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NESTORIANS: STATIONS
Vol. 43 (1847) p. 6
Oroomiah. — Justin Perkins. D. D, William R. Stoking, Austin H. Wright, M. D., David T. Stoddard. Missionaries; Edward Breath, Printer; Mrs. Perkins, Mrs. Stocking, Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Stoddard, Miss Fidelia Fisk.— Eleven native helpers, four of them preachers.
(1 station; 4 missionaries,— one a physician,— 1 printer, 5 female assistant missionaries, and 11 native helpers; — total, 21).
The history of this mission, during the year now under review, admonishes us not to be easily discouraged. The year preceding the last was one of apprehension and sadness at Oroomiah. Powerful influences from without and from within combined to embarrass and, if possible, destroy the mission; nor was it easy to foresee in what way the arm of the Lord would bring deliverance.
The past year, however, has been one of Signal spiritual blessings. An outpouring of the Holy Spirit, reviving religion among the people, commenced in the month of January last, and was in progress at the latest dates, though with diminished power. The two seminaries, one for males and the other for females, were signally favored; and so were several of the villages, particularly the large village of Geog Tapa. The work has even extended to the mountains on the borders of Koordistan. Hope was entertained of the conversion of more than a hundred persons, including several ecclesiastics. The absence of opposition to the revival is a remarkable fact, but is accounted for in the peculiar circumstances of the Nestorians, and in the extent and strength of the conviction among the people, that the missionaries are the best friends and benefactors of their community.
Messrs. Wright and Breath made a visit to Bader Khan Bey and Noor Ali Khan in May last, and were treated with marked kindness and attention. Their principal object was to prepare the way for future labors among the Mountain Nestorians. They have the strongest assurances of the friendship and favor of Bader Khan Bey; but whether Noor Ali will facilitate missionary operations in his districts, is somewhat doubtful.
Recent Intelligence
Vol. 43 (1847) p. 32
Nestorians. — Communications have just been received from this mission, which show that the influences of the Holy Spirit are still enjoyed by some portions of the Nestorian field. In July last Messrs. Stocking and Stoddard made a visit to Tergawer, a mountain district lying west of Oroomiah; and they found some very pleasing illustrations of the hold which the truth is fast gaining upon the population in that wild region. Deacon Isaac, the brother of the Patriarch, accompanied them, and he appeared to take a lively interest in their work. His own views of the doctrines of the gospel are manifestly more clear and correct than they once were; and though he does not give such evidence of a change of heart as is desirable, he does not hesitate to preach “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”.
In the month of August Messrs. Stocking and Stoddard made another excursion to Gawar, a mountain district in Koordistan, about seventy-five miles from Oroomiah. At the first village where they stopped in Gawar, they found a stranger from Jeloo, who “appeared to have a knowledge of himself as a lost sinner, and to have renounced all righteousness of his own, and to be clinging to Christ as his only hope”. As they approached the village of Deacon Tamo, they were met by nearly all the male population of the place, who eagerly seized their hands and bade them a cordial welcome. The message of the missionaries was listened to with eager delight, and the change in the external aspect of the inhabitants was found to be very remarkable. “Nine or ten are considered as giving decided evidence of regeneration”. Our brethren returned to Oroomiah, after an absence of eight days, “impressed with the conviction that the Lord had commenced a work of grace” in the region which they had visited.
Mr. Stocking subsequently spent a few days at Geog Tapa. The fruits of the revival which has been in progress there, as heretofore mentioned, were very obvious and gratifying. “The moral and religious aspect of the village”, says Mr. Stocking, “appears to have totally changed from what it was a year ago. The Sabbath has a stillness and quiet which strongly remind one of a New England village”. “About seventy, including those who are connected with the two seminaries, furnish decided evidence of regeneration, and exert a happy Christian influence over the whole place”.
Nestorians: Journal of Mr. Stoddard
Vol. 43 (1847) pp. 45-58
Visit of Moses to Gulpashan— Mar Gabriel
This journal of Mr. Stoddard is a continuation of the one which was published in the November Herald. For reasons which will hereafter appear, it embraces the incidents of only a single month; but the reader will find, even in these few extracts, convincing arguments for thankfulness to God, and he will rejoice anew, with the members of the mission, over the harvest which has been so unexpectedly gathered.
June 22, 1846. Moses yesterday went to Gulpashan to preach. This village, though large and not very far from the city, has, owing to the wickedness of its ecclesiastics and the indifference of the people, been comparatively quite removed from the influence of this revival. On reaching the place Moses requested the sexton, by the usual signal, to assemble the people in the church. Mar Gabriel, who was carousing the village, immediately sent word that he would not allow any preaching. This induced Moses to write him a respectful but firm remonstrance; in which, after expressing his own personal unworthiness, he hum ...
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