THE

MISSIONARY HERALD.

VOL. LXIV.—JULY, 1868.- No. VII.

CONDITION OF THE TREASURY.

ANOTHER month has passed since the statement published in June was prepared, and the financial prospects of the Board have not grown brighter, but the contrary. Then, for eight months, the receipts had been $8,800 more than for the same time last year. Now, for nine months, they have been only $2,284 more. Then, the Board needed to receive during the remaining four months of the year, from donations and legacies, $81,100 more than was received in the same time last year. Now, the call must be for $87,600 more during three months.* The donations received in May were indeed about $2,055 more than in the same month last year, but the legacies were $8,570 less. During each of the last three months (March, April, and May), the receipts have been less than in the corresponding time in 1867, the falling off amounting, for the whole of this period, to nearly $22,000! For nine months of the year, up to June 1st, the receipts have amounted to but $291,131.70; leaving (in accordance with the estimates, published in December last), about $238,000 to be provided for within three months! Surely the prospect is sufficiently unpleasant.

Will not the many friends of this cause who were present at the last meeting of the Board at Buffalo, and took part, if not in the earnest remarks, at least in the unanimous vote of the whole congregation, when the Board accepted "the work which Providence throws upon it for the evangelization of China,” and recommended "a speedy enlargement of the missionary force in that empire," consider the present and prospective condition of the treasury? Very little has been done, either towards enlargement in China, or to meet the urgent calls for reinforcement in many other fields, yet there is now reason for serious apprehension, that when the Board meets again, a debt must be announced, possibly even larger than has ever before embarrassed its operations.

When these statements reach most of the readers of the Herald, there will remain but two months, July and August, for effort. All will perceive, therefore, that there is no time to be lost. Thirty per cent. advance upon the donations of last year was called for when the appropriations for this year were

*This is needed to meet only the estimated expenses of this year, not including the debt of $4,432 due when the year commenced.

announced. Statements made last month, it is believed, show conclusively that this call cannot be regarded as needless or unreasonable. Shall not the advance be, even yet, secured? But whatever is to be done to attain this result must now be done speedily.

THE ARMENIAN CHURCH.

BY REV. M. P. PARMELEE.

Ir is claimed by the Armenians that Haig,* or Haicus, son of Togarmah, who was grandson of Japheth, was the founder of their race; and consistently with this view, they call themselves Haiks, and their country Haiäsdän, to this day. However this may be, it is evident from Scripture allusions (2d Kings, xix. 37; Jeremiah li. 27, etc.) and from profane writings, that Armenian history is very ancient and interesting, and that the independent nationality of the Armenians was maintained, though with varying fortunes, until near the close of the fourteenth Christian century. During the last five centuries, having no central government to hold them in the region of Ararat, their ancient country, they have become greatly scattered, and are found in large numbers in all parts of Turkey, in Russia, Persia, and India; and individuals are met with, in all parts of the world. Scattered in this way, large numbers of them lose the Armenian language, and are bound together, as a nation, by nothing except the form of Christianity which they always carry with them, clothed in their own ancient tongue. Their numbers are variously estimated, from three to seven millions; probably five millions is nearest correct.

The gospel is said to have been preached among the Armenians by the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus, and some of the immediate disciples of Christ. All of them suffered bitter persecution, and Bartholomew was doubtless flayed alive. Many of the Armenians were converted to Christianity at that time, and the apostolical succession is reckoned from Thaddeus, with perhaps as good authority as the succession of Peter may be established in the Romish church. But it was not until the commencement of the fifth century that, through the remarkable labors of "Gregory the Enlightener," the whole nation was brought to adopt the Christian religion. By order of the king, the heathen temples and altars were thrown down, and churches built in their stead; schools were established, and the nation was aroused to new life and energy. An alphabet was prepared for the language, which had previously been written with the characters of other languages, and the Bible, newly-translated, was the first book written in the new character.

How pure might have been the Christianity thus established among the Armenians we cannot now fully determine; we are only sure of this, that the type we find among them to-day is as corrupt as it can well be. Little by little the language changed, until that into which the Bible and the church books were translated was no longer the vernacular of the people. Having therefore no guiding star, they very naturally wandered far from the truth, falling into numberless superstitions and old wives' fables. They believe in baptismal re* Give the "ai," in all these words, the sound of "i" in "high."

generation, transubstantiation, intercession of saints, extreme unction, purgatory, etc., etc.

There are nine orders of clergy in the Armenian church, the six lowest of which are porters, readers, exorcists, candle-lighters, sub-deacons, and deacons. These perform the subordinate parts in all the services and ceremonies of the church. A candidate for the higher orders must first pass through all these lower, though they may all be passed in one day.

It matters little how ignorant a candidate for the priesthood may be, provided he is able to read the church service; but two things are absolutely essential to his becoming a priest, that he discard razors, and marry a wife. As celibacy is enjoined on all the orders above the priesthood, by marrying, the priest cuts himself off from all hope of promotion. This fact, and the narrow and belittling nature of the priestly duties, tend to fill the office with an unambitious, inferior class of men, whose ignorance and indolence are only equaled by their meanness and treachery.

If the priest's wife dies, he is not permitted to marry again. He may, however, become a vartabed, and thus be thrown in the line of promotion. But it generally happens, that a priest left a widower is more anxious to break over the rules of the church and marry again than to be promoted.

The priest in the picture is seen in his bell-shaped cap, and long, broadcloth tunic, with loose sleeves, which constitute his every-day street dress. While officiating in the church, his tunic and cap are removed, and over his shoulders is thrown a kind of cloak, which is pinned in front, and on his head he wears a close-fitting scull-cap-a far less tasteful arrangement than his out-door dress.

The priests are the most numerous of all the orders of ecclesiastics. They are found in large numbers in the cities, and every village has at least one, and more frequently two or three. Their support, often very meagre, is derived chiefly from fees which they receive for baptism, marriage, burial of the dead, prayers for the repose of souls, etc.

The order of vartabeds is by some reckoned collateral in rank with the priesthood, inasmuch as candidates are ordained to both, directly from the rank of deacon. By others it is made a separate order, superior to the priesthood. However this may be, it is certain the vartabeds are much more intelligent than priests, and their position is invested with far more dignity. The priests never preach; instructing the people forms no part of their duty. This work is specially committed to the vartabeds. Perhaps at some former period they may have gone about preaching and teaching, but now they are never located in villages, and rarely visit them except to look after the revenues of the church. One, at least, is found in each of the cities, who acts as private counselor or secretary, or more likely as boon companion to the bishop; rarely preaching in the usual acceptation of that term. But the greater part of the vartabeds are gathered in monasteries, where a few of the more disinterested and thoughtful, having the real welfare of their nation at heart, engage earnestly in religious and literary studies; and to them the nation is largely indebted for its literature. The majority of these monks, however, busy themselves in caring for the revenues of their respective monasteries, and in schemes for robbing the simpleminded pilgrims, who, lured by monstrous fables, visit their holy shrines.

Every considerable city has its bishop, whose diocese includes all the neigh

boring villages. He ordains all the clergy below himself, receiving a fee for each ordination, and if there be two applicants for the same place, not scrupling to give it to the highest bidder. The bishop has an important part not only in the management of the financial affairs of the church, but also in the assessment of taxes demanded by the Turkish Government, taking care that a fair margin remains in his own hands. He celebrates mass on all important occasions, and while doing so, wears a most costly mitre and magnificent silken robes, and bears in one hand a silver mace of office (seen in the picture), and in the other a silver cross.

The Patriarch (the central figure in the illustration), though by some regarded as a separate order, is more generally treated as merely a bishop with extraordinary jurisdiction and powers. For instance, the Bishop of Constantinople is called patriarch because, by virtue of his position, he is able, in great part, to control the appointment of all the bishops of the empire, and is also the recognized civil representative of the Armenian nation in Turkey, at the Sublime Porte. The crosses and stars seen on his person, as on that of the bishop, are badges of office, and decorations granted by different civil and ecclesiastical authorities.

The Catholicos is the highest of the ecclesiastical orders, and is the "Pope" in the Armenian church, having his seat at Echmiadzin, near the Turkish border, in Russia, but having far less power than the Pope of Rome. He seems content with the honor of his position, together with its emoluments, derived from the sale of bishoprics, the monopoly of the traffic in holy oil, used in all important ceremonies of the church, and the offerings of the devout. All bishops are ordained by the Catholicos, while he, in turn, is ordained by a council of bishops.

The lack of vigor in the ecclesiastical domination of the Armenian church, the people's profound, though misdirected, veneration for the Bible, and their native intelligence and love of investigation, have contributed largely to the success which has already attended the missionary work among them; a success which we believe will, by the grace of God, become more and more striking, until the whole Armenian nation is brought back to a pure Christianity.

THE EDUCATION OF A NATIVE MINISTRY.

BY REV. GEORGE E. POST, M. D., OF THE SYRIA MISSION.

In a letter written from Syria last year, I made use of the following words: "If we educate a man highly, he will not serve, except as a highly salaried and independent missionary. If we educate him moderately, his church will not have him." These words having been subjected to some adverse criticism in this country, I wish to explain them more fully.

First, however, let me allude to the well-known principles and practice of the missionaries of the American Board in the Turkish Empire- preeminently in Syria in the matter of education. They are, to lead on education as fast as the means at their disposal allow, and the circumstances of the people make it desirable, for their welfare. Each of these conditions requires explanation.

The American Board is not an institution sustained with a view to secular education. It is, therefore, limited in its power of furnishing the means for carrying forward the work of scientific instruction. What has been done in this direction, has been undertaken in connection with thorough Biblical training, with a view to fit those who are educated for the positions of preachers, teachers, printers, and distributers of evangelical truth. Those pupils have been received into our schools who gave best promise of becoming evangelists in these various departments. Some have graduated without a conviction of the truth of our religious views, and have been drawn aside into various secular pursuits. Many have become teachers and printers and colporters, in connection with our missions and those in neighboring countries, and a few have risen to the position of preachers and pastors.

Now it is a fact that our schools have been, and are, the best in the various countries where they have been located, with the exception of those in Constantinople and Cairo, where Government Universities have enjoyed an endowment which gave them a higher scientific scope than missionary schools can have, or ought to aim at. In training our youth for the preaching of the gospel, we have actually given the best secular education which the country afforded. We were confessedly in the van of science, and the schools of other sects availed themselves of our models of instruction, and used our text-books as their chief scientific apparatus. Furthermore, the few of our pupils who chose the work of the ministry were retained longer at school, and educated through higher grades of science as well as religion, than other students; and at this time, those who have entered into the various offices of evangelism are in general the best educated men of those whom we have trained, and stand as high among the educated men of that country as our ex-pastors and teachers among the educated men of America. Moreover, they are the only students whom we continue to train after they have entered on the duties of life which lie beyond the curriculum of school and seminary study.

So much for mission schools, their objects and achievements. But the missionaries have gone farther. When the general elevation of portions of the evangelized people has called for still higher qualifications in their pastors and teachers than mission schools, organized with reference to the average necessities of the community, could furnish, the missionaries have inaugurated plans for collegiate institutions, at Constantinople and Beirût,-in each case furnishing a president to the institution from their own diminished numbers, and aiding, by their counsels in the organization, and by their instructions in the successful working of the new enterprises. In the case of the College at Beirût, they constitute a large part of the Board of Management, and view the institution as a prominent means for the evangelization of the country.

It will thus be obvious that no narrow policy in reference to education influences missionaries in general, and I am happy to say that no such prejudice inspired my own words. I may add, that the Board is, I believe, in full sympathy with its missionaries in all these matters.

Having then established, as a preliminary proposition, that the principles and practice of the missions have been to lead on education as fast as the means at their disposal allow, and I might say also, to keep at the head of education in their respective fields of labor, I proceed to the principles which govern us