The first evangelical church in Turkey, composed of Greeks, was organized by the Union of Bithynia at Demirdesh, in November, 1867. Mr. Kalopothakes was present from Athens. The church was composed exclusively of evangelical Greeks, and six of its thirteen members were women. Pastor Hohannes of Bilijik, on behalf of the Union, welcomed them to the fellowship of the churches; which he said had been lost through the departure of the Greeks and Armenians from the gospel, but was now recovered. The preacher was a Greek, and a native of the place.[1]
[1] The members of the church formed at Hasbeiya in 1851 (p. 376 of vol. 1st) were seceders from the Greek Church, but were regarded by the Syrian mission as of the Arab race.
The mission was sorely afflicted in September by the sudden death of Mr. Walker of Diarbekir. The cholera was prevalent in that city, and seemed to follow no laws. In the previous year, it had been almost wholly among the Mohammedans; but this year, it prevailed most in the Christian population. Mr. and Mrs. Walker removed to a khan outside the walls. "His last sermons were from the texts 'The Master has come, and calleth for thee;' and 'Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' On Monday, September 10th, he went into the city, spending some time over one stricken with cholera, besides customary duties. Tuesday morning, after a somewhat restless night, he rose as usual, and proposed a mission excursion to Cutterbul, but was persuaded to remain at home and rest. The premonitory symptoms soon appeared, but nothing peculiarly alarming, and as he had been held back from over-exertion, and been very careful in diet, all were full of hope. At the first whisper of illness the Christians gathered to aid, and the faithful Shemmas, without Mrs. Walker's knowledge, telegraphed to Mr. Williams, who started from Mardin at one o'clock, P. M., on Wednesday, and riding all night reached Diarbekir after sunrise to find that six hours before, September 13, 1866, his brother had gone 'to be with Christ.'" His age was forty-five.
"Diarbekir was filled with mourning. Not Protestants alone, but Moslems and Armenians, all were stricken. Such a funeral, as of one who was a father to all, was never witnessed there before. The native preacher conducted it appropriately and tenderly, praying not only for the stricken there, but for those in his native land who would so feel the loss."[1]
[1] Missionary Herald, 1867, pp. 33-37.
Mr. Walker was one of the best of missionaries. "His warm and affectionate nature," says Mr. Barnum, "quickly gained the hearts of the people wherever he went. His great desire was to see men coming to Jesus; and this he never forgot, whether at home or abroad. I have been with him not a little, and seldom have I seen an opportunity for a personal appeal, though only for a moment, pass unimproved."
The tribute to Mr. Walker's memory from his brother Williams, of Mardin, who knew him well, and has so lately followed him into the eternal world must not be omitted.
"His peculiar gifts were three:—1. He remembered faces, and recalled the names which belonged to them. He knew everybody. Ordinarily he needed to meet a man but once to recognize him ever after. And this pleases men; it appeals to their self-appreciation; they feel that they have made a permanent impression. Especially is this a power among a people who look up to the missionary as occupying a higher plane of civilization. It gives him a vast influence over them.
"2. Partly as the result of this, but still distinct and beyond it, he had a marvelous faculty of making every man feel that he was especially an object of personal interest. Perhaps not that he alone was such, but that he was one of those taken into the inner sanctum of his affections. Love begets love, and believing that they were so dear to him, he was soon very dear to them. And he was never lacking in the outward expression of love. He was not afraid they would think he loved them too much.
"3. He always had something to say. I suppose there is some good done by public preaching, but it is the preacher who is ready, in the face-to-face opportunity, who comes home laden with sheaves. Mr. Walker was always ready. Meet a man when he might, where he might, just the right word was on his tongue. And that warm grip of his hand, into how many souls has it infused a new and spiritual life. So he begot his children in the gospel; and by his sermons, which were always thoughtful, he built them up into Christian characters, as a workman who needeth not to be ashamed. Our Cutterbul deacon says to me since his death, 'I never saw such a man.' When he left for Constantinople in 1859, perhaps one hundred men waited upon him out of the city, and he spoke to every one, and repeated nothing, but had a special word for each, exactly adapted to his case."