Christian world. She does not ask for much, but she pleads for the listening ear and the helping hand of Christendom. Obviously the church needs reform in many particulars, and none are so aware of this as the earnest native Christian preachers.

In Armenia the Bible is and has been in the hands of the people, and their customs and life are permeated with its leavening principles. Thus the obstacle with which foreign missionaries usually have had to contend are not found here. Armenia is destined to great awakening. Christian missions have flourished and increased here as in no other land. Let hands be clasped across the wide ocean that separates us, and let Christendom harken once more to the cry that comes in the night, "Come over and help us."

THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH.

"Come over and help us."-Macedonia Cry.

HE labor of evangelization among the Armenians

THE

has been in its nature fundamentally different from that of most mission countries.

No heathen idolatry was here with which to contend. No wooden gods and massive temples built of ignorant superstition were to be torn down before Christianity could be introduced and a true God preached. The people already worshiped the God of the Christian; the spiritual kingdom needed not a revolution so much as a reformation, and it is with complacency that Armenia can point to one of her own sons as the instigator and founder of the reformatory movement. We refer to a native priest living near Constantinople, who in the year 1760 put forth a manuscript copy of a book whose every page breathed the spirit of dissatisfaction with the existing state of religious life. Besides speaking in commendatory terms of the great reformer, Martin Luther, it pointed out many errors into which the Church had gradually fallen, and urged that a reform of some sort was eminently

necessary. This, though for some reason never printed, wielded a salutary influence in the minds of the people, especially among the higher clergy, many of whom were inspired by it to action more or less effective.

One of the indications that would point to the spiritual lethargy of the times was the extreme rarity of Bibles; and here we take occasion to say that no true and active Christian life is possible without some communion with that stimulator of the soul's higher existence, the Word of God. It was a most healthful sign when an urgent want began to be expressed for more copies of the sacred book, and it was also a very encouraging expression of the pulse of Christendom when the British and Russian Bible societies, at about the same time, proffered their help in the field white unto harvest. As an outcome of the self-sacrificing interest of these two organizations, in the year 1823 about 20,000 copies of the Scriptures were translated into the language. The Armenian people will ever gratefully remember this timely service. It was soon perceived, however, that much more good would be accomplished were the translations made in modern Armenian rather than in the ancient tongue. The latter the common people were not able to read, and most of the copies published of necessity fell into the hands of priests and monks. The former, the modern Armenian, is understood by educated and uneducated alike, and the Bible societies referred to did a very wise

thing in putting forth another version adapted to the needs of clerymen and laborers, poor and rich alike.

The pioneer work in any mission country is placing in the hands of its people the Word in their vernacular. It is the foundation for the future edifice, the sowing for the future harvest, and the distribution of the Scriptures at this time was not without its significant fruit in later years, for it has not only produced a better morality, not merely the means of spiritual life, but it has also given impetus to mental activity.

We now come to that which is most interesting to those who probably comprise the majority of the readers of this book-the work of the American Board of Foreign Missions. Missionary Parsons met at Jerusalem in 1821, several Armenians, who, according to a custom still in vogue, were on a pilgrimage thither. Becoming interested in them, he proposed the establishment of a mission. They were all pleased with the idea and declared their countrymen would be glad when one should be established.

The movement began in Constantinople. The city, a description of which will be found in a chapter devoted exclusively to that subject, has over 1,200,000 inhabitants. The majority are Turks, but the Armenians are next in number, there being over 150,000 of them. In 1831, when Rev. William Goodell was called from Malta (where he was engaged in missionary work) to Constantinople, there were about 100,000 Armenians in the city

offering a very attractive field for effort. This was in June, 1831, but scarcely had he established himself in Pera, one of the suburbs of the city, when a destructive fire necessitated the removal of the mission to a town some few miles up the Bosphorus. Although thus meeting with adversity, the original purpose of the mission was not allowed to suffer, and in the following year we again find Mr. William Goodell in Constantinople, this time accompanied by two more efficient workers, Messrs. H. G. O. Dwight and W. G. Schauffler, both Americans. These three men of God were welcomed very cordially by the Patriarch, and were allowed to suffer no inconvenience that could be alleviated. It, indeed, seemed as though the mission was blessed of God. We will see later on how the Patriarch maintained his first attitude.

In our chapter on the Armenian Church, we have described at length its services and forms of worship. It was the policy of the missionaries from the inauguration of their work to leave severely alone the outer bulwarks of the Church, for this would only have instigated intense opposition from all quarters. It was thought best to transform first the spiritual, and that being changed, the outward manifestation in material forms and ceremonies would be done away with as a logical result.

That this method was a success was soon seen, and the first fruits of labor were very encouraging. In the year of the starting of the mission, Mr. Goodell during a visit was the means of converting two priests.

It