I I HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE MISSIONS OF THE AMEEICAN BOARD IN TURKEY. BY Rev. S. C. BARTLETT, D. D. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD, 1 Somerset Stbeet. 1876, £: () H G 1 A « BARTLETT'S SKETCHES. MISSIONS m TURKEY. In a missionary point of view, Turkey is the key of Asia. Nowhere has the providential guidance of the missionary work been more remarkable. The divine hand has alike prepared the minds of the Armenian peo- ple in Turkey for Christian influences, directed attention thither, blessed the missionaries with wisdom, interposed continually for the protection of their work, and led them forward to a success already so broad and deep, as to be silently molding the destinies of the empire. The first effort of the American Board in Asia Minor was quite wide of the mark. It was when, in 1826, Messrs. Gridley and Brewer were sent to Smyrna, the ancient home of Polycarp, to labor with the Greeks and Jews. The movement was attended with no great suc- cess, and the place became important chiefly as a print- ing station. The Mohammedans of the country mean- while seemed inaccessible to all direct Christian labors. But there was one most interesting people in tho coun- try, signally qualified to be the recipients and almoners of the divine grace. It is the old Armenian race, now widely scattered from their native Armenia, and dispersed everywhere in Turkey and Persia, and found even in India, Russia, and Poland. There are supposed to be at least three millions of them, more than half of whom are said 1 2 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. to be iu Turkey. They are a noble race, and have been called " the Anglo-Saxons of the East," They are the active and enterprising class. Shrewd, industrious, and persevering, they are the bankers of Constantinople, the artisans of Turkey, and the merchants of Western and Central Asia. The nation received Christianity in the fourth century, and had a translation of the Scriptures made in the year 477 A. D., which is still extant and pro- foundly venerated, though now locked up, with many other religious works of theirs, in a dead language. The Armenian church is a body as marked as the Ro- man Catholic or Greek church, strongly resembling them in deadness and formalism. Its head is the Catholicos. It holds to transubstantiation, invokes the saints, enforces confession and penance, teaches baptismal regeneration, priestly absolution, and the merit of good works, observes fourteen great feast days, one hundred and sixty-five fast days, and minor feasts more numerous than the days of the year. It has nine grades of clergy, some of whom are obliged to be once married, and performs all church services in the ancient Armenian, not one word of which is understood by the people. For purposes of persecu- tion, as well as government, the Patriarch had, until re- cently, almost despotic power. But there are hopeful features even about this fossilized church. It openly ad- hered to the Christian name and profession under centu- ries of persecution and oppression. It regards the Word of God with almost unexampled reverence, so that when the Armenian is once convinced that any proposition is contained in the book he has learned to kiss at the altar, that is to him an end of all controversy. Another hope- ful circumstance, directly connected with this, is that the errors of doctrine and practice with which the church is MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 3 incrusted round, have never been fixed by any decree of council. Their standard of moral purity is also said to be immeasurably above that of the Turks around them, and they have a conscience which can be touched and roused. The enterprising character of the race, their wide dispersion, their preservation of the sentiment of national unity, and their acquaintance with the languages of fhe lands of their residence, render them a people of great promise for missionary purposes in those several lands. A singular coincidence of judgment fixed the atten- tion of the American Board upon this race. The mis- sionary Parsons, on his first visit to Jerusalem, in 1821, encountered some Armenian pilgrims, whose interesting conversation drew from him the suggestion of a mission to Armenia itself. " We shall rejoice," said they, " and all will rejoice when they arrive." Mr. Fisk soon after wrote from Smyrna to Boston, recommending the meas- ure. But before a word was heard from either, intelli- gent friends of the Board at home had urged the same proposal. At Beirut, Syria, among the earliest converts were the Armenian ecclesiastics (in 1826), two of whom, Bishop Dionysius and Krikor Vartabed, had traveled ex- tensively in Asia Minor, and resided once in Constanti- nople. These brethren assured the missionaries that the minds of the Armenian people were wonderfully inclined towards the pure gospel, and that should preachers go among them, doubtless thousands of them would be ready to receive the truth. They themselves wrote letters to their countrymen, which excited no little attention. During a dozen years or more, already, the British and Russian Bible Societies had put in circulation severa,l thousand copies of the Scriptures in the ancient Armenian 4 SKETCHFS OF THE MISSIONS. tongue, which were widely distributed in Turkey, and could be understood by the teachers and higher clergy ; and at length they printed the New Testament in Ar- meno-Turkish and modern Armenian, intelligible to all who could read. Another important link in the chain of influences was the letter of Dr. King to the Roman Catholics, written on leaving Syria, and stating the reasons why he could not be a Papist. This letter, translated by Bishop Dionysius, and forwarded in manu- script to certain prominent Armenians, in Constantinople, produced an extraordinary effect. A meeting was held, its Scripture references examined, and the determination adopted to do something to purify the church. One im- mediate effect was a training school for priests. At the head of it was placed Peshtimaljian, a profound scholar, a theologian, and a humble student of the Bible — a sort of oriental Melanchthon, even in his timidity. For while steadily exerting an evangelical influence, and silently guiding his pupils into new paths, of inquiry, he was alarmed when he saw them joining the evangelical move- ment ; and though at length he gained firmness enough to encourage their course, it Avas only on the year of his death that he openly declared his position. All the first converts at Constantinople were from his alumni. In 1829 the Prudential Committee prepared the way, by the exploring tour of Messrs. Smith and Dwight among the Armenians ; and two years later the noble Goodell began his work at Constantinople, to be fol- lowed in due time by the admirable band of associates, Dwight, Riggs, Schaufiler, Schneider, Hamlin, Bliss, Powers, Pratt, Wheeler, and others, whose names are as household words in the churches. Their firmness, fidelity, and wisdom have been the theme of frequent MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 5 commendation from foreigners in public as well as in pri- vate life. The first missionaries, Goodell and Dwight, seemed compelled, by the circumstances of the case, to reach the people, at first, chiefly by means of schools and the press. The several translations of the Bible, — Armenian, Ar- meno-Turkish, Osmanli-Turkish, Hebrew-Spanish, He- brew-German, and finally Bulgarian, — and the various other books which they and their coadjutors have gradual- ly sent forth, till they amount to a great body of literature, proved in due time to be the planting of siege guns, and the unlimbering of heavy artillery. When Mr. Goodell called upon the Patriarch to seek his co-operation in establishing popular schools on an im- proved plan, that blandest of Orientals promised to send schoolmasters to learn the new method, and assured him of a love for the missionary and his country so pre found, that if Mr. Goodell had not come to visit him, he must needs have gone to America to see Mr. Goodell ! The one assurance meant as much as the other. The Patri- arch promised again and again, but never moved till he moved in opposition. For nearly two years the mission- aries gained little access to the Armenians. But God brought the Armenians to them. The dawn of hope began in January, 1833, when young Hohannes Der Sahagyan came to open his heart. Some years before his father had bought a cheap copy of the New Testament, which the young man read and pondered, and compared with the principles and practices of his church. Then he joined the school of Peshtimaljian, where his inquiries Avere encouraged and aided. He was joined by his friend Senekarim, and for two years and a half they were seeking and praying together for 6 SKEICHES OF THE MISSIONS. light, unable to grasp the great and simple doctrine of salvation by grace alone. At length a hostile report turned their attention to the missionaries, and to them they went, first Hohannes, and afterwards both together, saying, • " We are in a miserable condition, and we need your help. "We are in the fire ; put forth your hands and pull us out." They soon found peace in believing, and be- came active laborers for the truth. From that point there appeared tokens of the constant presence of the Holy Spirit among the people. Opposition was speedily aroused, the school bx'oken up, and for a time the press was stopped at Smyrna. But the good work went on. The number of attendants at Mr. Goodell's weekly meet- ing, and of visitors at the houses of the missionaries, steadily increased, and their errand was to talk^of the way of salvation. The Bible was eagerly sought for, and the disposition to talk on religious subjects spread through the city, the suburbs, and the villages on the Bosphorus. In every circle there were found defend- ers of the truth, and occasionally a sincere believer. An influence was abroad which Mr. Goodell character- ized as a " simple and entire yielding of the heart and life to the sole direction of God's Word and Spirit." Evangelical sermons began to be heard from the priests. The missionary force was increased. A high school was opened at Pera, and stations occupied at Broosa aud Trebizond. A school for girls — a novel thing in Turkey — was opened at Smyrna. The missionaries steadily pursued the policy of disseminating the truth, without making attacks upon the Armenian church. Still, op- position was more and more aroused, but was either frustrated or overruled to the furtherance of the mission. Then the wealthy bankers of Constantinople determined MISSIONS IN TTJRKET. 7 to crush the high school. To provide a substitute, they founded a college in Scutari, and remodeled the national school in the quarter of Hass Keuy, which they com- mitted to the supervision of a great banker residing there. In breaking up the high school, the vicar who conveyed the message unwittingly informed the boys for the first time that the sign of the cross is not enjoined in the Scrip- tures. And when Hohannes Sahagyan was suddenly re- moved from his school of forty, to the amazement of all concerned, he was engaged by the banker of Hass Keuy to take charge of that school of six hundred. Every ef- fort was made to shake the banker's decision, but though he had never been known as favoring the evangelical cause, he w^as perfectly firm ; and so Sahagyan was ad- vanced to a post of far greater influence and freedom, which he held for two years with marked success. The year 1839 witnessed a deep-laid plot for the ex- pulsion of Protestantism from the land, suddenly over- thrown by the providence of God. The enemies of the mission had enlisted some of the Sultan's chief officers, and even gained the ear of the Sultan himself. Sahagyan and two other persons, a teacher and a converted priest, were arrested, imprisoned, and, with much personal cruelty, banished. The mild Armenian Patriarch was deposed, and his place filled by a man of violence ; bulls were issued by both the Greek and Armenian Patriarchs, prohibiting the reading or possession of all missionary books, and even all intercourse with the missionaries. Lonar lists of heretics were made out, and the storm seemed about to descend in its fury, when the hand of the persecutors was arrested by the hand of God. The rebellious Pacha of Egypt was the instrument of rescue. The Sultan, with his broken army, was suddenly forced 8 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. to call on the Patriarchs for several thousand recruits. Then came the utter defeat of his army, the death of the sultan before he heard the tidings, the surrender of the whole Turkish fleet, the succession of the boy Abdool Medjid to the throne, and the threatened dissolution of the Turkish empire. The persecution was effectually stayed. By a remarkable providence, the young Sultan, unsolicited by his people, granted them a charter of civil protection and religious liberty. The commotions concerning the missionaries gave them publicity, and brought inquirers. In 1840 Messrs. Dwight and Hamlin visited Nicomedia, where, two years before, Mr. Dwight had found a little company of believers who had been led to the truth by a copy of the Dairyman's Daughter, and other printed tracts. While here a mer- chant from Adabazar was induced, by the warning letter of the patriarch, to come and visit them. The report and the tracts with which he returned to Adabazar were the beginning of a good work ; and when, in the follow- ing year, Mr. Schneider, in response to repeated invita- tions, visited the place, he found there already a little band of converted men. In 1843 a young Armenian, who had embraced and renounced Mohammedanism, was publicly beheaded in the streets of Constantinople. But this event became the occasion on which the English ambassador, supported by the ministers of France, Prus- sia, and Austria, extorted from the sultan a written pledo-e that no person thenceforward should be persecuted for his religious opinions. The British ambassador declared the transaction to be little less than a miracle. And though the pledge has been often evaded and violated in prac- tice, it stands as a great landmark in the religious history of the empire. The Patriarch himself, two years later, MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 9 made a fixed attempt to violate this guaranty, which redounded speedily to the establishment of the faith. He issued a sentence of excommunication against all adherents of the new doctrines, which was accompanied by scenes of shocking violence in the chief cities of the empire. Christians were stoned in the streets, unjustly imprisoned, ejected from their shops, invaded and plun- dered in their houses, bastinadoed, and abandoned by their friends. It marked an era in their history. For after meekly and nobly enduring this protracted abuse, they were, by the resolute efforts of the foreign ambassadors, headed by Sir Stratford Canning, taken forever from under the patriarch's jurisdiction, and organized into a separate Protestant community. On the 1st of July, 1846, was formed at Constantinople the first Evangelical Armenian church in Turkey, with a native pastor ; and during that summer similar churches were formed in Nicomedia, Adabazar, and Trebizond. The enemy had overdone his work. The excommuni- cation was a blunder ; for it founded four Protestant churches the first year. And the previous measures had been equally blundering. For, remarkable as was the spirit of inquiry among the Armenians, it had been vastly increased by the measures taken to put it down. The enemies of a pure gospel had done an immense amount .of gratuitous advertising almost from the first. The Romish Patriarch had (in 1836) tried his hand at a public denunciation of the missionaries and their books. Four years later, the Armenian Patriarch had issued a " bull," followed in a fortnight by a bull from the Greek Patriarch, both of the same description, and by an imperial firman apparently re-enforcing them, and in another six weeks by still another Armenian H 10 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. bull, with terrific anathemas. A Patriarchal letter had been sent to Trebizond in 1840 ; and in January, 1846, two successive and still more furious anathemas had been issued by the Patriarch in his official character, with the lights extinguished, and a vail before the altar, whereby the adherents of the new gospel were "ac- cursed, excommunicated, and anathematized by God, and by all his saints, and by us." They were printed, and sent to all the churches. For six months continu- ously was this anathema kept dinning every Sabbath in the ears of the faithful, till cursing grew stale. The final excision that year (J uly) was read in all the Armenian churches. So much thundering sent many flashes of light through the dark. The Patriarch had better facilities for adver- tising than the missionaries. He unquestionably sent them a multitude of inquirers. Thus his letter of warn- ing brought the merchant of Adabazar to Messrs. Dwight and Hamlin at Nicomedia for information ; and he it was who carried back the Testament and tracts that began the good work there. Many an inquirer came to ascertain personally of the missionaries whether the stories were true that the Americans were a nation of infidels, without church or worship. When the Patriarch had hurried Bedros, the vartabed, out of the city for his Protestant tendencies, the vartabed had gone distributing books and preaching throughout the whole region of Aleppo and Aintab. When he had sent priest Vartanes a prisoner to the monastery of Ma- rash, and then banished him to Cesarea, Vartanes had first awakened the monks, and then preached the gospel all the way to Cesarea. The missionaries wisely availed themselves of this MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 11 rising interest, in tours for preaching, conversing, and distributing religious treatises. Messrs. Powers, John- ston, Van Lennep, Smith, Peabody, Schneider, Goodell, Everett, Benjamin, pushed forth to Aintab, Aleppo, Broosa, Harpoot, Sivas, Diarbekir, Arabkir, Cesarea, and various other places, through the empire. They soon found that they were in the midst of one of the most extraordinary religious movements of modern times, silent, and sometimes untraceable, but potent and pervasive. In every important town of the empire, where there were Armenians, there were found to be, as early as 1849, one or more " lovers of evangelical truth." But it was no causeless movement. The quiet working of the " little leaven " was traceable almost from its source by indubitable signs. It was a notable sight to see, when, in 1838, the vartabed and leading men of Orta Keuy, on the Bosphorus, where the missionaries first gained access to the Armenians, Avent and removed the pictures from the village church. It was a notable thing to hear, when, in 1841, the Armenian preachers of Constantinople were discoursing on repentance and the mediatorial ofSce of Christ. It was another landmark, when, in 1842, the fervor of the converts not only filled the city with rumors of the new doctrines, but, after a season of special prayer, held in a neighboring valley, sent forth Priest Vartanes on a missionary tour into the heart of Asia Minor. A still more significant fact it was, when, in that year and the next, the Armenian women were effectually reached and roused, till family worship began in many a household, and a Female Sem- inary at Pera became (in 1845) a necessity. The breth- ren had observed the constant increase of inquirers, often from a distance, and they had found, even in 1843, such 12 SKETCHES OP THE MISSIONS. a demand for their books as the press at Smyrna was unable fully to supply. In many places, as at Nicomedia, Adabazar, and Aintab, books and tracts began the work. The preaching services at Constantinople would be occasionally attended by individuals from four or five other towns, and at Erzroom one Sabbath (February, 1846) there were attendants from six different places. The Seminary for young men at Bebek (a suburb of Constantinople) drew visitors from great distances, and from all quarters, as far as Alexandria, St. Petersburg, and the Euphrates. The native brethren also had been engaged in disseminating the truth, and the first awaken- ings at Killis, Kessab, and Eodosto, for example, were due to their labors. And thus, though the movement rolled on at last with great power and speed, the prep- aration had been long and broad. Yet not without abundant and fierce opposition. Indeed, the resistance "was so common, sooner or later, that it gives only a glimpse at the facts, to tell how, even at Constantinople, the brethren and one of the missionaries were once pelted with stones ; how the little band at Nicomedia were at times compelled to hold their worship, somewhat like the early Christians and the Covenanters, in distant fields, and even after religious liberty was proclaimed, were abused in the streets, and had their houses stoned ; how, at Adabazar, a Protestant teacher was put in chains and in prison ; how at Trebizond the very women at- tacked with stones two of their own sex, as they returned from the preaching, and the husbands who protected their own wives were thrown into prison and the stocks, like Paul and Silas of old ; how the mob at Erzroom burst into the house of Dr. Smith, and destroyed his books and furniture ; and how, in 1847, Mr. Johnston MISSIONS IN TURKEY, 15 was expelled from Aintab by the governor, and stoned out of town by Armenian school-boys and teachers, although the very next year Aintab became the seat of a church that grew with singular rapidity, and a great centre of Christian activity. These things died out only by de- grees ; not until after the Sultan had issued his firmans, first (in 1850) placing the Protestants on the same basis with other Christian communities ; and again (in 1853) placing his Christian subjects on the same level with Mohammedans before the law ; and yet once more (in 1856) granting full " freedom of conscience and of re- ligious profession ; " not until long after three Patriarchs, Stepan, Hagopos, and Matteos, had tried each to outdo his predecessor in severity, and the third of them had (in 1848) been deposed for financial frauds. It was in the year 1849 that the missionaries, with five native pastors ordained already, and with the clear recognition of the broad fields now white for the harvest, adopted a Report, setting forth to the native Christians the great duty of supporting their pastors and religious institutions, relieving the missionaries for other fields, and themselves engaging " in the further extension of the truth." Next year they turned and asked the home churches for twelve more missionaries, to oversee this wonderful uprising. For several years in succession the Board repeated the call for " twelve more missionaries." For two years six only answei-ed. " From every part of the land," wrote Mr. Dwight, in 1853, " there comes to us one appeal, ' Send us preachers, send us preachers ; ' " and Mr. Schneider wrote home, " I almost fear to have the post arrive." Six other laborers responded in 1854 ; and next year came the urgent call for " seventeen," to meet the great emergency. 14 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. The Crimean war for three or four years agitated the nation and the nations. But the spiritual reformation rolled on ; it was a mightier and a deeper force. It was impossible for the missionaries to keep pace with the calls. The wonder is, that they could accomplish so much as they did. At one time (1855) they hurried five young students into the ministry before their studies were completed. But they felt and wrote that they were losing opportunities all the time. And they were right. Hu- manly speaking, it seemed as though with a sufficient missionary force the Armenian element of Turkey could have been carried everywhere by storm. From this time forth the enterprise became too broad even to trace in this rapid way. If the whole movement shall ever be suitably recorded, the history of tMs ref- ormation will be second in interest to no other that ever has been written. There are scores and scores of villages, each of which would furnish materials for a volume ; and multitudes of cases that recall the fervor, faith, and for- titude of apostolic times. Let us hope that they may find their adequate historian. For the present we can only refer to the contemporary pages of the Missionary Herald. The breadth of the movement bfegan also to demand new missionary centres. The book depository, which had been on the north side of the Golden Horn, planted itself boldly (1855) in the heart of Constantinople ; and six or eight boxes of books might be seen at a time, marked to " Diarbekir," " Arabkir," " Cesarea," " Ain- tab," and so on. The Seminary proved inadequate to the demand for preachers and teachers, and the organiza- tion of other seminaries about this time at Tokat and Aintab, indicated the time as not distant when there MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 15 should be three missions, instead of one, in Asiatic Turkey. Indeed, Mr. Dunmore was writing, in 1857, that " forty- men" were needed at once, as teachers and preachers around Plarpoot ; and Dr. Hamlin was urgently pressing the wants of the Bulgarians in European Turkey. One of the most delightful instances of Christian ma"-- nanimity was displayed in England about this time. The financial troubles of 1857 in America had embarrassed the Board, and threatened serious embarrassment to this mission. Noble Christians in England, of all Evangeli- cal communions, including ministers of the Church of England, came at once to the rescue. They formed the " Turkish Missions Aid Society," invited Dr. Dwight to present our cause in England, and raised money thence- forward, not to found missions of their own in Turkey, but to aid ours. At an anniversary of the Society in 1860, the Earl of Shaftesbury crowned this magnanimity of deeds by an equal magnanimity of words. He said of our missionaries in Turkey, " I do not believe that in the whole history of missions, I do not believe that in the history of diplomacy, or in the history of any negotiation carried on between man and man, we can find anything to equal the wisdom, the soundness, and the pure Evan- gelical truth of the men who constitute the American mission. I have said it twenty times before, and I will say it again, — for the expression appropriately conveys my meaning, — that they are a marvelous combination of common sense and piety." At this point, the enterprise, like a Banyan tree, changed its branches into new roots, and henceforth was reported as the Western, Central, and Eastern Turkey missions. The main feature of interest became that of sure but gradual growths 16 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. The Western Turkey mission-field covers a region of singular historic interest. It includes alike the field of Troy and of the " Seven Churches." It probably saw the origin both of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and of the Apocalypse and the fourth Gospel. In its north-western ' portion flows the little river Granicus, where Alexander first defeated the Persian armies, and in its south-western part lies the once world-renowned seaport of Miletus, where Paul made his affecting speech to the elders who had come from Ephesus, that seat of the marvelous tem- ple of Diana, and of the church of the " Ephesians." The poor little village of Isnik, too small for a mission station, is all that remains of the Niccea, famous for the Nicene Creed, framed in a council where Constantine presided — a city long the bulwark of Constantinople against the Turks, then the capital of the Sultan Solyman, and afterwards retaken by the first crusaders. The centre of missionary operations is the great city of unparalleled site and matchless harbor, rebuilt by •Constantine, the object of six captures, and more than twenty sieges, the ignis fatuus that turned the first Napoleon towards Mos- cow rather than St. Petersburg, the long-coveted treasure of the Eussian czars, and the place of five great Chris- tian councils. Broosa, another of our stations, is at the ancient capital of the Ottoman empire ; and its castle is said to commemorate the time and the work of Hannibal the Carthaginian. Nicomedia, still another station, was once the capital of the Bithynian kings, the home of Dio- cletian when he ruled the Eastern empire, and the place where poison ended the life of Hannibal. One of the stations last occupied, Manissa, is the old Magnesia, where the two Scipios defeated Antiochus the Great, and won for Rome the empire of the East. MISSIONS IN TURRET. 17 In this region, covered thick with historic associations, the twenty-four churches, with their thousand members, their twenty-nine pastors and licensed preachers, and their forty-five hundred enrolled Protestants, only indicate the deep under-current of influence now at work. A con- siderable body of missionaries are still furnishing the ori- ginal forces. The press pours forth some fifty thousand volumes and thirty thousand tracts a year, in six different languages, including the English. Two " Evangelical Unions " of native churches and pastors have been formed, and the churches contribute already to Christian objects four thousand dollars a year. A theological seminary, and a ladies' boarding-school, now at Marsovan ; two other girls' schools ; training classes at Broosa and Sivas ; Ro- bert College, the indirect child of the mission, now looking out conspicuously over the Bosphorus, with its hundred and eighty students of seventeen different nationalities ; and last, not least, a band of lady missionaries finding their way into the homes and hearts of their sisters, — these are some of the influences unfalteringly at work in the heart of the Turkish empire. The Central Turkey mission numbers among its thirty stations and out-stations Antioch, the old " Queen of the East," long the chief city of Asia, if not of the world, then the residence of Syrian kings, and afterwards of Roman governors, the place where " the disciples were first called Christians;" Aleppo, which succeeded Pal- myra in the trade between Europe and the East, still the commercial centre of Northern Syria ; Oorfa, a traditional "Ur of the Chaldees ; " and Tarsus, where Paul was born, and Alexander nearly died. Here twenty-two churches comprise eighteen hundred members, and aver- age congregations of more than five thousand persons. 18 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. with eight thousand registered Protestants. A theologi- cal seminary, with thirty-seven students, at Marash ; two female seminaries ; eighteen hundred and forty com- municants in twenty-two churches, some of which carry all their own expenses, while the whole body contribute six thousand dollars in gold for Christian charities ; eight thousand registered Protestants ; nineteen pastors and preachers ; an Evangelical Union, courageous enough to plan a Christian college, and to gain pledges from their own churches of nine thousand dollars for the purpose ; a strong staff of lady missionaries working most hopefully among their sex ; and a general diffusion of light among both Armenians and Mohammedans, which no figures can display, — indicate a hold of the gospel in this region so strong as to raise the question of " closing up the proper missionary work in Central Turkey at no distant day." An amount and variety of active Christian effort has been put forth here, and a long-continued religious agitation awakened from such centres as Aintab and Marash, which no one can understand, except as he traces back the letters of the missionaries for the last fifteen years. The history of all the commotions at Aintab, from the time when Mr. Johnston was stoned out of town to the time when it has become the seat of two self-supporting churches, with native pastors and near five hundred mem- bers, surrounded by a cluster of thirteen out-stations, containing nearly four hundred more church members, would require a volume. The whole course and workin" of the mission are far too remarkable to be dismissed in this summary way. There is a wide-spread expectation of a coming change, of which the two hundred and twenty members admitted to the churches during the last year are but the few drops before the shower. MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 19 The Eastern Turkey mission deserves special mention for the method and rapidity of its achievements. Coming later, for the most part, than the other divisions of the Turkish missions, it was enabled to build on their foun- dation and profit by their experience. Its methods have been largely the same which were employed in Turkey from the beginning, and specially and powerfully developed in the central mission, but perhaps still moi-e concen- trated here. We have also the advantage of a very full narration from the chief actors in the scene. Their visfor- ous and invigorating work, novel not so much in con- ception as in execution, bids fair to mark an epoch in the history of missions. The territory includes, at Mosul, the site of Nineveh, and in ancient Armenia, probably the cradle of the human race. The gospel is carried to the region of " the Fall." One portion of this terri- tory, the Harpoot mission field, has been the scene of a most interesting and remarkable experiment. About fourteen years ago, Messrs. Wheeler and Allen, with their wives, entered on this field, followed, after two years, by Mr. H. N. Barnum and his wife. The region committed to them was somewhat larger than Massa- chusetts, containing twenty-five hundred villages, and a population of five hundred thousand persons. These brethren went with the determination to introduce a self- supporting, self-propagating religion ; to offer Chris- tianity " as a leaven," and not as a " leavened loaf;" to confer privileges which in the reception should test the self-denial of the recipient. They adhered to three funda- mental, and, as they thought, apostolical principles : First, to " ordain elders in every church," giving a pastor from among the people to every church at its formation ; Second, to leave each church to choose its own pastor, 20 SKETCHES OP THE MISSIONS. make its own pecuniary engagements with him, and assume the responsibility of fulfilment. Temporary aid might be granted, to the amount of one half the salary, to be reduced each year, and in five years to cease. The third principle was to make the churches at once inde- pendent of missionary control. These points were not carried without a hard struo-o-le. and often bitter opposition. It took seven years to bring the church at Harpoot up to the entire support of its pastor. All their firmness, patience, ingenuity, and en- ergy were taxed to the utmost ; but they carried it, and the next three were made self-supporting more easily than that one. They determined in like manner to do for the people in all respects only just what would enable them to do for themselves. They put upon them nearly the whole cost of their church edifices. In their schools they taught no English, to tempt their young men into foreign employments. They insisted that their converts, even those who pointed to their gray hair in remonstrance, should learn to read the Bible, and that those who had learned should go and teach others, especially their wives. After the schools were fairly under way they threw the support of them upon the natives. Their books, the Scriptures included, they made it a rule to sell at some price, but never to give away. Almost without excep- tion those who bought books were first taught to read them ; and the main dependence has been on the Bible read, preached, and sung. The sacred volume itself, without the living preacher, has, in frequent instances, hox-ne blessed fruit. Thus, in the village of Bizmishen, "thief" Maghak bought a Bible, learned to read it, became an honest man and Christian, and established public worship with a good chapel and the nucleus of a MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 21 little church in his village. Another Bible, sold by him, ' gathered an audience of thirty men and women at Na- jaran, forty miles away, to hear the Bible read and ex- plained. In another instance, a colporteur, spending the night at Perchenj, found seventy men assembled in a stable, listening to one who was reading the Bible. Messrs. Wheeler and Barnum visited the place, spent a Sabbath, and sent them a teacher. A revival followed, and in two years the little church numbered forty mem- bers, with twenty-one hopeful converts, and a native pastor settled over them, and owned a chapel and a parsonage. These brethren, self-moved, organized a mis- sionary society to go, two and two, into the neighboring villages, to explain and sell the Bible. Two of them entered Hooeli, a village where the missionaries had re- peatedly and vainly endeavored to gain a foothold. They prayed as they went, " O Lord, give us open doors and hearts." Their prayer was answered. The villagers applied to the missionaries for a teacher ; but as none could be had, the men of Perchenj sent one of their own number to begin the work. Soon after, a seminary stu- dent went to spend his summer vacation there, and a mob pitched him and his effects into the street. But the leaven was working. A place of worship, holding three hundred persons, was erected; schools were opened to learn the Bible ; a blessed awakening came, attended with forty or fifty conversions, including some of the most hopeless cases in the village ; and at the last information they were about to organize a church, and to settle and support as pastor one of the men who first came with the Bible and a prayer to God for a hearing. Such is the nature of the work. Every church and every community of Bible readers has a Bible society, I 22 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. 'that sends forth its books in bags on the backs of donkeys ; and the churches send forth their members, two by two. for days and weeks together, in the home missionary work. The community of Harpoot had thirty-five mem- bers thus engaged at one time. They are also prosecuting a " Foreign Missionary " enterprise in a region extending from four to twenty days' journey to the south. This movement is aided by the theological students in their long vacation — the seminary being founded on the prin- ciple of accustoming students to pastoral work while pursuing their studies. These young men are trained to be Bible men and practical men. When on one occasion they were found to be above doing some necessary manual labor at the seminary, they were brought to their senses by a reduction of their beneficiary aid. The persevering and often amusing methods by which a penurious people have been made generous and self- sacrificing, and the modes in which the missionaries have persisted in doing the work, not of mere educators, nor even of pastors, but of Christian missionaries, infusing the " leaven," must be learned from Mr. Wheelei-'s book, " Ten Years on the Euphrates." It is as brimful of in- struction for the home field as the foreign. Would that many of the home churches might be brought up to the same level. So thoroughly has the spirit of independent action been infused into these churches, that, in 1865, they organized themselves into an " Evangelical Union," with a thorough system of Christian activity, Bible distribution, Education Society, Home and Foreign Missions, and church erec- tion. The fruits are yet largely in the future — we may hope, in the near future. The missionaries are already feeling that the time is not distant when they can leave MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 23 this field for another. Already is their work represented by eighteen churches, — ten of them entirely indepen- dent, — by seventy out-stations, by a hundred and twelve native preachers, pastors, and other helpers, " by thou- sands of men and women reading the word of God, and by thousands more of children and youth gathered into schools ; in a word, by the foundations of a Christian civilization laid upon a sure basis in the affections of an earnest, self-sacrificing. Christian community." Many outward tokens begin to show the silent power of this mission. In Harpoot city and its seventy out- stations, in which years ago were two hundred and fifty- six priests, there were in 1867 but one hundred and forty-five. The revenue of the monasteries is passing away. The monastery of Hukalegh, which once collected three hundred measures of wheat from that village and Bizmishen, then collected but eighteen. The cause of temperance is advanced ; believers spontaneously leave off wine-drinking. A wonderful elevation has taken place in the character and position of woman. "How happens it," said a man one day to Mr. Wheeler, " that all the missionaries' wives are angels ? " But now, says Mr. Wheeler, " some of them there have angels too for their companions." One of the most blessed fruits of the gospel is seen in its effects on the family circle. These believers " are as careful to maintain secret, family, and social prayer as Christians in this land, and the last more so." The Sabbath is carefully and conscientiously kept by them. And in their Christian liberality they seem to be an example to the best churches of this country. The Eastern Turkey mission, of which Harpoot is a principal station, now occupies one hundred and six out- stations, aid has twenty-eight churches, containing a 24 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. thousand members, with average congregations of fifty- five hundred pei'sons. Nearly, if not quite, half the churches are self-supporting. Twenty-seven native pas- tors and twenty-three licensed preachers are dispensing the gospel, and sixty-two young men are now training for the ministry. The Evangelical Union is maintain- ing four missionary stations among the mountains of Koordistan. In glancing over the present religious aspect of Asiatic Turkey, it is impossible not to feel that the seeds of great events have been widely sown. Seventy-four churches, with four thousand members, an average attendance of fourteen thousand persons, and about twenty thousand registered Protestants ; a hundred native preachers, occu- pying more than twice that number of places, scattered through the empire, who have received five hundred members in the year just passed ; a hundred and forty- three young men on their way to the ministry ; four Evangelical Unions, apparently able to carry on the Lord's work, were every missionary taken away by the providence of God ; a Christian press, pouring forth ten million pages in a year ; a general spirit of inquiry through the empire ; — all are tokens of changes, if not of revolutions, ia Turkey, which even this generation may look upon with wonder. He that is wise will watch the course of events. It is several years since Layard, the English explorer, could testify that there was scarcely a town of importance in Turkey without a Protestant community. And now we have a remarkable voice from within. Hagop EfFeu- di, the civil head of the Protestant community, has recent- ly made a tour of observation through the empire, at the charge of the sultan. In his report he declares that MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 25 " those who have become Protestant in principle far ex- ceed in number the registered Protestants, and those who are willing to avow themselves such. The in- direct influence of Protestantism has been greater and healthier than what is apparent. The fact that eighty- five per cent, of the adults in the [Protestant] community can read, speaks greatly in favor of its members. Any one acquainted with the social condition and religious ideas of the Oriental people, who will take pains to com- pare them with the liberal institutions introduced, can readily imagine the state of society which must neces- sarily follow such a change. I should hardly do justice were I to pass without noticing the strictly sober habits of our people. The use of strong drink is very seldom found and habitual drunkenness is very rarely known. I was gratified to find everywhere a great improvement in domestic relations as compared with the condition of families before they became Protestants. I need not weary our friends with details to show the effect of the healthy influence of the various Protestant institutions — such as Sabbath schools, social prayer-meetings, women's meetings, and the little philanthropic associations coming into existence with the advance of Protestantism. The noble institutions and liberal organizations which have been introduced among this people are yet in their in- fancy ; and their power of elevating the individual man, in his moral and intellectual capacities, is not so apparent in the unsettled state of affairs which of necessity follows such a mighty social and religious revolution ; but they are objects of great interest and a source of great en- couragement to every close observer of the course of affairs, evei in the very confusion which is produced by them." 26 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. In a recent letter to Secretary Clark, he makes the following interesting statements : — " The most zealous advocate of American civilization could not have done half as much for his country abroad as the missionary has done. The religious and social organizations, the various institutions introduced, are doing a great deal in introducing American civilization. From the wild mountains of Gaour Dagh, in Cilicia, you may go across to the no less wild mountains of Bhotan, on the borders of Persia ; or you may take Antioch if you please, and go on any line to the black shores of the Euxine ; you will certainly agree with me in declaring that the American missionary has s'erved his countiy no less than his Master. Even in wild Kurdistan you will find some one who can reason with you quite in Yankee style, can make you a speech which you cannot but own to be substantially Yankee, with Yankee idioms and American examples to support his arguments ; and if you want to satisfy your curiosity still more, you may pay your visit to the schools established by the mis- sionaries in the wild mountains of the Turkomans, in Kurdistan, the plains of Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, or Bithynia. Question the school-boy as you would at home ; you will find his answers quite familiar to you. You may question him on geography, and you will cer- tainly find, to your surprise, that he knows more of the United States than perhaps of his own native country. Question him about social order, he will tell you all men are created equal. Indeed, what Dr. Hamlin is silently doing with his Bohert College, and the American mission- ary with his Theological Seminary and school-books, all European diplomatists united cannot overbalance. Having seen all this, you will certainly not be astonished if you MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 27 see Yankee clocks ; American chairs, tables, organs ; American agricultural implements ; Yankee cotton-gins, saw-mills, sewing-machines ; American flowers in the very heart of Kurdistan ; Yankee saddles, and a Yankee rider on the wild mountains of Asia Minor, perhaps sing- ing, with his native companion, some familiar tune. Be not surprised if you be invited to a prayer-meeting on these mountains, where you hear the congregation singing Old Hundred^ as heartily as you have ever heard it at home. You will certainly own then, if you have not be- fore, that the American people have a sacred interest in this country." The European Turkey mission, separately organized in 1871, and usiug Constantinople as its center of publication, deserves a few words, by reason of its prospective importance. The country was explored, and a small beginning made, as long ago as 1858. In that year Mr. Morse entered Adrianople ; but his books and two thousand copies of the Turkish Testament were seized by the authorities. When, on remonstrance of the British and American consuls, the Porte ordered the surrender of the books, the desponding utterance of the Turkish officials was well worthy of notice : " If it is the will of God that the Bible prevail, let his will be done." The mission is directed primarily not to Turks, but to Bulgarians, a people numbering perhaps five or six mil- lions. They belong to the Slavonic race, and nominally to the Greek church. They are a pastoral people, neat, amiable, and industrious, but uneducated and uninquir- ing. Early attempts to awaken their interest were un- successful and discouraging. But with the continuance 28 SKETCHES OP THE MISSIONS. of these efforts, the intrusion of macadamized roads, railways, and civilization, a change has taken place. Education begins to be prized, and forty young Bul- garians are in Robert college. Everything is now in readiness for a vigorous campaign, if the Christian sol- diers can be found. The field is thoroughly explored. The strong points are designated, and three stations occupied. A complete Bulgarian Bible — the fruit of Mr. Riggs's twelve years' toil — is ready ; and there is a wide-spread desire to obtain it. A few converts are scattered here and there, and a young and active church is just organized. Tw^o other hopeful signs are seen : The spirit of persecution has been awakened at Yamboul ; and at Bansko an earnest written demand for light in the Greek church itself — for elevation of the schools, for the observance of the Sabbath, for religious services in the language of the people, and " that the teachings of the gospel be preached." Here everything seems now ready for the sickle. If the laborers can but be furnished, and the enterprise pushed as the greatness of the opportunity requires, we may well watch, and pray, and hope for cheering re- sults. It is a mission on which to look with an intelli- gent interest, for itself and for its relations. March, 1876. The statistics of the missions given in the foregoing sketch are from reports forwarded in 1871. A new edi- tion being called for it was thought best to use the stereo- type plates as they were, appending a few paragraphs in regard to the condition of the missions as reported in 1875. No special change has occurred within the last four years in methods of labor, and there has been less of MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 29 progress than might have been expected in some of the fields if more laborers and more means could have been %rnished from America, or if, on the other hand, the na- tive Protestant communities had been less embarrassed by poverty, the sore oppression, in the way of taxes, incident to the present financial condition and policy of the Turk- ish government, and the terrible famine of 1874-5, in por- tions of Asia Minor. The progress, however, has been considerable, and the present prospects of the work are perhaps quite as cheering as could be expected, aside from financial perplexities. Here, as in other mission fields, there has been much advance in the department of woman's work for woman. Connected with the European Turkey mission there are now ten ordained missionaries and twelve female assistant missionaries. Two of the missionaries engaged specially in translating and other literary work, reside at Constan- tinople ; the others at three stations more fully in the field, — Eski Zagra, Samokov, and Monastir. There are seven out-stations, three churches — two of them at out- stations — with about one hundred members, three native pastors, eight licensed pi'eachers, four teachers, and five other native helpers. A Theological School at Samokov, reports eleven students, and the female boarding school thirty, — twenty-two of them boarders. The missionaries feel that " the period of growth " has come in this field. Changes for the better have been rapid for a few yea-rs past, and specially so for the last year reported. In connection with the Western Turkey mission the full establishment of what is called the " Home " at Constan- tinople, mainly a female seminary, for which a fine build- ing has been erected, through the efforts of the Woman's Board of Missions, is an event of much interest. Other 30 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. boarding schools for girls, at Marsovan, Manissa, and Baghchejuk are doing a good work, and the Theological Seminary at Marsovan is of great value to the churches of this field. The mission now occupies six stations, — Constantinople, Manissa, Broosa, Marsovan, Cesarea, and Sivas, — with 63 out-stations. There are 24 organized churches, with 1,086 members, 11 native pastors, 25 li- censed preachers, and 75 teachers ; 64 pupils in theologi- cal schools and station classes, 147 in female boarding schools, and 2,558 in common schools. The printing by the mission press amounted in 1874 to 1,784,620 pages, making a total from the beginning of 300,436,800 pages. In Central Turkey it has been thought best to reduce the number of places occupied as stations, and since 1872 only two stations have been reported — Aintab and Marash. But there are 29 out-stations, 26 organized churches with not far from 2,400 members (the returns are not complete), 19 ordained native ministers, 19 other licensed preachers, and 50 teachers. The Theological Seminary at Marash, and the seminary for girls at Aintab, are doing a work of great value, and an earnest effort is in progress to secure a full endowment, and good build- ings for a college at Aintab. Over $50,000 have been secured for this object, in Turkey, England, and the United States, —more than $7,000 having been contributed by the people of Aintab. In Eastern Turkey, Van has been occupied as a station since 1872. This city has been called " the Sevastopol of the Armenian Church," and the brethren had long wished to see mission families stationed there. There are sup- posed to be about 20,000 Armenians in the city — the whole population being not far from 35,000 — and per- haps 30,000 more within a day's ride ; but the opposition to evangelical religion is not likely to be easily overcome. MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 31 The other stations now occupied by this mission are Erzroom, Harpoot, and Mardin, Bitlis having been in- cluded in the Van station field. The out-stations of the mission number 114. The churches are 30, with a total membership of 1,567. Nineteen of these churches haA^e native pastors, and there are 30 other native preachers, 95 teachers, and 63 helpers. Forty students are reported in the Theological Seminary at Harpoot and the station training classes at Erzroom and Bitlis ; a normal school at Harpoot has 57 pupils ; three girls' boarding schools at Erzroom, Harpoot, and Mardin, have 72 ; " other adults," to the number of 432, are reported as under in- struction, while the scholars in 99 common schools number almost 3,600. The missionaries feel that the time has come when education in this field also should be farther advanced by establishing 9, college. The whole working force in the four missions in Tur- key, by the latest returns, was as follows : ordained missionaries 52 ; male assistant missionaries 4 ; females 81; native pastors 52; native preachers 82; native teach- ers 224; other helpers 102. The churches were 83, with more than 5,000 members, and the whole number of adults and children under instruction is not far from 8,700. 32 SKETCHES OP THE MISSIONS. MISSIONARIES, 1876. European Turkky Mission. Rev. Elias Riggs, D. D., LL. D Mrs. Martha J. Kiggs . Rev. James F. Clarke Mrs. Isabella G. Clarke Rev. Lewis Bond, Jr. Mrs. Fannie G. Bond . Rev. William E. Locke Mrs. Zoe A. M. Locke Rev. Henry P. Page Mrs. Mary A. Page . Miss Esther T. Maltbie Mrs. Anna V. Mumford Rev. George D. Marsh Mrs. Ursula C. Marsh Rev. J. W. Baird . Mrs. Ellen Baird . Rev. J. Henry House Mrs. Addie House . Rev. Edward W. Jenney Mrs. Kate M. Jenney . Rev. Theodore L. Byington Mrs. Margaret E. Byington Mission to Western Turkey, Rev. Benjamin Schneider, D. D Mrs. Susan M. Schneider . Rev. George W. Wood, D. D, Mrs. Sarah A. H. Wood . Rev. Edwin E. Bliss, D. D. Mrs. Isabella H. Bliss . Rev. Justin W. Parsons. Mrs. Catherine Parsons Rev. Wilson A. Farnsworth Mrs. Caroline E. Farnsworth Rev. Sanford Richardson Mrs. Rhoda M. Richardson . Rev. Ira F. Pettibone Rev. Julius Y. Leonard Mrs. Amelia A. Leonard Rev. Joseph K. Greene Mrs. Elizabeth A. Greene Rev. George F. Herrick Mrs. Helen M. Herrick . Rev. John F. Smith . Mrs. Laura E. Smith Miss Eliza Fritcher . Mrs. Elizabeth Giles Rev. Theodore A. Baldwin Went Out. 1832 1832 1859 1859 1868 1868 1868 1868 1868 1868 1870 1871 1872 1875 1872 1870 1872 1872 1873 1873 1874 1874 1833 1858 1838 1871 1843 1843 1850 1850 1852 1852 1854 1854 1855 1857 1857 1859 1859 1859 1859 1863 1863 1863 1864 1867 Station. Constantinople. Samokov. Eski Zagra. Samokov. Eski Zagra. Samokov. Samokov. Eski Zagra. Monastir. Samokov. Monastir. Constantinople. Marsovan. Constantinople. Constantinople. Bardezag. Cesarea. Broosa. Constantinople. Marsovan. Constantinople. Constantinople. Marsovan. Marsovan. Cesarea. Manissa. MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 33 MISSIONARIES, 1876. Mission to Western Turkey, continued. Mrs. Matilda J. Baldwin Bev. Charles C. Tracy Mrs. L. A. Tracy . Rev. Lvman Bartlett . Mrs. Cornelia C. Bartlett Miss Sarah A. Closson Mr. H. 0. Dwight . Mrs. Ardelle M. Dwight Miss Flavia S. Bliss Rev. Milan H. Hitchcock Mrs. Lucy A. Hitchcock Rev. Edward Riggs Mrs. Sarah H. Riggs Rev. J. 0. Barrows . Mrs. Clara S. Barrows . Miss Julia A. Rapple3''e Miss Cornelia P. Dwight Miss Laura Farnham . Miss Phoebe L. Cull Miss Mary M. Patrick Miss Fannie E. Washburne Miss Charlotte L. Noyes Rev. A. W. Hubbard . Mrs. Emma R. Hubbard Miss Electa C. Parsons . Mrs. Cora W. Tomson Rev. Marcellus Bowen . Mrs. Flora P. Bowen . Rev. Charles H. Brooks . Mrs. Fannie W. Brooks Mrs. Kate P. Williams . Rev. Daniel Staver Mrs. Abbie S. Staver . Rev. Charles C. Stearns Mrs. Sophie D. Stearns • Miss Hattie G. Powers Miss Ellen C. Parsons . Mission to Central David H. Nutting, M. D. Mrs. Mary E. Nutting Rev. T. C. Trowbridge . Mrs. Margaret R. Trowbridge Mrs. J. L. Coffing . Miss Myra A. Proctor Rev. Giles F. Montgomeiy Mrs. Emily R. Montgomery Rev. L. H. Adams . Mrs. Nancy D. Adams Rev. Henry T. Perry Turkey 1867 1867 1867 1867 1867 1867 1867 1869 1868 1869 1869 1869 1869 1869 1869 1870 1871 1871 1871 1871 1872 1872 1873 1873 1873 1873 1874 1874 1874 1874 1875 1875 1875 1875 1875 1875 1875 1854 1854 1855 1857 1859 1863 1863 1865 1866 1866 Station. Manissa. Marsovan. Cesarea. Cesarea. Constantinople. Sivas. Constantinople. Sivas. Manissa. Broosa. Constantinople. Bardezag, Manissa. Constantinople. Marsovan.^ Constantinople. Sivas. Constantinople. Constantinople. Constantinople. Manissa. Constantinople. Cesarea. Manissa. Manissa. Manissa. Constantinople. Kessab. Aintab. Marash. Aintab. Marash. Kessab. Marash. 34 SKETCHES OF THE MISSIONS. JVllSSlONAIllJliS, lo7b. Went Out. Station. iMissioN TO Central Iurkey, c(ytitmu€.Gi, Mrs. Jennie H. Perrj' 1866 Marash. Miss Mary G. Hollister 1867 Aintab. Rev. Henry Marden 1869 Aintab. Miss Mary S. Williams 1871 Marash. ifj-i&o \vuiinnd onacLUCK • . • • Aintab. Rev. Americus Fuller 1874 Aintab. Mrs. Amelia D. Fuller .... 1874 Rev. Edward G. Bickford .... 1874 Marash. Mrs. Harriet S. Bickford .... 1874 Miss Ellen M. Pierce 1874 Aintab. Miss Charlotte D. Spencer .... 1875 Marash. i.VXIfeSION TO jitASTERN LURKEY. Rev. George C. Knapp 1855 Bitlis. Mrs. Alzina M. Knapp .... 1855 Rev. 0. P. Allen 1855 Harpoot. Mrs. Caroline R. Allen .... 1855 Rev. Crosby H. Wheeler .... 1857 Harpoot. Mrs. Susan A. Wheeler .... 1857 Rev. Herman N. Barnum, D. D. . 1858 Harpoot. Mrs. Mary E. Barnum .... Rev. Moses P. Parmelee .... 1863 Erzroom. Mrs. Julia F. Parmelee .... 1871 Miss Hattie Seymour 1867 Harpoot. Rev. Henry S. Barnum .... 1867 Van. Mrs. Helen P. Barnum 1869 Rev. A. N. Andrus 1868 Mardin. Mrs. Olive L. Andrus 1868 Miss Charlotte E. Ely .... 1868 Bitlis. Miss M. A. C. Ely 1868 Bitlis. Miss Cyrene 0. Van Duzee 1868 Erzroom. Rev. J.' E. Pierce 1868 Erzroom. Mrs. Lizzie A. Pierce 1868 Rev. R. M. Cole 1868 Erzroom. Mrs. Lizzie Cole 1868 George C. Ravnolds, M. D 1869 Van. Mrs. Martha W. Raynolds .... 1869 Miss Caroline E. Bush 1870 Harpoot. R«v. J. E. Scott 1872 Van. Mrs. Annie E. Scott 1872 Rev. Newton H. Bell 1874 Mardin. ivirs. Hiinuy xi. ijeii . . . , • 1874 Daniel M."^B. Thom, M. D. . . . 1874 Mardin. Mrs. L. H. Thom 1874 Miss Sarah E. Sears 1874 Mardin. Rev. John K. Browne 1875 Harpoot. Miss Clarissa H. Pratt .... 1875 Mardin. THE MISSIONARY HERALD; A Monthly Magazine of 32 pages octavo ; the organ of the American Board. Price, $1.00 a year. Orders for this publication should be ad- dressed, — Mr. CHARLES HUTCHINS, No. 1 Somerset Street, Boston. LITE AND LIGHT FOE HEATHEN WOMEN; A Monthly Magazine, published by the Woman's Board of Missions. Price 50 cents a year. Letters relating to this should be addressed, — SECRETARY WOMAN'S BOARD OF MISSIONS, .^0. 1 Somerset Street, Boston. CORRESPONDENCE. The CoiTesponding Secretaries of the Board are Rev. Selah B. Treat and Rev. N. G. Clark, D. D. Letters relating to the Missions and General Concerns of the Board, may be addressed SECRETARIES OF THE A. B. C. F. M., No. 1 Somerset Street, Boston. Donations and letters relating to the Pecuniary Concerns of the "Board (except letters on the subject of the Missionary Herald) should be ad- dressed LANGDON S. WARD, Treasurer of the A. B. C. F. M. No. 1 Somerset Street, Boston. Letters for the Secretaries of the Woman's Board may be addressed SECRETARY WOMAN'S BOARD OF MISSIONS, No. 1 Congregational House, Boston. Letters for the Treasurer of the Woman's Board should be addressed Mrs. BENJAMIN E. BATES, No. 1 Congregational House, Boston. Books Concerning Missions and Missionaries. The following Books, many of them suitable for Sunday School Libraries, may be obtained by mail, postage paid, through the Office of the Missionary Herald Memorial Volume of A. B. 0. T. M. By Dr. Anderson $1.25 Foreign Missions. By R. Anderson, D. D., LL. D 1.25 History of the Sandwich Islands Mis- sion. By Dr. Anderson 1.50 History of the Missions of the American Board to the Oriental Churches. 2 vols. By Dr. Anderson. Per vol. . 1.50 History of the Missions of the Amer- ican Board in India. By Dr. Ander- son 1.50 Life in India. By Caleb Wright, A. M 1.75 Woman and her Saviour in Persia. By Rev. T. Laurie, D. D 1.25 Zulu Land. By Rev. Lewis Grout . 2.00 Five Years in China ; or, Life of Rev. William Aitchison 1.25 Bible Work in Bible Lands. By Rev. Isaac Bird 1.50 Tennessean in Persia 1.75 Ten Years on the Euphrates. By Rev. 0. H. Wheeler 1.25 Letters from Eden. By Rev. C. 11. Wheeler 1.25 Missions and Martyrs in Madagascar . .80 The Gospel among the Caffres ... .85 Scenes in the Hawaiian Islands . . .1.25 Missionary Sisters 1.25 The Morning Star . T 1.00 The Missionary Patriots. By Rev. I. N. Tarbox 1.25 Life Scenes among the Mountains of Ararat. By Rev. M. P. Parmelee . 1.25 Faith Working by Love : Memoir of Miss Fiske ... . .> 1.75 Tah^-koo Wah-kan ; or, the Gospel among the Dakotas. By Stephen R. Riggs, A. M 1.50 Lectures to Educated Hindus. Prof. Julius H. Seelye 1.00 Christian Missions. Prof. Seelye . . 1.26 The Martyr Church of Madagascar . 2.00 Memorials of Charles Stoddard. By his Daughter, Mrs. Mary Stoddard Johnson 1.75 Heroes of the Desert ; Lives of MofEatt and Livingstone, and Sketches of Missionary Explorations in Africa, by the Author of Mary Powell's Diary 1.25 The Arabs and The Turks, their past history and present condition, with Special view to Missionary labors among them. By Rev. Edson L. Clark $1.50 Grace Illustrated, or a Bouc^uet from the Missionary Garden, by Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Wheeler, Harpoot, Turkey 1.25 Uncle Ben"s Bag, and How it is Never Empty. 26 pp 10 Light on the Dark River . . . i . 1.50 Our Life in China. By Mrs. Nevius . 1.50 Africa's Mountain Valley 75 Memoir of Henry Lyman . . . . .1.50 The Weaver Boy who became a Mis- sionary (Dr. Livingstone) .... 1.25 Romance of Missions, or Inside Views of Life and Labor in the Land of Ararat. By Miss Maria A. West . . 2.50 The Land and the Book. By Dr. Thom- son • . 5.00 Social Life of the Chinese. By Rev. J. Doolittle 5.00 China and the Chinese. By Dr. Nevius 1.75 South Africa, Missionary Travels and Researches in. By Rev. D. Living- stone, LL.D 5.00 Bible Lands: Their Modern Customs and Manners Illustrative of Scrip- ture. By Rev. Henry J. Van Len- nep, D. D. Cloth 5.00 The Middle Kingdom. By S. Wells Williams, LL. D 4.00 The Cinnamon Isle Boy 50 Tales about the Heathen 45 Memoir of Henry Obookiah 35 Bartimeus 20 The Night of Toil 45 The White Foreigners from over the Water 1-10 Kardoo ; or, the Hindoo Girl 75 Dr. Grant and the Mountain Nestorians 1.50 Twelve Years with the Children. By Rev. William Warren, D. D. . . . 1-25 These for Tho.se : Our Indebtedness to Missions ; or, ^Vhat we Get for What we Give. By Rev. W. Warren, D. D. 1.50 Forty Years in the Turkish Empire ; or Memoirs of Rev. William Goodell, D. D., late Missionary of the A. B. C. F. M., at Constantinople. By his son-in-law, E. D. G. Prime, D. D. . 2.50