History of the missions of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions to the oriental churches, Volume II.Anderson, Rufus
Religion
History of the missions of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions to the oriental churches, Volume II.
Anderson, Rufus
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; Missions -- Eastern churches
The press was now unable to meet the demand which had arisen for the
books, as well as for the Bible. The issues were called for on the
southern and eastern coasts of Arabia, and in India, and a box of
them was sent to the interior of Africa.
The administration of Daoud Pasha, the Christian Governor of Mount
Lebanon, continued to be marked by commendable justice, vigor, and
liberality, and there was a sense of security to which the land had
long been a stranger. Industry and thrift began to appear, and all
the interests of society received an impulse. Much, however,
depended on the foreign Protestant Powers exerting a proper
influence on the councils of the Turkish government in favor of
religious liberty.
The only ordination of a native preacher by the mission, up to this
time, was that of the Rev. John Wortabet, in 1853, afterwards pastor
of the Hasbeiya church. On the 10th of May, 1864, Mr. Suleeba Jerwan
received ordination at Abeih. He had gone successfully through a
four years' course of study in the Seminary, and had for some time
proved himself faithful and efficient as a teacher and preacher.
The Druzes had a prosperous high school at Abeih, under the special
patronage of His Excellency Daoud Pasha, supported by the income
from their religious establishments. Both of the instructors were
Protestants and graduates of the Abeih Seminary. Though not a
religious institution, such a school must have had an important
bearing on the future of that singular people. In 1866, the
Principal left, and was succeeded by another Protestant, also a
graduate of the mission Seminary. Referring to the Druzes, the
brethren of the Abeih station close their report for the year 1864
with the following remarkable declaration:--
"While it is true that the government of the mountain was never
better, and we are free to open schools wherever parents dare send
their children, it is no less true that the Protestants are a small
and hated minority. Providence has made the Druzes a wall of
defense, for the present. To them, under God, it is due that we
pursue our labors on this mountain."
Tannus El Haddad, the oldest and most esteemed native helper in the
mission, died in 1864, after more than thirty years of efficient
labor. "A guileless, spiritual man, whose lovely spirit disarmed the
enmity even of those who hated his religion. The church of Christ in
Syria owes much to the holy life and faithful teaching of this man
of God. The missionaries owe much. He long upheld their hands by the
strength of his affection and sympathy."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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