THE

MISSIONARY HERALD.

VOL. LXIV.-MAY, 1868.- No. V.

HASBEIYA, UNDER MOUNT HERMON, SYRIA.

BY REV. H. H. JESSUP.

THE picture in this number of the Herald represents, as far as a single view can do so, the town of Hasbeiya, Syria, the scene of so many interesting and tragic events in the history of the Syria mission.

The town is situated in the famous Wady el Teim, or Valley of Teim, at the western base of Mount Hermon, which rises 10,000 feet above the sea. It is a hot place, almost shut in by high hills, and before the massacre of 1860, contained 6,000 inhabitants, mostly Greeks and Druzes, though there are some Maronites, and a few Moslems and Greek Catholics. Up to 1860, the valley was governed by Emirs of the Shehab family, who received it as a reward for their deeds of valor in the time of Saladin. For particulars of the history of Hasbeiya the reader is referred to the Historical Sketch of the Syria Mission, published in pamphlet form by the American Board.

In 1826, the people of Hasbeiya offered a house to the American mission for a school. On February 25, 1844, fifty Hasbeiyans came to Beirut to ask for religious teachers. On July 5, 1844, eighty-two men, and one hundred and four women and children, were enrolled as Protestants. Violent persecution followed, and seventy-six men signed a covenant to stand by each other in defense of the truth, even unto death. In 1845, civil war swept over the land, and the power of the persecutors was greatly weakened. In 1847, the Protestants of Hasbeiya sent a deputation to Constantinople, and obtained from the Sultan an order for their protection.

In February, 1848, religious toleration was secured for them, and in July, 1851, a church was organized. In a letter from Dr. Thomson, dated October 11, 1851, an interesting account is given of the piety of one of the older brethren of the Hasbeiya church: "In the afternoon, as I was coming to our preparatory lecture, I met him upon the stairs. Seizing my hand he said, ‘Ever since you left me this morning I have been looking up into heaven, and I see nothing there but Christ.' Gazing earnestly up into the clear blue sky, with a voice which almost frightened me, he repeated several times -'I see nothing in heaven but Christ; I see nothing in heaven but Christ.""

In 1852, Rev. John Wortabet commenced preaching in Hasbeiya, as pastor of the church, and remained until 1859. In 1854, a beautiful church edifice was completed, with rooms beneath for schools and prayer-meetings.

The Massacre of 1860. On the 2d of June, 1860, the Druzes attacked Hasbeiya. The civil war between the Druzes and Maronites had been raging for a week, and the Turkish officer, in command of the castle of Hasbeiya, threw open the gates, and offered to the entire Christian population protection against the Druzes if they would deliver up their arms. The unsuspecting Christians fell victims to this treacherous invitation. After they had been confined nine days in the castle, and were almost starving, the traitorous Turk opened the gates, and admitted the Druze army, who, with imprecations and savage yells, rushed upon the unarmed crowd, and literally hewed in pieces, with axes and swords, more than a thousand helpless and defenseless victims. One of the Protestant brethren, Shahin Abú Barakat, after exhorting his fellow-sufferers to commit themselves to Christ, sank under the Druze axes while on his knees in prayer. Twenty-six villages in the vicinity were burned, and the whole. province laid desolate. The widows and orphans fled to Beirut and Sidon, where some of them still remain. The Protestant church edifice was plundered, the bell broken to fragments, and the wood-work carried off.

Most of the men who survived the massacre have now returned and rebuilt their houses, but the greater part of the town is still in ruins. The church is rebuilt, the school reopened, and services maintained every Lord's-day. The good deacon Kozta, who was rescued from the massacre by a Druze princess, the Sit Naiefeh, (probably through sinister motives, in order to shield herself from punishment,) is now the teacher and native preacher.

The large building at the foot of the hill, in the immediate foreground of the picture [B], is the Greek church; the large square building above it, with windows in the side [A], is the Protestant church; the high building to the right of the Protestant church, and adjoining a garden with cypress-trees [D], is the palace of the Druze Sit Naiefeh; the vast pile of buildings on the extreme right [C], is the Castle, where the bloody massacre occurred. The ruined building, from the Saracenic window of which the sketch was taken, was the former residence of the pastor, Rev. John Wortabet.

The ruined houses and tottering walls of that formerly thriving town present a most melancholy picture. Some portions of the town are quite deserted. In August, 1867, a young woman, living on the heights in the upper part of the town, apologized to the missionary for not coming down to the evening meeting, because the hyenas from Hermon were prowling among the ruined houses every night, making it unsafe to venture out after sunset.

May all who see this picture offer the prayer, that the little flock of believers in Hasbeiya may be sanctified through their sufferings, strengthened in faith, and used as the instruments of leading all the hard-hearted and darkened tribes who dwell under the shadow of Hermon, to the knowledge of the Saviour.

"SO MUCH TO DO AT HOME."

FIVE millions of evangelical Christians solemnly pledged to live and labor for Christ; forty thousand ministers of the gospel consecrated to his special service, one to less than a thousand of the population of the country; hundreds of benevolent organizations, general and local, coöperating with the churches to reach every form of human want and misery; numerous societies for the diffusion of a Christian literature; religious newspapers that may reach every village and household in the land; institutions of learning of every grade, with open doors, inviting all who will to come and partake freely, or at a trifling cost, of the blessings of knowledge and culture;—and yet there is "so much to do at home!" Yes, to sustain the institutions of the gospel, and to extend their benign influence into all our waste places, into every neighborhood, and to every individual that now neglects his opportunities. This is the local work devolved upon our churches, in which all the five millions of Christians may share.

But other countries have been given to Christ; other countries are teeming with immortal souls, capable, through the gospel, of goodness and greatness. Africa, India, China, are to be Christ's. It is only a question of time. How much to do in them? How much in Africa, where the millions tremble before the horrors of their superstitious rites, and the inhumanity of man to man crushes out almost the last remnants of the divine image? How much in India, where, despite all that has been achieved, the professed followers of Christ are in the minority of one to three thousand heathen, and where, upon an even distribution, each foreign missionary would be called upon to provide for the spiritual wants of three hundred thousand souls? How much in China, where hundreds of cities have not yet seen the face of a Christian teacher, or so much as heard whether there be any Christ, or Holy Ghost? How much to do in these countries, where the institutions of the gospel, churches, benevolent organizations, a Christian literature, educational institutions-all the varied appliances of Christian culture—are yet in great measure to be begun? Shall we excuse ourselves from going into these harvest fields, which God, in his wonderful providence. has now thrown open, on the plea that there is "so much to do at home?" Shall any Christian man or woman, if unable to go in person, withhold prayer and aid to support those who can go, on any such plea?

This country is evangelized; Africa, India, China, are not. No man here need fail of a knowledge of the gospel; the multitudes in heathen lands perish in ignorance. How can they help it?

"And, oh! when they in God's presence stand

With you, at that great day,

When every native, of every land,

To judgment is called away;

Say, say, can you stand in God's presence then,

And remember that cry, ' O come,

We are dying; we know no Saviour's name!'

Can you plead the excuse, will it not be vain?

Will it weigh with God, though it did with men?

There is so much to do at home!"

Does any one believe that the home work would really suffer if a hundred young men, connected with the various religious denominations, were this year

to go abroad, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ? Would it not stir the heart of the church from Maine to California? Would not such a recognition of the worth of the gospel, and such consecration to the cause of Christ, be an unanswerable argument to thousands now indifferent, and careless of the claims of the gospel? Let us not be misled by the plea - SO much to do at home," in our efforts to advance the kingdom of Christ; which 's not for one nation or country, but for the world.

66

REV. EDWARD JOHNSON.

It was mentioned in the last number of the Herald, that the death of Mr. Johnson, of the Sandwich Islands' mission, was reported by telegraph. Particulars have since been received. He died on board the Morning Star, while on a visit, as delegate from the Hawaiian Board, to the Micronesian mission, on the 1st of September last.

Mr. Johnson was born at Hollis, New Hampshire, in the year 1813. In 1833, when he was twenty years of age, "the wretched condition of the heathen, and the consideration that but few go to their relief," as he stated, led him to consecrate himself to labors for their salvation. He did not receive a collegiate education, but was sent to the Islands as a teacher, sailing from Boston December 14, 1836, with his wife (Lois S. Hoyt, of Warner, N. H., to whom he was married the previous month) and quite a number of other missionary laborers. They arrived, after a short passage, on the 10th of April, 1837. An obituary notice in the Honolulu Friend states:

“Waioli, on Kauai, was the station assigned to Mr. Johnson, and there he continued to reside, with his family, during the entire period of his missionary life-thirty years. The early part of that life he spent as a teacher, being associated with the Rev. Mr. Alexander. In consequence of changes and removals, it was deemed advisable that he should be ordained as the pastor of Waioli church. Such were his qualifications for the ministerial work, that he has officiated for many years with great usefulness, having been assisted by the efficient coöperation of his excellent wife, who survives, with a family of five daughters and one son, to mourn his loss. The unexpectedness of the death of Mr. Johnson renders the blow most distressing to his sorrowing family and parish. If he had died at home, bereaved and sorrowing friends and people would have borne him to his grave; but his remains repose on the lone island of Ebon, far, far away. For many years Mr. Johnson has been one of the pillars of the churches on the Island of Kauai. Not originally educated for the ministry, he has evinced traits which have admirably fitted him for usefulness among Hawaiians.

"As one after another of the early missionaries to the Islands passes away, a sad vacancy is made; but it is matter of rejoicing, that in so many instances native Hawaiians are prepared, by education and other qualifications, to carry forward the work of the gospel. Indeed, no higher praise could be bestowed upon the departing and dying missionaries, and no better proof of the soundness