CHAPTER XLII.
THE ARMENIANS.
1867-1869.
The year 1868 added five to the ordained missionary force of the missions; namely, Messrs. Alpheus N. Andrus, Carmi C. Thayer, John Edwin Pierce, Royal M. Cole, and Theodore S. Pond. Messrs. Milan H. Hitchcock, Edward Riggs, Henry Marden, and John Otis Barrows, were added in 1869. These were all accompanied by their wives. Besides these, there were George C. Reynolds, M. D., and wife, and ten unmarried women; namely, Misses Rebecca A. Tracy, Charlotte Elizabeth Ely, Mary A. C. Ely, Harriet G. Powers, Cyrene O. Van Duzee, Olive L. Parmelee, Isabella C. Baker, Flavia S. Bliss, Ursula C. Clarke, and Ardelle M. Griswold. Mardin was now manned, for the first time, with three missionaries, Messrs. Williams, Andrus, and Pond, with Misses Parmelee and Baker, two unmarried young women. Dr. Van Lennep and Mr. Ladd closed their labors in connection with the mission in 1869.
It was not alone at Harpoot, that the year 1869 opened with a revival of religion. Aintab, Bitlis, Marash, and Mardin were favored with the like blessing. The "Week of Prayer" at Marash was described as a jubilee. Both houses of worship were opened, each day, an hour before sunset, and in each was a gathering of at least two hundred and fifty; where the many spontaneous prayers, and the pastor's vain endeavors to close the services within the hour, showed that the attendance was not a mere form. Twenty-nine out of fifty-two candidates were admitted to the first church, and twenty-one out of forty to the second. Nearly all these were able to read; and the examination was deemed more remarkable than the number received.
In respect to Mardin, I cannot refrain from quoting the expressive words of Mr. Williams, whose pen had much of graphic power. "The community here received the proposal to observe the week of prayer most joyfully, and preferred two meetings a day to one,—the first at sunrise, the second an hour and a half before sunset, each an hour long. Our first meeting was in a pouring rain, thirty present. This is the first pleasant day, and seventy-six were present in the morning. One of the preachers opens the meeting by singing, reading, remarks, and prayer. This occupies from twenty-five to thirty minutes, and then the meeting is thrown open to others, and six or eight prayers, short and pertinent, fill the time till the hour is up. We never before have been able to start a prayer-meeting here, and now they move off in a line, as if they had done nothing else all their lives. I think as many as twenty-five persons have led in prayer."
A church had not yet been formed, but the Protestant community undertook the entire support of their preacher, and also of one of their own number as a missionary to the Koords. The latter is thus described by Mr. Williams: "A great, six feet, brawny fellow, with unwashed clothes (he is a tanner), long, disheveled hair, large, open features, and eyes black as coal, that shine like stars; but so simple in his trust, so tender in his love to Jesus, and earnest in his efforts to do good! He learned to read with steady, earnest application, and his questions are so spiritual, so humble, so childlike, that it is as the sun whenever he enters my door.
"One evening Oosee (Hosea) came in with clothes torn, fez[1] gone, face bloody, hair wildly disheveled, but the same genial lustre beaming from his eyes, accompanied by another Protestant, Daoud (David), who was earnest, almost imperative, that I should at once go to the governor and enter complaint. Asking for particulars, I learned that, returning from his garden soon after sunset, Oosee was set upon by a crowd of Papists, and escaped in the plight I saw him. Daoud insisted that unless those men were at once imprisoned, no one would be safe. I asked Oosee how he felt about it. 'Just as you say, Khowaja,[2] was his reply. I read to him parts of Rom. xii. and xiii., and showed him that he was justified in entering complaint, that he had a right to protection, and that those who had set upon him doubtless deserved punishment; but said I, 'Would those men have touched you when you were a Papist?' 'Not one.' 'Why?' 'They dare not. Why, they knew I could thrash the whole of them, and would have feared I'd kill them. They knew me.' 'And now?' 'Now they think I'm a Prote, and wont strike back.' 'Did you?' 'Not a bit; I only tried to get away from them.' 'And if now, instead of throwing them into prison, you forgive them, and treat them as if nothing had happened, do you think they will see any difference between Oosee the Papist, and Oosee the Prote?' 'Of course they will.' 'To what will they charge the difference?' 'To my new religion.' 'Will not that lead them to admit the power of the Gospel? Will it not honor Christ?' 'Yes, I believe it will.' 'Well, Oosee, just as you say. If you on the whole wish it, I will go to the governor and enter complaint,—you have a clear right to this,—or I will let it drop just here, as you please.' 'No, Khowaja, I'll not complain, I forgive them. I'll go home and treat them as if nothing had happened. That is what Jesus says, and I'll do it. Perhaps they will come to Christ.' He has never since been molested.
[1] Red Turkish cap.
[2] Gentleman—a title given to the missionaries in Eastern Turkey.