Dr. Henri B. Haskell succeeded Dr. Lobdell at Mosul, and reached Diarbekir, with the Rev. George C. Knapp and wife, appointed to that station, in April, 1856. The Christian worship at Diarbekir had now assumed a regular form. There were four services on the Sabbath. At the first, an hour after sunrise, fifty persons assembled for prayer and praise, and the meeting was conducted by two native teachers; one reading his own translation of Doddridge's "Rise and Progress" in Turkish; the other, after having read through Dr. Goodell's "Notes on Matthew," and a volume of his sermons in Turkish, had commenced reading discourses of his own. The second was at the time of "noon cry" from the minarets, when Mr. Walker or Baron Tomas, now returned for a time from Bebek, preached to about two hundred persons, who listened more attentively than most American congregations. At the ninth hour (three o'clock in the afternoon) Baron Tomas met a Bible-class of sixty or eighty of the more intelligent Protestants. The last preaching service, at the tenth hour, was usually attended by a hundred or a hundred and fifty persons. From forty to seventy persons were present at the Friday evening meeting. The monthly concert was well attended, and with increasing contributions. Mrs. Walker had a Wednesday afternoon meeting for the women, at which from twenty to forty were present.
The Gospels had been translated into Koordish by the native helper at Hainè, and copies of Matthew had been received from the press in Stamboul. As soon as the good deacon Shemmas could get the box containing them from the custom-house, he retired to his room and poured out his soul in thanksgiving to God for his great mercy, and prayed that He would now greatly bless his Word in this new tongue.
The church at Diarbekir was doubled in 1856, and all belonging to the mission, both male and female, found full employment in imparting instruction. Baron Tomas returned to Bebek, to spend two years in the study of theology.
Excepting the death of the second Mrs. Williams, on the 25th of
December, there was nothing in 1857, specially demanding attention.
Mr. Williams spent the summer of 1858 in Mardin, intending to occupy it as a new station, and returned in November to make it his permanent residence. He found the people, as he expected, exceedingly bigoted, yet hardy and intelligent. There was an important advantage in the pure mountain air of the place. The language was Arabic, as at Mosul. More than half of the twenty thousand inhabitants were nominal Christians; there were three Arabic-speaking villages within six miles, and the whole of Jebel Tour was accessible. He found the Romish Church stronger than he had expected, having a Papal-Syrian patriarchate just established within the city. He was received by the ecclesiastics with bitter denunciations. For a time, no one dared to acknowledge himself a Protestant, though many Mohammedans called upon him, and seemed to appreciate his very intelligent and gentlemanly conversation and manners.
Subsequently a papal priest, to whom, in former years, he had given a Bible, joined himself to the missionary, and patiently endured severe persecution. But the most encouraging case was that of an influential merchant named Meekha. He was originally an Armenian, and, thirty years before had become a Papist, and carried over one hundred houses with him. He was the champion of the papal party. His conversion was on this wise. The priest just mentioned had sown much Gospel truth among his disciples, and among them was a son-in-law of Meekha. At length the old man, provoked by an instance of dishonesty and falsehood in his bishop, and unable to read himself, sent for his son-in-law to read to him the Gospel. The young man was kept reading for three days, until the Gospels and Epistles were all finished. Amazed to find his religion opposed by the whole spirit and teachings of the divine oracles, Meekha sent for the priests and they came. "Prove me your doctrines from the Bible," said he. Convinced, from their manner of reply, that they had nothing to say, he ceased from the worship of the Virgin, and declared himself a Protestant; and his wife was as sincere and earnest as he. Though father, mother, and three unmarried daughters were excommunicated, and subjected to continued insults, their souls were overflowing with joy and thankfulness that the Gospel had come to them.
Speaking of this family, Mr. Williams says: "I have never witnessed such amazed eagerness as that with which, for the first time, they comprehended that salvation is without money and without price—absolutely free and gratuitous. It was to them news—good news; and when I call to mind Meekha's impetuous temperament, and see him listen with such docility to Christ's teaching, I cannot but hope that, though imperfectly sanctified, the 'good work' is begun in him, which God's grace will complete. He accepts no new truth without a challenge, and nothing short of a 'Thus saith the Lord,' will give it currency with him. At one of my evening lectures I alluded to Isaiah's statement, 'All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,' when two or three spoke up: 'What 's that?' On repeating it they were incredulous, and demanded chapter and verse. I gave it to them next day, and it has taken hold of them like iron. I have seen Meekha since throw that verse into a crowd of opposers with such force as to start them from their seats with an emphatic 'God forbid,' and the most positive denial that such a verse could be in the Bible. When I turned to the passage, and put the book into their hands that they might read it for themselves, they could not believe their own eyes, but continued poring over it, reading carefully from the head of the chapter; and this very day some of them came in to ask what it meant, and so changed in their manner I could hardly believe my eyes. Before, obstinate, dogged, unreasonable; now, meek, docile, and asking what the will of the Lord is. One said, 'That went like a dagger to my heart, and I slept none all that night.' And when to-day, I turned to Rom. iii. 26, Eph. ii. 8-9, and Rom. iv. 1-4, they listened as children. Truly the word of the Lord is a sharp sword, piercing to the heart."
Mr. Knapp's health forbidding a longer residence at Diarbekir, he commenced, in May, 1858, a new station at Bitlis, a healthy place several thousand feet above the level of the sea. Dr. and Mrs. Haskell were with them during the latter half of the summer, and spent the summer of 1859 at Mardin; but Mr. and Mrs. Marsh and Mrs. Lobdell decided to remain at Mosul. In May, Mr. and Mrs. Marsh were called to part with their second and only surviving child. A fortnight later, Mrs. Marsh herself had a severe attack of fever, but soon recovered. The fatal attack was three months later, and her death occurred unexpectedly. The thermometer in the early part of the night before, stood at 113º. During the day it was 120º; and on the night of her death it was 100º on the roof, where they slept. She had had a slight illness for a few days, and it now became a burning fever, with delirium, and all remedies proved vain. She died on the 12th of August, at the age of thirty-two, after a residence of six years at Mosul, as an earnest and faithful laborer. Her mother and her only sister had died before reaching the age of thirty, and it is possible Mrs. Marsh might not have lived as long in her native land, as she did at Mosul. "Yet it is probable," as her husband wrote at the time, "that the heat, so unusually extreme, cutting the leaves from the tree in our court by thousands, and causing many natives of the country to fall dead by the roadside, was the immediate occasion of her death."
Mrs. Lobdell found reason, in the necessities of her children, for returning to America, and in April, 1860, she bade adieu to the little band of women, who, for eight years, had sat at her feet to learn of Jesus. She reached her native land in August, in company with Mr. Marsh.
Mosul remained unoccupied during the summer, the heat at that season being found too great for endurance; though the climate is agreeable for nearly three fourths of the year. The summer retreat prepared by Dr. Lobdell at Deira, near Amadiah, was distant seventy miles, or four days' travel, and it required at least nine days to reach Mardin.