THE NESTORIANS.
1864-1868.
Deacon Isaac, brother of the Patriarch, died in the early autumn of
1864, universally lamented. In character, as well as position, he
was a prince among his people. I abridge the account of him by Mr.
Rhea, who loved him as a friend.[1] Seen in his plain dress and
Simple manners, no one would have thought of him as once the
mountain chieftain, ready to break a lance with Koordish robbers.
Growing up amid some of the grandest scenery in the world, it had
its effect on his character; and that character the grace of God
moulded into symmetry and beauty. His intellect was strong, his
insight into human nature remarkable. The wily Persian official,
baffled by him and mortified, exclaimed: "We cannot manage _him_."
While he was accessible to little children, and poor distressed
women, there was a dignity which prevented undue familiarity. The
Patriarchal family were proud of him. He grew up in a land where it
was no shame for noblemen to lie, yet always spoke the truth. He
lived where bribery was practiced unblushingly, and his house was a
court-room for the settlement of numberless cases of litigation, yet
he took no reward for his services, much less to pervert justice.
"He grew up where little deference was paid to woman; yet took pride
in showing his respect for his wife Marta,--mentioning her name,
quoting her opinions, and treating her with the utmost kindness.
Their relation was a beautiful example of conjugal attachment, of
untold worth in such a land and among such a people. He was
naturally of a proud spirit, that could not brook an insult. Once,
when insulted by a French Lazarist, he sprung to his feet, and put
his hand to the hilt of his sword; but from that day he never wore
the sword again."
[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1865, p. 45.
Miss Fidelia Fiske died at Shelburne, Massachusetts, the place of
her birth, July 26th, 1864, at the age of forty-eight. She both
studied and taught at the Mount Holyoke Seminary, and partook
largely of the spirit of its founder, the well-known Mary Lyon. She
embarked at Boston in March, 1843, in company with Dr. and Mrs.
Perkins, Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard, and some others, and reached
Oroomiah in June. After laboring there with unprecedented success as
the Principal of the Seminary for fourteen years, the state of her
health constrained her return to the United States in 1858.
Up to her arrival at Oroomiah, the school had only day scholars, and
the pupils were of course in habitual contact with the vice and
degradation of their homes. She sought to make it a boarding-school;
and after two years the prejudices of the people had been overcome,
and the day scholars were all dropped. Her grand object was the
salvation of her pupils, and of their relatives who visited the
institution. After the first revival, in 1846, the school became the
centre of holy influence for the women. She, and her worthy
associate Miss Rice, found enough to do, day and night. When they
went to a village, the women expected to be called together for
prayer; and when these women returned the visit, they asked to be
prayed with alone. There was a revival almost every year of her stay
at Oroomiah; and probably few servants of Christ have had more
occasion for gratitude, in being the means of bringing others to
him, than Miss Fiske. When leaving Oroomiah on her return home, the
many women and girls who gathered around to bid her farewell, asked
"Can we not have one more prayer-meeting before you go, and in that
Bethel?"--meaning, her own room. There they prayed, that their
teacher "might come back to mingle her dust with her children's
dust, hear the trumpet with them, and with them go up to meet the
Lord." They were accustomed to style her "mother," and themselves
her "children."
Her usefulness after her return to the United States, was probably
as great as it ever had been. This was not owing to the predominance
of any one quality in her character, but to a combination of
qualities of mind and heart surpassing anything I have ever seen in
any other person. Her emotional nature was wonderfully sanctified,
and each of her powers being well developed, and all nicely adjusted
one to another, the whole worked with regularity and ease. Hence
that singular accuracy of judgment, and that never-failing sense of
propriety, for which she was distinguished. Hence the apparent
absence of fatigue in her protracted conversations and
conversational addresses. Hence the habitual control of her
sanctified affections over her intellectual powers, so that she
seemed ever ready, at the moment, for the call of duty, and
especially to meet the claims of perishing souls. She seemed to me
the nearest approach I ever saw, in man or woman, in the structure
and working of her whole nature, to my ideal of the blessed Saviour,
as he appeared in his walks on earth.
The amount of her usefulness was as extraordinary as her character,
and probably the tidings of no death have awakened so many voices of
lamentation over the plain of Oroomiah, and in the glens of
Koordistan.[1]
[1] See _Woman and her Saviour in Persia_, by Dr. Thomas Laurie, and
_The Cross and the Crown, or Faith working by Love, as exemplified
in the Life of Fidelia Fiske_, by Dr. D. T. Fiske.
Another death occurred this year, which was also sensibly felt by
the mission. It was that of Deacon Joseph, of Degala. Dr. Perkins
lamented the loss of his services in connection with the press, a
kind of labor for which his qualifications were unequaled among the
people. His well-balanced mind, his fine scholarship, the solidity
of his Christian character, his eminent services in this department,
especially the very important assistance he rendered in translating
the Old Testament from the original Hebrew, would have secured him
an honorable position in more enlightened lands.
In 1863 and 1864 Mr. Shedd made extended tours in his mountain
field. In the first, he crossed to Mosul, and from Oroomiah to
Amadia he travelled mostly on foot, in native snowshoes and
moccasins, with much fatigue and exposure. At Mosul, he enjoyed the
hospitality of Mr. Rassam, and had conferences with Mr. Williams of
Mardin. The second tour was in the autumn, and extended as far as
Tiary.[1] The mountaineers may be viewed, he says, in two very
different lights; first, as feeble, unreasonable, and lawless;
poverty stricken, and lacking in self-respect, and self-reliance;
connecting their interest in spiritual things too often with the
hope of temporal benefits. Then there are constant feuds between
villages, clans, and chiefs. The hopeful side is in the great
preparatory work that has been accomplished, the general
friendliness of the people, and the growing influence of the mission
helpers. The following tabular view will give some idea of the
mountain work in its incipient state, for, in some important
respects, it was in that state as late as the year 1863:--
Occupied Districts.
Gawar Tekhoma Amadia Rakan Nerwa Jeloo Berwer Total
No. of Christian
Villages. - 6 6 3 4 - - -
Estimated
Christian
Population. - 4000 - 250 300 - - -
When first
occupied by
Helpers. 1852 1856 1857 1861 1862 1862 1863 -
No. of Helpers
the Past Year. 4 4 2 1 1 4 2 18
No. of Villages
visited by
Preachers the
Past Year. 20 6 5 3 3 9 10 56
No. of Villages
with stated
Congregations. 5 3 3 1 1 2 1 16
No. of Persons in
Congregations. 88 55 55 15 10 90 35 348
No. of Sabbath
Schools. 3 2 1 1 1 2 1 11
No. in Sabbath
Schools. 42 25 25 8 7 75 25 207
No. of Regular
Day Schools. 2 - 1 - - 1 - 4
No. of Scholars. 21 10 8 5 5 28 3 80
No. reached by
Family
Visitation. 550 250 100 50 50 560 100 1660
No. of
Communicants. 20 7 4 1 1 9 - 42
No. of Candidates. 2 1 9 - 1 2 - 15
[1] _Missionary Herald_, 1863, pp. 358-363; 1864, p. 231.
Mr. Shedd visited the young Patriarch, in his second tour. The
leaders whom he met there from different mountain districts, were
surprised by the friendship shown to the missionaries by Mar Shimon,
and that they heard not a word against them in the Patriarchal
mansion. There were frequent interchanges of visits, and Mr. Shedd
was assured that the young Patriarch was well disposed towards the
mission and its labors. But there was no evidence that he had any
real conviction of the truth.
The seminary pupils were now working on a higher level. To a large
extent, the pupils were daughters of Nestorian helpers and other
pious parents, who had given them a Christian training. The contrast
was striking between their general appearance and that of the
earlier classes in that favored school. A considerable part of the
expense was now met by the parents of the pupils.
The Rev. Austin H. Wright, M. D., was the immediate medical
successor of Dr. Grant, at Oroomiah,[1] where he arrived July 25,
1840. To be thoroughly furnished for his work, he determined to
master the Turkish, Syriac, and Persian languages; and it was
doubtless his perfect acquaintance with these, coupled with his
knowledge of medicine, and the gentle courtesy of his manners, that
gave him so much influence among all classes of the people. "The
influence of Dr. Wright in Oroomiah," said an intelligent Nestorian,
"is that of a Prince." He is said to have spoken each of the
languages above named with a precision, fluency, and grace, rarely
equaled by a foreigner. In consequence of this proficiency, the
intercourse with the higher classes was to a great extent in his
hands. Persian gentlemen, polite and courteous in the extreme,
appreciated the dignified yet simple ease and grace with which he
met them. Having gone out alone, he was united in marriage June 13,
1844, to Miss Catherine E. Myers, who joined the mission in 1843,
and was then engaged in teaching. After twenty years his health and
the interests of his family demanded a visit to his native land.
Here he remained four years, devoting the latter half of that time
to a revision of the Syriac New Testament, preparatory to its being
electrotyped and printed in pocket form by the American Bible
Society. To this the Psalms were afterward added. Mrs. Wright and
four of the children remained in this country; but taking with him
his eldest daughter Lucy, he returned to Oroomiah in September,
1864. His return was joyful to him, and to the mission, and no less
so to the Nestorians; but in three short months the summons came,
calling him to a higher service.
[1] For a biographical account of Dr. Wright, see _Missionary
Herald_ for 1865, pp. 129-134.
It had been arranged that he and Mr. Rhea, should translate the
Scriptures into Tartar-Turkish for the benefit of the Mussulman
population of Azerbijan and the regions beyond; but Dr. Wright's
work was finished. His disease was typhoid fever, and during much of
his sickness he was unconscious.
In the twenty-five years of his service, he performed a great
variety of labors,--as a preacher, a physician, a co-laborer in the
department of the press, and, not least, as a shield to the poor
oppressed Nestorians; for he was greatly respected by their
Mohammedan rulers. And these duties he performed with marked
ability, scrupulous fidelity, and an almost unerring judgment.
In this year, also, died the Rev. Thomas L. Ambrose, on the 19th of
August. The three years he spent in the mountains were to him years
of suffering, the result of an ardent mental and moral temperament,
as well as of the labors he performed. He returned home in 1861,
hoping to resume his missionary work; but feeling that his country
had claims upon him, and receiving an unsolicited appointment as
chaplain of a New Hampshire regiment, he entered the service, was
wounded while passing from entrenchments to a hospital, and after a
few weeks died in the General Hospital at Fortress Monroe. In his
relations to the mission and the Nestorian people, he beautifully
exemplified the spirit of his Lord, in not desiring "to be
ministered unto, but to minister."
The harvests of 1865 were abundant, but there had been a famine in
several of the previous years; and this had given a stimulus to the
vagrancy, so frequent and annoying among the Nestorians. "Of the
four thousand vagabonds," writes Dr. Perkins, "from the less than
forty thousand Nestorians of Oroomiah, who made want their pretext
for scattering themselves over Russia and other parts of Europe, as
common beggars, hardly less greedy for lucre and for vice, than are
locusts for every green thing, only a moiety return; many dying in
those distant regions, from diseases induced by strange climates, or
oftener by criminal indulgence; and many who survive, lying in
prison for crimes, or preferring their vagabond life to the decent
restraints of home. Many who do return are worse than lost to their
people; coming only to spread a moral pestilence, being thoroughly
demoralized; recklessly squandering their ill-gotten treasures till
hunger drives them off again to beg. Happily they are now shut out
of Russia by the government, and they have little hope from England.
But Germany is still a golden land to them."
Mr. Rhea, another very able member of the mission, was suddenly
removed from earth on the 2d of September, 1865. He was on his
return from Tabriz, with his wife and children. The whole scene, as
described by Mrs. Rhea in the Memoir of her husband, is one of the
most touching in missionary history.[1] He was ill when they left
Tabriz, and not until they had gone too far to return did his wife
awake to the alarming fact, that his disease was cholera.
[1] See _The Tennesseean in Persia and Koordistan, being the Scenes
and Incidents in the Life of Samuel Audley Rhea_, by Rev. Dwight W.
Marsh, for Ten Years Missionary in Mosul, pp. 338-349.
She then hoped to reach Ali Shah, a village four hours from
Oroomiah. It was necessary to put the bedding on one of the loaded
horses, and then to place Mr. Rhea upon it, and for two men to hold
him on; which was done by the faithful Nestorians, Daniel and
Guwergis. The motion of the horse extorted frequent, though gentle,
groans of pain. He was very thirsty, and both the children were
crying for water. There was none. At a brackish brook he had tried
to drink, but spit out the bitter draught in disgust.
"At length the moon rose, and the children became quiet. Daniel
passed a rope around Mr. Rhea's back, and over his shoulders, to
keep him from shaking about on the horse; and, taking off his hat,
protected his head with a flannel. He grew quiet, and I said, 'He
sleeps.' So we rode on and on in the still night; no sounds except
from the horses' feet, or an occasional word about the precious
load. 'Will the village never appear?' They said it was very near.
O, how long the way seemed!
"My mind was very active, picturing that comfortable room where we
should rest, the refreshing water, the quiet rest, the soft bed for
the dear invalid, the quick cup of tea, his sweet words, our
subsequent journey home in the takhterawan, our safe arrival there.
All this time my eyes were on him, and my ears strained to catch a
sound. 'How long he sleeps! How still he is!'
"At length the weary, weary road was passed. We reached the village,
and stopped at a house where they said we could find a room. Daniel
and I ran in to see it first, opened the windows, and spread down
the shawl and pillows where he could rest; then went back to the
gate, and I charged the men not to let him exert himself at all, but
to take him down like a little child, and carry him carefully in. I
ran forward then, opened my satchel, and got out the wine and
camphor, and spreading a pillow on my lap, received him in my arms.
"Just as they deposited him in my arms he drew one long, deep sigh.
I wet his lips, bathed his face, spoke to him, called his name,
raised him up, kissed him, and entreated him to speak. I chafed his
soft, warm hands, felt his heart, his pulse, his temples, his neck,
seeking everywhere for signs of life. In vain. He was dead!"
Help came at length from the mission, and the mortal remains of Mr.
Rhea, found their resting place at Seir, by the side of loved ones
who had gone before him.
Mr. Rhea died at the age of thirty-eight, in the very height of his
usefulness. His mental abilities were very superior, and so were his
acquirements, especially in Oriental languages. During his first
winter's residence in Gawar, in addition to a systematic course of
reading in Church History, and his study of Syriac, he went
thoroughly through his Hebrew Bible. The Modern Syriac he spoke with
great accuracy and fluency, and he preached with acceptance in the
Tartar Turkish. He had also made progress in the Koordish language.
"As a preacher," writes Mr. Coan, "he was earnest, faithful, and
pungent; the glowing words leaped from his lips, while the Word of
God seemed a fire shut up within him. He poured out his whole soul
in the messages he delivered. I have seldom been edified by the
discourses of any one as I have been by those of this dear brother.
These discourses, whether in the pulpit, the social prayer-meeting,
or at family devotions, seemed drawn from his own experience of the
inexhaustible treasures in Christ. They were eminently fitted to
make men better." Dr. Perkins said of him, "He is one of the finest
preachers I ever heard, whether in English or in the Nestorian
language. The Nestorians denominate him Chrysostom, from his
remarkable powers as a preacher." He was excelled by few men in the
beauty and eloquence of his address on public occasions, of which
there was a fine illustration on the Fourth of July, 1865, the last
before his death. Though a native of Tennessee, his heart was poured
out in thanksgiving that the war was really over, and that the right
had gained the day.
The reader will not be surprised to hear that the young Patriarch,
influenced by his nearest relatives, was following in the footsteps
of his predecessor. In Gawar, he tried persuasion, blandishment, and
compulsion; but the authorities gave him to understand that there
could not be persecution. The independent tribes of the mountains
were, civilly, under his power, and he was determined to keep his
mountain diocese in its ancient ignorance. He diffused a vindictive
spirit. No ecclesiastic ever had stronger motives to enter upon a
path of reform, or fewer obstructions. But, refusing all fellowship
with the gospel, he showed that the Nestorian Patriarch could no
more adjust himself to the coming age of light and liberty of
conscience than the Pope of Rome.
Mr. Alison, English Ambassador at the Persian Court, seasonably
interposed when there were powerful combinations to effect the ruin
of the mission, headed by the bigoted Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Papal party had seized upon the Nestorian church at Ardeshai,
and rebuilt it; and the Shah, upon the representation of Mr. Alison,
granted a site for a new church, and subscribed £100 towards its
erection.
This royal donation was in December, 1865. In the April following,
the mission had a friendly visit from his Royal Highness, Prince
Ahmed Meerza, the governor of Oroomiah, and uncle of the King. He
had come to the province strongly prejudiced against the mission,
but had been becoming better informed. He was on the mission
premises two hours and a half, and saw everything that could be
shown him, in the way of schools, printing, type founding,
sewing-machines, and medical dispensary. The last seemed to impress
him most as to the benevolent character of the mission, and he left
with strong expressions of good will.
The examination of the female seminary, at the close of its term,
was highly satisfactory, especially in the Bible and in theology. In
the other seminary, superintended by Mr. Shedd in the absence of Mr.
Cochran, there had been much religious interest. Many of the pupils
being from the mountains, Mr. Shedd's labors in the seminary had a
direct bearing on his particular portion of the field. Geog Tapa had
a very fine school, entirely supported by the people themselves,
which almost vied with the seminaries.
The mission suffered another severe loss in the death of Priest
Eshoo, already known to the reader, on the 19th of April, 1866.
Thirty-one years before, the Koords plundered his native village on
the plain of Gawar, and he removed to Degala, near Oroomiah. He was
then about thirty years of age, a sedate, dignified, upright man and
very righteous in his own eyes. Gentle and unassuming, he yet
commanded the respect of all, and his reputation as a scholar soon
secured for him the place of a teacher in the incipient male
seminary. For many years he was its first teacher, and down to the
close of his life sustained a relation to one or the other of these
institutions. He and his lovely daughter Sarah were among the first
converts in the revival of 1846. While remarkable for humility, he
was firm in defense of the truth. His judgment was cool and
discriminating, and he was known as a safe counselor. He was a good
preacher, and several volumes of his sermons, neatly written by his
own hand, showed that they were carefully studied.[1]
[1] See vol. i. pp. 326-329.
Dr. Van Norden and wife entered the mission in October, 1866, taking
the place of Dr. Young, who had left three years before.
Mr. Labaree communicates the result of careful inquiries by Mr.
Thompson, of the British Legation, who had been spending some time
at Oroomiah. Mr. Thompson estimated the Nestorians in Oroomiah,
Tergawer, Sooldooz, and Salmas, at twenty thousand; the Armenians in
Oroomiah alone at about two thousand eight hundred; the Papal
Chaldeans in Oroomiah, Tergawer, and Sooldooz at six hundred and
twenty-five; but the Chaldean and Armenian population of Salmas he
did not learn. He thought that the population of Persia could not be
more than from five to seven millions, and his opinion was deemed of
great weight, as he had made himself familiar with the civil and
political affairs of Persia during a long residence, and had
travelled extensively through the country, with a very observant
eye.
Among the new lights breaking forth in Western and Central Asia, was
a community of evangelical Armenians in the Russian province of
Sherwan, near the Caspian Sea. A Nestorian brother had been sent to
inquire into their condition early in 1862, and there had been
occasional intercourse ever since; but cautiously, lest their cause
should be jeoparded. They had suffered sore persecution, and had met
in glens and deep recesses of the mountains, for the worship of God
and the study of his Word. Their leader, Varpet Sarkis, had been
exiled, their children left unbaptized, their young people
unmarried, their dead denied the right of burial, and they the
privilege of commemorating the death of their Lord. In August, 1866,
an Imperial Ukase was brought them by a Lutheran clergyman from
Moscow, granting them full liberty to worship God publicly as their
consciences should dictate, and restoring to them all their
privileges. Pious Nestorians, who had gone there from Oroomiah,
reported that the Lutheran clergyman remained there a week,
organized a church, received a hundred and six persons to Christian
fellowship, and performed the necessary baptisms and marriages; and
that they were expecting the return of their beloved guide and
teacher from exile. Nearly two thousand copies of the Scriptures
were sold among this people within three and a half years, besides
many other good books and tracts.
Mar Shimon, acting under the evil advice of his father and uncle,
issued an order for the expulsion of all the helpers of the mission
from Tehoma, and threatened not to leave one in all the mountains.
Events providentially occasioned delay, and meanwhile Mr. Rassam,
the British Vice Consul at Mosul, hearing of Mar Shimon's
proceedings, addressed him a very strong letter of remonstrance,
assuring him that the American missionaries were the truest and most
efficient friends of the Nestorians, and urging him to invite their
preachers back with the same publicity with which he had ordered
their expulsion. The letter, coming from one to whom the Nestorians
were greatly indebted, had the desired effect, and they were quite
abashed by receiving such an emphatic rebuke from such a quarter. In
addition to this rebuff, another was received, soon after, quite as
mortifying. The Patriarch had written to Mr. Taylor, British Consul
at Erzroom, offering to make over his people to the English Church,
if the English government would extend to them its protection from
Turks and Koords. The reply of the Consul was a decided rejection of
the proposal, couched in language not at all flattering to the
Patriarch. Thus baffled and censured, he privately signified his
willingness that our preachers should remain at their places without
molestation.
The mission commenced the year 1868 with the encouraging fact, that
one hundred Nestorians had been received to the communion during the
previous year, which was a larger number than had been admitted in
any one year before. This number embraced the fruits of revivals in
several villages on the plain of Oroomiah, and in the two
seminaries, with individuals scattered through the Koordish
mountains. Mar Yooseph, the helper in Bootan, on the Tigris,
reported, that he had held his first reformed communion in that
distant region, and that seven came to the table of the Lord. There
had been no opposition. The native preaching force in the mission
was then sixty-two, of whom eighteen were in Koordistan, under the
care of Mr. Shedd; and there were seventy-eight regular preaching
places. Connected with nearly all these congregations were
Sabbath-schools and Bible-classes, and in not a few instances the
entire congregation was connected with them. The habit of giving was
very generally established, affording evidence that the people might
be expected eventually to support their pastors.