Chapter 6

I may also just add, that we have finally arranged with our new schoolmaster from Shiraz. We had given particular directions to the person who proposed sending for him, that if money were any object to him, (which we heard it was not) he should write and let us know what he would require. He however came, and when he came, he wanted a sum equal to about £84. sterling a year. This I was both unable and unwilling to give, and therefore fixed £30. as the utmost, and the rest has been made up by the Armenians among themselves, excepting £18. which has been given by Major T. He speaks English imperfectly, but thoroughly understands Armenian, and will teach the elder boys grammar and translating. He will also superintend the girl's school for one or two hours in the morning, and teach Mrs. G. Armenian. We also hope, as soon as may be, to get some tracts and little school-books translated into vulgar Armenian, but all this must depend on the blessing of the Lord on our undertaking. This brother has joined the Church of England in Calcutta: but he is himself at present a strict Armenian, yet I hope, not a bigoted man. But all our past experience has led us to look to the Lord alone for all profitable help. Those whom we think promise every thing, often occasion nothing but anxiety, and those from whom we expect the least we have reason abundantly to bless God for having sent us:--so wisely, so graciously, and yet in so sovereign a way does the Lord bring to pass his purposes, and bless his servants, that every thought of confidence in any creature may be destroyed, and the soul, by a thousand disappointments, when it has reposed elsewhere, at last be compelled to learn only to repose on the bosom of its Father, where love and faithfulness eternally dwell, and convince the soul of its past expectations from any other source.

_February 14, 1831._

An offer has been made to us by one of the richest Armenian merchants here, to send, at his own expense, two camel loads of books any where we wish, which has of course been thankfully accepted; and we think of sending at least one load to Diarbekr. He has also bought from our Armenian teacher, those Bibles he had procured from the Bible Society at Calcutta, who, with the many thus obtained, has determined to send more Bibles from Bushire, where he has already 200, to Julfa and Ispahan, and the villages round about, in which he says there are above twenty churches.

I have this day settled all my accounts, and find, after every thing is paid, including the expenses of my baggage from Bushire, and of the house for ourselves, and school for another year, that our little stock will last us, with the Lord's blessing, two months longer, and then we know not whence we are to be supplied, but the Lord allows us not to be anxious; he has so wonderfully provided for us hitherto, that it would be most ungrateful to have an anxious thought. Even for my baggage, Major T. only allowed me to pay half the charge, and he has moreover told me, that should I at any time want money, only to let him know and he will lend it me. Now, really, to find here such kind and generous friends, is more than we could have hoped, but thus the Lord deals with us, and takes away our fears. That we may many times be in straits I have no doubt, but the time of our necessity will be the time for the manifestation of our Lord's providential love and munificence.

There is one peculiar feature that runs through all education in the eastern churches, that it professes to be religious, which gives us an opportunity of introducing such books as may be useful, without its exciting any surprise or suspicion, or opposition.

_Feb. 16._--The Pasha has sent Major T. word of the ravages the plague is making in Sulemania. The government and all who have it in their power have quitted it. This account has spread much consternation, in addition to which two men from Sulemania arrived here ill of the plague, one of whom has recovered. Major and Mrs. T., with their usual generous kindness to us, have offered us an asylum with them should the plague come here, where we should enjoy this great advantage, that as the house stands close to the river, a supply of water can be obtained without communication with the city. But at present we do not clearly see our way: should our school be broken up, I see not so much difficulty; it would be a most valuable opportunity for Mrs. G. making progress in the language; but we wait on the Lord and he will guide us. These do indeed seem awful times for these lands. We cannot be too thankful for the peace and joy the Lord allows us to feel in the assurance of his loving care.

I was much struck by a remark of our Moolah yesterday, when speaking of the horror he felt at the prospect of the plague coming here. He said, the sword he did not fear, but the plague he did, for one was the work of man, the other of God. I replied to him, that feeling this God who directs the plague, to be my father, who loved me, I knew he would not suffer it to come nigh me unless he had no longer occasion for me, and then it would come as a summons from a scene of labour and many trials to one of endless joy. He said, Yes, it is very well for you not to fear death, who believe Christ to have atoned for you; but I fear to die.

_Feb. 19._--To-day we have heard that the above report of the plague being at Sulemania is false; that it has been there, but has now left it; so we know not what to believe.

_Feb. 21._--The expenses attendant on our packages from Bombay to this place, are as great as from England to Bombay. The boxes of books and medicine, and the press, with three boxes of books from the Bible Society, cost twenty-five pounds. Aleppo would certainly be the cheapest way to send them by, and by far the most speedy. It would be a great comfort to us, if this communication should ever be opened, for then we might freely communicate with, and hear from those we love. I sent a packet across the desert the other day, which we have every reason to think was intercepted. In fact, it is now very doubtful if any of the many letters we have sent, have gone safe, and none have reached us for these six months.

Intelligence came to-day, that the Sultan has ordered the Pasha of Mosul, and another Pasha who is dependant on this Pasha, to discontinue all communication with him, as the enemy of the Sultan. A few weeks will, most probably, conclude this long-continued struggle, and, we hope, the insecurity and confusion attendant on it; yet, the Lord knows his purposes, and we have only to execute his will.

_Feb. 24._--We have just heard, by a letter that came from Aleppo by way of Merdin and Mosul, that the caravan which left this place more than three months ago, entered Aleppo about thirty days ago. They remained in the desert till the Pasha of Aleppo had quitted that place on his expedition against the Pasha of Bagdad, from the fear, that if they entered the town he would seize their camels for the use of his army. Much alarm is entertained here by the inhabitants as to the result of this attack. From past experience they are led to expect great lawlessness, from both friends and foes. May the Lord keep our hearts in perfect peace, stayed on him. We now begin to feel that it is very doubtful when we shall see our dear friends: certainly no caravan will pass the desert till all these disturbances are settled. It may be also possible, that the journal and packet of letters I sent packed in a bale of goods belonging to a merchant here, may yet reach their destination.

_Feb. 28._--This day brought us news of the arrival of our very dear and long expected friends and fellow-labourers safe at Aleppo, on the 11th of January, after many delays and many trials. We had never been allowed to doubt our Lord's most gracious dealings with us, but yet this overwhelmed us with joy and praise; and this welcome news reaches us just as our dear brother Pfander is on the point of leaving us alone. We received, at the same time, a packet of letters from most of our dearest friends in England, at the very moment when our little all was within a month of coming to a conclusion, telling us that the Lord had provided us with supplies for at least four months to come, which we might draw for. Surely the Lord has most graciously seen fit to dry up those sources from whence we anticipated supply, that we might know we depend on him alone, and see how he can supply even here; we were ashamed of every little anxious feeling we had ever had, and were much encouraged to trust him more and more. My soul is led to abhor, more and more, that love of independence which still clings to it, when I see how it would shut me out from these manifestations of my Father's loving care. Oh! how hard it is to persuade the rebellious will and proud heart, that to depend on your Father's love for your constant support, is more for the soul's health, than to be clothed in purple and fare sumptuously every day--or at least, as we would say, on bare independence; and yet how plain it is to spiritual vision.

We met together in the evening to bless the Lord for the past, and supplicate his continued blessing for the future--that he would accomplish what he had begun, that our hearts may never cease to praise and bless him. My soul was much comforted, especially with a text to which one of our dear correspondents called my attention, Zeph. iii. 17. "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing." All the letters amounted to twenty-six, which, after so long an interruption of all intelligence, was an especial source of joy. And now we can think of our dear friends definitely as absolutely at Aleppo, only waiting for the termination of disturbances to join us.

To-day, a Chaldean, from near Julimerk, came to see us, and we expect him again, with his brother, who, he says, can read, when I hope to obtain from him a fuller account of the state, numbers, and disposition, of his wild countrymen.

A Mohammedan Effendi was with me to-day; a very amiable young man, who sees many things in the customs of his people bad, arising out of the Mohammedan laws. He came to borrow an Arabic bible for, he said, a poor schoolmaster, which I gladly lent him. Whether it be really for a schoolmaster, or for himself, I do not know.

_March 4._--Read this morning, with peculiar pleasure, Hawker's Evening Portion: "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land:" heightened as it was by the localities of our situation; but above all, by the unity of our experience with the sentiments of the writer; for we have indeed found the love of our Father, the pastoral care of our Elder Brother, and the consolation and visits of our Comforter, that which has enabled us to sing the Lord's song in this strange land, even the song of the redeemed.

_March 13._--The time is now fast approaching when we expect the struggle for the Pashalic to commence, at the conclusion of the Ramazan. Yet it may all pass over, for the government of Turkey is so utterly without principle, that by a well timed application of money, all difficulties may be surmounted with the Porte, and as the Pasha seems now disposed to meet this desire, it may, especially in the present difficulties of the Sultan with Russia, lead, after all, to an amicable termination of one year's anxiety and suspense. We are now especially anxious for the pacification of these countries, that our dear friends may be able to pass over the desert, as our dear and kind brother Pfander left us last evening for Ispahan. It was a great rending to us all, and has left a vacuum we cannot easily hope to have filled up in all its parts; and till our dear brothers and sisters come, we shall be very solitary, and very much pressed; but our strength will be as our day. Had he seen it right to remain I might have crossed the desert to our dear friends; but this not being the case, it is impossible for me to leave this, and perhaps in the present state of things here, from apprehensions of plague and war, it would have been impracticable even if he had remained.

Caravans pass much more frequently between this place and Damascus than between this and Aleppo, and it appears to me the shorter and better way of communication to Bayrout and Damascus to Bagdad than by Aleppo. Three caravans have passed over the desert from hence to Damascus within these few months. With one of these an Armenian with his wife and children went, and with another several Mohammedan families; thereby hoping to avoid the troubles they expected here. So at least we may venture for our Lord what men venture for their own various interests. In fact, it does not appear that any further danger is incurred than that of being plundered, or perhaps only a heavy exaction from the Arab tribes through whom the caravan passes, whose interest it is not to press so hard upon caravans as that they shall be stopped coming, but to levy a tax upon them sufficiently considerable to help to support the tribe.

An English merchant and a Consul are about settling, if not already settled, at Damascus, which will still further facilitate communications; and besides the road from Beyraut to Damascus is much better than that from Latakeea to Aleppo. This arrangement, as well as that at Trebisand, shows that these countries are becoming the objects of public, or rather mercantile, interest.

A Jew came to borrow an Arabic bible from me which I have let him have. Another Jew was with me yesterday, who translated the Hebrew into Arabic very tolerably; but, generally, they only learn to read, without understanding what they read.

An Armenian Priest has just come to ask for four or five Armenian Bibles, to send to some villages between Hamadan and Teheran. This is a plan we like better than sending many to one place, not only as spreading knowledge further, but also from the greater probability of their being read.

We have just seen another of the Chaldeans, from the mountains. He says that they understand the Syrian Scriptures; so that at least I hope to send a letter to the Bishop, with a copy or two of the Syrian Bible I have with me, that when they return next year they may bring me an account whether they understand them or not; and also it will serve as a means of opening a personal communication with their chief; as, by that time it may be possible that one or two of us may be able to return with these men to the mountains. As far as their personal assurances go, they promise me a most welcome reception. One of these people told me, if I would come to his village, he would kill a sheep for me, and I should have plenty, and 200 walnuts for two-pence; they said every thing was very abundant there and very cheap. Their pride seems much gratified by their being the head and the Mohammedans the tail in the mountains; so that they cannot open their mouths, or raise their hands against them.

_March 15._--A packet of letters has just arrived from Shushee, after more than six months interruption, three days after our dear brother had left us. However, we got the messenger to set off immediately to overtake him, and he having seen the caravan on the way, promised to return in five days. In this packet I also received one letter from our dear brother J. B. Dublin, a note from dear Mr. R. informing me of his having forwarded the books to the brethren at Shushee. Surely they are worthy for whom he has done this, and he will be happy in being thus a fellow-helper in the truth. Mr. Knill also mentions their arrival safe at Petersburgh, and his purpose of forwarding them to Shushee. It has been a year of great trial at Shushee for the mission, but of exactly what nature and to what extent we know not, nor how things now stand in the communications to our dear fellow-helper who has just left us, as they are in German; but should he not be able on the road to write us a full account, he doubtless will when he has reached Kermanshah or Hamadan.

We hear that the prince royal is marching against his brother the Prince of Kerman, by way of Ispahan, the roads, therefore, are very unsettled in Persia, but the Lord will encamp round about our brother and bear him safely through.

_March 16._--The letters we yesterday received from Tabreez assured us of the willingness of the Armenian Bishop to have a school as soon as a fit person could be found; and on reading one of the tracts from Shushee, he said he would read it in his church to his flock. Mrs. N. also mentions the willingness among the Mohammedans to receive the New Testament, and that in many instances, pleasing results have manifested themselves; but of what kind she does not mention. She mentions also one of the principal Mohammedan merchants asking for a Testament to read on his road to Mecca. May the Lord stop him by it before he gets there, at the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. In fact, there is room in these parts for much preparatory work, when the time comes that the power of the Gospel shall have taken such root as to show by the power and individuality it gives to the Christian character that their craft is in danger. They will do as they have done in Shushee; but by the Lord's blessing it may then be too late. What appears to me to require the greatest patience and the most unwavering perseverance, is the language; for, while on the one hand there is every thing to encourage, if we only take the burthen of the day on the day, there is such a natural tendency in the mind of man to accumulate all the difficulties together, and make one great impassable mountain, that it becomes more difficult than many would imagine, to go on successfully and happily like a little child. That measure of knowledge of a language which so enables one to move about in the common transactions of life, does not seem difficult to attain; but to be able to state clearly the power of moral distinctions, to detect the fallacy of false systems, and put beside them the true light of life, is another and a very difficult thing, but yet the Lord doubtless sees in this reasons of immense weight, or he would again bestow upon us the gifts of the Spirit as before.

God our Father has most marvellously eased our way, and so great has been the kindness of our ---- here, that he would do any thing he could for us. He even told me the other day, never to let our work stand still for want of funds, for should I ever want any he would gladly supply me, and lend me for my personal wants whatever I might need. Now when we consider there is but one English family now resident in Bagdad besides our own, how like the Lord's acting it is to make them willing to supply to us the necessary help: not only does the Lord supply us with means necessary for our expense, but does not allow us when our little fund gets low, to know the anxiety of expecting, or thinking what we should do. And, surrounded as we have been these many months, by the alarm of war and the fear of plague or cholera, even our dear native islands have not been without their anxieties; but I have been much struck of late with the peculiar dealings of God towards his chosen; as of old, the pillar that was all darkness to the enemy, was light to the church in the wilderness, so now all this dark cloud, the darkness of which may be felt, which is spreading from one end of the Christian and Mohammedan world to the other, has, towards the church in her pilgrimage, its full steady bright light surmounted by "Behold he cometh!" Blessed assurance! But a little day of toil, and then we shall come with him, or rise to join his assembled saints, dressed all anew, with our house from heaven, that spiritual clothing meet for the new creature in Christ Jesus. Oh, what glorious liberty we are heirs to, as children of God, one day to love our Eternal Father, Son, and Spirit, with unalloyed affections, when our whole nature shall be again on the side of God, and not a place left for the enemy to put his foot to harass the heir of glory.

_March 17._--A Chaldean Roman Catholic priest has been here to-day, and read me the same passages of the Psalms in the Chaldean and Syrian languages, and there appears to be no other difference than in character, as far as he read. The Syrians, the Chaldeans, and the Jews, might become most valuable objects of missionary labour, not only as being in greater numbers here, but from the great similarity of their languages, so that the mastering of the one would be to the mastering of the three, with very little additional trouble. I endeavoured to find out from him the difference between the spoken and written languages, and as far as he produced illustrations, the difference was only in pronunciation; the words seemed substantially the same. But there is a very strong prejudice to contend with in all those among these people who know any thing of these languages, in the contempt in which they hold their vulgar, and the reverence and sanctity they attach to their old language, so that I think tracts, in the shape of paraphrases on particular parts of the Scriptures, would be exceedingly valuable among them, as well as tracts generally. I trust we shall be able to turn our attention to these when we are able, from our knowledge of the languages, to judge sufficiently of translations or compositions.

_March 18._--This evening the messenger I sent after Mr. Pfander with the letters from Shushee, returned with a letter, which I shall here insert, as it supplies a good deal of information concerning the dear brethren in the Karabagh.

"_In the Desert near the Village Bakoobah_, "_17th March, 1831._

"My dear Brother,

"I am very much obliged to you, that you sent this man after me with the letters from Shushee. He reached us a day's journey and a half from Bagdad. We advance very slowly, only from five to ten English miles a day, on account of the spring season, when the Dschervedars[18] feed their horses on grass, and because they waited for other parties which had yet been behind. The weather is very fine; we had rain twice, but only slightly. The remaining time of the day I spend in reading, and conversation with the Persians in the caravan. The first day I felt very solitary, but the second, and since, the Lord afforded me plenty of opportunity to give testimony of him who is our Saviour and Lord, and to distribute several tracts and books among my fellow travellers, and this rejoiced my heart greatly. According to the manner of our present travelling we shall not be in Kermanshah till after twenty days. They speak in the caravan from fear of the Arabs after this; but it will be easy for the Lord to bring me safely through. The caravan is increased to about 500 horses and 180 persons.

[18] Muleteers.

"Now something out of dear Zaremba's letters; but I had only time to read them once over, so that I am not able to give you any regular extracts out of them. Should I forget any thing I will write it from Kermanshah or Hamadan. The letter was of December last. All had been attacked with sickness more or less, and dear Brother Sallett, stationed at Teflis, was called home: he died of the cholera.