The effect of these organizations has been to enlarge the views of churches and ministers, and make them feel that the work of evangelizing the people around them belonged naturally to themselves. It also greatly developed a spirit of self-denying love for their work among the pastors and preachers, and a spirit of unity and independence among the churches. "Five years ago," writes Mr. Wheeler in September, 1866, "the pastor of the Harpoot church, now President of the Union, when we put upon his people an increased amount of his salary, inquired, 'By what right do these men put this burden on my church?' But when, in this meeting, a proposition was made to get the pastor's salaries from other sources than their churches' treasury, this same man, aided by the pastor at Arabkir, so conclusively showed the folly and hurtfulness of the proposal, that the mover of it dropped it in shame. The Arabkir pastor said: 'This is to enable the pastor to be independent of the people, and to say, What have you given me that I should be your servant?' The force of this pithy argument is felt here, where ecclesiastics rule and devour the people, and where the tendency in that direction is so strong that we need to guard against it in laying the foundations of the churches. He then went on to show that it would be for the good of the churches to support their pastors. They would thus love and heed them more. 'The pastor,' he continued, 'who should get his support from any source outside of his own people, would be beyond their control.' In a subsequent discussion on supporting the poor of the church, he said: 'I am fully persuaded, that every church is not only able to support its poor, but its pastor too.'"
The truth of this last remark was strikingly illustrated by the church in Shepik, the poorest and feeblest in the field, which for thirteen years had paid almost nothing for preaching, and was supposed to be a permanent pensioner on missionary bounty; but all at once it raised enough for the support of the preacher, besides nearly two hundred dollars in gold for the building of a house of worship. A blind preacher from the Harpoot Seminary had been the means of this unexpected result. He was known as John Concordance (Hohannes Hamapapar), on account of his wonderful readiness in quoting Scripture, chapter and verse. He was sent to Shepik, and hearing the complaints of the people about their poor crops and poverty, replied: "God tells you the reason in the third chapter of Malachi; where he says, 'Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me.'" Then taking for a text, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse," etc., he inculcated the duty and privilege of setting apart at least a tenth of their earnings for God. The people were convinced, and after paying half of their crops, according to usage, to the owner of the soil for rent, and a tenth to the government for taxes, as they must needs do, they gave another tenth to the Lord's "storehouse,"—a room they had set apart for receiving the tithes. And the sermon of this blind preacher, and the example of these poor people, have wrought wonders in the land.[1]
[1] Mr. Wheeler's Ten Years on the Euphrates, chap. x. For an abstract of John Concordance's sermon on Tithes, preached at Harpoot, see, Missionary Herald for 1868, pp. 308-312.
During the year and a half after its formation, this union held five general meetings. The last of these was the most interesting. Eleven native pastors were present,—from the Harpoot district, and from Cesarea, Tocat, Adiaman, and Cutterbul. Nearly all the helpers of the Harpoot, Diarbekir, and Mardin fields were there, with twenty delegates from churches and from congregations that expected soon to have churches. There were also present the members of the Theological school, Mr. Livingston from Sivas, and Mr. Williams from Mardin, who had brought his students to spend the summer in the school at Harpoot.
On the 15th of November, 1866, Mrs. Adams died at Aintab, of consumption, much lamented.[1] Mr. Richardson, on his return from America, joined the Broosa station. Mr. Williams was then alone amid the multitudes using the Arabic that centered around Mardin and Mosul; and Mr. Walker was the only missionary at Diarbekir, with at least a thousand towns and villages in his district. Yet it was a year of decided progress in Turkey. The missionary force received an unwonted accession in the years 1866 and 1867. Five ordained married missionaries arrived in the last of these years, namely, Messrs. Henry T. Perry, Theodore Baldwin, Henry S. Barnum, Charles C. Tracy, and Lyman Bartlett, with as many unmarried female assistant missionaries,—Misses Roseltha A. Norcross, Mary E. Warfield, Harriet Seymour, Sarah Ann Closson, and Mary G. Hollister. Mr. Henry O. Dwight, son of the distinguished missionary, Dr. H. G. O. Dwight, arrived at Constantinople as secular agent, with his wife, a daughter of Dr. Bliss. Miss Mary D. Francis arrived in 1866, and was afterwards married to Mr. Adams.
[1] See Missionary Herald for 1867, p. 98.
Among other signs of progress was the increase of newspapers in Constantinople, and one or two other cities of Turkey. In Constantinople, five years before, a newspaper was rarely seen in the hands of any one of the thousands of persons passing up or down the Bosphorus and Golden Horn in the steamers which take the place of the street cars of Boston or New York. Now it had become a common sight, and newsboys thronged the thoroughfares with their papers, in Turkish and other languages. The standard of journalism was not high, but the thoughts of men were stirred. The influence of these papers was generally adverse to the missionary work. Partly to counteract this influence, the missionaries published, once a fortnight, a small newspaper called the "Avedaper," or "Messenger." It appeared alternately in the Armenian and Armeno-Turkish languages, and had fifteen hundred subscribers scattered over Turkey. Mr. E. E. Bliss, the editor, estimated the aggregate of readers at ten thousand. One incident may illustrate its influence. A villager living on the Taurus Mountains was so impressed with one of the sententious speeches of President Lincoln, translated in the paper, that he committed the whole to memory, that he might teach to others its lessons of "malice toward none, and charity to all."[1]
[1] Missionary Herald, for 1867, p. 82.
The general progress towards right religious opinions, had led to a division of the Armenians who remained in the Old Church into two parties, called the "Enlightened" and the "Unenlightened." The former was continually increasing, and had sharp contests with the Unenlightened on questions of clerical control in civil affairs. Their failure to secure even the partial reforms they sought convinced them of the necessity of more radical changes; and an Armenian paper announced a movement for the formation of a Reformed Armenian Church; on the principle of restoring the purity of doctrine and simplicity of worship, which they supposed existed in their Church at the beginning. The same paper advocated the complete separation of civil and ecclesiastical affairs; and announced that a book would soon be published, setting forth the doctrines and proposed form of worship for this new church. The new Prayer-book made its appearance early in 1867. It contained a Creed; a Ritual for Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Ordination, etc.; Forms for Daily Prayer in the churches; and Hymns and Songs. Judged by the standard of the New Testament, the book contained not a few errors of doctrine, and sanctioned many superstitious practices; yet it was a decided improvement upon the books in use in the Armenian Church. The Armenians of the Old Church regarded the changes as very radical, and the Patriarch denounced the book officially, and warned his people against it.
"The most noteworthy part of the book is its Preface, which was printed last, and may be regarded as the platform of the reformed party. After giving a sketch of the history of the Armenian Church, its original purity of doctrine and worship, and the subsequent introduction of error and superstition, through the influence of the Greek and Roman Churches, it declares that the Armenian Church has come at last to be a mere 'satellite of Rome,' and that the time has come to assert its independence, to cast off the 'ultramontane influence,' to rescue the Church of their fathers from the 'Papal claws.' Three particulars are then set forth in which a 'reformation' is needed. First, in reference to doctrine. 'The Armenian Church has,' it is said, 'doctrines introduced from abroad, which place faith in respect to salvation upon a wrong foundation, transferring man's hope from God to things created and material. Means are confounded with ends, and ends with means, and thus a thick veil is interposed between the eyes of the people and the simple doctrines of Christianity.' Secondly, 'The Church has now rites and ceremonies (unknown in purer times), which are a laughing-stock to the unbelieving, a grief to the truly pious, an offense to all enlightened men, and which have converted our churches into theatres, deprived worship of its spiritual character, and made it like the shows of a fair.' In the third place, 'The present relations of the clergy to the people are opposed to the spirit and substance of Christianity. Instead of being teachers, pastors, and fathers to the people, they claim to possess supernatural authority, rule by the terrors of that authority, teach the people only that which serves their own purposes, and are an obstacle to every good work.'"[1]