BY REV. LYMAN BARTLETT, DD., SMYRNA, ASIA MINOR The city of Afion-Kara-Hissar, an out-station of the Smyrna mission field, with a population of some twenty thousand, is located about two hundred and fifty miles northeast from the central station. It is the center of the opium traffic in Asia Minor, hence its name. This place has long been occupied by Armenian laborers, with frequent visits from the missionaries at Smyrna. About one-third of its population are Armenians, and nearly all the remainder are Turks. The first preacher, a native of the place, an Armenian, and a man of God, after having sown much good seed and winning many friends, died at his post. He was followed by a young man, devoted and enthusiastic in his work, but he too was taken away in the midst of his usefulness. Still another came as preacher of the Gospel, a man of ability, and an attractive speaker, but his life did not harmonize with his preaching, and he left no good results. The present incumbent, an Armenian of middle age, a man of great energy and perserverance, and, withal, a man of consistent, earnest Christian character, has ocupied the post some twelve or thirteen years, but his course has by no means been a smooth one; for tho he has always been loved and honored by his own people, he has been zealously opposed by a few wealthy Armenians of the old church, who have for a long time virtually ruled the town, even controlling, to a great degree, the local Turkish authorities. In addition to direct evangelistic work, a school was sustained for some years, in the time of the former sultan, Abdul Aziz, under whose reign we enjoyed great liberty in our mission work; but when the present sultan, Abdul Hamid, ordered that all schools not holding a formal permit from the government should be closed, we lost our school, and, from the opposition alluded to, we have never been able to secure the needful permit. Turkish Persecution The Turkish government does not directly persecute the Christians as such, and because they are Christians, but the officials are often willing to second, and even to enforce, the decrees of the old churches against Protestantism. The persecution of Protestant Christians is almost always brought upon them by those of their own nationality, either by the priesthood, by family friends, or by wealthy and influential men. But persecution, from whatever source it comes, often proves to be a decided advantage to the work, only adding fuel to the fire. which it is designed to extinguish. The wife of one man in this little community was taken away by the priests and kept for several months in the house of one of her friends, in the hope that he would recant and return to the mother church; but it only made him still firmer in his adherence to the truth, and at length his wife was restored to him. Two Protestant sisters were treated most cruelly by their husbands; they were repeatedly slandered, beaten, and turned out of doors, but they could not be turned from their purpose. At one time when I was visiting the place during the Sabbath service the house of worship was attacked, and the door well-nigh broken in by a shower of stones; but this only seemed to arouse the attention of the public, and lead to inquiry for the reason for such conduct. During a sojourn of three weeks at one time the house we occupied was stoned nearly every night, but fortunately all the windows on the street were protected by wire screens, so that little damage was done; but this excitement served only to introduce the missionary, and awaken a desire to see and hear him. The minister was often insulted, and sometimes stoned upon the street, and thus he and his work were advertised, while his patience and forbearance won for him the confidence of all the better class of citizens. At one time he was accused of having reviled the Virgin Mary in a public place, and this accusation was signed by some two hundred Armenians, and presented to the local governor. When I called upon his excellency soon after, he spoke of the affair, but assured me that he should take no notice of it, as the charge was most absurd; but after I had left the town, the preacher was duly summoned to appear in court for trial, and a crowd of curious spectators assembled to witness the "sport." The preacher sought no counsel and prepared no defense, but patiently listened to the testimony presented, after which an opportunity was given him to speak in his own defense, and, without previous preparation, he answered his accusers, and, as if inspired for the occasion, preached to the crowd a plain Gospel sermon, so clear and convincing that the case was at once dropped in silence, and the crowd dispersed, wiser if not better for this outcome of their folly, while the preacher had gained immensely in the confidence of the people. A few years ago a destructive fire broke out in the city, which laid in ruins eight hundred of the one thousand houses owned by the Armenians.* This brought great destitution and suffering upon a large number of the people, and called for much charitable aid, and much money, clothing, and provisions were committed to the preacher for distribution among the sufferers; and such was the wisdom and impartiality shown in the distribution, coupled with the warmest sympathy with the unfortunates, that he gained a wide influence among them, and the unbounded confidence of all classes. The last great effort of the evil one to silence this servant of the Lord came in the form of a prohibition to preach the Gospel any longer without a formal license from the Turkish government. This was almost an unheard of demand, and must have emanated from some source other than the government; but the order was stringent, and must be obeyed. For fifteen months there was no formal preaching, the little organ was silent, and no hymns were sung; yet every Sunday services were held, and also during the week. The Bible was read and expounded, and much earnest work was done. A goodly number sought the preacher, and his heart-toheart talks with inquirers in the quiet and seclusion thus enforced seemed even more effective in winning men to the truth than had the former public preaching of the Word, while the injustice of the prohibition awakened * See illustration from photograph. among the people much sympathy toward the preacher and his congregation. Through the efforts of our Protestant representative at Constantinople, after fifteen months of patient waiting, the necessary permit was at length granted, and that from the highest court of the nation, rendering the preacher's position doubly secure. All these phases of persecution, as it now seems, have "fallen out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel," the Gospel," strengthening the faith of the believers, calling forth sympathy for the persecuted, and awakening a spirit of inquiry among those hitherto indiffer ent. Not only by the preaching of the Word, but by other agencies has the preacher proved himself a most efficient worker. His zeal in the circulation of our weekly and monthly papers, the Avedaper (Messenger), published both in Turkish and Armenian, has secured a large number of subscribers, and the papers he delivers in person to the subscribers, both in the markets and at their homes, and this furnishes the best opportunity to gain a personal influence over them. also acts as agent for the American Bible Society, selling a large number of Bibles. A Building Needed He Now, in all these years the evangelistic work in this city has been carried on in rented property, which may always be regarded as a great disadvantage in mission work. Men who become convinced concerning the truth naturally hesitate to leave the mother church and identify themselves with a cause which can give them no assurance of permanency. Many will say, when invited to join the evangel icals: "You have no property, no permanent foundation; you can give no assurance that you will continue here; and if you should lose your rent, or be otherwise unfortunate, we shall be left out in the cold, and our former friends will not receive us." And such a plea is not without reason, for so bitter are the anathemas of these Oriental churches against those who leave them for an evangelical communion, that without the assurance of a permanent welcome many will hesitate to join them, and thus it is proved by long experience that where a work is continued for some years in rented property, many will be found convinced of the truth and acknowledging their duty, who yet remain in communion with the old churches, refusing to assume any burdens, or to meet any responsibilities which a full and public avowal of their honest convictions. would require. Just so it is in AfionKara-Hissar. Probably money enough has been expended for rentals in this place to have purchased a property amply sufficient for the demands of the work, and this would have enabled us to extend a permanent welcome to all who were inclined to join This would have removed one of the heaviest drawbacks, and would doubtless have resulted in a much larger gathering. us. This is the most hopeful of the Smyrna out-stations. The Armenian population is probably between six and seven thousand, and they are a people of a higher degree of intelligence than those of most interior towns. A large number of them are in sympathy with the Gospel work, many of whom, we are sure, would join the evangelicals if they could hope for a permanent home with us. MISSIONS Two prominent facts are noteworthy in the foreign missionary enterprise to-day: 1. Vast areas of the pagan world have been simultaneously and almost suddenly opened to an unlimited expansion of Christian missions. 2. The great missionary societies in all lands prosecute their undertakings under a hampering burden of deficit and debt which forbids expansion. What among the concrete results of the recent Inter-Church Conference on Federation will effect foreign missions in such an emergency? In one sense this Conference had no concrete results. It gave us hardly more than reiterated aspiration. As Dr. Bradford said, it is not likely to change the situation at once; it may leave a feeling of disappointment behind it. But the aspiration of men from all branches of the Church emphasizes the sin of a divided Christendom, and the necessity of a unity that shall be pervasive and enduring. It is something gained, too, to have put sectarianism into an attitude of apology for its very existence. Yet concrete results will probably become more and more apparent. Growing out of a profound sense of the need of our Christian community to possess a new life, the Conference threw its whole emphasis on the source of life. It believed that allegiance to Christ is the great need of the community-a greater need than allegiance to the denomination. No one could sit long in its meetings without noting gladly the prevalence of this belief. All the denominations represented there were at one because their hearts burned to exalt Jesus Christ as Savior and King. When the Conference took steps to secure federation between thirty denominations, this sense of need was behind the action, and its definite purpose was to labor to arouse in all the churches a spirit of obedience to Jesus Christ our blessed Lord. The Effect of Union On the day after the Conference one of the New York daily papers published a "Who's afraid?" kind of an article which bid the populace remember that the churches represented there have less than half as many members in New York as there are Jews in the city, and that they will have against them (note the phrase 66 against them") all Roman Catholics, Unitarians, and Jews, as well as unbelievers of every stripe. This may be true. Yet the editor forgot that when an organization is formed to champion any truth which appeals to the universal conscience its power is not gauged by adding-machines. What can be expected from the Conference in the way of stimulating Christian life in the community is all that may naturally flow from organization for the sake of united, intelligent effort to cultivate in the community those simple, every-day principles of obedience to Jesus Christ toward which the aspiration of the Conference has directed. When the churches with one accord live by the conviction that Jesus Christ is the head, and that all who are in process |