Читать книгу History of the American Foreign Missions to the Oriental Churches - Rufus Anderson - Страница 5

Table of Contents

Missions to the Oriental Churches occupy a large space in the forty-nine volumes of the Missionary Herald, and in as many Annual Reports of the Board; and in view of the multitude of facts, from which selections must be made to do justice to the several missions, it will readily be seen, that their history cannot be compressed into a single volume. The Missions may be regarded as seven or eight in number; considering the Palestine and Syria missions as really but one, and the several Armenian missions as also one. The history of the Syria mission, in its connection with the American Board, covers a period of fifty-one years; that of the Nestorian, thirty-seven; that of the Greek mission, forty-three; of the Assyrian (as a separate mission), ten; of the Armenian mission, to the present time, forty; and of the Bulgarian, twelve. The mission to the Jews, extending through thirty years, was so intimately connected with these, as to demand a place in the series; and the facts scattered through half a century, illustrating the influence exerted on the Mohammedans, are such as to require a separate embodiment.

In writing the history, one of three methods was to be adopted; either to embrace all the missions in one continuous narrative; or to carry forward the narrative of each mission, separately and continuously, through its entire period; or, rejecting both these plans, to keep the narratives of the several missions distinct, but, by suitable alternations from one to another, to secure for the whole the substantial advantages of a contemporaneous history. The first could not be done satisfactorily, so long as the several missions have a separate existence in the minds of so many readers, and while so many feel a strong personal interest in what is said or omitted. Even on the plan adopted, so much must necessarily be omitted, or stated very briefly, as to endanger a feeling, that injustice has been done to some excellent missionaries. As for the second, the author had not the courage to undertake consecutive journeys through so many long periods; and he believed not a few of his readers would sympathize with him. If, however, any desire to read the history of any one mission through in course, the table of contents will make that easy. Each of the histories is complete, so far as it goes.

No attempt has been made to write a philosophical history of missions. The book of the Acts of the Apostles is not such a history, nor has one yet been written. The time has not come for that. There are not the necessary materials. The directors of missions, and missionaries themselves, have not yet come to a full practical agreement as to the principles that underlie the working of missions, nor as to the results to be accomplished by them; and it must be left to competent writers in the future—when the whole subject shall be more generally and better understood—after patiently examining the proceedings of missionary societies in America, England, Scotland, and Germany, to state and apply the principles that may be thus evolved. The most that can now be done, is to record the facts in their natural connections, together with the more obvious teachings of experience. If the author has been successful in doing this, his end is gained.

In the present state of religious opinion respecting divine Providence among a portion of the reading community, it may be proper to state the author's strong conviction, that the promise of the Lord Jesus, to be with his missionaries, pledges the divine interposition in their behalf; and that "whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord." In the work of missions, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." The history before us often presents cases, in which there is no more reason to doubt the divine agency, than the human; and no intelligent missionary would labor hopefully and cheerfully, after becoming a disbeliever in a particular providence.

Nearly all the early laborers in the fields here presented, have finished their work on earth. Parsons and Fisk were the only ones, with whom the writer had not a personal acquaintance. Of not a few others—and of some who, like himself, still linger here—he has many pleasant personal recollections that sweeten anticipations of the heavenly world. He is thankful in being allowed to commemorate their labors and virtues, and only regrets the want of space and ability to do it better. His constant endeavor has been to present the missions to the reader as their imprint is left on his own mind. More biographical notices would have been gladly inserted, had there been room. The details of persecution are sufficient to furnish glimpses of the severe ordeal, through which it has pleased the Head of the Church to bring the infant churches of those fields.

The Syria and Nestorian missions passed under the direction of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in the year 1870, and our history of them closes at that time. Up to that date, the Congregational and New School Presbyterian Churches (the Old School Presbyterians also up to the year 1837, and the Reformed Dutch Church for many years) sustained an equal relation to all these missions. The mission to the Jews in Turkey was relinquished in 1856, out of regard to Scotch and English brethren, who had undertaken to cultivate that field. The communities in Turkey among whom our missionaries now labor, are the Armenians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Mohammedans, and the Arabic-speaking Christians of Eastern Turkey.

The Board has ever acted on the belief, that its labors should not be restricted to pagan nations.¹ The word "heathen" in the preamble of its charter, is descriptive and not restrictive. It is not in the Constitution of the Board, which was adopted at its first meeting only a few weeks after its organization. The second article of the Constitution declares it to be the object of the Board, "to devise, adopt, and prosecute ways and means for propagating the Gospel among those who are destitute of the knowledge of Christianity." This of course includes Mohammedans and Jews; and those who carefully consider the statements embodied in the Introduction to the History, will see that it embraces, also, the Oriental Churches, as they were fifty years ago.

In November, 1812, the year in which the first missionaries sailed for Calcutta, a committee, appointed by the Board to appeal to its constituency, used this emphatic language: "It is worthy of consideration, that the Board is not confined in its operations to any part of the world, but may direct its attention to Africa, North or South America, or the Isles of the Sea, as well as to Asia." At the Annual Meeting in 1813, it was voted: "That the Prudential Committee be directed to make inquiry respecting the settlement of a mission at San Salvador, in Brazil, at Port Louis, in the Isle of France, or on the island of Madagascar." In the latter part of 1818, it was resolved to commence a mission in Western Asia. The Prudential Committee said, in their Report for 1819: "In Palestine, Syria, the provinces of Asia Minor, Armenia, Georgia, and Persia, though Mohammedan countries, there are many thousands of Jews, and many thousands of Christians, at least in name. But the whole mingled population is in a state of deplorable ignorance and degradation—destitute of the means of divine knowledge, and bewildered with vain imaginations and strong delusions." In that year Pliny Fisk and Levi Parsons embarked for this field.

This historical review makes it clear, that those who organized the Board and directed its early labors, regarded not only Pagans, but Mohammedans, Jews, and nominal Christians, as within the sphere of its labors; and such has been the practical construction for nearly sixty years.

The reader is referred to the close of the second volume for an Index; also, for a detailed statement of the Publications issued by the several missions, which must impress any one with the amount, value, and influence of the intellectual labor there embodied. Had these statements been given at length in the History, they would have embarrassed its progress. A list is also appended of the Missionaries, male and female, giving the time during which they were severally connected with the missions.

Thankful acknowledgments are due to the Rev. Thomas Laurie, D.D., the writer of a number of valuable and popular works, and to the Rev. Isaac R. Worcester, well known as the Editor of the Missionary Herald, for their kind and careful revision of the work.

This History of the Missions of the Board to the Oriental Churches, is respectfully dedicated to the friends of those missions; and the author, who has no pecuniary interest in the work, will be amply rewarded, should he be regarded as having given a true and faithful account of the agency of the Board in the Republication of the Gospel in Bible Lands.

Boston, 1872.

¹ These remarks were suggested by a speech at the Annual Meeting of the Board in Salem, by the Rev. S. B. Treat, Home Secretary of the Board.