THE

MISSIONARY HERALD.

VOL. LXIV.-AUGUST, 1868.- No. VIII.

KESSAB-THE CHURCH ON THE MOUNTAIN.

BY REV. G. W. WOOD, D. D.

On the southern side of the mouth of the Orontes, opposite the site of ancient Selucia, rises abruptly from the sea an immense cone of limestone, to the height of 5,700 feet. This is Mount Casius, now called Jebel Okr'a, or the "Naked Mountain"; its top and sides being bare rock, though its base and the ridges that branch out from it are covered with forests of oak and pine. Pliny says of this mountain, that a spectator on its summit, by simply turning his head at the hour of sunrise, could see both day and night! Its missionary associations, beginning with the first voyage of men sent forth by a Christian church to the heathen of other lands, give it a deeper interest to us; for Paul and Barnabas may have beheld its head crowned with a sunset glory long after the coast-line had sunk beneath the horizon, and lower heights were buried in darkness, as they looked back towards the harbor in which they had embarked on the mission to which the Holy Ghost called them from Antioch.

On its southeastern side, clinging like a bird's nest to its precipitous face, and above a long, deep valley which there begins to open out, with its fields separated by walls of stone, and filled with mulberry, fig, and pear trees, vines, and wheat in cultivation, is a village of three hundred houses, or 2,000 souls, bearing the name of Kessab. It is the largest town within a distance of many miles. Not a Moslem resides among them; they are all Armenians.

Ascending from the plain which runs to the north of Ladakiyeh, hill after hill has to be climbed, and only at the cost of long-to-be-remembered fatigue will the place be reached; but the richness and wildness of the scenery to the west, an occasional glimpse of the blue waters of the Mediterranean to the east, a sea of mountains extending to Antioch, "glens verdant with the bright foliage of the myrtle and the ilex" along his road, repay the traveler.

But a Christian visitor can have a richer reward in now making this journey. There is little, indeed, in the external condition of the people to interest him. They are nothing but rude and simple mountaineers; kept in extreme poverty by oppression, and presenting nothing to win towards them our regard but what has been wrought in many of them by the Holy Ghost.

Whether the light of divine truth entered amid pagan darkness on that spot

in the days of Paul, we do not know; but it has lately been made to shine clearly in the midst of a hardly less dense ignorance of spiritual and saving knowledge, into which fatal corruptions of Christianity, at some time established there, had plunged the people.

In the early days of the Syria mission, a resident of Kesṣab, Mukdessy Hanna, heard that an Armenian friend had gone from Beirût to Antioch, where he was suffering persecution on account of some heresy into which he had fallen. Full of zeal for the orthodox Armenian faith, he went to Antioch to reclaim his friend from his errors. The result was that he went back himself infected with the same heresy; and when the Aleppo station was formed, Hanna made a journey to that city, and besought help for Kessab. Mr. Ford made the first visit, in 1850. Subsequent visits were made by other missionaries, and by native brethren from Aintab and elsewhere. Individuals were impressed; discussions concerning the way of salvation drew numbers from their confidence in a religion of sacraments and forms; some few persons soon seemed to have found truth to the saving of the soul. The usual result of wrath and persecution followed. The peace of society was broken. Violent assaults were made on the evangelical men, and their property was destroyed. This could be done more easily because the population was exclusively "Christian," and the Turkish officials resided in a Moslem town, at the farther end of the Kessab valley. Sometimes the persecuted yielded to the violence of the storm so far that the progress of the truth was checked. Sometimes the meekness of their spirit, and their refraining from retaliation and anger, conquered their enemies. Sometimes they were enabled to get protection, and even redress for injuries, by appealing to the Turkish Governor, or the Pasha at Aleppo.

Thus the conflict went on until a triumph was gained. An evangelical church was formed by Mr. Ladd, in 1853, consisting of twelve members. At the end of 1855 it contained fifty members -36 men and 14 women. Its membership has increased, by the last report, to 192, and the whole number of registered Protestants is given as 1,010. In respectability and weight of influence the Protestants now take the lead; and the face of society has undergone a great change.

For several years their place of worship was a small and dark room. A high partition separated the female from the male portion of the assembly. As the gospel took effect, the oriental feeling was modified, and openings were made and enlarged, so that the women could see and better hear the speakers, and when, in 1859-60, a church edifice was erected, only a rail was put in to mark the divisions assigned to the two sexes. The sitting together of families will

be reached in due time.

The new house of worship referred to is a substantial building of stone, with plastered walls, but no seats or adornments. In their deep poverty the people could give but little money; but nearly "all the stones for the massive walls were brought from the quarry by the men, women, and children, on their backs— the women doing their full share of it. At first the people were called to the quarry by striking a bar of iron, in the same manner as they are called to church on the Sabbath. This was done about two hours before sundown. After a week or two, to avoid interrupting the regular labors of the day, they carried stones in the evening, by moonlight. When the moon failed them, they used

torch-lights; and when the stones in the quarry failed, and they were obliged to bring them from a greater distance, every man who was the owner of a horse, mule, or donkey, was assessed two days' bringing stones on the backs of these animals; and thus the work was completed."

Mr. Dodd, who visited Kessab in the spring of 1860, soon after the completion of this church, thus describes a scene which he witnessed: "The work of the Lord at Kessab is great and marvelous in our eyes. The day was a very solemn one. I never preached to a more deeply attentive congregation, nor felt more conscious of that assistance which a preacher receives from the tearful sympathy and interest of his hearers. The Holy Spirit manifested his presence and power. It was a revival scene. One thousand persons, by actual count, were present in the morning, many from the old church coming to witness the dedicatory services. In the afternoon, twenty-three were added to the communion of the church, perhaps nine hundred were present at the sacrament, and in the evening there were seven hundred or more. The most prominent manifested feeling of the church that day was one of joy and gratitude. Their hearts were full of praise. They thanked God for the church of stone, and for the church of living hearts. They recalled the day when all the Protestants of Kessab sat on one mat and read the Bible together, and wondered whether they would ever be numerous enough to fill that mat! And when it was filled, they hardly dared hope to fill a second. Now, forty mats were spread over the church floor, and all filled!"

At a little earlier date, Mr. Powers wrote concerning the spiritual state of the church in these words: "No sooner was the work on this [church] edifice suspended for the winter, than they set themselves earnestly and prayerfully at work to build up the spiritual body that was to fill it. Fourteen male members of the church were appointed to go, two by two, from house to house, to converse, read, and pray with the people, and urge them to a devoted, Christian life. Female members were appointed to do the same among the women and children. Neighborhood prayer-meetings were also appointed for week-day evenings, and Bible-classes, at five or six different places simultaneously, on the Sabbath, the men and women meeting separately.... These men, with the love and zeal of young converts in their hearts, and the gospel in their hands, are very active among their friends and acquaintances, in persuading them to embrace the truth. One of these has been the very bitterest opposer and persecutor of the Protestants in Kessab. He now comes to my room two or three times every day, and it is truly interesting to see how the changed state of his inner man shows itself in the visage of the outer. So active has he been in his efforts to win souls to the truth, both in this village and out of it, that the Armenians have lodged a complaint against him with the governor of the district. It is truly delightful to find among this people such evidence of a genuine work of the Spirit."

Kessab, as a summer retreat from the heat of Antioch, and occasionally for longer periods, has enjoyed the labors of Messrs. Morgan and Powers; other missionaries have sometimes visited it; and Mrs. Coffing has done much by a school for girls, and in instructing the women.

The moral transformation is not yet complete. Such a people can learn selfgovernment, and become proficient in all Christian virtue, only by experience

and long-continued culture. But a wonderful renovation has already been effected, and this very largely by a native agency, which, under missionary supervision and supplementing for a time, is our reliance, with God's accompanying blessing, for the permanent establishment and progress of the gospel in that village, and the numerous smaller ones in the surrounding region.

FINANCIAL PROSPECTS.

Br way of some encouragement to those who are looking and striving for the relief of the treasury, it may now be stated, that the receipts for the month of June ($33,664.21) were about $12,561 more than for the corresponding month last year. All that has been said, however, in the last two numbers of the Herald, respecting the necessity for strenuous and instant effort to prevent a debt at the close of the year, remains as true as it was before. The total of receipts from donations and legacies, for ten months, up to July 1, is not quite $325,000; the present indebtedness is $84,745; and that the year may close with an unembarrassed treasury, the receipts, from these sources, for the two remaining months (July and August), must be at least $190,000, — $75,000 more than was received during those months last year! It is cheering to notice that some are moving to the rescue that there was an increase of contributions in June, over those of last year. But that increase was very small as compared with what was and is needed. Let no friend, therefore, slack his hand; let prayers and efforts be unceasing; and "every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver." The financial close of the year may yet be such as to animate the Christian church, encourage young men whom God may be calling to the work abroad, and cheer the hearts of faithful but worn laborers now in the fields, who anxiously "watch for the morning."

LETTERS FROM THE MISSIONS.

Central Turkey Mission.

mission work in that field, that readers will be glad to see most of it in the pages of

Letter to the Turkish MissionS AID SOCI- the Herald. Mr. Adams states:

ETY.

DURING the late annual meeting of the Central Turkey Mission, at Aintab, Mr. Adams wrote, in behalf of the mission, to the Secretary of the (English) Turkish Missions Aid Society, and a copy of his letter was forwarded to the Missionary House. It so well and concisely presents the progress and present condition of the

"Light and shadow have alike passed over us, but, as a whole, our work for the past year has made decided progress. Its most striking feature is that of steady growth, in the best sense of that word. The churches are generally more stable and self-reliant, so that we are correspondingly confident of the permanent reëstab