Journal of a Residence at Bagdad Part 8

In concluding this portion of my journal, I shall just take a little view of the last two years, as it is now within a few days of two years since I left my dear, dear friends and native sh.o.r.e.

From the day my dearest Mary and myself deliberately prepared to set out on the work in which we finally embarked, the Lord never allowed us to doubt that it was _his_ work, and that the result on the church of G.o.d would be greater than our remaining quietly at home. All our subsequent intercourse with his dear children in England, and in our journey, had a confirmatory tendency, and all the communications from the dear circle to whom we were known, insignificant as we were, convinced us that the cause of the Lord had suffered no detriment--that many had been led to act with more decision, and some to pursue measures which possibly might not otherwise have been undertaken.

Again, the Lord's great care over us in his abundant provision for all our necessities, although every one of those sources failed we had calculated upon naturally when we left England, enabled us yet further to sing of his goodness.

Then, as to our work; when we left England, schools entered not into our plan; but when we arrived here, the Lord so completely put the school of the Armenians into our hands, that on consultation both my dearest Mary, myself, and Mr. Pfander thought that the Lord's children and saints must take the work the Lord gives, particularly as there appeared no immediate prospect of other work. We entered on it, and by dear Mr. Pfander's most efficient help, the children were soon brought to translate G.o.d's word with understanding, and the school increased from 35 to near 80. My dearest Mary had long desired to undertake the girl's school exclusively; but previous to her confinement she did not feel able; but as soon as she got about, she undertook it heartily, and the dear little children were so attached to their employments, that they used to come on their holidays. She had got so far on in Armenian, as to be able to prepare for them, in large characters, some little pieces of Carus Wilson's, which I got translated into the Armenian of this place, and the dear little children were so interested by them, that they exceedingly desired to take them home, and read them to their mothers, which in two or three days they were to have done. For our own instruction in Arabic and Armenian, and for the school, we had five most competent teachers. Thus things went on up to the end of March, when the appearance of the plague obliged us to break up the school. But now two months have pa.s.sed, and Oh! how changed. Half the children, or more, are dead; many have left the place; the five teachers are dead, and my dear, dear Mary. When I think on this, my heart is overwhelmed within me, and I remain in absolute darkness as to the meaning of my Lord and Father; but shall I therefore doubt him now, after so many proofs of love, because he acts inscrutably to me? G.o.d forbid! That the Lord made the coming of my dearest wife, and her multiplied trials and blessings, the instruments of her soul's rapid preparation for his presence, I have no doubt. I never heard a soul breathe a more simple, firm, and unostentatious faith in G.o.d. She never had a doubt but that it was for the Lord she left all that was naturally dear to her to expose herself to dangers from which, with a const.i.tutional timidity, she shrunk. Her soul was most especially drawn out towards her Lord's coming, and this spread a gilded halo round every trial. She constantly exclaimed, as we walked on the roof of our house[32] of an evening, "When will he come?"

Often she would say to me, I never enjoyed such spiritual peace as since I have been in Bagdad--such an unvarying sense of nearness to Christ, and a.s.surance of his love and care; we came out trusting only under his wing, and he will never forsake us. Her strongest a.s.surance was certainly that the Lord would not allow the plague to enter our dwelling; but when she saw that the Lord mysteriously accepted not this confidence, but let it rest even on her, it never disturbed her peace, as I have mentioned before. She said to me, "I know not which is to me most mysterious, that the Lord should have laid his hand upon me, or, having laid it, that I should enjoy such peace as I do." And in this peace and confidence, every subsequent moment of sensibility was pa.s.sed. Her constant exclamation was, "I know he will do most graciously by me." Yet notwithstanding all the happiness I have in contemplating her among the redeemed, thus clothed in white; and notwithstanding the triumphing conviction I have in spite of the temptations of Satan, and the darkness that envelopes my present position, that all is the offspring of infinite love; yet at times the overwhelming loss I have sustained, in every possible way that a husband, a father, a missionary, and even a man, can know, so affects me that but for my Lord's loving presence, I should be overwhelmed.

[32] It is on account of the great heat in the summer that the houses in Bagdad are built with flat roofs, to which the inhabitants all move up at sunset, to dine and spend the night.

I now wait till the arrival of my dear friends to consult with them as to our future plans. May the Lord, if it be his pleasure, quickly send them hither, and direct us in all our plans and purposes, so that we may be led to fulfil his will.

_May 30._--A messenger has arrived from Bussorah, bringing intelligence of the kind Taylors; but the letters he brought were all taken from him, and he stripped to his s.h.i.+rt, a few miles from Bagdad.

However, by word of mouth, he brings, on the whole, good accounts. All their immediate family are well; some have died, among those that accompanied them, and nearly all the Arab sailors, but as the letters are lost, we know not the particulars.

_May 31._--I have had another proof of my heavenly Father's care. An Armenian merchant has sent his servant to me to say, he proposes sending him every day to buy for me what I want from the bazaar, and also to offer me any money I may want. The latter I had no occasion to accept, for when the Jew left the city who was to supply me, and the man died who was to obtain it for me, and I seemed left without remedy, an Armenian offered to supply whatever I might want, without any application on my part, and from him I have had what I needed.

Whether or not the affairs of the Pasha are likely to be quietly settled, I know not; but I think there are some indications that the present Pasha will remain. So intensely ruined does the city appear, that the Pasha of Aleppo, who was to have come and dispossessed him, seems to have no desire for the exchange; and besides, the present Pasha has offered so large a sum of money, that there appears little doubt it will be accepted. Dispatches have arrived for him, the contents of which are not yet known; but the Pasha says, he has received the most satisfactory letters. He is, I believe, recovering daily his strength.

Thus I finish this melancholy portion of my journal--one of those dark pages in the history of one's life, that whenever the thoughts stray towards it, chills to the very centre of one's being; and when we trace all its sources, and see they terminate in sin, Oh! how hateful must that thing be, which is fraught with such deadly consequences.

Oh! what a blessedness it is, amidst all these lights and shades of life, to know that the Rock on which we rest is the same, and does not vary; and that whether he administers to us the bitter portion or the sweet, his banner over us is love.

_June 5._--Reports are again spreading that the Pasha of Aleppo is within a few days of this place. But we sit down and patiently wait the event.

_June 7._--To-day a letter has reached me from Major Taylor, being the first I have received since he removed his family from this place to Bussorah, on the breaking out of the plague here. In every one of the boats going down the river deaths occurred, but especially in theirs, they losing seven of their party. The plague broke out among the Arab sailors, who secreted a corpse in the boat several days, and from them it spread among his African servants, and seized Mrs. Taylor's brother-in-law, so that I cannot see my early conclusions were wrong as to not moving at that time. And, moreover, the Pasha, or rather Motezellim of Bussorah, has been driven out by a party of Arabs, and he is now come against the town with another large body of Turks, to endeavour to recover it; so that even this evil of the sword we should not have escaped. The Lord, therefore, leaves me nothing to regret, unless it be that I ought perhaps to have kept myself quite apart from the rest of the family, after I had been obliged by a sense of duty to go out during the time the plague was raging. It is easy to be wise after the events are past. The more I contemplate the circ.u.mstances in which I have of late been placed, the more I see of the trials and anxieties of the missionary life, and of the mysteriousness of G.o.d's dealings; I feel the more overwhelmed with the importance of the soul having a deep sense of the love of G.o.d in Christ, before it ventures upon such an undertaking. Our dear Father very often, in love, explains to us his reasons; at other times, he gives no account of his matters; in the one case to excite love and confidence, in the other, to exercise faith. It does seem to me, that no doctrines but those of the sovereign grace of G.o.d, and his love entertained towards the soul, before the foundation of the world, and the revelation by the Holy Ghost of the love and fellows.h.i.+p with Christ, and through him with the Father, so that we have thereby our life hid with him where no evil can reach us, can happily sustain the soul. There is something so filthy, so worthless in all our services, when events render it probable to the soul that soon it will appear before G.o.d, that the new creature cannot endure the deformity and defilement, and turns away its distressed sight to the love of the Lord, and the garment he has provided without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. The experience of my dear dear Mary on this head was most striking. She often said to me, "They often talked to me, and I often read of the happiness of religion--but I can truly say I never knew what misery was till I was concerned about religion, and endeavoured to frame my life according to its rules--the manifest powerless inadequacy of my efforts to attain my standard, left me always further removed from hope and peace than when I never knew or thought of the likeness of Christ, as a thing to be aimed after; and it was not till the Holy Ghost was pleased of his infinite mercy to reveal the love of my Heavenly Father in Christ, as existing in _himself_ before all ages, contemplating me with pity, and purposing to save me by his grace, and to conform me to the image of Him whom my soul loves, that I really had peace, or confidence, or strength. And if in any measure I have been able to walk on with joy in the ways of the Lord, it has been from the manifestation of _his_ love, and not from the abstract sense of what is right, nor from the fear of punishment." This was the theme of her daily praise--the love and graciousness of her Lord; and I can set my seal, though with a comparatively feeble impression, to the same truths, that the sense of the love of Christ is the high road to walk in according to the law of Christ.

_June 9._--I have heard from a German merchant, Mr. Swoboda, that above 15,000 persons, many sick with the plague, and others, were buried under the ruins of the houses that fell in the night the water burst into the city. Nothing can give a more awful impression of the ma.s.s of misery then in the city, than that such an event, which at another time, would have called forth every exertion to remove the sufferers, and have been the universal conversation and lamentation of the city, pa.s.sed by without any effort to relieve them, and almost without a word of remark, but from those immediately connected with the sufferers. I hear that those who have closed their houses intend opening them on the 18th inst. I bless G.o.d for the intelligence; and trust the plague has quite left us. Mr. Swoboda tells me he does not expect to open his khan again for 12 months;--this, however, does not arise simply from the plague, but because the rich merchants have all left the city, and the princ.i.p.al Jews, from the apprehension of the coming of Ali Pasha from Aleppo, and that in consequence trade is at a stand.

_June 10._--Last evening the guns of the citadel fired as for some good news, and we find, on enquiring, that a messenger has come from the Sultan, confirming the Pasha in his Pashalic.[33] The Tartars, who are the bearers of this intelligence, are expected to enter to-morrow or next day. This arrangement, it is reported, has been brought about by our Amba.s.sador at Constantinople.--Should it be the Lord's pleasure that we now have a little peace and quietness here, it will be a great mercy, and an inconceivable relief from the disquietude of the last 18 months; however, the Lord knows what is best for us. These difficulties have led my heart many times to him, when, perhaps, but for them, it would have rested on some lower object. This prospect of peace seems to bring nearer the possibility of our dear friends joining us from Aleppo, and this would indeed be a great comfort.

[33] All these reports were mere fables, got up for the purpose of deceiving the people.

_June 11._--This day has made manifest that more judgments are coming 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 Amba.s.sador, 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 mult.i.tudes 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. .h.i.therto 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sage 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d, the state of anarchy is likely to be immediately put an end to. The crier has been publis.h.i.+ng 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 G.o.d that so great a storm has pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 G.o.d 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 a.s.sociation of ideas, the images of ill.u.s.tration, are almost entirely different in many cases. The organs of p.r.o.nunciation 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 a.s.sured 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 b.a.l.l.s 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 G.o.d that I cannot describe, and a peace that nothing but confidence in his loving care could give me, I feel a.s.sured. At times I feel so utterly useless, so devoid of every apt.i.tude 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 pa.s.sing quietly over, thank G.o.d; 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 a.s.signed 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 circ.u.mstances 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 att.i.tude 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 a.s.sured of my heavenly Father's unchangeable love; for with a doubt on this head _now_, what would my circ.u.mstances 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 ent.i.tles 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 unenc.u.mbered 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 un.o.bserved 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 G.o.d; 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 princ.i.p.al 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 G.o.d'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 G.o.d 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 Bus.h.i.+re 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, tr.i.m.m.i.n.g 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 inst.i.tutions 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 inst.i.tution, 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 inst.i.tution who might have the more immediate spiritual direction of the students, this would soon lead to strifes and divisions between the heads of the inst.i.tution. 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.

_June 29._--My dear little baby has had an attack of purulent ophthalmia, which gives me much anxiety; for three or four days she had been recovering a little, when this trying attack seized her dear little eyes; she was quite unable to open either of them.

My mind has been much exercised these two days by reflections on the ease with which the soul is taken off from living in Christ. In prosperity, we are occupied with plans; in adversity, with our sorrows; in missionary labour, in preparation for what we intend to do for the Lord, and even in our very times of danger we are constantly exposed to the temptation of looking for relief to circ.u.mstances, rather than to the Lord of circ.u.mstances--to the love of the Lord of life. May the Lord of his great goodness grant that my soul may reap a full harvest from these reflections, and determine not only in words to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified, as the subject of preaching, but as the object on which my soul constantly dwells, so that growing up into his fulness in understanding and love, may be the business of my future life, and much, yea, very much more, the simple purpose of my heart than it has ever yet been. Nothing can be to me clearer than that the work of the Lord will really prosper in the hands of his servants, in proportion as these servants prosper in their nearness to him. May his love, his life, his words, his wishes be the abiding incentives in my soul to simply living to him and for him, and for his creatures through him. How easy it is for one person to make one cla.s.s of sacrifices, and another, another; but how hard to slay the darling idol, and to tear away the cherished indulgence:--how easy it is to exercise those graces which accord with our natural const.i.tutions, how difficult those which mortify and run counter to them.

May it be the labour and delight of my future life to see each cherished idol one by one fall prostrate, slain before my Lord's love.

_July 1._--There has just been a transaction pa.s.sing which ill.u.s.trates, in a striking manner, the very loose connections which bind the parts of this empire together. I have already mentioned the death of the Pashas of Mosul and Merdin. Ali Pasha, in support of whom they had professedly marched against Bagdad, sent his treasurer to Saleh Beg, to commend him for what he had done in thus preserving the city by killing these two Pashas, requiring at the same time for himself, the payment of his expenses, as well as a sum of money for the Sultan, and promising that if this were given him he would return to Aleppo. Thus, after nearly two years confusion, all parties will be worse off than they were before. My reason for thinking it probable this will be the case is, that the Khaznadar or treasurer of Daoud Pasha, has accompanied the Khaznadar of Ali Pasha to his camp, who evidently doubts the result of his attempt. Indeed, it seems very doubtful if in any case he can succeed; for if he obtains the Pashalic, I think it very probable from the history of former Pashas, who, as strangers to the Pashalic, have been forced into it, that he will not be allowed to retain it. The fact is, that almost all his opposing force consists of Arabs, who become in a moment the servants of the highest bidder. It was only two days ago the Pasha detached one tribe from them; and I have little doubt that if he does not spare money he may soon break up all the confederacy.[34] Yesterday the soldiers of the late Pasha of Mosul came to the gates of the town, but were driven back into their encampment with loss; and one hundred of their mercenary troops (Arnaoots) came over to this Pasha, changing a pay of forty-eight piasters a month to one hundred, or about a pound sterling a month.

[34] We heard afterwards that the state of his health and the lawlessness of the city prevented his getting access to his treasure.

Every kind of provision is becoming extremely dear, from double to ten times its usual price; and I confess I see no present prospect of improvement, for the inundation swept away the harvest, and the plague has extended so far, that there have been no hands to cut down even that grain which remained, and the things which they might have sown, and which might in some measure have supplied the place of grain they were prevented from sowing by the Arabs, who were at enmity with the Pasha, and therefore laid waste the country. In contemplating the perplexity and uncertainty of events, according to all human calculation, that surrounds us, the knowledge that our own Lord is ordering all things not only for his own glory but also for ours, comes home continually to my soul with inexpressible comfort; and notwithstanding the anxious thoughts that sometimes arise, I am generally enabled at last to roll my burdens on his holy head, and this I know will sustain them.