upon the city, and instead of a _Firman_ in favour Daoud Pasha,
bringing peace, we can hear the sound of the cannon of the new Pasha.
He will little regard the _Firman_ that has come from the Sultan, if
it has really come, and which being here universally believed to have
been procured through the instrumentality of our Ambassador, places
the English in no very acceptable position; but the Lord is our tower,
yea, our high tower, and into _him_ we run. The enemy is now about six
miles off, and the whole city is in a state of commotion that cannot
be described, every one armed with swords, pistols, and guns,
preparing for the expected contest. O Lord, we commend ourselves to
thy holy keeping, for thou neither slumberest nor sleepest. When all
the difficulties of these countries follow upon one another as rapidly
as they have of late done here, it seems very difficult to see how the
word of life is to go forth as a testimony. Yet it will; for the Lord
hath said it; therefore let not our hearts fail, or our hands hang
down, for the Lord of all circumstances, who governs the most
disastrous as well as the most prosperous, is our own Lord, the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. All the bazaars are
closed, and we are taking in water again at an advanced price. Oh!
Lord, when will thy holy and blessed kingdom of peace come, when the
nations shall learn war no more, but love and light shall flourish in
the Lord! Wherever the blasting influence of Mohammedanism extends,
how iron bound all appears against the truth: yet even this the Lord
will soften by his love, or break by his power. May my soul be daily
more and more sensible of their misery and pride. Poor Mr. Goodell
says, in a letter, that after all the labours the American
missionaries have bestowed in Syria, they scarcely know an individual
to whom their message has been peace, saving in the case of two or
three Armenians of whom they hoped well. No one can imagine the
disheartening feelings that often try the missionary's heart in the
countries where Mohammedanism is professed and dominant, and where
your mouth is sealed. Among heathens, and especially in India, you can
publish your testimony, and this is a great comfort to the heart that
knows what a testimony it is, and what promises are connected with its
publication.
Shortly after we ascended to the roof for our evening walk, we heard
the cannon and small arms begin to fire, which informed us that the
contest was begun within the city. About eight o'clock we heard
multitudes crying out and shouting before the seroy, or palace, and
the account was soon brought us that the inhabitants had broken in and
seized the Pasha. After this all became quiet, except the firing of
guns from the tops of the houses, to frighten off the thieves, and the
cry of the watchmen, whom all, who can afford it in these trying
occasions, keep to protect them. The Lord has hitherto extended his
sheltering wing over us, though without sword, pistol, gun, or powder
in the house; and the only men besides myself, are Kitto, who is
deaf, and the schoolmaster's father, who is blind: but the Lord is our
hope and our exceeding great reward.
_June 12._ _Lord's day._--The wretched Pasha has just passed our house
under a guard to the residence of Saleh Beg, almost the only male
relation he suffered to live of the family he supplanted. The Lord is
now visiting on him his cruelty and blood; so that what with the
plague and now the sword, there will hardly be one of the apostate
Georgians left.
The day dawned quietly; but our house has just been attacked by a band
of lawless depredators, asking for powder and offensive weapons. I
told them I had none; but seeing a carpenter whom I knew, I told him I
would let him and three others in, if they would promise me that no
more should come in, which they did. So they entered, and were very
civil, though they searched the house: I gave them some money, and
they went away, promising that nothing more should be done to my
house; but my only confidence is in the Lord. They wanted to go from
the roof of my house to that of a rich neighbour's of mine, but I told
them I could not allow that they should make my house a passage to
his, and they were very civil and did not press it.
A Frenchman who was teaching the Pasha's soldiers European discipline,
has had his house stripped, and when they were on the point of killing
him he turned Mohammedan. Before he was professedly a Roman Catholic,
but really an infidel.
Oh, my dear Mary, what a contrast to your kingdom of peace and love!
Lord Jesus come quickly. For this I can now truly bless God that she
is freed from this season of trouble and anxiety. The dear children
bear it better than I could have hoped; but the Lord sustains and
comforts us in the hope that as the new Pasha is near, this state of
inquietude may not continue long. The Pasha of Mosul and an Arab chief
have entered the city, and are now at the palace, so thank God, the
state of anarchy is likely to be immediately put an end to. The crier
has been publishing the determination of those now acting for the new
Pasha, till he enters to punish all who commit any depredations, and
desiring that the bazaars may be opened, and every one go about his
own work. Should this be the end, we cannot but bless God that so
great a storm has passed over so lightly. But the fact was, that the
plague had destroyed all the powers of resistance. All Daoud Pasha's
soldiers were dead--all his public servants were dead--and he, though
recovering from the plague, unable to take any active part for
himself. When he passed our house this morning, he was supported on
his horse by six men. He is not yet killed, and on his expressing a
wish to have his son brought to him, he was sent for immediately.
Should they spare his life, it may augur that even the Turks are
coming to a sense of their barbarism. It has been a great comfort to
me to-day, to think on Noah's case, that God did not forget him amidst
a condemned world.
_June 14._--The people at the head of affairs have now begun to
quarrel among themselves: some are for killing Daoud Pasha, some
are for saving him, and the opposite parties are fighting in all
directions; so when these troubles will terminate, or how, we have
little knowledge. Our only resting place is in him who is the Shepherd
of the fold of Israel.
The Pasha of Mosul has been made prisoner, and part of the palace has
been burnt and plundered: they have killed or put to flight the
soldiers of the Pasha of Mosul, who came here as the agent of Ali
Pasha, of Aleppo, the successor to Daoud Pasha, said to have been
appointed by the Porte. The crier has again proclaimed Daoud as Pasha,
and Saleh Beg his kaimacam or representative, till he recovers. Some
say the Pasha of Aleppo is dead of the plague; some, that he is not
coming, and that this entrance of the Pasha of Mosul and a famous Arab
chief, was only a plot of theirs to get Bagdad into their own hands.
What is true, what is false, it is now utterly impossible to tell, or
what the result will be; but should Ali Pasha, if he is alive, be now
sufficiently powerful to advance and attempt to dispossess this man,
we may expect dreadful scenes. Last night the contest ended in
plundering the poor Jews.
Amidst this turmoil and interminable contention, a missionary with a
family has much to try his faith, particularly in the early years of
his missionary course, when he has no power in the language to take
advantage of those opportunities which accidentally present
themselves; for I am daily more and more convinced of the difficulty
of speaking so as to be felt; at least in the first Eastern language
one learns. The association of ideas, the images of illustration, are
almost entirely different in many cases. The organs of pronunciation
require a perfect new modelling, and perhaps not the least difficulty
is to prevent one's heart from sinking at the little apparent progress
made in understanding, and being understood, out of the common routine
of daily life: the feeling will often arise, Surely I never shall
learn. The difficulty is not, however, merely in words; you have to
converse in the East generally with persons who have either no ideas
on subjects of the deepest interest, or have attached some entirely
different meaning to the terms you use to express those ideas; and
which of the two occasions the most trouble, it is difficult to say.
Notwithstanding, however, all difficulties, and all discouragements,
and we seem now in the very centre of all, my soul was never more
assured of the value of missionary labours among any people, it
matters not whom, than now. There is, I am sure, what our blessed Lord
declares, a _testimony_, in whatever measure we can proclaim his
truth, or manifest his spirit, that is felt by those even who will
not embrace it savingly. In reading Mrs. Judson's journal of the
trials of the Burman mission, how deeply I now enter into them--how
truly I can sympathize with them. It is wonderful how the Lord does
sustain the heart when the time of trial comes. When I heard the
struggle at the palace, last night, then saw it on fire, and heard the
balls whizzing over our heads, and shortly after the screams of the
poor Jews, whom they were plundering, a little way from the end of our
street, my heart felt a repose in God that I cannot describe, and a
peace that nothing but confidence in his loving care could give me, I
feel assured. At times I feel so utterly useless, so devoid of every
aptitude for the work in which I am engaged, that I wonder the Lord
called me to it, yet the Lord may allow me to fill a place, though it
be the lowest in missionary service. My greatest earthly treasure is
the love of those who love the Lord, and in this I do feel rich,
unworthy as I am of it. My heart longs for Christian communion; but
such is the state of things here, that I feel almost as far from the
prospect as when the first letter arrived from England, telling me so
many were purposing to come. But what an inducement it is to patience
to know, that all our trials and disappointments are the orderings of
him who loved us, and gave himself for us.
The day is passing quietly over, thank God; and they are removing the
barricades from the streets.
_June 15._--The account has just reached us, that the Pasha of Mosul
was put to death last night. The reason assigned is, that he attacked
Bagdad without any warrant, and had detained at Mosul the Tartars who
were bringing the firman for Daoud Pasha. Oh! what a country, and what
a government! Should the reinstatement of Daoud Pasha not be a truth,
these circumstances will tend greatly to embitter the contest, and
make the occupying of the city by the new Pasha a much more
destructive and trying scene, than if these events had not occurred;
but I feel that the Lord is disciplining, by these trials, the poor
weak faith of his servant to lay hold on his strength, and not to rest
on his own. I now give up all hope of seeing the dear brethren from
Aleppo till the autumn. These scenes of anxiety and trouble strongly
urge the heart forward to desire the day of the Lord to come, so
wretched, so comfortless does all appear. I have quite given up the
little we have to plunder, so that I feel quite at ease on that point,
should it be the Lord's will to allow these scenes to continue, and us
thus to be served. For the moment a season of lawlessness commences,
you see the Mohammedan feeling relative to Christians. Now, for
instance, that meat is scarce, if they see a butcher disposed to give
a Christian some before them, they instantly put themselves into an
attitude of hostility, and say, "What! will you give it to these
infidels before us?" The other day, during the time of the
disturbances in the city, the son of one of the most respectable
Armenians here, went out, armed with pistol, sword, and gun to the
coffee-house. They immediately began with saying, "What does this
infidel with arms? Will he kill Moslems?" and they stripped him of
all. The governing powers are beginning to recognize and feel the
strength of those people called Christians; but this is never the
thought of an Arab populace, who care for none of these things, and
only think of present plunder.
I have finished reading the account of the Burmese mission, and
sympathize much more fully with the sufferers, than when I last
read it, and I greatly admire and bless God for their steady and
persevering devotedness to his holy service, amidst so many trials and
so many discouragements. Such manifestations of the grace of Christ,
tend much to encourage and strengthen the hands and hearts of those
who are in any trials, whether similar or different. Whoever proves
God to be among his dear children, becomes necessarily a light to the
Church, for the Lord surely will be faithful to his promise and to his
children's confidence; and the manifestation of this his faithfulness
becomes the light of others.
_June 16._ (_Friday._)--To-day all quiet within the city.
_June 17._--For some weeks past hope and fear have alternated for my
sweet little baby; but to-day hope finds not a place for her foot to
rest on. I see the Lord has sent his message for her also; this comes
very, very heavy; for from some days previous to dear Mary's death
till now, I have been her constant nurse, and solicitude about her has
in some measure served to distract my attention from the undivided
dwelling on my heavier loss, till she has become so accustomed to my
nursing, that as soon as ever she sees me, she stretches out her
little supplicating hands for me to take her. All this has served to
beguile my heart, and keep it in some degree occupied. But when the
Lord takes from me this sweet little flower, I shall indeed be
desolate. Why the Lord thus strips me, I do not now see; yet he does
not allow me to doubt his love, amidst all my sorrows, and I know that
light is sown for me, though it does not yet spring up. Oh! may my
soul never cease to feel assured of my heavenly Father's unchangeable
love; for with a doubt on this head _now_, what would my circumstances
be? We know that tribulation worketh patience, and patience
experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed. Oh! may
such a result spring from all my suffering!
_June 26._--For some days I have had nothing to write about from
without. All has been, on the whole, quiet, and we now wait for
communications from Constantinople to see how things are likely to
end. It appears now that Daoud Pasha has retired in favour of Saleh
Beg, whether willingly or from necessity, is not known. The treasury
and every thing else is given up into his hand; and he knows as well
how to spend it as his predecessor did to collect it; he is therefore
popular, but not esteemed by those of more understanding as a man of
abilities. He, however, goes to the old Pasha Daoud every day for
instructions.
How all these events will operate upon our future labours, I cannot at
all conceive; whether they will close up the little opening we had, or
make a wider one, the Lord, on whom we wait, alone knows. I have been
reading much lately of missionary labours, and am surprised to find
how uniformly trials, and difficulties, and threatened destruction
have hung over them for years, yet many of them the Lord has since
singally blessed. We are, however, in the Lord's hands.
I have just read through a second time Mr. Wolff's journal, and Mr.
Jowett's second volume, and I confess that if my little experience
entitles me to give my opinion, I think Mr. Jowett's judgment much the
soundest as to the nature of the operations to be carried on in these
countries; that the missionary corps should be as unencumbered as
possible, and ready to remove at a moment's notice. I mean those
engaged in the simple evangelist's office, disconnected from all
secular callings; but should there be a band of enlightened saints,
willing to take the handicraft departments of life, as their means of
support, and unobserved access to the people, they might remain and
carry on their work, when other and more ostensible teachers were
obliged to fly: and this is doubtless the way the primitive churches
were nourished, when their professed teachers fled.
As to those colleges and large establishments contemplated by Mr.
Wolff, even could they be established on the comprehensive principle
proposed by his zealous and ardent mind, I fear it would lead much
more to the diffusion of universal scepticism than the eternal
excellency of the truth of God; if, I say, it could be attained, but
for many reasons I feel it cannot be attained. The liberality of the
Christian public is not up to such undertakings, even though they saw
the utility to be clear. One cannot help being struck with Mr. Wolff's
judging of others from himself; because he felt he was willing to make
sacrifices, he promised for others as freely as for himself: but what
has been the result even of the two schools he did establish, and
promise to support from the funds of his patron and others? The
burthen has rested on those who were persuaded through him of the
willingness of others to co-operate. One is given up, and the other
has dwindled down to about nineteen pupils, and these are educated on
the native plan, so that, as far as divine light is concerned, it is
in _statu quo_. The two colleges that were to be established at Aleppo
and Tabreez, and towards which a beginning was made in promises and
plans--nothing now is heard of them; nor do I think it is to be
regretted. The object was too mixed for much of spiritual prosperity.
The difficulty is not in getting houses and firmans: it is when you
begin to wish to sit down and attack the strong holds of the enemy.
The same with the letters of patriarchs and bishops: when the thing is
new and they see not its bearings on their system, they are all
friendliness--as among the heads of the Armenians, the Catholics, and
other Bishops. But when they have seen the life-giving power of the
divine word in the souls of two or three of their followers, under the
instruction of such clear brethren as at Shushee, or the American
brethren, all is changed, and when dear Zaremba was at Ech-Miazin the
other day, and endeavoured to get the consent of the Armenian
patriarch to the translation of the Scriptures, by Dittrich, his
reception was every thing but kind; and they have actually dragged
away one of their deacons from the dear brethren at Shushee, to try
him at Ech-Miazin for heresy. I have also heard that the bishop of
Ispahan, who superintends all these countries, even as far as India,
has prohibited the reception of any tracts by his people, and would
not let them have a school till the Roman Catholics appeared there and
established one, taking away some of his flock, when he granted it. In
fact, wherever the hierarchical spirit exists, there a spirit of
domination and pride--there a spirit of Antichrist exists--whether in
the Brahmin, the Mufti, or the Patriarch, there is a body of men who
will not go in themselves, nor let others go in; it must be so, as
Mr. Jowett justly observes, wherever the distinction between laity and
clergy is kept up in opposition to the right and duty of each man to
judge for himself. Mr. Jowett's words are, I think, "The principal
religious characteristic of Syria and the Holy Land, (and he might
have added, of all the ancient churches, and too many of the modern,)
that which is common to all its professors and sects, is that _system
of distinction between priesthood and laity_, felt even when not
avowed; according to which, it seems to be the interest of a few
professed teachers to hold the rest of their fellow-creatures in
darkness." Those men, therefore, who, in a hasty visit, welcome you,
and if you are well introduced, flatter you, no sooner see or feel
your real design, than they become your enemies, and the missionary
who should begin with any other expectation from present prospects,
must be disappointed. For instance, had we been where there was a
powerful clergy, we should have met with the greatest opposition in
our school, because of our casting out of it the book which they so
highly prize, called the Shammakirke. Yet no Christian teacher could
conscientiously allow it--it was full of prayers to the Virgin, the
Cross, &c. &c.; we therefore here succeeded, under God's blessing,
because the laity were strong and the priesthood weak, without any
serious struggle; but their progress has been very different at
Shushee.
The morals of the monks at Ech-Miazin are such that no parent in the
country thinks himself justified in sending his child there to be
educated. From such men, what can you expect? With them what can you
do? I have for a long time been persuaded that the path for a child of
God to pursue, is to follow his Lord, and not to ask the Sanhedrim's
leave to preach the truth; and never to take any notice of them till
they take notice of us. Dark as the cloud seems to be now around these
lands, and difficult as it seems even to live in them, much more to
labour in them; yet I do not at all think, to one having patiently
attained a thorough knowledge of the colloquial Arabic, and the other
colloquial languages in use, that the door is barred to a travelling
unsettled missionary, or even to one resident many months in a place:
neither do I think he should be discouraged from attempting schools,
for although they may not stand above a year or two, you may by the
Lord's blessing be the instrument of stirring up their minds to think
and examine for themselves, and without violence lead them to question
the truth of some of their dogmas; and when you have once dislodged
the principle of implicit faith, you have at last opened the door for
truth. I think it is much to be regretted that Mr. Wolff's wishes
about Bussorah and Bushire did not succeed. In the one there is a
permanent British Resident, and in the other a permanent British
influence, that would have much favoured a school, and even perhaps
finally more extensive operations; and I do still hope he may yet
find some of his friends, who are as able as willing to take the
necessary charge of these places, for they are now more disheartened
than when nothing had been promised them. At Tabreez also, I think
a most interesting school might be established; but let it be as
comprehensive as it can with a safe conscience be, without pretending
to a principle that includes all. If, upon such terms Mohammedans
come, your conscience is not entangled, and you can go on steadily
with your work. If they go, they go; if they stay, they stay; but take
care how you take any of the gentiles by solicitation; it will tie
your hands, and hamper all your proceedings. It looks promising to see
the names of Princes and great men connected with our work; but I am
persuaded that it is utterly spiritual weakness. Better do ever so
little work with the whole soul, than ever so much, trimming between
the world and the Church, and all very comprehensive plans must
involve this: besides, from the outset, the feeling of duplicity
that always must result from inducing men to contribute to support
institutions under certain partial representations, which they would
not embrace if you stated your real design, and the full truth.
Besides these difficulties of money and principle, the unsettled state
of these countries is such that learned orientalists would never come,
even if they were in abundance; but the fact is, that even Europe is
very scantily supplied with men who could direct such an institution,
and if they could be found, unless the love of Christ were the spring
of their actions--were they mere literary orientalists, their
influence as it regards the kingdom of Christ would be worse than
nugatory. For though you might hope to correct this evil by having
others connected with the institution who might have the more
immediate spiritual direction of the students, this would soon lead to
strifes and divisions between the heads of the institution. That the
spread of literature in the East will sap and finally overthrow
_Mohammedanism_, I have little doubt; but this is the work of the men
of the world, and the result, as it regards Christianity, very
doubtful; but the missionary's object is one and indivisible: if
Christ be not glorified, he gains nothing; but if he be but exalted,
he has his rich reward.
_June 28._ _Thursday._--There seems just sufficient strength in this
wretched country to destroy itself: it has long lost the power of
attacking its enemies with success, it has also lost the power of
resistance against their attacks, neither can it longer stand without
external support: there seems just sufficient power left to commit
suicide. In this pashalic, though the Sultan cannot without extreme
difficulty remove the Pasha, yet he effectually destroys its
prosperity;--he ruins the merchant, he encourages every species of
robbery, so that frequently, as at present, not a shop dare be opened
but for the simplest necessaries. Nor does it operate against the
prosperity of this city only, but all the trade of which this was a
sort of intermediate place of transit between India, Mosul, Merdin,
Damascus, and Aleppo, as well as on the other side from Europe, is so
far interrupted, for not a merchant will now venture his goods across
the desert. All attachment too seems entirely destroyed between the
head and the members of the empire. ---- was with me to-day,
who, speaking on the state of the Pashalic said, If the Sultan will
let us have Daoud Pasha well, we neither want the Sultan nor a
stranger; but we would rather put ourselves under the English, and let
them govern as they do in Hindoostan. This feeling is exceedingly
general, and in looking forward to the downfall of the empire, they
seem quite to consider this country as the portion which will fall to
England, and speak of it openly as a thing they desire. This arises
from their hearing so much of our government in India.