THE ARMENIANS.
1864-1866.
A reactionary movement took place among the Mohammedans of the
capital in 1864. The government had encouraged the introduction of
European science. Men high in civil positions had delivered courses
of lectures on history and other topics, in a surprisingly liberal
spirit, and to audiences embracing hundreds of Turks. A "Literary
and Scientific Gazette," published monthly under the auspices of a
native "Oriental Society," discussed questions of political and
social economy from an occidental stand-point; and the press was
active in issuing pamphlets and books by native writers, indicating
and promoting a new intellectual life. All this the devotees of the
"Old School" regarded with suspicion. They were even more alarmed by
the religious liberty, which had been successfully claimed for
converts from Mohammedanism, who had been openly baptized, and lived
unmolested as Christians. The government had some time before been
led to discourage Christian education by missionaries and other
foreigners, when they could do this indirectly and under plausible
pretexts; and they were somewhat rigid in their censorship of the
religious press. The Scriptures, however, were allowed to be printed
and circulated in the Arabo-Turkish, or sacred character, and no
objection was made to simple expositions of Christian truth in that
language.
But when copies of Dr. Pfander's book[1] were brought to
Constantinople, which defended Christianity against Mohammedanism,
and assailed the latter, it was detained at the custom-house; yet
copies got abroad in some way, without foreign agency, and were
sought by Mohammedans who were interested in the great question it
discussed. A Moslem published a bitter reply; and in July, the
manifest increase of both Christian ideas and pantheistic infidelity
among the people, and the growing excitement among the fanatical
party, began to alarm the government. There was believed to be a
somewhat large body, who wished to reform the Mohammedan faith; and
it was said that a petition was presented to the government, by some
Moslems calling themselves Protestants, for a mosque in which to
worship in their own way.
[1] Dr. Pfander, was a highly respected missionary of the (English)
Church Missionary Society. The work was printed in London.
The fears of the Sultan were aroused. For several weeks spies beset
the missionaries at every step. Finally, on a set day, several
Turkish converts were arrested, and cast into prison, some of them
being treated with great indignity. On the next day, the printing
presses used by the missionaries were seized and put under seal, and
rooms occupied by English missionaries, and the bookstore of the
American mission and the two Bible Societies were also closed by the
police.
These proceedings, being in direct violation of rights secured by
treaty, were at once met with a decided protest from Mr. Brown, who,
in the absence of the American Minister Resident, was the
representative of his government; and after some delay, the British
Ambassador, Sir Henry Bulwer, also sent in a remonstrance. An
examination of the bookstore discovered no prohibited publications;
and after two days it was allowed to be re-opened. The printing
offices were likewise restored. A correspondence followed between
Sir Henry Bulwer and the Turkish authorities, and between him and
the missionaries resident at Constantinople. The Mohammedans
professed not to oppose their people's embracing the Christian
religion, but only such reckless proselytism, as endangered the
public peace; and they declared their willingness to release the
imprisoned converts if it could be done consistently with their
personal safety. But the missionaries believed that the intention of
the Turks, and also the tendency of Sir Henry's movements, were
seriously to curtail their own liberty and that of their converts,
and greatly to embarrass the propagation of the Gospel, as well
among all the nominally Christian sects, as among the Moslems.
The immediate effect of these things was to prevent attendance by
the Turks on preaching, the circulation of Christian books, and
personal intercourse with the missionaries.
The position of the entire field, at the opening of 1864, from
Constantinople to Diarbekir on the East, and to Antioch on the
south, was one to interest the intelligent observer. The laborers
employed in this wide and populous region, not including the
Bulgarians, were--
Missionaries 36
Missionary Physicians 2
Female Assistant Missionaries 41
Native Pastors 20
Licensed Native Preachers 43
Teachers 83
Other Helpers 58
---
Total 283
The printing was done at Constantinople for all the missions; and
that reported for the year 1863 was as follows:
In Armenian 1,821,000 pages
In Armeno-Turkish 1,128,000 "
In Arabo-Turkish 264,000 "
In Greek 6,000 "
In Bulgarian 1,896,000 "
---------
Total 5,115,000 "
Of Turkish Scriptures twice as many copies had been distributed as
in previous years. More than twenty-five thousand copies of the Word
of God went into circulation, in at least twenty different
languages. The following is a statement of the Scriptures prepared
and printed, under the supervision of the missionaries of the Board,
from 1840 to 1863:
In Modern Armenian 37,500
In Ararat 8,000
In Armeno-Turkish 6,500
In Greco-Turkish 55,000
In Koordish 13,000
In Bulgarian 4,000
In Hebrew-Spanish 23,000
Armenian Psalms 14,000
-------
Total 161,000
Of these, there were published at the expense of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, 100,000; of the American Bible Society,
54,000; and of the American Tract Society (New York), 7,000. In
addition to the above printed in Turkey, 10,500 copies of the modern
Armenian version were printed in New York, from electrotype plates
of the American Bible Society; and 5,000 copies of the same version
were printed in London, by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
The number of churches was forty-seven, with one thousand nine
hundred and thirteen members. There had been received from the
beginning two thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. The efforts
to bring the churches to the point of self-support were not always
appreciated. The people were poor, and sometimes felt their poverty
more than they should, and in almost every church there were members
who were ready to resent any transfer of pecuniary responsibility
from the mission treasury to themselves. Moreover, it was sometimes
not easy for a native pastor, with the tastes acquired during his
education, to live in a manner that would put him in sympathy with
his people, and encourage the hope of their soon assuming his
support. Nor was it easy for the native pastor, from his different
stand-point, to appreciate the responsibilities of the missionary. A
union of the churches was needed, but had been delayed by their
distance from each other and their poverty.
It has been already stated that the Western mission resolved, in
1862, to remove the two seminaries from Constantinople to Marsovan.
Mr. Leonard and his wife and Miss Maria A. West were already there.
Mr. Dodd and family, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Miss Fritcher now
removed thither. The delightful harmony and Christian zeal which
existed at this station when the mission passed the resolution, had
been followed by painful disagreements. Through the mistaken zeal of
a young school-teacher, anxious to effect some changes in the
school, the community were betrayed into an attempt to obtain
exclusive control of the funds of the Board appropriated to
education. This eventually led to a struggle with the mission for
the possession of the meeting-house and a dwelling-house connected
with it, which had been purchased by the Board a few years before.
Much ill feeling existed both in the church and the community while
this was in progress, and for about six weeks a large number
withdrew, and set up public worship in a private house, with the
teacher at their head. This separate movement was then given up, and
there was soon a return of peace and mutual affection; but neither
of the schools were opened before the next year.
The accessions to the missions in Turkey, in the time now under
review, were Messrs. Walter H. Giles, Henry A. Schauffler, Lucien N.
Adams, and Albert Bryant, with their wives; also Miss Clarissa C.
Pond.
The working force of the mission at Constantinople, consisting of
Drs. Goodell and Riggs, and Messrs. Trowbridge, Herrick, and
Washburn, was quite too small for the demands of that great
metropolis, and for the general work of the mission which had to be
performed there. The Rev. Isaac G. Bliss, agent of the American
Bible Society, rendered valuable assistance in the care of the book
department. Dr. Hamlin was no longer able to render the services he
had performed. Robert College was allowed the use of the Seminary
building at Bebek, belonging to the American Board, until another
building could be erected. Its twenty students paid forty pounds
each year for board and tuition. Its successful beginning in 1862,
under the munificent patronage of its founder, and the care of its
President, Dr. Hamlin, and Professors Perkins and Henry A.
Schauffler, was a subject for general congratulation.
The unhappy dissensions of the Protestant civil community had in
some degree subsided; but the Pera church, maintaining its attitude
of disaffection, sought patronage from the English Bishop of
Gibraltar, offering to receive Episcopal ordination for the pastor,
and to become a "Reformed Armenian church," which should reject the
grossest errors of the Armenian Church, while it approximated
closely to it in government, worship, and usages. Inquiries were
instituted by the proper ecclesiastical authorities, and
encouragement was withheld from the movement.
It is painful to state that Vertanes, so often favorably mentioned
in the early history of this mission, and frequently actuated by a
zeal which the missionaries judged too ardent, became now
disaffected, and it was necessary to dismiss him as a helper.
The Pera church, at the time of writing this history, is in full
fellowship with the missionaries and its sister churches.
The Protestant community at Broosa suffered severely in a
conflagration, which consumed nearly the whole Armenian quarter of
the city. The neat Protestant church edifice, and the dwelling of
the native pastor, happily escaped.
A railway connects Smyrna with Aidin, a city of about fifty thousand
inhabitants, eighty miles distant. A church had been formed there
previous to 1865; four persons were added to it in that year, and
the brethren were grateful for their native pastor, but desired a
missionary who could preach in Greek, as they could reckon up scores
of Greeks who seemed ready to receive the truth.
Adana remained unoccupied after Mr. Coffing's death, until March,
1863, when Mr. Goss arrived, and, afterwards, Dr. and Mrs. Goodale.
The native pastor was faithful and intelligent. Though neither
church nor congregation was large, there was an advance in the
observance of the Sabbath, also in self-support and general
benevolence. The increased price of the cotton grown on its
magnificent plain, as the result of the war in America, had given an
extraordinary impulse to the business of the place, and to the
spirit of commerce. There was much to encourage hope in respect to
this important station.
Dr. Nutting, being transferred from the Eastern to the Central
mission, was stationed at Oorfa, where his brother was laboring; Mr.
and Mrs. Montgomery were added to the Central mission; but the
return home of Mr. and Mrs. White and of Dr. and Mrs. Goodale, by
reason of a failure of health, made the number of missionaries in
that field less than it had been the year before.
Yet such was the advance in Aintab, that the mission resolved, at
its annual meeting in 1864, that there was no longer a call for the
residence of a missionary in that city. The church had increased to
three hundred and fifty members, and had two native pastors, both of
decided ability, sound judgment, harmonious views, and deep-toned
piety; and it was thought that the proper development of the
pastoral relation, and the most economical disposal of missionary
strength, would be promoted by leaving the station to native
cultivation, with occasional visits of missionaries. As, however, a
second church was to be formed, and a new house of worship to be
built, mainly with funds from England placed under Dr. Schneider's
direction, the mission approved of his remaining there till these
things were done, when he was to go--as he has since gone--to
another field, where he might hope, with his uncommon power as a
preacher in the Turkish language, to reap a harvest like that which
had resulted in the truly wonderful ingathering of souls at Aintab.
The division of the church took place in the following year. When
the time had fully come for it, the senior pastor proposed that each
head of a family choose between them. The result was, that the two
churches, thus formed, each contained about one hundred and fifty
members. The number in each congregation, small and great, was
between eight and nine hundred. The preponderance was slightly in
favor of the first church and congregation, of which Baron Avedis
was pastor. Baron Krikore became the pastor of the new church.
On the Sabbath when the formal separation took place, the customary
services were exchanged for addresses suited to the occasion by the
pastors and Dr. Schneider, and there was the same intermingling of
joy and sorrow which is sometimes witnessed on similar occasions in
our own land. Those who went out made the sacrifice cheerfully. In
the afternoon they assembled in their place of temporary worship,
which was filled to its utmost capacity. "Though uncomfortably
crowded, pleasure beamed in every countenance. The Confession of
Faith and the Covenant were read and adopted anew by the church, all
the members standing. Then they were addressed on subjects
appropriate to their circumstances, with a view to rousing them to
new zeal and activity. When all was over, little groups were engaged
in lively conversation over the whole house, showing that all were
especially interested in what had transpired."
The Female Boarding-school at Aintab, under the care of Miss
Proctor, was now firmly established, having overcome much prejudice
against female education, and against the regulations necessary in
such an institution. It had fourteen pupils, who acquitted
themselves well at a public examination in the presence of a deeply
interested assembly.
In the high school for young men at the same station, under the very
competent instruction of Baron Alexan, twelve candidates for the
ministry were taught in secular branches, to whom lectures were
delivered in the departments of theological study by Drs. Schneider
and Pratt. At an examination of this school in the church, in the
presence of several hundred persons,--including six Moslems of
prominent social positions, most of whom listened for several hours
with the deepest interest,--the scholars gave highly satisfactory
proofs of mental ability and discipline; while the simplicity of
their piety, and their readiness to labor where divine Providence
should call them, gave good promise of their future steadfastness
and usefulness. It was then resolved to remove the Theological
School to Marash, and place it under the instruction of Dr. Pratt
and Mr. Goss, assisted by Baron Alexan, and that none but pious
young men should be admitted. The course of study was to occupy
three years; and so much of their own personal expenses were to
devolve upon the students, or their friends, as might test their
character, and furnish a healthful stimulus to the Protestant
community on the subject of education for the ministry.
The Theological Seminary at Harpoot sent forth its first class of
eighteen young men near the close of 1863. Eight of these had been
licensed as preachers of the Gospel, and nearly all the rest were
employed at out-stations, as catechists and teachers. Some were
expecting to be soon ordained as pastors. The demand for additional
laborers was urgent, because of the very general increase in the
size, as well as number, of the congregations.
Social meetings for the study of the Scriptures were found to be so
influential for good in the Harpoot district, that the Armenian
ecclesiastics of the Old Church sought to counteract their influence
by the same expedient; but the result disappointed their hopes. In
Malatia, they appointed a meeting for such readings every evening in
the week, in each of the twenty-four wards of their part of the
city. Their intention was to have the Scriptures and the church
books read in the ancient language; but the people insisted on
having the Bible alone read, and read in the spoken language. So
every night the Word of God, in the vernacular, was read and
commented on in twenty-four assemblies of from forty to sixty
persons.
Of more significance was the fact, that many of the local
communities, besides the one at Harpoot, were taking upon themselves
the support of their pastors and preachers, and were beginning to
relieve the Board of the expense of their schools. A missionary
spirit was also springing up. The churches in the cities were
beginning to care for the villages. Missionary societies were
formed. In one of the out-stations of Harpoot, the school boys had
an evangelical society. On Saturdays they met and had prayers,
singing, and the reading of a tract; and the next day they went out,
two and two, to the houses of such Armenians as did not come to the
Protestant place of worship, and asked the privilege of reading from
the New Testament. Being children, they often found a hearing where
older persons could not. A boys' missionary society in Diarbekir
bore the expense of a scripture reader in a large Armenian village
nine miles distant. A like association of men paid seven eighths of
the salary of a helper in another village. Subsequently, a door
being found open in an unhopeful village near the city, the native
brethren hired a house, and each Sabbath sent one of their own
number to spend the day as a scripture reader. A similar zeal was
manifested at Bitlis by a number of young men, who were studying at
their own charges.
But there were trials. Some of the young men in the Harpoot Seminary
refused to exercise the self-denial necessary to live on the means
allowed for their support, and returned to their homes; and a few of
the graduating class preferred to enter secular business, rather
than accept the salary offered. This was not without its uses, as it
confirmed a wholesome principle, and was the means of bringing some
men, after a time, into the service under a more just apprehension
of the true value of the ministry.
The Eastern Turkey Mission was painfully afflicted in 1865 and 1866.
The three families at Harpoot each lost two children; and Mrs.
Williams was called to her rest, depriving the mission of a highly
valued and beloved member, and leaving her husband alone, in the
sole charge of a difficult station. Mr. and Mrs. Richardson were
obliged by illness to visit their native land, and the Arabkir field
was placed under the permanent care of the Harpoot station.
The Eastern mission had now ten missionaries, with as many female
assistant missionaries, six native pastors, seventeen licensed
native preachers, twenty-five native teachers, and thirty-two other
helpers. The out-stations had increased to forty-seven, eighteen of
which were connected with Harpoot. The average attendance at the
regular religious services was over two thousand and two hundred;
and many more heard the informal preaching of colporters and other
assistants. Twenty-two Sabbath-schools embraced one thousand and
four hundred pupils. There were sixteen churches, with a membership
of four hundred and fifty, of whom sixty-eight were admitted on
profession of faith in 1864, and one hundred and twenty were women.
The number of registered Protestants was three thousand five hundred
and thirty. Besides four hundred adults receiving instruction, there
were one thousand five hundred children in fifty common schools, of
whom more than five hundred were girls. The girls' boarding-school
at Harpoot had forty-two pupils. The Misses West and Fritcher, from
Marsovan, had been very usefully connected for a time with this
school, in consequence of the return home of Miss Babcock. Miss
Clarissa C. Pond was now connected with the school, and early
succeeded in gaining the language. The mission was much encouraged
by a growing interest in education, especially among the women.
Parents who, a few years before, thought it wholly unnecessary, if
not a disgrace, for their daughters to read, and who could hardly be
induced to allow them to attend school, now gladly paid considerable
sums for their tuition. This advancing spirit of intelligence was
seen, not only among those who were brought directly under the
influence of missionary labor, but also among the Armenians
generally, compelling their ecclesiastics, in some places, to open
schools of their own. So, also, to keep the people away from the
Protestant chapels, extra services were established in Armenian
churches, in which the Bible was read and explained, and prayer was
offered in the modern or spoken language. In the village of Ichme,
they even went so far as to open an opposition prayer-meeting, a
female prayer-meeting, and an evening meeting; and societies were
formed in several places professedly to carry the Gospel to
neighboring villages.
There was much suffering from poverty, this year having been one of
special trial in this respect, but there was great liberality on the
part of the churches. In the Harpoot district, "there was a
promptness in paying their pastors, preachers, and teachers," says
the report of that station, "which would put to shame some richer
and more enlightened communities, even in Christian America. The
sums paid by the people for the support of pastors, schools, chapel
building, the poor, and for other benevolent objects, amounted
during the year to $1,224 (in gold), and would have been larger had
not the mass of the people been unusually poor, even for them." Two
things are noted that were especially cheering in regard to them:
"First; so soon as they become interested in the truth, they
earnestly desire a pastor of their own, and, _when necessary_, are
willing to pay according to their ability for his support. Secondly;
they are easily pleased, and are not fickle minded; do not desire,
but rather oppose change. The preacher who has once been given to
them, almost without exception they learn to love; and having
learned this, they do not wish to part with him."
Mr. Williams was at Diarbekir in February, and found the church in
great prosperity under the pastorate of the Rev. Tomas Boyajian. For
a year the station had had no missionary; and it was a year of high
prices, almost a famine, and great stagnation in business throughout
Eastern Turkey. At the same time, owing to the trouble in
Constantinople, the Turkish officials were more averse to
Protestants than ever before. Sickness, too, had prevailed,
thirty-three having been buried at Diarbekir from the congregation
over which the young pastor was settled. "Yet," says Mr. Williams,
"the city work is in advance of any _one_ thing at Harpoot. The
congregation at the Sabbath-school, three fourths of whom are
adults, numbered three hundred and thirty-nine, and I wish those
whose contributions have aided in planting this vine, could have
looked upon the clusters of faces which were studying the Book of
Life, and heard the hum of voices asking and answering questions!
They would have felt that there are some places where the missionary
work is _not_ a failure. The figures I have not by me, but since Mr.
Walker has been absent, the church has increased, the congregation
has increased; and that it is not an idle increase is shown by the
fact, that this one congregation has, in the year of the
missionary's absence, contributed four hundred dollars for the
support and spread of the Gospel; for schools, two hundred and
forty; for the poor (a year of high prices and great want), two
hundred and seventy-five; and for the national head at
Constantinople, forty."
The year 1865 was signalized by the death of two very useful
missionaries,--Rev. Edward Mills Dodd, and Rev. Homer Bartlett
Morgan. Mr. Dodd died of cholera at Marsovan, on the 19th of August.
He was a native of New Jersey, and his first labors were among the
Jews of Salonica, commencing in April, 1849. In 1863, he was
transferred from Smyrna to Marsovan. Mr. Barnum, of Harpoot, who was
there at the time of his death, speaks of him as a sincere Christian
and an earnest missionary, working up to and often quite beyond the
strength of his feeble constitution. "His first missionary language
was Hebrew-Spanish, of which, I have been told, he had a fine
command. When he was transferred to the Armenian work he learned the
Turkish, which he used with much more than ordinary correctness; and
some of the best sermons which I have heard in that language were
from him. He devoted considerable attention to Turkish hymnology,
and many of the best of the Turkish hymns now in use were
contributed by him."[1]
[1] See _Missionary Herald_, 1865, pp. 380-383.
Mr. Morgan died at Smyrna on the 25th of August, at the age of
forty-one. He was from the State of New York, and obtained his
education at Hamilton College, and at the Union and Auburn
Theological Seminaries. He joined the mission to the Jews at
Salonica in 1852. After that mission was relinquished, he removed,
in 1856, to Antioch. Seven of the remaining nine years of his life
were spent in that place, whence the great Apostle went forth on his
first foreign mission; and the last two at Kessab, in a perfectly
successful effort to restore unity to a divided church. The failing
health of Mrs. Morgan rendered a visit to her native land
imperative. Being detained ten days in the malarious atmosphere of
Alexandretta by the non-arrival of their expected steamer, Mr.
Morgan took the fever. Supposing it to be only an intermittent, they
embarked for Marseilles, but on reaching Smyrna he was too ill to
proceed farther. There, in a missionary family, he had the best of
attendance, and after a week of delirious wanderings, he finished
his earthly course, and was laid to rest in the cemetery of the
Dutch hospital. His first wife was taken from him at Salonica, his
first-born at Antioch, a second child at Bitias, and a third at
Kessab; and the father sleeps in Smyrna, his old home.
"Far from thee
Thy kindred and their graves may be,--
And yet it is a blessed sleep,
From which none ever wakes to weep."
Repeated bereavements chastened the strong and decided character of
Mr. Morgan. He grew in the grace of patience, and in spirituality
and self-abnegation. He was an indefatigable worker, and was fitted
to exert, as he did, a commanding influence on the policy of the
mission. He soon made himself familiar with the Turkish language,
and never wearied of studying its beautiful structure, and wrote
some of the best Turkish hymns. The well known hymn,--"Not all the
blood of beasts"--he clothed with not a little of the strength and
power of the original.[1]
[1] See _Missionary Herald_, 1865, pp. 383-385.
The year was also signalized by the death of Rev. Hohannes Der
Sahagyan, pastor of the church in Nicomedia, and widely known as one
of the two young men who first attached themselves to the teaching
of the missionaries in Constantinople, also for his consistent
piety, earnest zeal, and the severe persecutions which he suffered
at different periods, as a follower of the Lord Jesus.
A scene at the ordination of a native pastor at Perchenj, a village
two hours from Harpoot, graphically described by Mr. Williams, has
its chronological place here. It was in a large garden, with the
pulpit under the wide-spreading branches of a mulberry-tree, and
mats and carpets spread out in front. "Around the pulpit sat the
council,--lay and clerical delegates, representing most of the
evangelical ministry in this part of Turkey; then the regular
Protestants of Perchenj, Harpoot, and the villages about, to whom it
was a 'festa,' as was evident from their dress. Outside these were
the partially committed ones, who, though they did not 'dress up'
for the occasion, seemed to have taken the day for it; and again,
outside that company, were men drawn in by the interest of the
occasion from their work, with their field dresses on, tools in
hand, leaning on their long handled spades, bending forward to catch
question and answer, wholly unconscious of the picturesque finish
they gave to the scene.
"In the afternoon exercises, the pastor of Ichme and the pastor of
Harpoot took prominent parts. The same was expected also of the
pastors from Arabkir and Shapik, but unfortunately they were not
present. The sermon was by Mr. Allen, and was moving and effective.
It was very difficult to count the audience, at least from where I
was. If I could have exchanged places with some of the boys, and
hung myself among the mulberries, perhaps I could have succeeded
better. Nothing in all the exercises seemed so American as the
natural way in which the boys took to the trees. We judged there
were, in the forenoon, about seven or eight hundred, and in the
afternoon, six or seven hundred. To the last, everything was quiet,
and all went off pleasantly. As you know, the community furnish half
the pastor's salary from the start."
In October, four months later, there was an ordination of much
interest at Cesarea, where the churches in Constantinople, Marsovan,
Sivas, and Yozgat were represented. It was in one of the most
important centres of influence. Gregory the Illuminator was ordained
in Cesarea, and he went forth from that place to his great work of
Christianizing the Armenian nation nearly sixteen hundred years ago.
There were born the great church teachers of Cappadocia, Basil of
Cesarea and his brother Gregory of Nyssa. In the middle of the third
century, the bishop of Cesarea protested against the usurpations of
the bishop of Rome.
"Wednesday morning the council met and organized. The whole day was
given to the examination of the candidate, which was held in the
church, and was attended by from two to three hundred persons. The
candidate occupied three fourths of an hour with a statement of
personal experience and reasons for entering the ministry. This he
made in a manner so clear, forcible, and satisfactory, that the
council felt the need of asking scarcely a question. To the
congregation it was especially impressive, showing how far removed
from the religion of forms, to which they have so long been bound,
is that faith which works by love. Three hours were then devoted to
an examination of his theological views, and he gave unmistakable
evidence of being a man accustomed to think for himself,--one who
has well-defined opinions, and is prepared to defend them."[1]
[1] _Missionary Herald_ for 1866, p. 53.
Mr. and Mrs. Walker, having recruited their health in their native
land, were once more at their post in Diarbekir. What a change since
the arrival of Mr. Dunmore among that people in the year 1851. Mr.
Walker thus describes his reception: "When two or three hours
distant from the city, we began to be met by companies on horseback;
and farther on by those on slower mules and donkeys, and as we
neared the city, a great company of men, women, and children gave us
their hearty 'Hoshgelden' (word of welcome); and the children of one
of the schools stood in line by the side of the road and sung
theirs. Thus we were escorted by two hundred or more, through the
gates of the city, and to our own home, which was swept and
garnished for our coming."
The church, during a part of Mr. Walker's absence, had been without
the services of its native pastor, he being at Constantinople; but
one of their own number, who had been educated at the Harpoot
Seminary, was engaged to supply the pulpit, and not a service had
been omitted. The Sabbath-school never fell below one hundred and
forty. Divine goodness spared the lives of the Protestants, with a
single exception, while fifteen hundred persons were dying in the
city of the cholera. The active piety of the church seemed to be
quickened by their trials; and thirty, out of one hundred and one
members, were wont to go out two by two, by appointment, to spend
Sabbath evenings in religious conversation at different houses. The
result was that their place of worship became over-crowded, and a
new building was prepared for a second congregation that would seat
four hundred and fifty persons.
Miss Maria A. West, of the Western Turkey mission, spent the winter
in the family of Mr. Walker, and took a very active interest in the
success of the women's weekly prayer-meetings. The attendance at
these meetings sometimes arose to seventy, and the results of labor
in this direction can hardly be over-estimated.
Ararkel, a very valuable helper at one of the Bitlis out-stations,
died in August, 1865. He was a most active opposer of the truth when
the gospel was first preached in Moosh, but one of the first to
accept it, being convinced by reading the Scriptures. He was
persecuted unto imprisonment, but bore all patiently. Being
naturally gentle and discreet, he was peculiarly fitted to be a
pioneer, and was sent as a helper to Havadorik, a village on the
mountains, among Koords, known as the dwelling-place of thieves and
robbers. He there labored for two years, until his death, with much
success. "His mouth," says Mr. Burbank, "was always full of
evangelical doctrines. His prayers were mingled with tears, and his
Bible was wet with them." He died of fever, leaving two little
orphan boys and an aged mother without any means of support. The
Armenians cheerfully granted him a burial in their own cemetery.