A History of Protestant missions in the near East

The Muhammadan World and the Eastern Churches 73
amount of freedom they now enjoy, exposing themselves
afresh to persecution.
Yet the fundamental principle of the pioneers was a sound
one. The great task of the Christian Church is the spiritual
reconquest of these lost provinces of the Church, until at last the
cradle-lands of Christianity be again under the shadow of the
Cross.
In this campaign of reconquest, the ancient Christian
peoples and remnants of peoples naturally play a prominent
part. Wherever they are in a compact mass with a firm
political and ecclesiastical organization, as in Roumania,
Servia, Bulgaria and Greece, the political development of the
last century has freed them from the Turkish yoke, and in
every one of these liberated countries, the return to Christianity
has been astonishing, Islam having been completely
thrust into the background. Where the Christians are a
minority, political and ecclesiastical progress
is more difficult
and slower. In such cases the Christians must be first raised
from the degradation caused by the contempt and neglect of their
oppressors. They must be elevated by the education of mind
and spirit till
they are in a position to compete economically
with their more favoured neighbours. It seems impossible
to imagine a re-Christianization of the East, save through the
vitalizing of the ancient Churches. No lesser aim should
satisfy us. Have Protestant missions contributed much to a
general intellectual and spiritual restoration of these ancient
Christian peoples ? Our further enquiry will prove that we
may confidently and joyfully answer, yes. Here we will
simply mention a few points that are important for the correct
understanding of subsequent chapters of this book, always
remembering that we have to apply to these missions a
standard different from that applied to missions among
non-Christians, since in this case the formation of separate
churches is not the main object of the mission work, but
only an inevitable consequence which has hardly ever
caused the missionaries to loose sight of their chief purpose of
reform.
Protestant missions and Bible societies deserve great praise