THE ARMENIANS.
1865-1867.
An association of native churches and pastors, called the Harpoot
Evangelical Union, was formed at Harpoot near the close of 1865. It
was to serve the purpose of a Home and Foreign Missionary Society,
also of an Education and Church Building Society. It could form new
churches, ordain and dismiss pastors, grant licenses to preachers,
and depose the unworthy. It was to hold an annual meeting, and such
other meetings during the year as circumstances might require.
Aggrieved church-members might appeal to it under certain
limitations.
A similar association had been formed, September, 1864, by the
churches in the Broosa and Nicomedia districts, called "The Union of
the Evangelical Armenian Churches of Bithynia," embracing eight
churches, and afterwards including the churches of Constantinople.
Another was formed at Marsovan, at the close of 1868, and called
"The Central Evangelical Union," and another in Central Turkey,
called "The Cilicia Union."
The effect of these organizations has been to enlarge the views of
churches and ministers, and make them feel that the work of
evangelizing the people around them belonged naturally to
themselves. It also greatly developed a spirit of self-denying love
for their work among the pastors and preachers, and a spirit of
unity and independence among the churches. "Five years ago," writes
Mr. Wheeler in September, 1866, "the pastor of the Harpoot church,
now President of the Union, when we put upon his people an increased
amount of his salary, inquired, 'By what right do these men put this
burden on my church?' But when, in this meeting, a proposition was
made to get the pastor's salaries from other sources than their
churches' treasury, this same man, aided by the pastor at Arabkir,
so conclusively showed the folly and hurtfulness of the proposal,
that the mover of it dropped it in shame. The Arabkir pastor said:
'This is to enable the pastor to be independent of the people, and
to say, What have you given me that I should be your servant?' The
force of this pithy argument is felt here, where ecclesiastics rule
and devour the people, and where the tendency in that direction is
so strong that we need to guard against it in laying the foundations
of the churches. He then went on to show that it would be for the
good of the churches to support their pastors. They would thus love
and heed them more. 'The pastor,' he continued, 'who should get his
support from any source outside of his own people, would be beyond
their control.' In a subsequent discussion on supporting the poor of
the church, he said: 'I am fully persuaded, that every church is not
only able to support its poor, but its pastor too.'"
The truth of this last remark was strikingly illustrated by the
church in Shepik, the poorest and feeblest in the field, which for
thirteen years had paid almost nothing for preaching, and was
supposed to be a permanent pensioner on missionary bounty; but all
at once it raised enough for the support of the preacher, besides
nearly two hundred dollars in gold for the building of a house of
worship. A blind preacher from the Harpoot Seminary had been the
means of this unexpected result. He was known as John Concordance
(Hohannes Hamapapar), on account of his wonderful readiness in
quoting Scripture, chapter and verse. He was sent to Shepik, and
hearing the complaints of the people about their poor crops and
poverty, replied: "God tells you the reason in the third chapter of
Malachi; where he says, 'Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have
robbed me.'" Then taking for a text, "Bring ye all the tithes into
the storehouse," etc., he inculcated the duty and privilege of
setting apart _at least a tenth_ of their earnings for God. The
people were convinced, and after paying half of their crops,
according to usage, to the owner of the soil for rent, and a tenth
to the government for taxes, as they must needs do, they gave
another tenth to the Lord's "storehouse,"--a room they had set apart
for receiving the tithes. And the sermon of this blind preacher, and
the example of these poor people, have wrought wonders in the
land.[1]
[1] Mr. Wheeler's _Ten Years on the Euphrates_, chap. x. For an
abstract of John Concordance's sermon on _Tithes_, preached at
Harpoot, see, _Missionary Herald_ for 1868, pp. 308-312.
During the year and a half after its formation, this union held five
general meetings. The last of these was the most interesting. Eleven
native pastors were present,--from the Harpoot district, and from
Cesarea, Tocat, Adiaman, and Cutterbul. Nearly all the helpers of
the Harpoot, Diarbekir, and Mardin fields were there, with twenty
delegates from churches and from congregations that expected soon to
have churches. There were also present the members of the
Theological school, Mr. Livingston from Sivas, and Mr. Williams from
Mardin, who had brought his students to spend the summer in the
school at Harpoot.
On the 15th of November, 1866, Mrs. Adams died at Aintab, of
consumption, much lamented.[1] Mr. Richardson, on his return from
America, joined the Broosa station. Mr. Williams was then alone amid
the multitudes using the Arabic that centered around Mardin and
Mosul; and Mr. Walker was the only missionary at Diarbekir, with at
least a thousand towns and villages in his district. Yet it was a
year of decided progress in Turkey. The missionary force received an
unwonted accession in the years 1866 and 1867. Five ordained married
missionaries arrived in the last of these years, namely, Messrs.
Henry T. Perry, Theodore Baldwin, Henry S. Barnum, Charles C. Tracy,
and Lyman Bartlett, with as many unmarried female assistant
missionaries,--Misses Roseltha A. Norcross, Mary E. Warfield,
Harriet Seymour, Sarah Ann Closson, and Mary G. Hollister. Mr. Henry
O. Dwight, son of the distinguished missionary, Dr. H. G. O. Dwight,
arrived at Constantinople as secular agent, with his wife, a
daughter of Dr. Bliss. Miss Mary D. Francis arrived in 1866, and was
afterwards married to Mr. Adams.
[1] See _Missionary Herald_ for 1867, p. 98.
Among other signs of progress was the increase of newspapers in
Constantinople, and one or two other cities of Turkey. In
Constantinople, five years before, a newspaper was rarely seen in
the hands of any one of the thousands of persons passing up or down
the Bosphorus and Golden Horn in the steamers which take the place
of the street cars of Boston or New York. Now it had become a common
sight, and newsboys thronged the thoroughfares with their papers, in
Turkish and other languages. The standard of journalism was not
high, but the thoughts of men were stirred. The influence of these
papers was generally adverse to the missionary work. Partly to
counteract this influence, the missionaries published, once a
fortnight, a small newspaper called the "Avedaper," or "Messenger."
It appeared alternately in the Armenian and Armeno-Turkish
languages, and had fifteen hundred subscribers scattered over
Turkey. Mr. E. E. Bliss, the editor, estimated the aggregate of
readers at ten thousand. One incident may illustrate its influence.
A villager living on the Taurus Mountains was so impressed with one
of the sententious speeches of President Lincoln, translated in the
paper, that he committed the whole to memory, that he might teach to
others its lessons of "malice toward none, and charity to all."[1]
[1] _Missionary Herald_, for 1867, p. 82.
The general progress towards right religious opinions, had led to a
division of the Armenians who remained in the Old Church into two
parties, called the "Enlightened" and the "Unenlightened." The
former was continually increasing, and had sharp contests with the
Unenlightened on questions of clerical control in civil affairs.
Their failure to secure even the partial reforms they sought
convinced them of the necessity of more radical changes; and an
Armenian paper announced a movement for the formation of a Reformed
Armenian Church; on the principle of restoring the purity of
doctrine and simplicity of worship, which they supposed existed in
their Church at the beginning. The same paper advocated the complete
separation of civil and ecclesiastical affairs; and announced that a
book would soon be published, setting forth the doctrines and
proposed form of worship for this new church. The new Prayer-book
made its appearance early in 1867. It contained a Creed; a Ritual
for Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Ordination, etc.; Forms for Daily
Prayer in the churches; and Hymns and Songs. Judged by the standard
of the New Testament, the book contained not a few errors of
doctrine, and sanctioned many superstitious practices; yet it was a
decided improvement upon the books in use in the Armenian Church.
The Armenians of the Old Church regarded the changes as very
radical, and the Patriarch denounced the book officially, and warned
his people against it.
"The most noteworthy part of the book is its Preface, which was
printed last, and may be regarded as the platform of the reformed
party. After giving a sketch of the history of the Armenian Church,
its original purity of doctrine and worship, and the subsequent
introduction of error and superstition, through the influence of the
Greek and Roman Churches, it declares that the Armenian Church has
come at last to be a mere 'satellite of Rome,' and that the time has
come to assert its independence, to cast off the 'ultramontane
influence,' to rescue the Church of their fathers from the 'Papal
claws.' Three particulars are then set forth in which a
'reformation' is needed. First, in reference to doctrine. 'The
Armenian Church has,' it is said, 'doctrines introduced from abroad,
which place faith in respect to salvation upon a wrong foundation,
transferring man's hope from God to things created and material.
Means are confounded with ends, and ends with means, and thus a
thick veil is interposed between the eyes of the people and the
simple doctrines of Christianity.' Secondly, 'The Church has now
rites and ceremonies (unknown in purer times), which are a
laughing-stock to the unbelieving, a grief to the truly pious, an
offense to all enlightened men, and which have converted our
churches into theatres, deprived worship of its spiritual character,
and made it like the shows of a fair.' In the third place, 'The
present relations of the clergy to the people are opposed to the
spirit and substance of Christianity. Instead of being teachers,
pastors, and fathers to the people, they claim to possess
supernatural authority, rule by the terrors of that authority, teach
the people only that which serves their own purposes, and are an
obstacle to every good work.'"[1]
[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1867, pp. 237-239.
For twenty years there had not been such a religious ferment in
Constantinople, as there was at the time of issuing this Reformed
Prayer-book. It was not a revival of religion. The question was not,
"What must I do to be saved?" but "What did our Church teach in the
days of its purity?" and "What are the doctrines of the Word of
God?" Meanwhile the advocates of reform were continually driven to
take higher ground; and such was their progress while carrying their
book through the press, that they were obliged to reprint some of
the first sheets, to make them conform to their new convictions. It
may be stated as an illustration, that baptismal regeneration was
taught in one of the original sheets, but in the reprint it was
omitted.[1] So far as is known, this book has never been used in any
church; but it is an index of the reform movement, and it has been
useful in awaking inquiry.
[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1867, p. 238.
Bible-women began to be employed in Constantinople early in 1866.
Five such women were supported by funds derived from the American
Bible Society, and were kindly received in Armenian families. They
sold many copies of the Scriptures, and met with much encouragement
in their work. At this time, wherever missionaries labored in
Turkey, large numbers of women were learning to read the Bible; and
the majority of them were usually found at the women's prayer
meeting.
The progress at Harpoot, only eleven years from the commencement of
the station, as described by Mr. Allen, is worthy of special
attention. The leaven of the gospel was permeating the mass of the
people. Many who persistently refused to be called by the unpopular
name of "Protestant," were evidently under the influence of
evangelical doctrines. The rising generation was growing up with
enlightened views. Many young men would have taken a stand at once
on the side of truth, but for the difficulty of separating from
their parents. Societies had been formed, consisting of several
hundred men not reckoned among the Protestants, for the purpose of
having good schools for their children, and plain practical
preaching in their churches. The magnates of one church had closed
its door against the native evangelical preachers, and placed two
Turkish soldiers to guard it. At another church the people were more
resolute, saying, "We built this church, and we will be martyred
upon its threshold, if necessary to defend our right to have the
Gospel preached to us." At this the chief men gave way, contenting
themselves with reporting the matter to the Patriarch at
Constantinople. As an additional motive, the party of progress
threatened to attend the services of the missionaries, if not
allowed to have a service of their own.[1]
[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1866, pp. 169-171.
Quite a number of the young men and women in the Protestant city
congregation dated their conversion from the "Week of Prayer." This
week was duly observed at Harpoot from the first, and in 1866, with
deeper religious feeling, than had ever been seen before. The
morning and evening prayer-meetings were kept up till the close of
May, when it was decided to discontinue the morning meetings, and to
sustain the others every day, one hour before sunset. Three fourths
of the congregation attended them regularly, and an earnest and
tender spirit was manifest in the remarks and prayers.
During this same week of prayer, Messrs. Burbank and Knapp, at
Bitlis, aided by the native preacher Simon, afterwards pastor of the
church, commenced a prayer-meeting at the dawn of day, which was so
crowned with spiritual blessings, that it was continued, daily, for
more than six months. The attendance increased from twenty to sixty,
and was at one time nearly a hundred. The church had then only five
members; and at the communion season in March, each of these five
men publicly confessed his sins, and formally renewed his covenant.
Many were in tears. Some in the congregation, who had thought
themselves Christians, when they saw the church thus making
confession, were amazed, and felt that they were themselves lost,
and literally cried, as did the publican, "God be merciful to me a
sinner."
This was the commencement of the first revival of religion in
Bitlis. Two meetings were held weekly for inquirers, at which
between forty-five and fifty were usually present, of whom from
fifteen to twenty-five were women. "Among the latter, was one over
seventy years of age, who, being in the previous winter too feeble
to walk through the deep snow to attend the meetings, had been
carried by her stalwart son. Now she was a weeping penitent, seeking
salvation at the foot of the cross, and that son was rejoicing in
the hope of salvation." Forty men usually attended the sunrise
prayer-meeting. Not as many of the fruits of this revival were
gathered into the church as might have been anticipated, because of
the very high standard--too high it would seem--which was required
for admission.
There had been great progress at Broosa. When Dr. Schneider left
that place in 1849, on his removal to Aintab, no church had been
formed, and his audience never exceeded fifteen natives, and
sometimes it was not more than eight. No Protestant community had
been formed, and in those days of fierce opposition very few were
ready to face the consequences of an open acknowledgment of what
they were convinced was the truth. But he found all this passed
away, on his visit there in 1866. There was then a church of fifty
members, and a Protestant community of one hundred and fifty,
chiefly young men of enterprise, and a Sabbath congregation of one
hundred and fifty. They had a beautiful house of worship, a
prosperous day-school, and an excellent native pastor. There were
many whose beards made them venerable. Dr. Schneider believed that
half the Armenians in the city were convinced of the truth.
The first evangelical church in Turkey, composed of Greeks, was
organized by the Union of Bithynia at Demirdesh, in November, 1867.
Mr. Kalopothakes was present from Athens. The church was composed
exclusively of evangelical Greeks, and six of its thirteen members
were women. Pastor Hohannes of Bilijik, on behalf of the Union,
welcomed them to the fellowship of the churches; which he said had
been lost through the departure of the Greeks and Armenians from the
gospel, but was now recovered. The preacher was a Greek, and a
native of the place.[1]
[1] The members of the church formed at Hasbeiya in 1851 (p. 376 of
vol. 1st) were seceders from the Greek Church, but were regarded by
the Syrian mission as of the Arab race.
The mission was sorely afflicted in September by the sudden death of
Mr. Walker of Diarbekir. The cholera was prevalent in that city, and
seemed to follow no laws. In the previous year, it had been almost
wholly among the Mohammedans; but this year, it prevailed most in
the Christian population. Mr. and Mrs. Walker removed to a khan
outside the walls. "His last sermons were from the texts 'The Master
has come, and calleth for thee;' and 'Except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish.' On Monday, September 10th, he went into the city,
spending some time over one stricken with cholera, besides customary
duties. Tuesday morning, after a somewhat restless night, he rose as
usual, and proposed a mission excursion to Cutterbul, but was
persuaded to remain at home and rest. The premonitory symptoms soon
appeared, but nothing peculiarly alarming, and as he had been held
back from over-exertion, and been very careful in diet, all were
full of hope. At the first whisper of illness the Christians
gathered to aid, and the faithful Shemmas, without Mrs. Walker's
knowledge, telegraphed to Mr. Williams, who started from Mardin at
one o'clock, P. M., on Wednesday, and riding all night reached
Diarbekir after sunrise to find that six hours before, September 13,
1866, his brother had gone 'to be with Christ.'" His age was
forty-five.
"Diarbekir was filled with mourning. Not Protestants alone, but
Moslems and Armenians, all were stricken. Such a funeral, as of one
who was a father to all, was never witnessed there before. The
native preacher conducted it appropriately and tenderly, praying not
only for the stricken there, but for those in his native land who
would so feel the loss."[1]
[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1867, pp. 33-37.
Mr. Walker was one of the best of missionaries. "His warm and
affectionate nature," says Mr. Barnum, "quickly gained the hearts of
the people wherever he went. His great desire was to see men coming
to Jesus; and this he never forgot, whether at home or abroad. I
have been with him not a little, and seldom have I seen an
opportunity for a personal appeal, though only for a moment, pass
unimproved."
The tribute to Mr. Walker's memory from his brother Williams, of
Mardin, who knew him well, and has so lately followed him into the
eternal world must not be omitted.
"His peculiar gifts were three:--1. He remembered faces, and
recalled the names which belonged to them. He knew everybody.
Ordinarily he needed to meet a man but once to recognize him ever
after. And this pleases men; it appeals to their self-appreciation;
they feel that they have made a permanent impression. Especially is
this a power among a people who look up to the missionary as
occupying a higher plane of civilization. It gives him a vast
influence over them.
"2. Partly as the result of this, but still distinct and beyond it,
he had a marvelous faculty of making every man feel that he was
especially an object of personal interest. Perhaps not that he alone
was such, but that he was one of those taken into the inner sanctum
of his affections. Love begets love, and believing that they were so
dear to him, he was soon very dear to them. And he was never lacking
in the outward expression of love. He was not afraid they would
think he loved them too much.
"3. He always had something to say. I suppose there is some good
done by public preaching, but it is the preacher who is ready, in
the face-to-face opportunity, who comes home laden with sheaves. Mr.
Walker was always ready. Meet a man when he might, where he might,
just the right word was on his tongue. And that warm grip of his
hand, into how many souls has it infused a new and spiritual life.
So he begot his children in the gospel; and by his sermons, which
were always thoughtful, he built them up into Christian characters,
as a workman who needeth not to be ashamed. Our Cutterbul deacon
says to me since his death, 'I _never_ saw such a man.' When he left
for Constantinople in 1859, perhaps one hundred men waited upon him
out of the city, and he spoke to every one, and repeated nothing,
but had a special word for each, exactly adapted to his case."
Mrs. Walker returned to the United States, with her four children,
in the following summer, and has since been recognized,--in
connection with a benevolent lady in New York city,--as sustaining
a relation of maternal guardianship to returned children of
missionaries.
At the close of the year Mr. Wheeler and others made a visit to
Choonkoosh, two days' journey from Harpoot. Many of the people came
several miles to welcome them, and crowds escorted them into the
city. "Nine years ago," says Mr. Wheeler, "I made my first visit
here in company with brother Dunmore, and we were hooted at, stoned,
and at last driven from our room, in the pouring rain and splashing
mud of a dark night." Now, every house seemed open to receive them.
"Their new place for Protestant worship testified to the remarkable
change. The men had brought all the timber, by hand, a distance of
from three to five miles, and it sometimes required thirty men to
bring one piece. Women and children brought water, earth, and
stones; and women were still busy in plastering the walls, so that a
meeting might be held there before we left!"[1]
[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1867, p. 108.
The foreign missionary spirit was being developed. The Harpoot
Evangelical Union resolved at Diarbekir, in 1866, to send a mission
into the wild region eastward of that city, where the Armenians,
living among the Koords, had lost all knowledge of both the Armenian
and Turkish languages, and were in the grossest darkness. A dozen
small churches, with a membership of hardly more than five hundred,
undertook to educate seven young men to go as their missionaries,
and the movement excited much enthusiasm. At the same time, the home
missionary spirit received strength. The brethren at Harpoot were
endeavoring to occupy fifty or more stations, within their home
field, at most of which there were a few persons somewhat
enlightened and more or less desirous of instruction.
A blessing followed. The week of prayer, in the opening of 1867, was
signalized by a revival at Harpoot.[1] There were indications of
deep feeling in the church; and on one of the last days of the week,
three of the most prominent men in the community openly identified
themselves with the Protestants. One of these, named Sarkis Agha,
became a very active and useful Christian. Feeling that he had been
a stumbling-block to others, he lost no time in going to the market,
and inviting twelve or fifteen of his most intimate friends, all men
of influence, to his place of business, and telling them of his
change of feeling. He expected only ridicule, but the majority were
affected to tears, and requested him to read the Bible and pray with
and for them.
[1] An interesting account of this revival, by Miss Maria A. West,
may be found in the _Missionary Herald_ for 1867, pp. 139-142.
It was winter, and the travelling was very bad, so that they could
not reach the more distant out-stations; but the members of the
church visited the principal ones on the plain. Among these was
Hooeli, about ten miles distant, where Mr. Barnum spent two days.
The whole congregation appeared to be interested, prayer-meetings,
morning and evening, were attended by from a hundred and twenty to
two hundred persons; and through the entire day, till nearly
midnight, the room of the missionary was thronged with inquirers. A
large number of those with whom he conversed, appeared to be truly
regenerated. Mr. Wheeler, on the following Sabbath, found the
interest more widespread. Four hundred persons crowded into the
chapel, and listened with fixed attention.
Three years before, there was not a Protestant in the place. One
year before, at the dedication of the chapel, when three hundred and
fifty persons were present, the audience was so rude that there was
the greatest difficulty in preserving quiet.[1] Both men and women
were now quiet and serious listeners. A still larger attendance was
reported on the following Sabbath, when more than a hundred failed
of getting into the house of worship. There was also a revival of
considerable power at Perchenj, another out-station, seven miles
from Harpoot.
[1] Mr. Barnum thus describes Miss Fritcher's meeting with seventy
or eighty females in this place, two years before: "The chapel was
nearly full of women, all sitting on the floor, and each one
crowding up to get as near her as possible. They were very much like
a hive of bees. The slightest thing would set them all in commotion,
and they resembled a town meeting more than a religious gathering.
When a child cried it would enlist the energies of half a dozen
women, with voice and gesture to quiet it. When some striking
thought of the speaker flashed upon the mind of some woman, she
would begin to explain it in no moderate tones to those about her,
and this would set the whole off into a bedlam of talk, which it
would require two or three minutes to quell."
Human nature is everywhere essentially the same. The people of
Hooeli being thus strengthened, they, with a little aid from abroad,
erected a larger and finer house of worship, and then began to
desire a new minister. Their humble and earnest but not eloquent
preacher, whose labors God had so blessed among them, would do, they
said, to gather the lambs, but not to feed the sheep. Contrary to
the advice of the missionaries, they called two popular men of the
graduating class, one after the other, but both declined, choosing
harder fields.
"Meanwhile their preacher was called to another place, and the
people came to the city, with their donkeys, to take him and his
family home. These were quietly sleeping at his house, expecting to
start on the morrow, when, at midnight, nine of the principal men of
Hooeli roused him from sleep, and began to beg pardon for their
rejection of him, saying, 'Come, get your goods in readiness, and go
with us.' It seems that they took their failure to secure the others
as a rebuke from God for their pride; and having met to pray, sent
these nine men to ask pardon of Garabed in person, while others
wrote letters asking his forgiveness, and begging him to come back.
Both parties then appealed to the missionaries, who declined to
interfere, advising them to pray and decide the matter among
themselves. They agreed to accept the preacher's decision as God's
will, and he after prayer and reflection, decided to return to his
old people. In the mean time, twenty of the women of Hooeli,
impatient at the delay, met also for prayer, and with difficulty
were prevented from going in a body to take their old pastor home.
But the brethren kept them back, and when at length he reached the
village, no other preacher ever had such an ovation in all that
region, within the memory of man."[1]
[1] _Ten Years on the Euphrates_, pp. 278-280.