Christian Nation Vol. 18 1893 - Rparchives.org

[Communications pertaining to missions will beaddressed io F. M. Foster, 305 West 29th St., NewYork.]The following is an extract of letter fromMrs. Metheny to friends in Iowa, and has beankindly hand3d to Department of Missions.Oar commnnion is to be Sabbath after next, andour hearts are cheered in the midst of muoh discouragement,by an accession of nine persons. Two ofthese, a boy and girl, are ohildren of ohurch members; three are young men from the town, one ofthese was for quite a while in the Latakia school, andhis elder brother is a member of the church there,though all the rest ol his friends are Greeks. Hisuncle with whom he lives here is a prominent Greek.There is a young woman, the daughter-in-law of achuroh member, and an old man, the father of one ofthe school girls. He is a Copt by race. The othersare a young Englishman who has been in Mersine forsome flveyears, and married one of the school girlslast summer, and Philip Lemenstein, a young Austrfan.God works in strange ways when His timeoomes. Brought up in the Catholic church, thisyoung man had lived in Austria till last year. Hisimpression was that religion was all a farce, jadgingfrom what he had seen. He drifted here in the earlywinter, and as most German speaking people do,sooner or later, oame to the Doctor. He thought hewas like many of the rest, wanting help to go to Jerusalem.He offered him work which he gladly accented,and he has fllled a great naanj^.^lgiig-jg-^g"'ormgs—alf_Jyfe:-''*BTira plasterer by trade. Jamesall djjpiim^home with him and gave him a plaoe to'sleep. He was soon provided with a German Bible.He had never seen a Bible before, and read it withgreat avidity. He speaks Turkish, Bussian and German.Some time ago he began to inquire if he shouldhave to be re-baptized if he became a Protestant. Hewas examined today and made an intelligent profession,and is to be baptised next Sabbath. We hopethat he will be a useful person. He was firstattractedto our religion by the treatment he received fromthose who professed it. If any one who reads thiswill send me the address of a good evangelical Germannewspaper, I will be much obliged.We hope soon to have what we have long desired—aReading Room, where our young men can spend someof their spare time. The ceiling was begnn today,and the plastering and flooringwill, I hope, soon follow.Then I hope to put up the beautiful mottoessent me some flveyears ago by kind friends in Philadelphia,and make it as attractive as we know how.I always feei sad for these poor people, who have nohome influences to help them, but everything to dragthem down.Department of Missions is again favoredwith another letter from 6ur clever correspondent,Mrs. McCarroll Crawford, Damascus. Itis to be hoped that she will follow it with " anaccount of the serious persec,tions" to whichthe followers of Christ are subjected, for we areall interested in the noble fidelityof these servantsof Christ.CHEISTIAN NATION. Volnme 18.wo.ild like to give ybu an account of it sometime, justto show how hard it is to be a follower of Christ in thisland, and how oitter the government is against Protestauts.At present there are three gentlemen andthree ladies in the mission force. Dr. Crawford hasspent thirty-five years in this land. Mr. Stewart thelatest comer has been here bnt a few months andisstudying hard at the Arabic. My husband havingbeen born here, did not have to learn the languageand was able to go right to work when he came outfive years ago. Hopes are entertained that Mr. Philips,after flfteenyears of labor, who was forced to gohome a year ago on account ofhis health, may oe ableto oome back again. Looking back, over the periodof fiftyyears now closing, one cannot but see how theThis year, 1893, is the jubilee of the Lord has b'essed the work here. There have beenDamascus Syria, April 15, 1893.Knowing that the readers of the Nation are interestedin all mission work, I think you will enjoy hearingsomething of what is being done in and aroundDamascus.Damascus Mission. The record for the past fiftyyears gives in interesting example of the blessingwhich attends the efforts of God's people to bringlight out of darkness.Ia 1843 the firstmissionaries came out from Irelandand they were soon reinforced by others from the AssociatedReformed, now U. P. church of America, andthe wcrk waa carried on very harmoniously up to theyear 1877, when the American U. P.,Bjard withdrewfrom Syria, and concentrated its strength in Egyptand Sudia. Since that time the Irish P esby terianBoard has had sole charge of the work. Half a centuryago, mission workin a fanatical Moslem oity wasbeset with dangers and difflculties which fried thestrongest faith. The Rev. J. Graham, the firstmissionary,began preaching in Arabic in less thaneighteen months from his arrival, and from that date,with the exception of the year 1860, Arabic serviceshave never been discontinued. More than seven yearselapsed before Mr. Grahaai was permitted to gatherin tho flrstfruits. Bat before tie awful massacre of1860, which almost destroyed every vestage of thework, schools had been opened in several of the outsidevillages, as well as in the oity itself. The missionariesand converts were scattered by the massacreand many neygEj:B*--3fjjj(3- " ~ ~— ' ^~~^In 1861 the work was resumed with but a handfulof adberents. God greatly blessed that handful. Aseason of growth followed the depression of 1860 —schools were opened iq more than a dozen villages.There was a larger attendance upon the Sabbath services.A church was built. Evangelists and a colporteurwere employed, and before the withdrawal ofthe American Board, over one hnndri d members hadbeen received. When the Irish Board assumed controlDr. Crawford was the only missionary in thefleld ; but soon he was encouraged by the presence ofa colleagae from Ireland, and shortly after, two ladieswere sent out to organize a girl's boarding school inDamascus. Since that time there has been steadyprogress in all departments of the work. I see by thelast report, that there were 889 pupils in the schools, alarger number than ever before. There is a boys'school in eaoh of theeleven preaching stations includ •ing Damascus, and in three of the villages are girls'schools. The S. 8. is in a very flourishingcondition,and during the last flfteenyears 126 members havebeen admitted to churoh privileges. In one way therehas not been progress. No new schools have beenstarted in new villages. The government is vigilantand opposes all growth of that sort. You know howthe work in the Latakia fleldhas been hindered recently; so many outside sohoola being closed andteachers cast into prison. The Beirut and Damascusmissions have suffered greatly in the loss of helpers.The emigration fever has carried oS thousands of Syriansand it is getting to be a serious question," Wherewill we get teachers?"been from During his called Moslem the npon past neighbors to year suffer one very and of onr the serious Evangelists government. persecution hag Itrials, but the blessings more than outweigh them,and the missionaries thank God and take courage asthey enter upon the new year. AIabt R. Oeawpohd.Commmenting editorially on the Master'sdecision in giving the Eaat Bnd church propertyto the Covenanters, the United Presbyieriansays : "This issue of the case is not unexpected.as it is in the line of all recent decisionsin similar cases, excepting; the very surprisingdecision in the case of our church property inDetroit, a decision which, in the opinion of ourablest la-jnyers, will be reversed by the highercourts."Is it worth while to analyze the above?Hardly ; but if it were done it would readsomething like this : " Our absconding U. P.congregation in Detroit tried to take the propertywith them. They succeeded so far as thedecision of the court is concerned. But everybodyknows that that decision is wrong, andour ablest lawyers are sure that it will be rev€Trsed>--Ti?e-Sisi-:SjaCovenanter'ceflgfegation,coming to the U. P. church, tried to bringtheir property with them. We helped them inthe Presbytery and in the courts ; but theMaster, who is a learned and honorable Judge,refused to be party to the wrong and threw usout ot court. We are aware that all recent decisionsin similar cases would give the propertyto the Covenanters ; but we wanted it andwould have taken it. However, we are ratherglad that we did not get it, for we can, withthe better grace, work for the recovery of ourDetroit property. We don't want these peskyPresbyterians to get our property. It is toomuch like the rich mar dressing the poor man'slamb!"Dr. John Henry Barrows, Chairman of theGeneral Committee on Eeligious Congresses,has, according to the daily press, come out infavor of opening of the World's Fair on theLord's Day. He is pastor of a Presbyterianchurch, Chicago.Beaders of ihe Christian NATioN:-^re there mttwenty-flve people ofyour acquaintance who wouU bethe better of receiving leaflets setting forth the Cwenanterposition onthe voting questionf Send us intheir names and addresses wiih fifty.Jive cents forpostage and we will see that ihey get the arguments.Address Com. on Testimony BeaHng, 50 Boyle SU,Allegheny, Pa.