explore the points suggested by General Haig for missionary occupation.
One, Mr. Cantine, journeyed northward to the country of the Sultan
of Lahaj, while the other sailed along the southern coast in company
with Kamil, the Syrian convert from Islam. This earnest young disciple
had become acquainted with Mr. Cantine in Syria, and early expressed
a desire to join in the work for Arabia. He loved the Scriptures
and never shrank from obstacles which stood in the way of faith or
service. His biography, by Dr. Henry Jessup, shows what he surrendered
for Christ; only the day of days will show how much he accomplished
for Arabia. On May 26th, 1891, Mr. Cantine sailed to visit Muscat and
the Persian Gulf, with the understanding that his co-laborer should
meanwhile attempt the journey to Sana and study the possible openings
for work in Yemen. The news of Bishop French’s death had already
reached Aden. Mr. Cantine tarried at Muscat a fortnight, after which he
visited Bahrein and other ports of the Gulf, going on finally to Busrah
and Bagdad. The importance of Busrah as a mission centre was evident.
In population, accessibility and strategic location it was superior to
other places in Eastern Arabia. Here seemed to be the place to drive
the opening wedge.
Meanwhile a twenty-days’ journey to Sana and the villages of Yemen
on the Hodeidah route, had shown the importance of Sana as a centre
of operations, as is shown from the following written at that time:
“It has advantages of large population, central location, importance
of position and healthfulness of climate. Mail comes weekly and a
telegraph connects with the outside world. Its disadvantages are,
a Turkish government and the consequent difficulties of open and
aggressive work. Like the road from Hodeidah to Sana, it will be
uphill work, through mountains and strong places, but in both cases
you reach Arabia Felix.” On meeting Mr. Cantine at Busrah, however,
the arguments for Yemen were set aside, and it was agreed that it was
best to make Busrah the first headquarters. It was never thought at the
time that Yemen’s highlands would, after ten years, still be without a
missionary.
[Illustration: THE OLD MISSION HOUSE AT BUSRAH.]
[Illustration: THE KITCHEN OF THE OLD MISSION HOUSE, BUSRAH.]
Dr. M. Eustace was then at Busrah, doing dispensary-work for the poor
and acting as physician to the European community. He welcomed the
missionaries and worked with them heartily until he was transferred
to the Church Missionary Society hospital at Quetta. His departure
emphasized the power of a medical missionary among Moslems, and the
missionaries made a strong plea for a physician to join them. In
January, 1892, the Board of Trustees sent out Dr. C. E. Riggs, a man
with testimonials of his standing as a physician and a member of an
Evangelical church, but who, shortly after reaching the field, avowed
his disbelief in the divinity of Christ. His commission was revoked
and he soon returned to America. After several strange adventures this
singular yet lovable man reached Chicago, was converted under the
preaching of D. L. Moody at the World’s Fair, and died at his home in
New Orleans about a year later. It was a long way to the Father’s house
but proves the power of prayer, and that God never forgets His own.
On June 24th of the same year faithful Kamil, rightly named Abd El
Messiah (servant of Christ), was called to his reward. His illness was
so sudden and the circumstances that attended his death so suspicious
that we cannot but believe that he died a martyr by poison. He was the
strongest man of the mission in controversy with Moslems, and a most
lovable character, so that the report of that year truthfully states,
“our loss in his death is unmeasured.”
These two successive blows were very serious and now two other losses
followed. Yakoob, another Moslem convert, who had been in mission
employ, and whose wife received baptism at Busrah, was arrested and
prevented from returning to our field. Also one of the two efficient
colporteurs employed by the mission, left to seek his fortune in
America. The continued illness of Dr. Lansing in the home land and
a decrease in contributions likewise cast a shadow on the work. But
faith grew stronger by trial. In the quarterly letter, near the close
of this year, we read: “The experience of the missionaries ever
since arriving at Aden, their tours along the coast and inland, the
opportunities for work along the Euphrates, the Tigris and the Gulf,
and the deep consciousness that our mission is called of God to carry
the gospel into the interior of Arabia—all prompt us to make a special
plea at this time for additional workers. There are several points near
Busrah where permanent work should be inaugurated without delay, and
places like Bahrein, Muscat or Sana are equally, perhaps more, open to
the gospel than Busrah itself.... _If the Arabian mission is to be true
to its name and purpose, it must occupy Arabia._” This was followed
by an appeal for five new men and the request that, should means be
lacking to send them out, salaries be reduced, “confident that the best
way to increase contributions is by extending our work and trusting
that God will provide for the future.”
The mission was at this time passing through a period of determined
opposition and open hostility on the part of the Turkish local
government. Colporteurs were arrested; the Bible shop sealed up; books
confiscated; and a guard placed at the door of the house occupied by
the missionaries. A petition was sent to the Sublime Porte to expel
the mission. But the opposition was short-lived and the petition never
accomplished its purpose. In December Rev. Peter J. Zwemer joined the
mission in Busrah. The difficulties in the way of securing a residence
were at first very great and frequent change of abode was detrimental
to the work. Arrangements were likewise made during this year to carry
on all the Bible work for the British and Foreign Bible Society in the
region occupied by the mission.
The chief event of the next year was the occupation of Bahrein as a
second station. Although the first attempt to open a Bible shop and to
secure a residence on the islands was fraught with exceeding difficulty
and much opposition, the attempt was successful, and at the close of
the first year over two hundred portions of Scripture had been sold. A
journey was made into the province of Hassa and the eastern threshold
of Arabia was thus crossed for the first time by a missionary. At
Busrah the evangelistic work and Bible circulation made progress, but
medical work was at a standstill. Cholera visited both stations and
greatly interfered with the work; many people fled from Busrah, and
at Bahrein the total number of deaths was over five thousand. Peter
Zwemer kept lonely watch on the islands at that time; his only servant
died of cholera and he himself could not get away as no ship would take
passengers.
Early in 1894 the good news came that Dr. James T. Wyckoff had been
appointed to join the mission. Sailing on January 6th, and going via
Constantinople to secure his Turkish diploma he arrived at Busrah in
March. But the joy of welcoming a medical missionary was short-lived,
for after a brief stay at Busrah he went to Bahrein where a severe
attack of chronic dysentery soon compelled him to return to Busrah
and subsequently to Kerachi and America. Thus the mission lost its
third medical missionary, and his successor did not come out until the
following year.
Muscat was visited by Peter Zwemer as early as December, 1893, and his
reports of this port as a prospective centre for work in Oman were so
encouraging after several exploration journeys, that it was decided to
allow him to occupy the station.
During the summer of 1894, the writer, at the request and expense of
the Mildmay Mission to the Jews, made a journey to Sana, to distribute
Hebrew New Testaments. It was also hoped that it would be possible for
him to cross from Sana to Bahrein, by way of Wady Dauasir. But the
theft of all his money even before reaching Sana and his arrest by the
Turks, prevented the attempt.
After many trials incident to the economical administration of the
mission at home, negotiations were concluded in June, 1894, by
which it was transferred to the management and care of the Board of
Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church. The distinct existence of
the corporation is still preserved, but the trustees are chosen from
among the members of the Foreign Mission Board. No other departures
from former methods were made, save that the administration was now in
experienced hands and at less expense than formerly. The change was
cordially accepted by nearly all the missionaries and the contributors;
now no one questions its wisdom and benefit.
The year 1895 was another trying year to the mission, but there
were also blessings. The departure of Rev. James Cantine to America
on furlough, after nearly seven years in Arabia, necessitated the
transferral of the writer to Busrah and so left Bahrein practically
uncared for. The missionaries and native helpers suffered more than
usual from the enervating climate, and touring from both Muscat and
Bahrein was made impossible for a large part of the year by tribal wars
and troubles. In February the Bedouins attacked Muscat and captured
the town; the place was given over to pillage and over two hundred
lives were lost; the mission-house and shop were looted and Peter
Zwemer took refuge at the British consulate. At Bahrein a similar
trouble threatened for months and terror reigned, but the disturbance
never reached the islands and the unruly Arabs were punished by
English gunboats. At Busrah the Bible work was stopped by the Turkish
authorities; the shop closed and colporteurs arrested. The arrival of
Dr. H. R. Lankford Worrall at Busrah, on April 21st, with a Turkish
diploma, once more gave the mission the golden key to the hearts of
the people. Dr. Worrall has used it faithfully, although his severe
illness the first summer almost made the mission despair of the health
of doctors.
Mr. Cantine visited the churches in America and greatly stimulated
interest, prayer and offerings, although no new missionaries were found
willing and suitable for the field.
At the end of the year Amara was opened as an out-station in the midst
of much opposition but greater blessing. Even during this year earnest
inquirers in this fanatical river village gladdened the hearts of the
workers.
Work for the women of Eastern Arabia was begun in 1896 by Amy Elizabeth
Wilkes Zwemer, who left the Church Mission Society mission at Bagdad
to be married to Rev. S. M. Zwemer. First at Busrah, then at Bahrein
and Kateef she inaugurated the work which only a woman can do in Moslem
lands. Extensive tours were made by the colporteurs and by Peter
Zwemer. The entire region north of Muscat as far as Someil and Rastak,
even to Jebel Achdar, was penetrated by the missionary and colporteurs.
One of the latter visited the so-called “pirate coast” south of Katar
and sold over a hundred portions of Scripture. The following table
shows the increase of Scripture sales by the mission at all of its
stations. More than five-sixths of these copies were sold to Moslems:
1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
620 825 1,760 2,313 2,805 1,779 2,010 2,464 over 3,700
At Busrah first fruits were gathered after these years of sowing in
two remarkable cases. A soldier at Amara accepted Christ and came to
Busrah for instruction; this man has since “suffered the loss of all
things” and “witnessed a good confession” wherever he has been dragged
as an exile or driven as an apostate. Another convert was a middle-aged
Persian who was deeply convicted of sin by reading a copy of Luke’s
gospel in the dispensary at Busrah. He was a consumptive, and after
finding peace in Christ, left Busrah for Shiraz.
In the autumn Mr. Cantine returned to the field, but the following
February Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Zwemer departed on furlough, so that, with
no reinforcements, the mission-staff remained insufficient. The work
at Bahrein not only stood still, but, because of the unfaithfulness of
a native helper, retrograded. Muscat was, on the contrary, increasing
in importance. A school was begun by Mr. P. J. Zwemer, when eighteen
helpless African boys, rescued from a slave-dhow, were handed over to
his care. The little hand press in the mission-house sent forth its
first message; a tract comparing Christ and Mohammed, which stirred
thought as well as opposition. It was the first Christian writing ever
printed in Arabia and its simple message is prophetic: “Mohammed or
Christ, on whom do you rely?”
About this time the American Bible Society took over the work of Bible
distribution at Bahrein and Muscat by an annual appropriation to the
mission which enabled it to extend this department of work.
At Busrah the medical work drew many within hearing of the gospel and
Dr. Worrall was able to open work at Nasariyeh. At Amara the seed once
more fell on good soil, and a small band of inquirers came together for
prayer, but the harvest is not yet.
At the close of 1897, Rev. F. J. Barny, supported by the young people
of the Marble Collegiate Church, New York City, came to the field, and
began language study.
The year 1898 is fresh in the memory of all those who are interested
in the Arabian Mission. During it Peter Zwemer, after having gone to
America, was called to his reward and four new missionaries sent out
into the harvest field to sow the seed of the kingdom. Two of them,
Miss Margaret Rice (now Mrs. Barny) and Rev. George E. Stone, sailed
with Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Zwemer on their return in August. The other
two, Dr. Sharon J. Thoms and Dr. Marion Wells Thoms, of the University
of Michigan, came to the field in December, 1898. Mr. Stone has now
also gone to his reward—the third of the Arabian Mission to lay down
his life for Arabia.
XXXIV
IN MEMORIAM—PETER J. ZWEMER AND GEO. E. STONE
A skillful and loving hand has laid a wreath of immortelles on the
unknown grave of Kamil; his biography will live. We can only briefly
record our love and admiration for those other two of the Arabian
Mission, who “loved not their lives unto the death,” but “hazarded
their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
PETER JOHN ZWEMER was born at South Holland, Illinois, near Chicago, on
September 2d, 1868. His childhood was spent in a loving Christian home
surrounded by gracious influences and the prayers of godly parents. In
1880 he entered the preparatory department of Hope College, Holland,
Michigan, and was finally graduated from the college in 1888. He
was the only one of his class to choose the foreign field, and for
it he sought special preparation after graduation, by work as Bible
colporteur in Western Pennsylvania and New York, and a year of teaching
in Iowa. In 1892 he was graduated from the New Brunswick Theological
Seminary, and on September 14th, of the same year, was ordained at
Grand Rapids, Michigan, and sailed for Arabia on October 19th. From
the day of his arrival on the field to the day of his death his first
thought was gospel work for the Arabs. He was of a practical turn
of mind, and had no visionary ideas nor desire for martyrdom, but a
sturdy, steady purpose to make his life tell. He was eager to meet
men, keen to grasp opportunities, a cosmopolitan in spirit always and
everywhere. A student of character rather than of books, he preferred
to make two difficult journeys rather than report one. He loved to
teach and knew how to do it. Sympathy for the weak and suffering and a
hatred for all shams were prominent traits. He endeared himself even to
those from whom he differed in opinion or conduct by his whole-hearted
sincerity and earnest advocacy of his views. Arabia was to him a school
of faith; his Christian character ripened into full fruitage through
much suffering. Mr. Cantine wrote of him:
“Our personal relations were perhaps more intimate than those usually
known by the missionaries of our scattered stations. I was at Busrah to
welcome him when in 1892 he responded to our first call for volunteers,
and was also the one to say good-bye a few months ago as he left behind
him the rocks and hills of Muscat and Oman, among which the precious
cruse of his strength had been broken for the Master’s service. His
course was more trying than that of the others of our company, as he
came among us when the impulse and enthusiasm which attach to the
opening of a new work were beginning to fail, and before our experience
had enabled us to lessen some of the trials and discomforts of a
pioneer effort. A thorough American, appreciating and treasuring the
memory of the civilization left behind, he yet readily adapted himself
to the conditions here found. Of a sensitive nature, he keenly felt any
roughness from friend or foe, but I never knew him on that account to
show any bitterness or to shirk the performance of any recognized duty.
“Of those qualities which make for success in our field he had not a
few. His social instincts led him at once to make friends among the
Arabs, and while his vocabulary was still very limited, he would spend
hours in the coffee-shops and in the gathering-places of the town.
His exceptional musical talents also attracted and made for him many
acquaintances among those he was seeking to reach, besides proving
a constant pleasure to his associates and a most important aid in
all our public services. And many a difficulty was surmounted by his
hopefulness and buoyancy of disposition, which even pain and sickness
could not destroy.”
[Illustration: Hon. Ion Keith Falconer
Rev. Peter J. Zwemer
Bishop Valpy French
Kamil Abdel Messiah
FOUR MISSIONARY MARTYRS OF ARABIA.]
His short period of service in Arabia was longer than that of either
Keith Falconer or Bishop French and although their lives have perhaps
exerted a much wider influence, his has left larger fruitage on Arabian
soil. Of his sickness and death the Rev. H. N. Cobb, D. D., Secretary
of the mission wrote:
“When the station at Muscat was opened in 1893 it was assigned to him.
From that time until May of the present year Muscat was his home.
There he remained alone most of the time. Frequent attacks of fever
prostrated him, unsanitary and unpleasant conditions surrounded him,
the heat, constant and intense, often overwhelmed him; still he clung
heroically to his post, uttering no word of complaint, and quitting
it only when mission business made it necessary, or tours were to
be undertaken along the coast or in the interior, or when prolonged
attacks of fever and the preservation of life made a limited absence
imperative. When one considers all that he endured, the wonder is not
that he died, but that he lived as long as he did. No higher heroism
fought, suffered and at last succumbed at Santiago. He had become so
much reduced by repeated attacks of fever and rheumatism that it was
thought wise last year that he should leave Arabia and come home. His
desire was to remain until next year, 1899, but in the early part
of this year it became evident that he must not remain. When in the
latter part of May he left Arabia, his weakness was so great that he
was carried on board the steamer. On the homeward way, though writing
back cheerfully concerning his improvement to those whom he had left
behind, he grew gradually worse, and when he arrived in this country
on the evening of July 12, was taken immediately to the Presbyterian
Hospital through the kind assistance of a student for orders in the
Roman Catholic Church. Those who have visited him there, and they have
been many, have been struck by his cheerfulness, his hopeful courage,
his anxious desire to recover, that he might return to his field and
work, and yet his willing submission to his Father’s will.”
He clung to life with a grip of steel and laughed at the idea the
doctors had of his approaching death because he could not believe that
his work was done. “I have done nothing yet and when I go back this
time I will be ready to begin work,” were his words. Yet he had no fear
of death. His eye never turned away from Arabia; he longed to plant
the plough once more in the stony soil of Oman and to teach the most
ignorant the way of life. From his dying bed he sent to the committee
a report regarding changes necessary in the house at Muscat. His hand,
almost too weak to hold a pen, wrote on October 7th: “Dear father—I am
slowly but surely improving and may be home soon. Now the board has
authorized me to complete the building-fund. I have just secured $100
for a Muscat touring boat. Dr. and Mrs. Thoms sailed this morning for
Arabia, _laus Deo!_ I felt sorry I could not divide myself and go with
them ... patiently longing I wait His time.”
Even later than this, when he could no longer write, he dictated
letters regarding the work at home and in the field. On the evening of
Tuesday, October 18th, 1898, six weeks after his thirtieth birthday he
quietly fell asleep. “His time” had come. After a brief service, the
body was taken by loving hands to Holland, Michigan, and laid to rest
in the sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection. But his heart
rests in Arabia and his memory will remain longest where he suffered
most and where his fellowship was so blessed.
“O blest communion! fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine
Yet all are one in Thee for all are Thine.
Hallelujah!
“And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,—
Steals on the ear the distant triumph-song
And hearts are brave again and arms are strong.
Hallelujah!”
GEORGE E. STONE.
On the twenty-sixth of June, 1899, George E. Stone died of heat
apoplexy at the coast town of Birka a few miles east of Muscat. On
Thursday the twenty-second of that month, in company with a colporteur,
he left Muscat, for a few days change. He was in fairly good health,
although suffering from boils. Monday morning he had a little fever;
in the afternoon it came again and in a few hours he had departed. His
body was taken to Muscat by the colporteur and there buried near the
grave of Bishop French.
Rev. George E. Stone was born on September 1st, 1873, at Mexico, Oswego
County, New York. He was graduated from Hamilton College in 1895, and
from the Auburn Theological Seminary in 1898. Toward the close of his
studies his thoughts were drawn to the foreign field and he became a
“student volunteer.” The reason for his decision was characteristic
of the man. As he himself expressed it in his inimitable five-minute
speech at the General Synod: “I tried in every possible way to avoid
going to the foreign field but I had no peace. I go from a sense of
obedience.” He first heard of the special needs of Arabia through a
former classmate who represented Union Seminary at the New Brunswick
Inter-Seminary Conference in November, 1897. Shortly after he wrote for
information about the field, and without further hesitancy he applied
and was accepted. Ordained by the Presbytery of Cayuga at Syracuse, he
sailed with the mission party in August, 1898.
George Stone was a man of much promise; altogether a character of one
piece without seam or rent. Sturdy, manly, straightforward, humble and
honest to the core. He was entirely unconventional and did not know
what it was to try to make a good impression. He was simply natural.
With native tact and Yankee wit was joined a keen sense of duty and
a willingness to plod. Confessing that he was never intended for a
linguist he yet, by sheer application, made remarkably rapid progress
in Arabic. He made friends readily and was faithful to sow beside all
waters. No one could travel with him and not know that he was a fisher
of men; yet he was never obtrusive in his method. He had a splendid
constitution, and looked forward to a long life in Arabia, but God
willed otherwise.
He was at Bahrein from October 9th until February 14th, when he left
for Muscat to take the place of Rev. F. J. Barny, who had been ill
with typhoid and was going on sick-leave to India. He was the only
person available at the time, although it was not a pleasant task for
a novice to be suddenly called to take care of a station of which he
knew little more than the name. Without a word of demur he left Bahrein
at three hours’ notice and sailed for Muscat. There he remained alone,
but faithful unto death, until June, when Rev. James Cantine arrived to
take charge of the work. His letters were always cheerful; he seemed to
grasp the situation, and with all its difficulties to see light above
the clouds. The following sentences from a few of his letters show what
sort of man he was. They were written in ordinary correspondence and
with no idea that the words would ever be treasured: