Produced by Free Elf, Anne Storer and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's Notes:
1) Mousul/Mosul, piastre/piaster, Shiraz/Sheeraz,
Itch-Meeazin/Ech-Miazin/Etchmiazin,
each used on numerous occasions;
2) Arnaouts/Arnaoots, Dr. Beagrie/Dr. Beagry,
Beirout/Bayrout/Beyraut(x2), Saltett/Sallett,
Shanakirke/Shammakirke, Trebizond/Trebisand - once each.
All left as in original text.
3) M^R = a superscripted "R".
* * * * *
JOURNAL
OF A
RESIDENCE AT BAGDAD,
&c, &c.
LONDON:
DENNETT, PRINTER, LEATHER LANE.
JOURNAL
OF A
RESIDENCE AT BAGDAD,
DURING THE YEARS 1830 AND 1831,
BY
M^R. ANTHONY N. GROVES,
MISSIONARY.
LONDON:
JAMES NISBET, BERNERS STREET.
M DCCC XXXII.
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION.
This little work needs nothing from us to recommend it to attention.
In its incidents it presents more that is keenly interesting, both to
the natural and to the spiritual feelings, than it would have been
easy to combine in the boldest fiction. And then it is not fiction.
The manner in which the story is told leaves realities unencumbered,
to produce their own impression. It might gratify the imagination, and
even aid in enlarging our practical views, to consider such scenes as
possible, and to fancy in what spirit a Christian might meet them; but
it extends our experience, and invigorates our faith, to know that,
having actually taken place, it is thus that they have been met.
The first missionaries were wont, at intervals, to return from their
foreign labours, and relate to those churches whose prayers had sent
them forth, "all things that God had done with them" during their
absence. To the Christians at Antioch, there must have been important
edification, as well as satisfaction to their affectionate concern
about the individuals, and about the cause, in the narrative of Paul
and Barnabas. Nor would the states of mind experienced, and the spirit
manifested, by the narrators themselves be less instructive, than the
various reception of their message by various hearers. In these pages,
in like manner, Mr. Groves contributes to the good of the Church, an
important fruit of his mission, were it to yield no other. He had cast
himself upon the Lord. To Him he had left it to direct his path; to
give him what things He knew he had need of, and whether outward
prospects were bright or gloomy, to be the strength of his heart and
his portion for ever. The publication of his former little Journal was
the erection of his Eben Ezer. Hitherto, said he to us in England, the
Lord hath helped me. And now, after a prolonged residence among a
people with whom, in natural things, he can have no communion, and
who, towards his glad tidings of salvation, are as apathetic as is
compatible with the bitterest contempt; after having had, during many
weeks, his individual share of the suffering, and his mind worn with
the spectacle, of a city strangely visited at once with plague, and
siege, and inundation, and internal tumult; widowed, and not without
experience of "flesh and heart fainting and failing," he again
"blesses God for all the way he has led him,"[1] tells us that "the
Lord's great care over him in the abundant provision for all his
necessities, enables him yet further to sing of his goodness;"[2] and
while his situation makes him say, "what a place would this be to be
alone in now" if without God, he adds, "but with Him, this is better
than the garden of Eden."[3] "The Lord is my only stay, my only
support; and He is a support indeed."[4]
It is remarkable, that at a time when the fear of pestilence has
agitated the people of this country, and when the tottering fabric of
society threatens to hurl down upon us as dire a confusion as that
which has surrounded our brother, in a country hitherto regarded so
remote from all comparison with our own; at a time when the records of
the seasons at which the terrible voice of God has sounded loudest in
our capital, are republished as appropriate to the contemplation of
Christians at the existing crisis;[5]--this volume should have been
brought before the Public, by circumstances quite unconnected with
this train of God's dealings and threatenings to our land. The
Christians of Britain ought to consider, that there is a warning voice
of Providence, not only in the tumults of the people, and in the
terrors of the cholera around them, but even in the publication of
this Journal. It is not for nothing that God has moved Mr. Groves, as
it were, to an advanced post, where he might encounter the enemy
before them. The alarm may have, in a measure, subsided,[6] but if the
people of God are to be ever patiently waiting for the coming of their
conquering King, this implies a patient preparedness for those signs
of his coming, the clouds and darkness that are to go before him, in
the very midst of which they must be able to lift up their heads
because their redemption draweth nigh. To provide for the worst
contingencies is a virtue, not a weakness, in the soldier. That
Christian will not keep his garments who forgets, that in this life,
he is a soldier always. No army is so orderly in peace, or so
triumphant upon lesser assaults, as that which is ready always
for the extremest exigencies of war.
To those who are looking for the glorious appearing of our great God
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, this volume will exhibit indications of the
advancement of the world towards the state in which he shall find it
at his coming. The diffusion in the east of European notions and
practices; the desire on the part of the rulers to possess themselves
of the advantages of western intellect and skill; and on the side of
the governed, the conviction of the comparative security and comfort
of English domination; the vastly increased intercourse between those
nations and the west, and the proposals for still further accelerating
and facilitating that intercourse: all these things mark the rapid
tendency, of which we have so many other signs, towards the production
of one common mind throughout the human race, to issue in that
combination for a common resistance of God, which, as of old, when
the people were one, and had all one language, and it seemed that
nothing could be restrained from them which they had imagined to
do,--shall cause the Lord to come down and confound their purpose.
Already has this unity of views and aims, with marvellous rapidity,
prevailed in the European and American world; the press, the
steam-engine by land and water, the multiplication of societies
and unions, portend an advancement in it, to which nothing can
set limits but the intervention of God: and now it appears that
the mountain-fixedness of Asiatic prejudice and institution shall
suddenly be dissolved, and absorbed into the general vortex.
And to those who may have suspected, that the prospect of the return
of Jesus of Nazareth to our earth for vengeance and expurgation of
evil first, and then for occupation of rule, _under_ the face of the
whole heaven, is but a speculative subject for curious minds, this
little book presents matter of reflection. By circumstances of such
urgent personal concernment, as those in which Mr. Groves and his
departed wife have been placed, the merely speculative part of
religion is put to flight. But we shall find them in the midst of
confusion, and bereavement, and horror, clinging to this one hope for
themselves and for the world, that the Lord cometh to reign, wherefore
the earth shall be glad; deriving from this hope a delight in God, in
the midst of all that seems adverse to such a sentiment, which, if it
be not a proof of practical power in a doctrine, what is practical?
On some few points, Mr. Groves has given a somewhat detailed
expression of his own sentiments. One of the most important of these
is re-considered in the notes by the writer of this introduction.
Another, on which the interest of many has already been strongly
excited, is the recognition of those men as ministers of God, who do
not utter the word of his truth, and who are admitted to speak without
the Spirit of his truth. The question, encompassed as it has been with
difficulties foreign to itself, is but a narrow one. The preaching of
the Gospel _is_ an ordinance of God. The preaching of what is not the
Gospel is _no_ ordinance of God; and affords me no opportunity of
shewing my respect for divine ordinances by my attendance upon it.
That men possessing the Holy Ghost should confer spiritual gifts by
the laying on of hands on those who in faith receive it, _is_ an
ordinance of God: that men, not having the Holy Ghost, should lay
hands on others for spiritual gifts, is _no_ ordinance of God.
If the outward fact of what is named ordination, determines me to
regard as now made of God a teacher, a pastor, an evangelist, a
bishop, him who, to all intelligent and spiritual perception, is what
he was, in error, and ignorance, and carnality; this is not respect
for divine ordinances at all, but a faith in the _opus operatum_, a
faith in transubstantiation transferred to men, denying the truth of
my own perception, and clinging to the conclusion of my superstition,
just as in the mass the senses are denied, and bread and wine visibly
unaltered, are called flesh and blood. The arguments by which this
notion is supported, are too complicated, and too contemptuous of
unity or consistency, to be meddled with in our limited space. That
Christ bade men observe what the Scribes and Pharisees taught on the
authority of the law of Moses, is made a reason for reverencing what
is taught on _no_ divine authority: Scribes and Pharisees, who
pretended to no divine ordination, but rested their claims on their
knowledge, are made specimens of the respect due to ordination, in
the case of such whose ignorance and unsound teaching are allowed.
But were not the Scribes and Pharisees in many things ignorant and
unsound? Yes, truly; but were these the things of which the Lord
said expressly, these things observe and do? To tell us that we must
observe and do what is according to Scripture, however bad the men
who teach it, ordained or unordained alike; what has this to do with
ordination? True, this is no excuse for those who prostitute the form
and name of God's ordinance, and know that it is prostituted: who say,
"receive ye the Holy Ghost," and would laugh as being supposed to
confer the Holy Ghost: but there is no necessity for running from this
crime, to the error of which we have spoken. Let us acknowledge our
wretchedness, and misery, and poverty, and blindness, and nakedness.
When the laws were transgressed, and the everlasting covenant broken;
then the _ordinance_ was _changed_, as Isaiah foretold it should,[7]
among the causes why the earth is defiled under the inhabitants
thereof.
The Apostolic Epistles contain little, if any thing, to establish the
pastoral authority in a single person of each church or congregation:
and the omission of all allusion to such an office is often very
remarkable from the occasion seeming to assure us, that it would have
been mentioned had it existed. The Epistles of the Lord to the seven
churches are therefore resorted to for proof of the existence and
nature of the place of a single pastor with peculiar and exclusive
powers. But neither there nor elsewhere is the fact of ordination once
referred to, in relation to the receiving or rejection of those who
claimed to speak in the name of Christ. In these very Epistles there
is a commendation for disregarding for the truth's sake the highest
titles of ecclesiastical office. "Thou canst not bear them which are
evil: thou hast _tried_ them which say they are apostles, and are not,
and hast found them liars."[8] I believe, "not to bear them which are
evil" pastors, evangelists or apostles, is as commendable in England
as in Ephesus in the eye of the Head of the Churches. Is there a
syllable in the Bible to lead us to suppose that these liars were
detected by any other means than those which Paul had already taught
the Church? "Though _we_, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed." As for the ordinance, such passages as Titus i. 9, make
_selection_ a part of that ordinance: the bishop is to be one "holding
fast the word of truth as he hath been taught." Now, on what authority
shall this part of the ordinance, viz. selection, be omitted, and no
flaw follow: while the presence or omission of a manual act in certain
hands is to constitute the reality or absence of Divine ordination?
A. J. SCOTT.
_Woolwich, Aug. 16th, 1832._
[1] Page 155.
[2] Page 169.
[3] Page 122.
[4] Page 146.
[5] See "Narratives of two Families exposed to the great
Plague of London, 1665; with Conversations on a Religions Preparation
for Pestilence," and "God's Terrible Voice in the City," by Vincent;
both republished by Rev. J. Scott, of Hull.
[6] And yet what security is afforded by a present abatement
of the visitation? In Glasgow, cholera was regarded as departing, and
all but departed. The number of cases has since risen, for some time,
to above 300 at once, and the deaths not seldom to between one and two
hundred a day, in a population small compared with that of London.
[7] Chap. xxiv. ver. 5.
[8] Rev. ii. 2.
* * * * *
JOURNAL
OF A
RESIDENCE AT BAGDAD.
_Bagdad, April 2, 1830._
We begin to find that our school-room is not large enough to contain
the children, and we have been obliged therefore to add to it another.
We have now fifty-eight boys and nine girls, and might have many more
girls had we the means for instructing them; but we have as yet no
other help than the schoolmaster's wife, who knows very little of any
thing, and therefore is very unfit to bring those into order who have
been educated without any order. But I have no doubt of the Lord's
sending us, in due time, sufficient help of all kinds.
_April 3._--An Armenian merchant from Egypt and Syria, was with us
to-day; a Roman Catholic by profession, but an infidel in fact. He
said it was all one to him, whether men were Armenian, Syrian,
Mohammedan, or Jew, so that they were good. He had left Beirout about
two months, and said there were none of the missionaries there then;
but that he knew there the Armenian Catholic bishop, and an Armenian
priest, who had left the Roman Catholic church, and who were in
Lebanon--he said they were friends of his, and very good men. We feel
interested in receiving some missionary intelligence, to know whether
or not Syria is still deserted.
We have received from Shushee a parcel of our Lord's Sermon on the
Mount, in the vulgar Armenian. We were very much rejoiced at this, as
it enabled us to supersede, in some little degree, the old language;
but in determining that every boy sufficiently advanced, should learn
a verse a day, we met with some opposition from two or three of the
elder boys, and I think two will leave the school in consequence; but
the Lord will easily enable us to triumph over all; of this I have no
doubt, at all events I see my way clear come what will. Captain Strong
has taken a letter for me to Archdeacon Parr, to ask for some school
materials, such as slates and slate pencils for the school. I feel
daily more established in the conviction, that our Lord has led us to
this place, and that he will make our way apparent, as we go on in
faithful waiting upon him.
I cannot sufficiently thank God for sending my dear brother Pfander
with me, for had it not been for him, I could not have attempted any
thing, so that all that has now been done, must rather be considered
his than mine, as I have only been able to look on and approve. But
if the Lord's work is advanced, I can praise him by whomsoever it may
be promoted.
_June 12._--The circumstances of our situation are now going on so
regularly, that there is little to write about, more than that the
Lord's mercies are new every morning. Since Captain Strong left us,
there has arrived here a Mr. and Mrs. Mignan, and another gentleman,
named Elliot, neither of whom seem to know, at present, whether they
will remain here or go on.
The capidji or officer, who came from Constantinople, bringing a
firman to the Pasha, is desired to take back with him a drawing of one
of the soldiers whom Major T. is organizing for the Pasha. Major T.'s
son is just arrived from India, and he also is going to organize a
body of horse; in fact, every thing is tending to the establishment
of an European influence, and it may be the Lord's pleasure thus to
prepare the way for his servants to publish the tidings which the
sheep will hear. This tendency to adopt European manners and
improvements, is not only manifested in the military department, but
in others more important. The Pasha has a great desire to introduce
steam navigation on these two beautiful rivers. A proposal has been
made from an agent of the Bristol Steam Company, to the Pasha, through
Major T., to have a steam vessel in the first place between Bussorah
and this place; and secondly, if possible, to extend the navigation,
either by the old canal or by a new one, into the Euphrates and up
to Beer. This navigation will bring one within three days of the
Mediterranean,[9] without the fatigue, danger, and loss of time to
which travellers are exposed in the present journey. It will be a most
important opening for missionaries; for should this mode of conveyance
once get established, the route by Constantinople would almost cease,
and some arrangement would soon be made for going from Scanderoon to
the different important stations in the Mediterranean.
[9] Impossible--within three days of Aleppo must be meant.
There is a gentleman here on his return to England, a Mr. Bywater,
whom Mr. Taylor wishes to undertake a survey of the Euphrates, from
Beer to the canal, which connects it with this place. Till within
about twenty years, heavy artillery came to this place by that river,
so there can be but little doubt that a steam packet would be able to
go; though it might not be of the same size as the one between this
and Bussorah. The voyage between these places backwards and forwards,
it is proposed to do in eight days, which now takes about six or seven
weeks, and during the whole of the returning voyage, which is long,
being against the current, you are at present exposed to the attacks
of the Arabs every hour, whereas the steam packet would have nothing
to fear from them. In fact, I feel the Lord is preparing great changes
in the heart of this nation, or rather from one end of it to the
other; and the events which have taken place in that part of the
empire around Constantinople, have tended to the hastening on of these
changes.
Among the boys that come to me to learn English, I have one, the son
of a rich Roman Catholic jeweller of this place. So important is the
commercial relation between this place and India become, that the
number who wish to learn English of me, is much greater than I can
possibly take charge of, as this is not with me a primary object; but
it is a most important field of labour, and one that might have, I
think, very interesting results, for they will bear opposition to
their own views more easily in another language than in their own: it
does not come to them like a book written to oppose them, and thus
truth may slide gently in. My Moolah, who is teaching me Arabic, and
whose son I teach English, told me, that in two or three years he
would send his son to England to complete his knowledge of English.
Now to those who know nothing of the Turks, this may not appear
remarkable, but to those who do, it will exhibit a striking breaking
down of prejudice in this individual.
There is a famous man here, a Mohammedan by profession, but in reality
an infidel, who is the head of a pantheistic sect, who believe God to
be every thing and every thing to be God, so that he readily admits,
on this notion, the divinity of our blessed Lord. Infidelity is
extending on every side in these countries. My Moolah said, that now
a-days, if you asked a Christian whether he were a Christian, he
would say, Yes; but if you asked him who Christ was, or why he was
attached to him, he did not know. And in the same manner he said, if
you asked a Mohammedan a similar question, he would also say, he did
not know, but that he went as others went; but, he added, now all the
_Sultans_ were sending out men to teach, the Sultan of England--the
Sultan of Stamboul, &c. By this I imagine his impression is, that we
are sent out by the king of England.
Our school is, on the whole, going on very well. We have introduced
classes, and a general table of good and bad behaviour, of lessons, of
absence, and of attendance; and they all go on, learning a portion of
Scripture every day in the vulgar dialect. This is something.
I am beginning to feel my acquaintance with Arabic increase under the
plan which I am now pursuing with the boys who learn English. They
bring me Arabic phrases, and as far as my knowledge extends, I give
them the meaning in English; and when that fails, I write it down for
inquiry from the Moolah next day, and then by asking words in Arabic
every day for the boys to give me the English, I at last get the
expressions so impressed on my memory, that when I want them they
arise almost without thought. Another advantage from the boys bringing
phrases and words, is that they bring such as they use in the spoken
Arabic, which is very different from the written. This is a plan I
would recommend, whenever it can be adopted, to every missionary; for
there is a stimulus to the memory in having the questions to ask every
day, and having only the English written down, which nothing else
gives.
We have lately had a little proof of Turkish honesty. The man who
sells us wood, charged us seven tagar, and brought us somewhat less
than three.
Our souls are much refreshed by the contemplation of our Lord's coming
to complete the mystery of godliness. Oh, how long shall it be, ere he
be admired in all them that believe.
_June 26._--We have heard to-day from Mrs. G.'s brother J. from
Alexander Casan Beg, mentioned in a preceding part of my journal, and
from Mr. Glen. All our various accounts were welcome. Some of the
information contained in them enables us to rejoice in those we love
naturally, some in those we love spiritually.
In the letters of Alexander C. Beg, and Mr. Glen, I have received the
intelligence that the former would not now be able to join us, as he
had previously received an offer from the Scottish Missionary Society,
to become a missionary of theirs in India; for certain reasons,
however, he does not at present seem able to accept it. Concerning
this Mohammedan convert, it is impossible not to feel the deepest
interest.
We have just had some interesting conversation with a poor Jacobite,
who is come from Merdin, with a letter from his matran or bishop,
about two churches which the Roman Catholics have taken away from the
Jacobites. His description of their state is striking. He says, the
Pasha of Merdin cares neither for this Pasha, who is his immediate
superior, nor for the Sultan; and that he encourages these disputes
among the Christians, that he may get money from both parties, who
bribe him by turns. He says, that the Yezidees, when they see a Syrian
priest coming, will get off their horse and salute him, and kiss his
hand, and that the Kourds are a much worse people than they, but that
Roman Catholics are worse than either.--I was surprised to find that
the Roman Catholic bishop has a school of fifty girls learning to read
Arabic, and to work at their needle.
We have heard to-day that the Mohammedans, inhabitants of the town,
are much dissatisfied with the Sultan and with the Pasha, for
introducing European customs. They say, they are already Christians,
and one of them asked Mr. Swoboda, if it was true that the old missid
or mosque near us, was to become again a Christian church, and whether
the beating of the drums every evening after the European manner at
the seroy or palace, did not mean that the Pasha was becoming a
Christian. And they say, that the military uniforms now introducing,
are haram or unlawful. Major T. has induced the Pasha to have a
regiment dressed completely in the European fashion, and is now
forming some horse regiments on the same plan. All these things will
clearly tend to one of these two results--either to the overthrow
of Mohammedanism by the introduction of European manners and
intelligence, or to a tremendous crisis in endeavouring to throw off
the burden which the great mass of the lower and bigoted Mohammedans
abhor. But still the Lord knows, and has given his angels charge to
seal his elect before these things come to pass.
Our attention has again been directed to the subject of steam
navigation between Bombay and England, by the arrival of Mr. James
Taylor from Bombay. This gentleman has been engaged for some time in
undertaking to effect steam communication by the Red Sea: with the
view of making final arrangements on the subject he had just been to
Bombay, and wished to have returned by the Red Sea, but difficulties
arising, he determined to come by way of the Persian Gulf and this
city, and to cross the desert. On his arrival here, he was made
acquainted with the previous plans for steam navigation on these
rivers; and he quickly perceived that if the river were navigable, and
no other difficulties arose, the preference must be given to this
route, as being at least ten days shorter to Bombay, and of the thirty
or thirty-five days which remained, seven, or perhaps five, would be
spent on two beautiful rivers, with opportunities of obtaining from
its banks vegetables and fruits; and instead of the Red Sea, which is
rocky, stormy, and little known, there would be the Persian Gulf,
which has been surveyed in every part, and is peculiarly free from
storms. From the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the boat would go direct
to Bombay instead of going down to Columbo from the mouth of the Red
Sea, and then up the western side of the Peninsula of India. In Egypt
also they would have five days journey over the desert, whilst from
Aleppo they would only have two to a place on the Euphrates, called
Beer. Fuel also in abundance might be obtained here, either from wood
or bitumen; in fact, Mr. Taylor feels that if it can be accomplished,
it would save expense on the voyage. The only two difficulties that
oppose themselves to this route are, first, the Arabs, and secondly,
whether there be a sufficiency of water in the rivers. As to the
Arabs, a steamer has nothing to fear, for by keeping mid-stream at
the rate they go, no Arab would touch them or attempt to do it. The
present vessels they have no power over in going down, but when they
are dragged up by Arab trackers, then they are easily attacked.
As to the second objection, the want of water, there appears no
insurmountable difficulty here, as all the heavy ordnance from
Constantinople were brought down the Euphrates from Beer, on rafts,
or, as they are called, kelecks; these, independent of their width,
being greater than that of a steamer, actually draw more water when
heavily laden. There does not appear to be more than one place where
there is a doubt, and that is at El Dar, the ancient Thapsacus, where
we understand at one season, when the waters are at the lowest point,
a camel can hardly go over; but still, perhaps, further information
may be desirable. The Pasha has entered very heartily into this plan,
and offered either to clear out an old canal, or to cut a new one
between this river and the Euphrates. The mouth of the Euphrates is
one extended marsh, which forms the best rice-grounds of the country.
The distance between the two rivers at this place is about thirty
miles. Mr. James Taylor thinks that travellers may reach England from
this in twenty-three days, and Bombay in twelve: should this ever take
place, steam boats will be passing twice a month up and down this
river with passengers from India and England; the effects of such a
change, both moral, spiritual, and political, none can tell, but that
they must be great every one may see.
I have been this morning talking with my Moolah about the two rivers,
as to their capability of steam navigation. He decidedly gives the
preference to the Euphrates, and says, that the average depth is the
height of two men, or ten feet--even till considerably above Beer; but
that the Tigris, above Mousul, is very shallow.[10]
[10] We have since discovered, by a survey of the Tigris,
that in its present state it will be only navigable to Mosul during
seven months in the year, from ledges of rock that pass across the
river.
This possibility thus set before us of seeing those we love, and many
of the Lord's dear servants here, is most comforting and encouraging:
this place would become a frontier post of Christian labour, from
which we might daily hope to send forth labourers to China, India, and
elsewhere, and the work of publishing the testimony of Jesus be
accomplished before the Lord come. However, we are in the Lord's
hands, and he will bring to pass what concerns his own honour, and we
will wait and see: a much greater opening has taken place since we
came here than we could have hoped for, and much more will yet open
upon us than we can now foresee. Things cannot remain as they are,
whether they continue to advance as they are now doing, or whether
bigotry be allowed to make a last vain effort to regain her ancient
position; still some decided change must be the final result of the
present state of things.
From the Bible Society at Bombay, I have received accounts of their
having sent me two English Bibles, fifty Testaments, twenty Arabic
Bibles, fifty Syriac Gospels, fifty Syriac Testaments, fifty Armenian
Bibles, one hundred Persian Psalters, seventy-five Persian Genesis,
and six Hebrew Testaments. In this are omitted those which are most
important to us, the Chaldean, the Persian, and the Arabic Testament;
but perhaps when they receive a supply from the Parent Society, they
will then forward these likewise.
I have also received a letter from Severndroog, from the first tutor
of my little boys, Mr. N., a true and dear person in the Lord, and he
mentions that they had, since he last wrote, admitted to their
church, four Hindoos and two Roman Catholics, and that one Hindoo
still remains, whom they hope soon to admit.
The following is the estimate of the time which the voyages, by the
Red Sea, and by these rivers to India, would respectively occupy:
BY RED SEA.
Miles. Days.
London to Gibraltar 1000 7
Gibraltar to Malta 1000 8
Malta to Diametta 900 5
Diametta to Suez 150 5
Suez to Mocha 1100 6
Mocha to Columbo 1920 10
Columbo to Bombay 1000 7
---
48
BY EUPHRATES.
Miles. Days.
London to Gibraltar 1000 7
Gibraltar to Malta 1000 8
Malta to Aleppo 1000 6
Aleppo to Beles 60 2
Beles to Bagdad } 5
Bagdad to Bussorah }
Bussorah to Bombay 9
---
37
I have recently had some conversation with Mr. J. Taylor, who is
waiting only to see the Pasha to make final arrangements.
Another very important feature of the above plan for steam
communication with India is, that those societies who have
missionaries there, may send out their secretaries to encourage and
counsel them, by which means they will be able not only to enter more
fully into the feelings and circumstances of those they send, but will
be able to make their own reports, which will be more agreeable to
those engaged in the work--to tell about which must always be a
difficult undertaking.
I found yesterday that one of the gentlemen who came hither lately
from India, was a Mr. Hull, the son of Mrs. Hull, of Marpool, near
Exmouth, who, however, is not going across the desert, but round by
Mosul and Merdin, to Stamboul. He hopes to be home in September.
Mr. Pfander learnt from some Armenians yesterday, that they were much
pleased with the children learning the Scriptures in the vulgar
dialect; that they were so far able to understand the ancient language
still read in their churches, and they expressed a wish that they
might have a complete translation in the vulgar tongue. Those
Bibles we now have from the Bible Society, are in the dialect of
Constantinople, which is by no means generally or well understood
here, where the Erivan dialect prevails, which they use in the
Karabagh, in the north of Persia, and in all these countries. The
missionaries at Shushee are going on with the New Testament: Mr.
Dittrich has finished the translation of the four Gospels, and we hope
it will be printed for the Bible Society this year, for we greatly
need Armenian books in the vulgar dialect, by which we may, step by
step, supersede the old altogether. We also greatly want Arabic
school-books; but these we shall hope to get from Malta, through the
labours of Mr. Jowett.
We find the general feeling here, not only among Christians, but even
among the Mohammedans, is a wish that the English power might prevail
here, for although the Pasha does not directly tax them high, yet from
a bunch of grapes to a barrel of gunpowder, he has the skimming of the
cream, and leaves the milk to his subjects to do with as they can.
Once a month at least the money is changed. When the Pasha has a great
deal of a certain base money that he issues, he fixes the price higher
by certain degrees, on pain of mutilation, and when he has paid it all
away, or has any great sums to receive, he lowers the value by as many
degrees as he has raised it before. And hearing, as they universally
do now, of our government in India, that it is mild and equitable,
most of them would gladly exchange their present condition, and be
subject to the British government. This conduct on the part of the
Pasha, begets an universal system of smuggling and fraud among all
classes, so that the state of these people is indeed very, very bad.
I never felt more powerfully than now, the joy of having nothing to do
with these things; so that let men govern as they will, I feel my path
is to live in subjection to the powers that be, and to exhort others
to the same, even though it be such oppressive despotism as this. We
have to shew them by this, that our kingdom is not of this world, and
that these are not things about which we contend. But our life being
hid where no storms can assail, "with Christ in God"--and our wealth
being where no moth or rust doth corrupt, we leave those who are of
this world to manage its concerns as they list, and we submit to them
in every thing as far as a good conscience will admit.
_July 12._--We have heard of two Jews, who have bought two Hebrew New
Testaments, and a very respectable Jewish banker has been here to see
Mr. Pfander, with the German Jew, whom I have mentioned before, and
who is still desirous of leaving the broad road, without heart to
trust in him who is in the heavenly path, the way, the truth, and the
life. He is now here, endeavouring to obtain a livelihood by teaching
a few boys Hebrew, and comes to read the book of Job in German with
Mr. Pfander, without any of their explanations, one of which, as it
regards Job, is as follows. They say that every individual of the
human race actually existed in Adam, some in his nails, some in his
toes, some in his eyes, mouth, &c. &c., and they think, in proportion
to the proximity of the position of any person to the parts concerned
in eating and digesting the forbidden fruit, will be their degree of
guilt and measure of punishment here; so they consider that Job had
his place near the mouth. Such are the follies which now occupy the
minds of this interesting people, instead of the Lord of life and
glory.
Colonization appears to have entered into the contemplation of those
engaged in steam-navigation, and the planting of indigo and sugar. To
this end, the Pasha has granted them thirty miles of land on the banks
of the river. Just before Mr. Taylor was to set off to go through the
desert, news came that the Arab tribes on the road were at war among
themselves, and that it would therefore not be safe for him to go that
way, so he changed his route, and went on the 13th, by the way of
Mousul and Merdin, nearly double the distance, and at the same time,
Mr. Bywater and Mr. Elliot set off to Beer, from whence they intend
going down the Euphrates and examining that river as far down as
Babylon.
The old Jew, who came with the German, heartily entered into some
conversation about the coming of Christ. A school of Jewish children
might, I think, easily be obtained here, if you would teach them
English and the Old Testament only.
Our Moolah has mentioned, that he has been reading the New Testament
with another Moolah, who wishes to have a copy of Sabat's translation,
thinking that that might stimulate them to answer it; but that the
Propaganda edition is so vulgar, it offends them, for like the
Greeks they seek after wisdom. Still, if they read, the testimony
of God is delivered, and the plucking a few brands from the general
conflagration, is the great work till the Lord come. They have a most
proud and obstinate hatred against the name of Jesus, before whom all
must bow.
We have been interested by some inquiries made by our schoolmaster and
his father, relative to our morning and evening prayers; he wanted to
know what they were, and Mr. Pfander had the greatest difficulty in
making him understand, that we prayed from a sense of our present
wants. They said, they had heard from their books, that in the time of
the apostles men were without form of prayer, and were enabled to pray
from their hearts; but that it was not so now. They also asked some
questions about the Lord's Supper, whether we used wine mixed with
water or unmixed; bread leavened or unleavened. They seem anxious to
know more, and may the Lord give an open door to them!
We cannot help feeling, that the difficulties among the Mohammedans,
and apostate Christian churches are great beyond any thing that
can be imagined previous to experience. The difficulties of absolute
falsehood are as nothing to those of perverted truth, as we see in the
confounding infant baptism with the renewing of the Holy Ghost. In
every thing it is the same, prayer, praise, love, all is perverted,
and yet the name retained. The communications we received from Mr.
G----l and others,[11] about the state of Christianity in these
countries, is but too true, and what he states about the monks at
Itch-Meeazin may be doubtless true; at least I suppose it is the seat
of the Armenian Patriarch he means, for I know of no other Armenian
church in these parts, where this service is kept up of reading the
whole Book of Psalms every day. The office of a missionary in these
countries is, to _live_ the Gospel before them in the power of the
Holy Ghost, and to drop like the dew, line upon line, and precept upon
precept, here a little and there a little, till God give the increase
of his labours; but it must be by patient continuance in well doing
against every discouraging circumstance, from the remembrance of what
we ourselves once were.
[11] See Record, Oct. 1, 1829.
We have this day heard, that the cholera or the plague is at Tabreez,
and that they are dying 4 or 5,000 a day; but this, I have no doubt,
is a gross exaggeration. May the Lord watch over the seed that seems
sowing there, and make the judgments that are in the earth warnings to
men to return to God. We also have the cholera here; but I trust not
severely.
The last Tartar who took our letters with the head of the ex-Khiahya
was plundered, so that our letters were lost which we sent by him.
We have been to-day in hopes of obtaining another Moolah, for teaching
the children in the school to read and write Arabic. For two months we
have been trying, without success, to obtain one, so great is their
prejudice against teaching Christians at all, but especially
themselves to read the New Testament; but as our Lord does every
thing for us, we doubt not he will do this also if it be best.
I am much led to think on those of my dear missionary brethren, who
look for the kingdom of Christ to come in by a gradual extension of
the exertions now making. This view seems to me very discouraging; for
surely after labouring for years, and so little having been done, we
may all naturally be led to doubt if we are in our places; but to
those who feel their place to be to preach Jesus, and publish the
Testament in his blood, whether men will hear or whether they will
forbear, they have nothing to discourage them, knowing they are a
sweet savour of Christ. I daily feel more and more, that till the Lord
come our service will be chiefly to gather out the few grapes that
belong to the Lord's vine, and publish his testimony in all nations;
there may be here and there a fruitful field on some pleasant hill,
but as a whole, the cry will be, "Who hath believed our report, and to
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed."
It is the constant practice here among the Jews, when they hear our
blessed Lord's name mentioned, or mention it themselves, to curse him;
so awful is their present state of opposition, Mohammedans will not
hear, and Christians do not care for any of those things--such is the
present state here; but if the Lord prosper our labour, we shall see
what the end will be, when the Almighty word of God becomes
understood. The poor German Jew still holds on; he has too much
honesty to live by writing lying amulets, and too little faith to cast
himself on the Lord; but his constant cry is, What shall I do to live?
The insight he gives us into the state of the Jews here is most awful,
but notwithstanding, there appears to me a most abundant field of
labour among the 10,000 who are here. Yesterday he called me suddenly
while at breakfast, to see a poor young Jewess who had been married
but two months, and had fallen over the bridge with her little brother
in her arms. The scene was awfully interesting. Not less perhaps than
300 Jews, with their wives, were in the house, but tumultuous as the
waves of the sea, without hope and without God in the world. There was
no hope of recovering her. She had been in the water an hour and a
half, and had there been life, they were acting so as to extinguish
every spark. She was lying in a close room crowded to suffocation,
with the windows shut; and they were burning under her nose charcoal
and wool.
The Armenian boys, who are learning English, go on with great zeal,
and may in the course of time become very interesting.
We have at length received information, that all our things are
arrived at Bussorah, and among the rest, the lithographic press, which
we hope to find most useful to us in our present position; every thing
happens rightly and well; they have been delayed for some time in
coming up the river, in consequence of a quarrel between the Pasha and
the Arab tribe, the Beni-Laam, in consequence of the plunder of Dr.
Beaky's boat, but we expect it will be settled, as the Pasha has
acceded to the terms the Sheikh offered, and has sent him down a dress
of honour.
I am sometimes led, in contemplating the gentlemanly and imposing
aspect which our present missionary institutions bear, and contrasting
them with the early days of the church, when apostolic fishermen and
tent-makers published the testimony, to think that much will not be
done till we go back again to primitive principles, and let the
nameless poor, and their unrecorded and unsung labours be those on
which our hopes, under God, are fixed.
We have just heard an interesting case. The gardener of the Pasha is a
Greek, who was lately sent to him at his request from Constantinople,
and yesterday (August 6), he became a Mohammedan. He had two daughters
of thirteen and fourteen, whom he also wished to become Mohammedans;
but they would not consent, and ran away to the factory, where they
might have remained under English protection; but they would not stay,
unless their brother, and his wife, and their servants could remain
with them; so they left, as Major T---- had not room for them all,
having already the family of one of the servants of the Pasha, who is
imprisoned for some delinquency in connection with the revenue
accruing to the Pasha from the bazaar.
There has been with Mr. Pfander to-day one of the writers of the
Pasha, and he read some parts of the Turkish New Testament, which he
very well understood, and expressed much pleasure in the reading of;
but when, on his being about to leave, Mr. P. asked him to accept of a
Turkish Testament, he very politely declined it.
There is another person come from Merdin, with the view of settling
the affair between the Syrians and the Roman Catholics at Merdin. He
is a weaver of Diarbekr; and from him Mr. Pfander learns, that in the
last census taken by the Pasha, the Syrians were 700 families, and the
Armenians 6,700: this certainly opens a most interesting field for
Christian inquiry: he also said, that the Syrians in the mountains
were perfectly independent of the Mohammedans, and among themselves
are divided into little clans under their respective Bishops. He also
stated, that reading and writing were much more cultivated among the
independent Syrians than those in the plains.
He also said there would be no difficulty whatever in going among the
Yezidees with a Syrian guide. The language which the independent
Syrians speak is Syriac, which is near the ancient Syriac, and that
they understand fully the Syrian Scriptures when read in their
churches. We hope, therefore, should the Lord spare our lives,
to have an opportunity of circulating some of the many copies of the
Scriptures in Syriac, which Mr. Pfander has brought from Shushee, and
some that I expect will come from Bombay for me.
The Gerba tribe of Arabs are come almost close to Bagdad, to check
whom the Pasha intends sending out the troops that have been under the
discipline of the English.
We have also heard from the Syrian, that from Mousul to Mardin the
road by the mountains of Sinjar is safer than by the plains. Among the
Yezidees and Syrians, no Mohammedan lives. It is impossible to
consider such an immense Christian population as that in Diarbekr,
without feeling a wish to pour in upon it the fountains of living
waters, which we are so abundantly blessed with. Oh, that some one
would come out, and settle down in such a place as Diarbekr--what an
abundant field of labour!
_August 14._--A young Jew was here to-day, and bought three Arabic
Bibles of Mr. Pfander, at 25 piastres of this place each, _i.e._ about
5s. sterling. This is almost the beginning. Many might perhaps have
been given away; but as we find that those of Mr. Wolff were generally
burnt, we wish them to buy them, at least, at such a price that they
would not burn them. He took away a Hebrew New Testament, but returned
it again. I should feel deeply interested in some one coming to take
charge of a Jewish school, in which the Old Testament, Hebrew, and
Arabic, might be the basis of instruction. I make no doubt, that at
once a most interesting school might be established here on a very
large scale, for they have but one school of about 150 poor boys at
their synagogue, or rather synagogues, for they have six, but all in
one place, and forming one building; they have also three rabbies, and
besides the boys which are taught at the above school, many others are
educated at home by teachers. Now, nothing can be more distinct than
their wish for a school, and their promise of supporting it on the
basis of the Old Testament being taught as a school-book, which
certainly, as a primary step, is a most important one to cause them,
by the Lord's blessing, to see that the book which they now disfigure
by monstrous interpretations, has yet in itself, by the illumination
of God's Spirit, a clear, simple, and, in all essential points, an
intelligible meaning, without the aid of man's exposition. But should
they finally turn round and oppose the school, which as soon as the
power of it is felt, they most assuredly would do, still some might
remain, and if none should, there is still a most abundant field of
labour in circulating the Scriptures, and in conversation among them
in this city, and throughout Mesopotamia, where they abound in almost
every town.
We have heard from a Jew, that Sakies, the Armenian Agent of the East
India Company, had given the Jews directions to treat Mr. Wolff when
here with attention, and to invite him to their houses. The Jews here
are closely connected with the English, at least many of them, who are
under English protection.