of the churches, which I necessarily abridge, is deemed applicable, substantially, to the seventy-four churches among the Armenians. He says:—
"1. They are becoming intelligent. Making the Bible a study, they become established in Christian doctrine.
"2. Church discipline is better maintained than it is in American churches. Their 'watch and care' are delightful to witness. Many of these Christians came out of the grossest corruption, but the fellowship of the church is a shield and a support.
"3. They are self-denying. The support of their own institutions, including the building of their school-houses and houses of worship, with very little missionary aid, necessitates the sacrifice of comforts which they cheerfully forego. Experience in Turkey has abundantly proved, that dependent churches are nearly worthless for evangelizing agencies. When the institutions of the Gospel are supported for them, they regard the work of extending it as belonging especially to the missionaries; and hence, however lavish the expenditure, they often complain that money is not more freely spent, and the work prosecuted on a grander scale. Complaints against missionaries come chiefly from churches doing little for themselves. On the other hand, self-supporting churches regard the work of propagating the Gospel as their own, and whatever is given them, they gratefully receive as aid in doing their own work.
"4. These churches resemble the primitive churches in their disposition to work for others. They are imbued with a spirit of labor. They go from house to house, reading and preaching the word. This is the theme in the shop, the field, and by the way-side.