SYRIA.
1842-1846.
The mission was strengthened, early in 1842, by the arrival of Dr.
Henry A. DeForest and wife; and suffered a new bereavement in the
death of the second Mrs. Smith, but little more than a year after
her arrival. Some months later, Mr. and Mrs. Sherman retired from
the field, in consequence of failing health. Messrs, Beadle,
Wolcott, and Leander Thompson, and Miss Tilden, also returned home
soon after. Mr. Lanneau rejoined the mission, with his wife, early
in 1843.
The Foreign Secretary and Dr. Hawes, visited the mission in the
early part of 1844, and assisted in a meeting of the missionaries,
which continued several days. Facts and principles were freely
discussed, and the results were embodied in written reports, drawn
up by committees appointed for the purpose. There is space for only
a concise statement of a few of these results.
It was recognized as a fact of fundamental importance, that the
people within the bounds of the mission were Arabs, whether called
Greeks, Greek Catholics, Druzes, or Maronites, and that the divers
religious sects really constituted one race. There were believed to
be advantages, in the fact, that these sects were intermingled in
the several villages, since the population was less inclined to
oppose, and more easily accessible, than where the villages were
exclusively of one sect. The most hopeful parts of Lebanon were the
southern districts, inhabited by a people social in their habits,
owners of the soil, shrewd, inquisitive, industrious, and capable of
devising and executing with tact and efficiency.
There was much discussion as to the best manner of cultivating the
field, but all agreed that wherever small companies were ready to
make a credible profession of piety, they were entitled to be
recognized as churches, and had a right to such a native ministry as
could be given them. The reformed churches might combine persons
from several, and perhaps from all, the various sects; and the
method of church organization should be such as to throw the
greatest responsibility on the individual members.
The question was raised, whether the marked disposition in the
mountain communities to place themselves collectively under the
instruction of the mission, would justify a lowering of the
qualifications for church-membership, especially with reference to
the baptism of children. It was believed that no good would result
from this; especially, as the people are so bent on regarding
baptism as a renewing ordinance. To form churches in this way, would
only be to multiply communities of merely nominal Christians.
The brethren admitted, that their labors had been too little
adapted, hitherto, to awaken religious feeling among the people. The
reasons assigned for this were, the absorbing demands of the press
and of education; the habits of preaching and laboring formed under
past unfavorable states of the field; and finally, a painful
impression of the suffering that converts must endure, with no civil
power to interpose between them and their persecutors.
To counteract the first of these causes, it was decided to suspend
the printing for a year; and the seminary was revived, which had
been suspended in 1842, to counteract the second. The remedy for the
last two, was a more perfect reliance on the Holy Spirit and the
divine energy of the Gospel. It was the general opinion, that
education in all its parts should bear a fixed proportion to the
frequency, spirituality, and power of the more formal preaching. Nor
was it less clear, that the press should be kept strictly
subservient to the pulpit.
The most remarkable call for preaching, at this time, was at
Hasbeiya, a village of four or five thousand inhabitants, situated
at the foot of Mount Hermon.1 Druzes and members of the Greek Church
made up the population, with some Greek Catholics, Moslems, and
Jews. The village lay about fifty miles southeast of Beirût,
bordering on the country of the Bedawîn, with whom was its principal
trade. As the result of this, the people had much personal
independence, with a tendency to segregation; features which Mr.
Smith noticed as specially predominant among other native Christians
similarly situated, especially in the Hauran.
1 The _New York Observer_, from July 18th to August 29th, 1846, has
an instructive series of articles on Hasbeiya, from the pen of Dr.
Eli Smith.
Early in the year 1844, a considerable body of the Hasbeiyans
seceded from the Greek Church, declared themselves Protestants, and
made a formal application to the mission for religious instruction.
About fifty men came at one time to Beirût for that purpose, and
asked for ministers to teach them. Their dissatisfaction with their
Church was not of recent date, but had been increasing for years. It
had arisen from the selfishness and worldliness of their clergy, and
their consequent neglect of the flock. These men had some
acquaintance with the mission, Hasbeiya having been visited by more
than one of the native book agents. It was evident, however, that
concern for the salvation of the soul was not the cause of their
coming. What they sought had reference solely to the present life.
Appropriate instruction was given, and they were advised to go home,
pay their taxes (which they had not done), and do what they could to
live in peace with their townsmen, and then to write to the mission.
A letter was received after a few days, stating that they had done
as they were advised, and urging the visit of a missionary. In this
request they were earnestly seconded by the two brethren from the
United States, who arrived at Beirût, just before the letter came.
The mission sent two of their native helpers; but these had not left
Beirût before a second delegation arrived, more urgent than the
first. The native helpers were followed in May by Messrs. Smith and
Whiting, who soon saw that they had been too backward to credit the
sincerity of these men. The hope of political advantage had been
abandoned, but their decision and their numbers had steadily
increased. The men were about one hundred and fifty, and among them
were some of the most respectable inhabitants, and a large
proportion of enterprising men. Their love of peace, as well as
their decision, had secured for them general respect. Some had made
considerable progress in Christian knowledge, and the neighbors
acknowledged that the profane among them had left off swearing, and
the drunkard had abandoned his cups. The Sabbath, moreover, was
carefully observed; the old church fasts were given up; prayers to
saints and to the virgin had ceased; pictures for adoration had
disappeared from their houses; and it was remarkable that in these
changes the women were more zealous than the men. Still their
knowledge in all cases was very imperfect, and it was uncertain how
well they would endure persecution. Nearly all the members of the
mission were there at different times; as also Tannûs el Haddad, and
Butrus el-Bistany, of the native helpers.
Meanwhile the spirit of persecution was rising. The Greek Patriarch
at Damascus became alarmed, and tidings were received that a company
of horsemen was coming from Zahleh, a large nominally Christian town
at the eastern foot of Lebanon, to force a recantation from the
Protestants of Hasbeiya. Mr. Smith and Butrus were there at the
time. The stony-ground hearers had fallen off; yet fifty adults were
present at the preaching, and gave close attention. Of women a
larger number than usual were present, and seemed to be waking up to
the idea, that religion was a thing for them. From twelve to fifteen
women attended a daily afternoon prayermeeting. It was affecting to
think how lately these were blind devotees of the virgin and the
saints, and profaning the name of God a hundred times a day. "Going
to the afternoon service," says Mr. Smith, "where Butrus addressed
the people, I found the children of the congregation assembled in
the court, and engaged in repeating the Assembly's Catechism. Their
order was perfect, their attention solemn, and their answers
generally given with correctness, while the teacher showed his own
improvement by the explanations he gave them. Their parents and
friends stood around, and listened with evident gratification, while
curiosity had drawn the members of a neighboring Greek family to
their windows, and they too were quietly looking on. To appreciate
its interest you must have been present, and heard the shouts rising
at the same time from an opposite quarter, where the boys of the
town were assembled in belligerent array, and making a mimic (or
rather real) war, by throwing stones at each other, to see which
would gain the victory. The little company before me, when I first
came to the place, scarcely two months ago, were as fully carried
away as any of them with these wild sports, and even parental
authority could not, for a Sabbath or two, bring them to break off
for an hour to learn the word of God. Now, what a change! It was as
if the devil had been cast out of them, and they were sitting in
their right minds. Such are missionary triumphs, and the joy that
springs from them is what the world can neither give nor take away."
Some members of the community not being satisfied with the
strictness of the mission in regard to baptism and the Lord's
Supper, the two brethren went into a thorough explanation of the
subject. This led to a long and earnest conversation. The next day,
July 4, the people gave in their reply; which was, that they would
yield entirely to the judgment of the missionaries, who might admit
them to the rites of the church when they thought them qualified.
On Sabbath, July 14, it being certain that the people of Zahleh were
coming, the Protestants assembled in the house of the missionary, to
enter into a solemn covenant to stand by each other to the last.
After the service, they drew up an engagement in the following
terms: "We, whose names are hereto subscribed, do covenant together
before God and this assembly, and pledge ourselves upon the holy
Gospel, that we will remain leagued together in one faith; that we
will not forsake this faith, nor shall any separate us from each
other while we are in this world; and that we will be of one hand
and one heart in the worship of God, according to the doctrines of
the Gospel. In God is our help." The covenant was taken by them
separately, each one standing by the table, and laying his hand upon
the Bible as it was read to him. Sixty-eight names were subscribed
on the spot; and the number was increased next day to seventy-six,
all of them adult males.
"The affecting solemnity of this scene," writes Mr. Smith, "I leave
you to imagine. I have been many years a missionary, and have
witnessed a great variety of heart-thrilling events, but this is one
of the last that I shall ever forget. Would that that chamber, as
then crowded with those hardy mountaineers, in the interesting
attitude of that moment, could have been thrown upon the painter's
canvas! At some future day, when the Gospel shall have triumphed
here, it would be cherished and admired as the first declaration of
independence against ecclesiastical tyranny and traditionary
superstition."
About thirty horsemen arrived the next day from Zahleh, to quarter
themselves on the Protestant families until they yielded, or were
impoverished; but the people, foreseeing their intentions, had
closed their houses, and assembled elsewhere. The storm seemed now
ready to burst upon them. At this moment two Druzes, one the leading
feudal sheik of the province, the other a man of unequaled personal
bravery, made their way through the excited crowd; seated themselves
by the side of the Emir; protested in the strongest language against
the treatment the Protestants were receiving from their townsmen;
warned all against treating them as men who had no friends to take
their part; and called upon the Emir to stand forth in their
defense, promising to support him if he did. This decided
interference checked a little the progress of events.
The people of Zahleh had been accompanied by a number of Greek
priests, and in prosecuting their object employed entreaties,
threats, bribes, reproaches, and actual violence. They were
countenanced by the Emir, and backed up by a "Young Men's Party,"
which had grown into an organization under the political excitement
of the times. They returned home in consequence of an order obtained
from the Pasha of Damascus, but not until they had drawn away
perhaps twenty, old and young, some of whom soon after returned to
the instructions of Mr. Thomson and Tannûs, who had taken the place
of Mr. Smith and Butrus. While they were absent on the mountain to
recover from illness, the result of confinement, anxiety, and a
suffocating sirocco, the "Young Men" rose in arms, against the
Protestant brethren. They virtually took the government of the place
into their own hands, and the Protestant men fled to escape their
murderous violence. Returning to Hasbeiya, Mr. Thomson found only
the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of those who had fled;
some of them so poor as not to know how or where they could find
their daily bread, yet apparently without fear. He overtook the
fugitive people the next day, who were half perishing with hunger.
Abeih was their place of refuge; and there they remained till
October, zealously attending upon religious instruction.
In that month, one of the two Druze skeiks [sic] arrived, who had
interposed on their behalf on the fifteenth of July, bringing with
him a document from the Pasha of Damascus, procured, it was said, by
Mr. Wood, English Consul there, directing their return and
guaranteeing their entire security. The guaranty proved to be
illusive, though probably not intended to be so. Strong, unfriendly
influences were subsequently brought to bear on the Pasha.1 They
were accompanied by Butrus, and it was intended that one of the
missionaries should soon follow. The party reached Hasbeiya on the
fourteenth of October, and found those who had remained there in
great fear. The Patriarch having arrived the same day, to inflame
the passions of their enemies, intimidate the governor, and weaken
the hands of the Druze sheiks. Butrus wrote, advising that no
missionary come there until the Patriarch was gone, and things had
become more quiet. He was succeeded by Tannûs, in October, and he,
in the following month, by Elias el-Fuaz. The friendly governor was
at length set aside for one more in sympathy with their persecutors.
On the two following Sabbaths, the Bible-men were stoned in the
streets, and Elias el-Fuaz was seriously wounded; while the governor
made only a sham resistance, that emboldened the evil-doers, as he
intended it should, till the native preacher was driven from the
place, and some of the Protestants fled to Lebanon. Others, wearied
with persecutions to which they could see no end, complied so far
with the demands of the Patriarch, as to visit the Greek church,
though they took no part in the services, and openly spoke against
its idolatries. This very partial compliance relieved them from
persecution, but inwardly set them more firmly against an
organization that resorted to such measures to retain them.
1 Not only the influence of the Patriarch of Damascus, but also of
the Russian Consul-general of Syria, who wrote to the Pasha as
follows, on learning that Mr. Wood had privately secured permission
for the Protestants to return home:--
"However, I may desire to address your Excellency on this subject in
a friendly manner, I must remind you, that I am serving the
magnificent Emperor of Russia, and that _we have the right of
protecting the Greek Church in the Ottoman dominions_. I should
greatly regret, if I were compelled to change my language and
protest against every proceeding which may lead to the humiliation
of the Greek Church at Hasbeiya, and the encouragement of pretended
Protestants, especially as _the Sublime Porte does not recognize
among her subjects such a community_."
I give this on the authority of the Rev. J. L. Porter, English
missionary at Damascus, a man every way competent to give testimony
in this case.
The station at Jerusalem was suspended in this year, and Mr. Lanneau
removed to Beirût. Mr. and Mrs. Keyes, in consequence of a failure
of health, returned to the United States.
The seminary was now revived, not at Beirût, but at Abeih, fifteen
hundred feet above the sea-level, in a temperate atmosphere, and
with a magnificent prospect of land and sea. The experience gained
in the former seminary was of use in reconstructing the new one. Its
primary object was to train up an efficient native ministry. None
were to be received to its charity foundation, except such as had
promising talents and were believed to be truly pious. The education
was to be essentially Arabic, the clothing, boarding, and lodging
strictly in the native style, and the students were to be kept as
far as possible in sympathy with their own people.
A chapel for public worship was fitted up, and here, as also at
Beirût, there was preaching every Sabbath in the Arabic language,
with an interesting Sabbath-school between the services. Mr. Calhoun
having joined the mission, coming from Smyrna, the charge of the new
seminary was committed to him. The Rev. Thomas Laurie arrived from
Mosul the same year.
Yakob Agha died in the year 1845. The evidence he gave of piety had
never been wholly satisfactory, but for the last six years he was a
communicant in the church. In this time he appeared to be a changed
man, and his missionary brethren hoped that, with all his failings,
he was a sincere believer and died in the Lord.
In the spring of this year war broke out afresh between the Druzes
and Maronites, and Lebanon was again purged by fire. It was in no
sense a religious war, but a desperate struggle for political
ascendency. The Maronite clergy in the Druze part of the mountain
had been rapidly recovering power, and were as rapidly rising in
their opposition to the mission. The result of this war, as
aforetime, was the destruction of their villages and their power;
and the Patriarch sank under the disappointment and died. Moreover
the party in Hasbeiya, which stoned the Protestants and their
teachers, were driven out of the place by the Druzes, and great
numbers of them killed, so that the "Young Men's" party seemed to be
broken to pieces.1
1 There was a special enmity of the Druzes against the Christians of
Hasbeiya. The most celebrated sacred place of the Druzes is on the
top of a hill just above Hasbeiya, called Khûlwat el Biyâd. In their
revolt against Ibrahim Pasha in 1838, he was aided by the
Christians, and when the Druzes were defeated in a battle near this
place, their sacred place was entered, and several chests of books,
setting forth their tenets, were scattered through the land. The
Christians paid dearly for their trespass. The leader of the Hauran
rebellion became, for a time, the governor of Hasbeiya, and for this
loss imposed exorbitant indemnities on every one, who had been known
to take a book. The consequent enmity between the parties doubtless
had much to do with the events described above.
Abeih, now a missionary station, was inhabited by both Druzes and
Maronites, and the conflict began there on the 9th of May. Our
brethren were all along assured by both parties, that neither they
nor their property would be molested, whichever was victorious. The
Druzes early had the advantage, and the Maronite part of the village
was speedily in flames, and more than three hundred and fifty
Maronites were obliged to take refuge in a strong palace belonging
to one of the Shehab Emirs. About two hundred more, and among them
several of the most obnoxious, found an asylum in the houses of the
missionaries, and in the house of a native helper of the mission,
which, being in the centre of the Maronite quarter, was crowded with
refugees. Mr. Thomson ventured out in the midst of the tumult, and
succeeded in getting a guard of Druzes and Greeks whom he could
trust, placed around this house, and thus the people with their
goods were secured. The palace was in danger of being taken by
storm, and the people within it all massacred; when the leaders of
the Druzes, to avoid this, requested Mr. Thomson to carry a flag of
truce, with offers of safety and permission to retire whenever they
might choose. This was done at some risk, as the battle was still
raging. After the surrender, Dr. Van Dyck dressed the wounded
Maronites in the palace, and brought several of them to his own
house. He also performed like services for the wounded Druzes. This
he did not without peril to himself; for, returning alone from the
neighboring village, where he had gone on this professional errand,
a Druze warrior mistook him for a Maronite, and was so enraged that
one in an Arab dress and with an Arab tongue should pretend to be an
American, that, but for the providential coming up of one who knew
the Doctor, he would have killed him on the spot. Meanwhile Mr.
Laurie had come safely from Beirût, attended by only two
janissaries, and passing through hordes of the victorious Druzes.
Finding, on his arrival, a half-burned corpse of the Italian padre
lying in the street, he buried it under the pavement of his chapel.
The Maronites being in a starving condition, the missionaries baked
for them all the flour they had on hand, and sent express by night
to Beirût for more. Fearing, too, that the Maronites might be
massacred by the Druzes on their way down to Beirût, notwithstanding
their Turkish escort, they sent an express to Colonel Rose, the
English Consul-general, which brought him up immediately with his
most efficient protection. It should be added, that on the day the
Maronites left Abeih, a strong proclamation came out from the
Maronite and Greek Catholic bishops at Beirût to all their people,
requiring them to protect all the members of the American mission.
The reflections of Mr. Smith on the death of the persecuting
Patriarch, are just and impressive. "What a lesson," he says, "does
that event, in such circumstances, teach us! After having martyred
that faithful witness Asaad Shidiak, caused the Bible often to be
burned, had missionaries insulted and stoned, and boasted that he
had at last left no spot open for them to enter the mountains, he
finds himself stripped of all his power; missionaries established
permanently in the midst of his flock, and his own favorite bishop
constrained to give orders for their protection; his people once and
again ravaged and ruined in wars, which his own measures have
hastened, if they have not originated; and finally he sinks himself
under his disappointment and dies. How signally has the blood of the
martyred Asaad been avenged upon him even in this life."
The war broke up the schools in the mountains; but in the following
year there were ten schools in charge of the station at Abeih, with
four hundred and thirty-six pupils. One hundred and forty-four of
these were girls, and one hundred and ninety-seven Druzes. Connected
with the Beirût station, were four schools for boys and girls, and
one for girls alone. In Suk el-Ghûrb, a village four miles from
Abeih, a Protestant secession from the Greek Church was in progress,
embracing fourteen families, and religious services were held with
them every Sabbath. At Bhamdûn, the summer residence for the
brethren of the Beirût station, there were a number of decided
Protestants, who declared that they found persons to sympathize with
them wherever they went. Even in Zahleh, the hot-bed of fanaticism,
there were men who openly argued from the Gospel against the
prevailing errors. Mr. Smith wrote of a village on Mount Hermon,
that sixty men were known to be standing ready to follow the example
of Hasbeiya, as soon as the Protestants in that place had made good
their position. He also declared the movement in Hasbeiya the
beginning of what would doubtless have been a great revolution, had
persecution been delayed.
Mr. Lanneau's health constrained him to retire from the field in
1846. In the same year, Dr. Van Dyck, having acquired an
extraordinary facility in the use of the Arabic language, was
ordained to the work of the Gospel ministry.