One great obstacle to the reception of evangelical truth among the Bulgarians, was the attachment of all classes to their national unity. The same had been found among the Armenians and Greeks. Men objected to the examination of evangelical doctrines, lest the result should be a schism in the nation; not being able to see how a change in religious belief could consist with national loyalty. Yet, though the progress of the work had not equaled the expectations awakened at the outset, it was obvious that increasing acquaintance with the missionaries was perceptibly removing prejudice. The conviction was gaining strength with many, not only that Protestants had a Christian faith, but that it was purer than their own. The girls' school at Eski Zagra had thirty pupils in regular attendance, and a score of applicants were refused for want of room. Mr. Clarke having been overworked, it was necessary to secure aid for him, and Mr. Haskell removed to Philippopolis. Mr. Ball, after a long detention at home by the decline of his wife's health, joined the Adrianople station in 1865. Some new prejudice against the missionaries was now created by accusations transferred from English newspapers, made in defense of the intolerance of the Turkish authorities, and of what certainly seemed an unfriendly policy in Sir Henry Bulwer, the English Ambassador.
But the school for young men at Philippopolis, and that for girls at Eski Zagra, conciliated favor. The former had fourteen pupils, who made good improvement in mental and moral character, and manifested a good degree of religious feeling, a spirit of benevolence, and a readiness to labor for the good of others. During vacation, six of them were employed as colporters. Nearly all the older students seemed ready to take their stand on the Bible, and did not fear the name of Protestant. The girls' school numbered about thirty pupils, whose progress in study had been gratifying, and there had often been deep feeling under religious instruction. Members of the common council of the town, and others who witnessed an examination of the school, sent to Mr. Byington a letter of thanks, and assured him that the missionaries would yet be recognized by the Bulgarians as benefactors of their nation.
The people could not, as yet, be drawn, in any numbers, to attend the regular religious services of the missionaries. They were banded together against receiving spiritual truth. Still something could be done by personal conversations and the circulation of books and tracts. Touring in the villages was often attended with encouragement.
The year 1867 was one of peculiar promise. The moral stupor, which for so many years had taxed the faith of the mission, seemed to be yielding to the awakening power of the Word of God, and Gospel truth was not only better apprehended by the intellect, but also was impressing the heart and conscience. Though the awakening was neither as extensive, or thorough, or spiritual as was desired, it was real, and indicated the entering upon a new stage of the work.
Miss Roseltha A. Norcross became the associate of Miss Reynolds in the school at Eski Zagra. The arrival of a new teacher and many applications for admission, led to an enlargement of the school. Two sisters, however, who were among the most interesting pupils, were called to severe trials. One of them left in 1866, but the other remained, and was the best scholar in the school. Both possessed more than ordinary intelligence and amiability, and for more than two years had been heartily devoted to Christ. "The younger who had left the school," says the report of the mission, "was taken, a few days since, into a room where many of her relatives and a priest had assembled, to extort from her a renunciation of her faith, and was told that she would either have to give up, or die; that they would give her no peace so long as she persisted in her present course. But the Lord sustained her. They resorted to entreaty, and besought her merely to make the sign of submission, telling her that she need not in her heart change her belief. But their seductions were as unavailing as their threats. It is more than a year since she left the school, and though, during this time, her closet, her Bible, and the conversation of her sister have been her only means of grace, it is evident that, in the midst of this wearing domestic persecution, a Christian character of unusual loveliness is being developed. She is as frail as a lily, but the strength of the Lord rests upon her."
Another case was that of a pupil who had left a year and a half before, to teach a Bulgarian school. "Unaided," says the mission, "except from on high, she has fought a good fight during the past year. The parents of her pupils complain because she will not conform to the rites of their Church, but the trustees of the school, not wishing to lose her services, have been wise enough not to make conformity a condition of remaining in their service. Her parents have forbidden her visiting the missionary premises, but they have not been able to separate her from her Lord, nor to prevent her laboring for the spiritual good of her pupils. Although she has been occupying, for more than a year, a position beset with temptations, and has been in a great degree deprived of the sympathy and advice of Christian friends, we still hear from her that she is kept by the power of God."
The mission suffered a most serious loss in the return of Mr. and Mrs. Byington to their native land, in consequence of the failing health of the latter.
The great complaint of the missionaries had been of the indifference of the people. But after the departure of Mr. Byington, there was no ground for this at Eski Zagra. False reports were circulated with such effect, that the day-scholars were taken from the school, and the boarding-school was reassembled with difficulty. The oldest assistant teacher was forcibly abducted, but escaped and returned. A mob soon gathered, broke open an outer door, cut away some of the bars to the windows, and broke sixty panes of glass with stones. The proprietor of the house now sent for the police, which dispersed the rioters. Such outrages could not be allowed, and representations were made to Mr. Morris, the American Minister at Constantinople, and to Mr. Blunt, the friendly English Consul at Adrianople. Their prompt efforts were effectual. More than a score of the offenders were sentenced to imprisonment of different lengths, but were pardoned at the request of the missionaries. This act of clemency had a happy influence on the people, and the persecution had a good effect on the school.
A young man who had been for five years a student at Philippopolis, was licensed to preach the gospel on the 24th of July; and on the following Sabbath, ten Bulgarians, six of whom were girls in the school, sat down at the Lord's table, in the presence of forty spectators. This was the more significant, as the Bulgarian council, a month before, had enjoined upon the different "trades" of the city and neighboring villages, to have no dealings with two individuals whose names and places of business were specified, nor with any others who were known as inclined to Protestantism. Such persons were therefore refused bread, or the right of baking at the public ovens, and some were reduced to great distress. The missionaries talked seriously with the leading men of the city in favor of religious freedom, but only a few of them conversed reasonably on the subject, and the masses were wholly opposed to it. Three men, as a means of asserting their religious liberty, went before the Turkish authorities and declared themselves Protestants, which seemed to be the beginning of a Protestant Bulgarian community. The missionaries were sometimes threatened with personal violence, but the Turkish government was ready to defend them.
In January, 1869, four Bulgarians were admitted to the communion at
Eski Zagra, two of them pupils in the school, and two married men.
The number of Bulgarian communicants in that place was now eleven.