THE ASSYRIA MISSION.
1849-1860.
Mosul is related to the Syria Mission in language, the written
Arabic being essentially the same in both fields; but there is
considerable difference in the language of preaching and social
intercourse, "Near Mosul, and especially on the east of the Tigris,"
writes Dr. Leonard Bacon, after his visit to Mosul, "the language is
Syriac, or as they there call it, _Fellahi_, the peasant language.
In other districts, Turkish and Koordish are spoken by many nominal
Christians. The people in Mesopotamia are very different from those
in Syria. They are of other sects. Instead of the Greek Church, the
Greek Catholic, and the Maronite, we find, as we travel east of the
Euphrates, and especially as we approach the Tigris, the Jacobite,
the Syrian Catholic or Romanized Jacobite, the Nestorian (almost
exterminated), and the Chaldean or Romanized Nestorian. And the
condition of these sects, as it respects the feeling of strength and
pride, is very unlike that of the sects in Syria. The Maronite
Church, and the Greek Catholic, are strong and proud in their
relation to Rome, and in the feeling that they are protected by the
great papal powers in Europe. The Greek Church may be likened to a
Russian colony in the Turkish empire. But the more eastern sects,
remnants of what were once the great Oriental Church, are in far
different relations, ecclesiastical and political. The Jacobites,
like the Nestorians, feel themselves weakened and depressed. The
Syrian Catholic and the Chaldean are not very firmly united to Rome,
and are little affected by European influences. Nor is this all. The
nominal Christians of Mesopotamia are of a very different race and
blood from those of Syria. The Greek element, which characterizes
the Arabic-speaking Christians west of the Euphrates,--an element of
subtlety of disputation, and of intellectual pride,--is not so
prominent in these more Oriental communities. For these and other
reasons, I cannot but think that this field should be occupied by
the brethren of the Mosul station, and be regarded as entirely
distinct from that of the Syria Mission. Mosul, as a centre of
missionary labor, is much more nearly related to Oroomiah, than to
Beirût, or Aleppo."[1]
[1] _Report of the Board for_ 1851, p. 82.
The visit of Messrs. Perkins and Stocking to Mosul, in May, 1849,
has been already mentioned.[1] That visit did much to prepare the
way for Mr. Ford, of the Aleppo station, who went there at the close
of 1849. He was kindly received by Mr. Rassam, the English Consul,
and had a joyful greeting from the little band of "gospel men," who
welcomed the return of their long lost privileges of Christian
instruction. Of the fifty who soon called upon him, about twenty
appeared to be decidedly evangelical, and ready to stand by the
Gospel at all hazards, though few of them gave evidence of a work of
grace in their hearts. Twenty more were enlightened and favorably
disposed; and the remaining ten might be regarded as indifferent or
hostile. This little band was the remainder of those who had been
brought under the influence of the Gospel, when our brethren of the
Mountain Nestorian Mission were detained in the mysterious
providence of God, to labor and suffer there. Yet the Lord had not
forsaken them, for Meekha, the ingenious mechanic, who had learned
the truth from Mr. Laurie, had given them the benefit of his
steadfast piety and diligent instruction.
[1] Chapter xx.
The reader knows, already, what led to the temporary occupation of
Mosul by the Board, in 1841. Its relinquishment in 1844, was chiefly
in view of the fact, that the Episcopal Church of the United States
had a mission then in Turkey, with the avowed object of laboring
among the Jacobites of Mesopotamia.[1] That mission having been
withdrawn from the Turkish empire, the operations of the Board were
naturally extended again to Mosul, to look after the fruits of
former labors, as well as to meet the exigencies of the mission in
western Koordistan.
[1] This was first known through Dr. Grant, who forwarded a copy of
a letter from seven of the American Episcopal Bishops to the Syrian
Patriarch at Mardin, as evidence of the fact. After stating the
object in sending the Rev. Horatio Southgate to reside for a time at
Mardin, with the hope of associating two others with him, to which
no exception could be taken, the Patriarch was informed by the
letter, that Mr. Southgate "will make it clearly understood, that
the American Church has no ecclesiastical connection with the
followers of Luther and Calvin, and takes no part in their plans or
operations to diffuse the principles of these sects."
The Rev. Dwight W. Marsh arrived at Mosul on the 20th of March,
1850, going by way of Beirût, Aleppo, Aintab, Oorfa, and Diarbekir;
from this last place he floated down the Tigris on a raft supported
by inflated goat-skins, in less than four days to his new home. He
describes the river as breaking through between bold precipices, and
scenery delightfully and unexpectedly romantic. Mr. Schneider was
his travelling companion from Aintab to Diarbekir, and Mr. Ford was
at Mosul to greet him on his arrival. The Rev. William Frederic
Williams removed from the Syria Mission to Mosul in the spring of
1851, going in company with Dr. Bacon and his son Mr. Leonard W.
Bacon, then travelling in the East. Salome Carabet, the eldest of
the girls in Mr. Whiting's family at Abeih, went with Mr. Williams,
to take charge of a school of thirty girls.
Dr. Bacon's visit to Mosul was in compliance with a request of the
Prudential Committee, that he would make his tour of relaxation and
improvement the occasion of visiting the several stations of the
Board in Western Asia. The attempt to proceed from Mosul to Oroomiah
through the mountains by the most direct route, was unsuccessful.
The two travellers, in company with Mr. Marsh, soon after crossing
the Zab, were set upon by Koordish robbers, who had been requested
by an Agha, near Akra, to kill them. So imminent was the peril, that
they united together in prayer to God, led by Dr. Bacon. Some
Moolahs seeing this, interceded for their lives, and though they
could not hinder their being plundered, they succeeded in sending
them safely to another Moolah, three hours distant, who was revered
for his sanctity; and it was through his resolute protection, under
God, that they effected a safe return to Mosul. Mr. Rassam gave
information of the outrage to the English Ambassador, and the Pasha,
in the following year, having received orders from Constantinople,
sent three hundred men, with three cannon, against the robber, who
was compelled to pay the full value of the losses, and much more
besides to the government.[1]
[1] _Missionary Herald_, for 1851, p. 295, and 1852, p. 388.
The Assyria Mission was so named for geographical reasons. Its most
northern station at this time, was Diarbekir. Dr. Grant passed
through this city with Mr. Homes, in 1839, Messrs. Hinsdale and
Mitchell passed through it in 1841, and Mr. Laurie in 1842. The city
was visited by Mr. Peabody in 1849, when he found several persons
awakened by reading the Scriptures and other books, brought there by
colporters. It was visited again by Mr. Schneider in the following
year, who reported that nearly fifty Armenians were accustomed to
meet on the Sabbath for reading the Scriptures. These were then
subjected to a severe persecution, and they sent to Constantinople
for a vizierial letter, which was granted, but brought little
relief. Dr. Azariah Smith organized a small church at Diarbekir in
the spring of 1851. It included both Armenians and Jacobites; but
only those were to be received who gave satisfactory evidence of
piety. As soon as this restriction was announced, the most
influential Syrians in the congregation resolutely set themselves to
secure admission to the church for all Protestants of good moral
character. For a time their efforts to unite the congregation in
opposition prevented attention to their ordinary business; and but
for the conservative spirit of the Armenian portion, perhaps the
audience, as a whole, would have gone back to their churches. In the
end all were persuaded to listen to a discourse on the subject, by
Dr. Smith, and the character of the young ruler, in Luke xviii.
18-30, was unfolded in connection with Acts ii. 43-47. The
exhibition of a church, as an association of men devoted, body and
soul, time and wealth, to the extension of Christ's kingdom, was new
to them. That repentance involved the ceasing to live for selfish
and worldly ends, and that faith in Christ included the consecration
of our energies to his service, was no part of their old creed. And
though these truths had been previously preached by the
missionaries, the practical connection in which they now came up
made them more impressive.
Mr. and Mrs. Dunmore, after spending some months at Aintab, arrived
at Diarbekir in November, 1851. They were accompanied by Stepan, a
graduate of the seminary at Bebek. This man, not long after his
arrival, was rudely arrested by a Turkish officer as a Protestant,
and cast into a prison, where he spent the night with vagabonds and
thieves. The Pasha refused Mr. Dunmore a hearing, but at once
ordered Stepan's release.
Mr. Dunmore had not yet a free use of the Turkish, which was the
language spoken by the Armenians; but an average of more than
seventy persons came on the Sabbath to hear Stepan, and new faces
were seen at every meeting.
Soon after the arrival of Mr. Dunmore, a young man of talents, named
Tomas, who had long been vacillating, boldly declared himself a
Protestant, and though his bishop offered him the monthly reward of
two hundred piastres for two years, paid in advance, if he would
leave the Protestants, his reply was: "Go tell the bishop that I did
not become a Protestant for money, and that I will not leave them
for money, even should he give me my house full of gold." Tomas was
then nineteen years of age, and had an orphan brother and two
sisters dependent on him. He had been a prosperous silk
manufacturer, but after he became a Protestant, both nominal
Christians and Moslems refused to trade with him, and he was
impoverished. It was decided to send him to the Bebek Seminary, with
his younger brother; and to send his older sister to the Female
Seminary at the same place; while Mr. and Mrs. Dunmore took the
youngest, a bright little girl of six years. In this young man we
have the future native pastor of the church in that city.
The persecutions inflicted on the Protestants at Diarbekir were
similar to those described elsewhere. But not only were the native
converts, in this remote city, oppressed in every possible way, but
the missionary reports himself as being grossly insulted, and even
stoned in the streets whenever he went abroad.
About this time Mr. Marsh performed a missionary tour to Mardin,
through Jebel Tour, a branch of the great Kûrdish range of mountains
which crosses the Tigris above Jezirah, and goes westward toward the
Euphrates. These rugged, though not lofty mountains, cover fourteen
hundred square miles, and form the stronghold of the Jacobites.
Their ecclesiastical capital is Mardin. "High up the mountain's
side," writes Mr. Marsh, "with a steep descent of six or seven
hundred feet to the plains, the city wall mounts up still higher,
three hundred feet or more; and a large castle on the mountain top
crowns the view." Here he found several persons favorably inclined,
and recommended the place for a missionary station.
The Rev. Henry Lobdell, M. D., and wife, reached Mosul in May 1852.
They came through Aintab, Oorfa, and Diarbekir. Such was the desire
of the people of Aintab for a missionary physician to take the place
of Dr. Smith, that four hundred and twenty of them signed a petition
in a single evening, requesting him to remain; but he felt
constrained to give them a negative. He speaks with pleasure of his
brief sojourn at Oorfa, which he describes as beautifully situated
on the west side of a fertile plain, and retaining many marks of its
ancient greatness.
In the ten days which Dr. Lobdell spent with Mr. Dunmore at
Diarbekir, he was impressed by the hold the reformation was taking
in that place. At the same time, he and his missionary brother had a
startling illustration of its hostility to the Gospel. They were
looking at the great mosque of the city, formerly a Christian
church, and in the words of Mr. Dunmore, "As we were standing in
front of it, in the public highway, examining its architecture,
several lads came up and began to insult us and to order us away. We
did not notice them, but went further from the mosque, and stopped
to examine some old marble pillars. Soon, however, we found a rabble
about us, who began to jerk our garments. I then turned and spoke to
them, and they instantly rushed upon us like tigers. They seized Dr.
Lobdell's hat, threw it into the air, and began to beat him. One
ruffian seized me by the throat. By main strength I loosed his
grasp, and was moving off, when two men tried to wrest my cane from
me, but did not succeed. We retreated as last as possible, but when
we got out of the reach of their hands, they resorted to throwing
stones, some of them weighing two or three pounds. One hit Dr.
Lobdell in the side, and we saw no alternative but to run for our
lives. We went immediately to the Pasha, taking one of the largest
stones with us, and made a statement of the facts in the presence of
the council. He refused to do anything more than to send a man to
inquire who was in fault, the ruffians, or we! He said he knew
nothing about us."
In a tent supported by a raft of one hundred and twenty inflated
goat-skins, Dr. and Mrs. Lobdell floated down the Tigris to Mosul.
"The Arabs, who swam out upon their goat-skins, and the Kûrds armed
to the teeth upon the shore, were alike unable to touch us, as the
river was unusually high and swift. I do not remember having enjoyed
four successive days so much. The scenery is grand, equaling that of
the far-famed Hudson. It might not wear as well, but it is unique
and wonderful." Mr. and Mrs. Williams were there to welcome them.
Mr. Marsh was absent on a visit to his native land, from whence he
returned with his wife in May, 1853. He was accompanied as far as
Aintab by Rev. Augustus Walker and wife, and from thence to
Diarbekir, by Messrs. Schneider and Walker. Mr. Dunmore's
congregation had then risen to nearly two hundred hearers.
Mr. Marsh was especially struck, on returning to Mosul, with the
greatly improved singing of the congregation, which he thought was
now better there than at Diarbekir, Aintab, Constantinople, or
Beirût. This was due to the unwearied pains taken by Mr. Williams,
though the people seemed to have a better ear for music than
elsewhere in Western Asia.
Dr. Lobdell found his medical profession a great assistance to him
as a preacher of the Gospel. Jacobites, Papists, and Moslems came in
considerable numbers, and he preached the Gospel alike to all. He
was overworked, and it was perhaps a favor to him that the judge was
stirred up by Popish priests, as the Moslems affirmed, to forbid the
Mohammedans coming to his preaching. The judge was willing that they
should call upon him for medical aid, if he would not preach the
Gospel to them; but the doctor declined administering to the body,
unless he could, at the same time, explain to them "the words of
Jesus" (which all Moslems professed to receive) for the benefit of
their souls.
Salome Carabet returned to Syria, very much in the manner of Rebecca
of old, to become the wife of the young pastor at Hasbeiya; and the
female school was thus deprived of its teacher.
A visit by Dr. Lobdell to the Yezidees in October, 1852, developed
interesting and valuable information. Their doctrines he regarded as
a strange fusion of Mohammedanism and Christianity with the
philosophy of the older Persians.[1]
[1] See _Memoir of Dr. Lobdell_, pp. 213-227; also _Missionary
Herald_ for 1853, pp. 109-111.
In June, 1853, Dr. Lobdell travelled through Koordistan to Oroomiah.
One of his objects was the improvement of his health; but he greatly
desired, also, to confer with the brethren of the Nestorian Mission,
and to preach the Gospel in the regions between. He took with him a
native, who not only spoke the Syriac and Arabic, but the Turkish
and Koordish.[1] "He came to us," wrote Dr. Perkins, "for the
benefit of his impaired health. Yet was he buoyant as a lark, being
overjoyed to find himself in our happy circle, after his perilous
journey across the mountains." Two days after his arrival he was
seized with a fever which proved severe and obstinate. But he
recovered, and was able to give much thought to the somewhat
peculiar method of proceeding in that mission; in which no separate
Protestant community had been formed, and no church organized;
though the missionaries had the communion by themselves, to which
they invited only those whom they believed to be truly regenerated.
His preconceived opinions had been somewhat adverse to the plan, and
he and his brethren at Mosul had adopted other methods. But he wrote
to the Secretaries of the Board his approval of the main policy of
his brethren in Persia, as justified by their peculiar
circumstances, and ratified by the blessing of Heaven. He specified
some things in which he thought more decided measures might be
taken; but advised that the mission be left to follow the leadings
of Providence, until a crisis should come in the Nestorian Church,
and then to act as they should deem wise at the time.
[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1854, pp. 18-22.
Before returning, Dr. Lobdell made an excursion of three weeks in
the province of Azerbijan, going as far as Tabriz. It was while he
was at Gawar, on his way home, that Deacon Tamo was liberated from
his long imprisonment. Messrs. Rhea and Coan accompanied him to
Mosul. Dr. Lobdell represents the two highest peaks of the Jelu
Mountains as distinctly visible from Mosul. Every step through
Koordistan reminded him of the devotion, courage, and energy of Dr.
Grant.
Some difficulties existed in the Protestant community at Diarbekir,
growing out of the old leaven of baptismal regeneration, from which
the church itself had not been thoroughly purged. The church then
contained eleven members,--eight men and three women. Six of the men
were Syrian Jacobites, and four of these were formerly deacons in
their church. The difficulties encountered by Dr. Smith in 1851,
when he declared his intention of admitting to the church none but
such as were truly pious, and baptizing only them and their
children, were now revived.
In view of these things, a meeting of the Assyria Mission was held
at Mosul for ten days, in March, 1854. It was then decided that
Messrs. Marsh and Lobdell should return with Messrs. Dunmore and
Walker, and assist in reorganizing the church at Diarbekir. Out of
twenty candidates whom they examined, eleven were accepted; and, in
the presence of three hundred persons, were organized into a new
church, with a creed and covenant.[1] Dr. Lobdell had a hundred
Christian patients daily while there; but the Pasha still continued
to refuse protection, and the missionaries were still hooted and
stoned in the streets. They believed, however, that the Gospel had
taken such hold in the city as to insure its ultimate triumph.
[1] I find, in the archives of the Board, an extended analysis of
the baptismal question by these brethren, in its bearing on the
Oriental Churches.
The church was subjected to a severe trial, immediately after its
reorganization. The Mosul brethren had to return to their own work;
it was necessary for Mr. Dunmore to join his sick wife at Arabkir;
and as it was unsafe for Mr. and Mrs. Walker to be left alone at
Diarbekir, they went to Aintab for the summer. The Koords robbed
them on their way, but they returned in the autumn, accompanied by
David H. Nutting, M. D., and wife. Mr. Dunmore remained at Arabkir
till the spring of 1855, when he commenced the important station of
Harpoot. The missionaries at Diarbekir now enjoyed the very welcome
protection of W. R. Holmes, Esq., the newly appointed English
Consul. Dr. Nutting's professional services to the Pasha, in a
dangerous illness, soon after his arrival, gave him an introduction
to almost all the officers of the government and influential Moslems
in the city, and obtained for him a public expression of the Pasha's
gratitude. Instead of stonings in the streets, without redress, as
under the preceding Pasha, the missionaries received respectful
treatment, and had free access to all classes. Mr. Walker found the
state of things better than he anticipated. Certain disaffected
members of the Protestant community had repented of their errors.
Persecution had not shaken the faith of any in the church. During
the winter the congregation increased to two hundred. In April,
1855, six were admitted to the church, and not less than four
hundred and fifty persons were present. The accessions were not only
from the Armenian and Jacobite Churches, but also from the Catholic
Church, though fierce persecution and imprisonment were the
consequence. A large portion of the Jacobite Church were convinced
of the truth, and of the emptiness of their own rites and
ceremonies. Some openly avowed that they retained their connection
with their old church merely to fight against it, hoping to turn the
whole community to Protestantism. The people demanded that the Bible
should be read in the church in Turkish or Arabic, instead of the
ancient Armenian and Syriac, which were, to most of them, dead
languages; and the Jacobite bishop was forced to yield. Finding, at
length, that this must rapidly undermine the priestly influence, he
secretly removed the Scriptures from the church. But the word of the
Lord was not bound, for the deacons or readers carried their own
Bibles.
At the out-station of Hainè, Stepan, the native preacher who had
come to Diarbekir with Mr. Walker, was enabled by divine grace to
maintain his position. The Pasha at one time ordered him to leave,
but he thought it right to disobey. At a subsequent period, being
stoned and beaten in the streets, he was obliged to flee, and the
Protestants suffered much oppression. Through the energetic efforts
of the Consul at Diarbekir, the persecuting governor was deposed,
and another appointed.
Across the river from Diarbekir is Cutterbul, a large Christian
village, where were twenty Protestants, with several church-members;
and the missionary, in his occasional visits, gathered almost as
large a congregation as the one at Mosul. The preaching would have
been acceptable in Turkish, or Koordish, though the people preferred
the Arabic. Cutterbul was but a sample of what the villages on all
sides of Diarbekir might have been, were the station fully manned.
The Protestants at Mosul obtained no relief from their oppressive
taxes until January, 1854; when, through the efforts of Lord
Stratford de Redcliffe, a firman was addressed to the Pasha for
their protection. The Pasha then ordered an equitable rate to be
made for them, which encouraged the Protestants, and disheartened
their enemies. The year was one of progress. Five were added to the
Protestants, and two to the church, while there was a decided
improvement in the attention given to preaching. The boys' school
prospered, with forty pupils. Women were to some extent instructed
in reading the Bible by the scholars, who went from house to house
for the purpose. Thirty adults were taught at their houses, and
thirty others attended the male school regularly. The church-members
gained a reputation for strict honesty, temperance, and general
excellence. The mere existence of a church upon an apostolical
basis, worshipping God in simplicity, told with force against the
corrupt hierarchies.
The excitements at Mosul during the Crimean war, were often intense.
At one period there was great danger of an outburst of Mohammedan
fanaticism, so that the Christians were in terror for their lives.
Stringent orders from Constantinople aroused the local authorities
to do their duty, and the insolence of those ready for deeds of
blood was checked. Early in May, 1854, a volunteer reinforcement of
two thousand Koords for the Turkish army, was quartered in the city,
and certain outrages indicated an approaching massacre of Christians
and Jews. The evil was averted by the bold decision of the English
Consul, who went to the Pasha, and demanded that the Koords be sent
at once out of the city. They were soon on their way to the seat of
war.
Mosul was regarded as free from miasma; but the heat of the summer
days was exhausting to the foreigner, and the natives also suffered.
For a hundred days in 1853, the mercury stood, at two o'clock in the
afternoon, as high as 98º; and for eighty days it ranged from 100º
to 114º. The highest point in the shade was 117º. It was much the
same in the following year.
As the summer advanced, the health of Mrs. Williams declined, and it
became obvious that she could no longer endure the excessive heat.
She was desirous of removing to a cooler climate, and Dr. Lobdell
went with her and her family to the mountains. When they were near
the Zab river, they met Dr. Wright from Persia, who had come with
the hope of conducting them to Oroomiah. The rest is told in the
words of Dr. Lobdell. "We could go no farther, and on the 29th of
June, at sunset, were on our way towards Mosul; our sick friend
being anxious to go there to die, but most of the time unconscious
of the incidents and fatigues. On the last day of June we reached
Akra; a litter was made, twelve Christians bore it, and the next
morning at six o'clock, while moving on the road, that litter became
a bier! An hour farther, and a rough box way made ready for her we
had loved. The children knew not what had happened. At evening, the
box was bound upon a mule, and we rode silently for fourteen hours,
and crossed to the ruins of Nineveh shortly after sunrise. The flag
of the English Consul was thrown over the body as we crossed the
Tigris. A narrow house had already been prepared for it outside the
walls (not even the dead body of a Moslem could have been carried
within the gates); Mr. Marsh had a short service; and there we laid
the wife, the mother, down to her last sleep."[1]
[1] Memoir of Dr. Lobdell, p. 330.
The Crimean war inflamed Mohammedan fanaticism all over Western
Asia. Such was its influence in Persia, that the missionaries
requested Dr. Lobdell, in view of his recent visit, to go to Bagdad,
and represent their critical situation with reference to the Persian
government to Mr. Murray, English Ambassador to Persia; who was to
be there in January, 1855, on his way to his post. He accordingly
commenced his voyage down the river on the 10th of January, upon the
customary raft of skins, and on the fourth day reached Bagdad. The
ambassador arriving on the 8th of the following month, Dr. Lobdell
had a satisfactory interview with him, which probably led to the
subsequent visit of Mr. Murray to Oroomiah. His return was by
post-horses in fifty-eight hours. The road made a long curve to the
east to avoid the Arabs of the desert. The nearest route would have
been on the west side of the Tigris.
Ten days after this, Mr. Marsh and Mr. Williams went to Diarbekir to
attend the second annual meeting of the mission. The next day Dr.
Lobdell prepared a sermon, talked with a crowd of papists, preached
to eighty-five patients, delivered his sermon to the church in the
evening, and went to bed with a chill and fever. On the day
following, he wrote his last letter, and made his last entry in his
journal. He gradually grew worse, and was at times delirious. A
message was sent for the absent brethren, but, owing to the
disturbed state of the country, it was the twentieth day of his
sickness, and only five days before his death, when Mr. Marsh
reached Mosul. As he entered the room, the Doctor threw his arms
about his neck and wept. The church-members prayed earnestly for his
recovery, and were eager to serve as watchers. He passed easily
away, as the Sabbath was closing, on the 25th of March, 1855, to his
eternal rest. His age was twenty-eight.
Dr. Lobdell's life was short to fill four hundred pages in Professor
Tyler's excellent Memoir, but the volume is none too large. His
life, measured by activities and results, was long. His character
was many sided, and every side glowed with consecrated ardor. He
made the most of himself as a man, a scholar, a Christian, and a
Christian missionary. Like the Apostle Paul, "forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which
are before," he pressed "toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus."
He had a strong desire to go as a missionary to China, but the
author, in his official correspondence, though seldom venturing to
oppose such predilections, was so impressed with the difficulties to
be overcome at Mosul, and with Dr. Lobdell's adaptation to that
field, that he called his attention to it, and soon received the
reply that he would go, as soon as he could get ready; and from that
time the new field grew in his affections. That he could or would
have done more for the kingdom of Christ, in any other sphere of
labor, no one who attentively considers his remarkable life will
venture to affirm.
Dr. Henri B. Haskell succeeded Dr. Lobdell at Mosul, and reached
Diarbekir, with the Rev. George C. Knapp and wife, appointed to that
station, in April, 1856. The Christian worship at Diarbekir had now
assumed a regular form. There were four services on the Sabbath. At
the first, an hour after sunrise, fifty persons assembled for prayer
and praise, and the meeting was conducted by two native teachers;
one reading his own translation of Doddridge's "Rise and Progress"
in Turkish; the other, after having read through Dr. Goodell's
"Notes on Matthew," and a volume of his sermons in Turkish, had
commenced reading discourses of his own. The second was at the time
of "noon cry" from the minarets, when Mr. Walker or Baron Tomas, now
returned for a time from Bebek, preached to about two hundred
persons, who listened more attentively than most American
congregations. At the ninth hour (three o'clock in the afternoon)
Baron Tomas met a Bible-class of sixty or eighty of the more
intelligent Protestants. The last preaching service, at the tenth
hour, was usually attended by a hundred or a hundred and fifty
persons. From forty to seventy persons were present at the Friday
evening meeting. The monthly concert was well attended, and with
increasing contributions. Mrs. Walker had a Wednesday afternoon
meeting for the women, at which from twenty to forty were present.
The Gospels had been translated into Koordish by the native helper
at Hainè, and copies of Matthew had been received from the press in
Stamboul. As soon as the good deacon Shemmas could get the box
containing them from the custom-house, he retired to his room and
poured out his soul in thanksgiving to God for his great mercy, and
prayed that He would now greatly bless his Word in this new tongue.
The church at Diarbekir was doubled in 1856, and all belonging to
the mission, both male and female, found full employment in
imparting instruction. Baron Tomas returned to Bebek, to spend two
years in the study of theology.
Excepting the death of the second Mrs. Williams, on the 25th of
December, there was nothing in 1857, specially demanding attention.
Mr. Williams spent the summer of 1858 in Mardin, intending to occupy
it as a new station, and returned in November to make it his
permanent residence. He found the people, as he expected,
exceedingly bigoted, yet hardy and intelligent. There was an
important advantage in the pure mountain air of the place. The
language was Arabic, as at Mosul. More than half of the twenty
thousand inhabitants were nominal Christians; there were three
Arabic-speaking villages within six miles, and the whole of Jebel
Tour was accessible. He found the Romish Church stronger than he had
expected, having a Papal-Syrian patriarchate just established within
the city. He was received by the ecclesiastics with bitter
denunciations. For a time, no one dared to acknowledge himself a
Protestant, though many Mohammedans called upon him, and seemed to
appreciate his very intelligent and gentlemanly conversation and
manners.
Subsequently a papal priest, to whom, in former years, he had given
a Bible, joined himself to the missionary, and patiently endured
severe persecution. But the most encouraging case was that of an
influential merchant named Meekha. He was originally an Armenian,
and, thirty years before had become a Papist, and carried over one
hundred houses with him. He was the champion of the papal party. His
conversion was on this wise. The priest just mentioned had sown much
Gospel truth among his disciples, and among them was a son-in-law of
Meekha. At length the old man, provoked by an instance of dishonesty
and falsehood in his bishop, and unable to read himself, sent for
his son-in-law to read to him the Gospel. The young man was kept
reading for three days, until the Gospels and Epistles were all
finished. Amazed to find his religion opposed by the whole spirit
and teachings of the divine oracles, Meekha sent for the priests and
they came. "Prove me your doctrines from the Bible," said he.
Convinced, from their manner of reply, that they had nothing to say,
he ceased from the worship of the Virgin, and declared himself a
Protestant; and his wife was as sincere and earnest as he. Though
father, mother, and three unmarried daughters were excommunicated,
and subjected to continued insults, their souls were overflowing
with joy and thankfulness that the Gospel had come to them.
Speaking of this family, Mr. Williams says: "I have never witnessed
such amazed eagerness as that with which, for the first time,
they comprehended that salvation is without money and without
price--absolutely free and gratuitous. It was to them _news_--good
news; and when I call to mind Meekha's impetuous temperament, and
see him listen with such docility to Christ's teaching, I cannot but
hope that, though imperfectly sanctified, the 'good work' is begun
in him, which God's grace will complete. He accepts no new truth
without a challenge, and nothing short of a 'Thus saith the Lord,'
will give it currency with him. At one of my evening lectures I
alluded to Isaiah's statement, 'All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags,' when two or three spoke up: 'What 's that?' On
repeating it they were incredulous, and demanded chapter and verse.
I gave it to them next day, and it has taken hold of them like iron.
I have seen Meekha since throw that verse into a crowd of opposers
with such force as to start them from their seats with an emphatic
'God forbid,' and the most positive denial that such a verse could
be in the Bible. When I turned to the passage, and put the book into
their hands that they might read it for themselves, they could not
believe their own eyes, but continued poring over it, reading
carefully from the head of the chapter; and this very day some of
them came in to ask what it meant, and so changed in their manner I
could hardly believe my eyes. Before, obstinate, dogged,
unreasonable; now, meek, docile, and asking what the will of the
Lord is. One said, 'That went like a dagger to my heart, and I slept
none all that night.' And when to-day, I turned to Rom. iii. 26,
Eph. ii. 8-9, and Rom. iv. 1-4, they listened as children. Truly the
word of the Lord _is_ a sharp sword, piercing to the heart."
Mr. Knapp's health forbidding a longer residence at Diarbekir, he
commenced, in May, 1858, a new station at Bitlis, a healthy place
several thousand feet above the level of the sea. Dr. and Mrs.
Haskell were with them during the latter half of the summer, and
spent the summer of 1859 at Mardin; but Mr. and Mrs. Marsh and Mrs.
Lobdell decided to remain at Mosul. In May, Mr. and Mrs. Marsh were
called to part with their second and only surviving child. A
fortnight later, Mrs. Marsh herself had a severe attack of fever,
but soon recovered. The fatal attack was three months later, and her
death occurred unexpectedly. The thermometer in the early part of
the night before, stood at 113º. During the day it was 120º; and on
the night of her death it was 100º on the roof, where they slept.
She had had a slight illness for a few days, and it now became a
burning fever, with delirium, and all remedies proved vain. She died
on the 12th of August, at the age of thirty-two, after a residence
of six years at Mosul, as an earnest and faithful laborer. Her
mother and her only sister had died before reaching the age of
thirty, and it is possible Mrs. Marsh might not have lived as long
in her native land, as she did at Mosul. "Yet it is probable," as
her husband wrote at the time, "that the heat, so unusually extreme,
cutting the leaves from the tree in our court by thousands, and
causing many natives of the country to fall dead by the roadside,
was the immediate occasion of her death."
Mrs. Lobdell found reason, in the necessities of her children, for
returning to America, and in April, 1860, she bade adieu to the
little band of women, who, for eight years, had sat at her feet to
learn of Jesus. She reached her native land in August, in company
with Mr. Marsh.
Mosul remained unoccupied during the summer, the heat at that season
being found too great for endurance; though the climate is agreeable
for nearly three fourths of the year. The summer retreat prepared by
Dr. Lobdell at Deira, near Amadiah, was distant seventy miles, or
four days' travel, and it required at least nine days to reach
Mardin.
There were but two or three places in Turkey where missionaries, up
to this time, had had such marked success as in Diarbekir. The
church, at the close of 1859, numbered sixty-one, and after the
April communion, seventy-three. Rarely did a communion pass without
some additions. Protestants were a recognized power among the
people, and their influence was extending. Books were eagerly sought
after and paid for. Illegal taxes had nearly ceased in the city
itself. After a weary struggle of nine years, the assessment of the
tax-roll for the Protestants was made upon a satisfactory plan,
which bid fair to be permanent. The commercial standing of the
Protestants was above that of any other sect, though there were no
wealthy men among them. But the increase of the congregation had
been retarded by the want of sufficient accommodations for public
worship. The lamented removal of Mr. Holmes, the English Consul, to
a more desirable consulate in European Turkey, while it was a great
loss to the mission, threw his house upon the market, and it was
purchased for a place of worship at less than half its cost. It
required only slight alterations, and could be indefinitely
enlarged. The members of the church subscribed a thousand dollars
towards its purchase, and a certain amount was granted by the Board.
The school for boys, and the one for girls, were both eminently a
success. At Cutterbul, half the village was Protestant and the rest
more than half so, and the place of prayer would not hold the
congregation.
In 1860, the stations of the Assyria Mission were brought within the
field of the Eastern Turkey Mission, and the Assyria Mission ceased
to have a separate existence.