M ±L1 M U 1 rv 

O F 

KEY. HENRY LOBDELL, M.D., 



MISSIONARY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD 

AT MOSUL: 
INCLUDING THE 

EARLY HISTORY OF THE ASSYRIAN MISSION. 



BY REV. W. S. TYLER, D. D., 

GRAVES PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN AMHERST COLLEGE. 



M Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid 
thee."— Jonah iii: 2. 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
No. 28 Corniiill, Boston. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts, 



By transfer 
U, S. Soldiers Homt Ub< 

*AR 2 3 1937 



Geo. C. Rand & Avery, Printers, 3 Cornhill, Bostoa. 



M 

TO THE 

>> 

^utergraimHtea anb gdtomnx 0f ^im^rst College; 

AND ESPECIALLY TO THE NUMEROUS MISSIONARIES WHO 
HAVE MADE THEIR ALMA MATER KNOWN AS A 
BENEFACTRESS OF THE BENIGHTED NATIONS 
IN EVERY QUARTER OF THE GLOBE, 

ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 



In an age when missionary enterprise is honored, as it never was 
before, by the entire Christian community, and when books of 
travel, and of geographical and antiquarian research, are eagerly 
welcomed by the reading public, no apology can be needful for the 
publication of a memoir which combines all these characteristics, — 
the memoir of one who was at once a traveler and an antiquarian, 
an Oriental scholar and a Christian missionary ; who carried the 
glad tidings of the gospel back to those regions where the human 
race was cradled in its infancy, and who, having done the work of 
a long life in a few years, at the early age of twenty-eight, laid his 
worn and weary body down to its last rest on the banks of the 
Tigris. I only regret that the preparation of the memoir could not 
have been entrusted to better hands, and that it could not have 
been earlier accomplished. The causes which have, from year to 
year, prevented its more seasonable appearance, would be of no 
interest to the public. 

When, almost two years ago, the writings of Dr. Lobdell were 
placed in my hands, with the urgent request that I would prepare 
the memoir, I was surprised, and almost appalled, by the very 
vastness of the materials. More than a dozen volumes of manu- 
script journals, and an incredible number of letters, attested the 
extent of his observation, the breadth of his plans, the industry 
and effectiveness of his short life. To read them all over, — to 
trace the early dawnings of his intellectual life, to review* the con- 
flicts and triumphs of a four years' course in college, " which I 
myself saw, and part of which I was," and then to follow him, step 
by step, through the brief but brilliant career which he early marked 
out for himself, and from which he never swerved, or even rested 
for a moment, till he rested in his grave, — was a labor of love and 



vi 



PREFACE. 



of pleasure. But to select from such a mass the matter best suited 
to a memoir, to digest it into a connected narrative, and to compress 
it within the compass of a duodecimo volume, and that, too, amid the 
cares and labors of an engrossing profession, — this has been the 
most difficult part of my task. Of the manner in which this task 
has been executed, they will judge the most charitably who have 
had the most experience. 

To the friends, at home and abroad, who have furnished materials, 
and especially to those who have contributed to the contents of 
these pages, the author takes this occasion to return his heartfelt 
acknowledgments. The reader, scarcely less than the writer, will 
feel under great obligations to Eev. Professor Seelye, of Amherst 
College, and Eev. D. W Marsh, of Mosul, — the former the bosom 
friend of Dr. Lobdeil's early days, the latter the beloved companion 
of his missionary labors, — for the charm which their pens have 
lent to the opening and concluding chapters. I am indebted to 
Rev. Dr. Perkins, of the Nestorian Mission, and Rev. Dr. Anderson, 
the Secretary of the American Board, for constant encouragement 
and assistance, without which the work never would have been 
undertaken, still less successfully accomplished. For myself, I 
claim no other merit than a faithful representation of the life and 
character of an able and devoted missionary; and my highest ambi- 
tion will have been accomplished, if the Memoir shall subserve the 
holy cause in which its subject lived and died. 

Amherst, Nov., 1859. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I 

Introductory — Missionaries the Heroes and Martyrs of Modern History — 
Lives often short; in this respect, like that of Christ — Trails of Dr. Lobdell's 
Life, Character, and Field of Labor — Corresponding Characteristics of this 
Memoir 11 

CHAPTER II 

Parentage — Early Life — Self-support — Self-education — Six Years on a Farm 

— Teaching — Study of Medicine — Preparation for College — Enters at Am- 
herst College 15 

CHAPTER III 

Early Religious Character — Skeptical Doubts and Difficulties — Counteracting 
Christian Influences — Conversion — Decides at the same time to be a Minis- 
ter — Commences at once an active Christian Life : 23 

CHAPTER IY. 

College Life — Variety of Character — Mental Excitement — Engaged in 
Teaching— High Rank as a Scholar — Received as a Beneficiary of the 
American Education Society — Economy — Faithfulness in all College 
Studies — Habits of Study — Prize Essay — Reading — Manner of Read- 
ing — Writing and Speaking — College Societies — Total Abstinence — 
Prayer Meetings — Secret Prayer — Meditation — The Bible and the Sab- 
bath— Christian Life— Relation to Teachers and Fellow-Students— Chris- 
tian Motives in Study — Personal Efforts for the Salvation of Sinners — Inter- 
erest in Revivals -^Vacations — Usefulness in Teaching— At South Amherst 

— In New London — The ill-fated Atlantic — At Old Hadley — In New York 
City — Interested in and adapted to the West — Decision to be a Foreign 
Missionary — Letter to his Mother . 33 

CHAPTER V. 
Professional Studies — Inducements to delay — Medical and Theological Stud- 
ies at New Haven — Freedom of Thought and Speech — Medical Diploma — 
At Auburn — Severe Mental Conflict — Extracts from Diary — Peace in Be- 
lieving — Danbury Institute — Marriage — Translation of Prof. DeFelice's 
History of the Protestants of France — Establishment of the Second Congre- 
gational Church in Danbury — Letter to its Members — Offers himself to the 
service of the American Board — Preference for China — Willingness to go to 
Mosul — Residence at Andover — Attendance on Hospital Practice in New 
York — Various Other Engagements — Warns his Brother against Similar 
Haste 66 

CHAPTER VI. 
Voyage to Smyrna and Beyroot — Licensure — Ordination — Embarkation — 
Life at Sea — Humor — Sympathy — Hurricane — Sailors — Bible — Plans for 
its Elucidation — Reading — Gibraltar — Malta — Grecian Archipelago — 
Smyrna — View from the Harbor— Scene in the Streets — The American 
Missionaries and their Work —Antiquities —Austrian Steamship Stamboul— 



viii 



CONTENTS* 



Same Route as Paul's to Phenicia — Patmos and the Seven Churches of Asia 

— Beyroot — Chapel and Press of American Mission — The Syrian Field 

— Laborers — Results — Prospects 90 

CHAPTER VII 
Journey to Aintab — English Steamer — Tripoli — Latakiya —Detention of two 
Weeks— Appeal for Missionaries at Latakiya —Manner of Traveling — 
Hardships and Dangers of the Way — Valley of the Orontes — Sabbath at 
Killis — Piety of the Native Brethren — Call for Missionaries — Three Weeks 
in Aintab — The Work there — Petitioned to remain — Appeal for a Mis- 
sionary Physician — History and Present State of the Mission 105 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Aintab to Mosul — View from the hill — Fences — Pollat Avedis — Fountain 
of Aleppo Water — Moslem Prayers — Sleeping in a Tent — Illustrations of 
Scripture — Crossing a River — Native Helper at Nisib — Crossing the Eu- 
phrates — Detention — Asdour — Bir — Enlightened Turkey — Woman — The 
Dragoman Zenope — Desert Plain — Abraham — Dipper — Orion — Khan of 
the Four Kings — Sabbath there — A Pastoral Country — Oorfa — Lurchiz 
Avedis — Abraham's Cave — The Protestant Community — Appeal for a Mis- 
sionary — Severek — Birth-place of Judas Iscariot — The " Black Mountain" 

— No Forests in Turkey — Thunder Storm — Late arrival at Diarbekr — 
Gates closed — Key obtained by Mr. Dunmore — Diarbekr — Situation — His- 
tory — View from the hill across the River — Stoned by the Moslems — Prom- 
ising Missionary Station — Departure — Voyage down the Tigris — Boat of 
Skins — Scenery— Arrival at Mosul 125 

CHAPTER IX. 
Mosul— Situation — Description — Site of Nineveh — Nebbi Yoonus, Nimrood, 
&c. — Fulfillment of Prophecy — Al-Kosh, and Nahum the El-Koshite — River 
Chebar, and Ezekiel — Babylon — Ezekiel's Tomb — Tomb of Daniel — Shu- 
shan the Palace — Heaps of Ruins — The inhabitants a sadder ruin — Ruined 
Churches — The Nestorians — The Jacobites — The Armenians — All admit 
the authority of the Scriptures — Inroads of the Papists — Providential Pre- 
paration for the Missionaries — The Malabar Priest — The mill-wright Micha 

— Trials of the early Missionaries — Death of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, Mr. 
Hinsdale, Mrs. Laurie, and Dr. Grant — Puseyite influence — Mr. Badger — 
Temporary Suspension of the Mission — Arrival of Mr. Marsh — Of Mr. and 
Mrs. Williams 150 



CHAPTER X. 
Climate of Mosul — Extreme heat — Dryness — Houses — Bargains — Cheap 
living — Opening of his Boxes — Medical Practice — Dispensary — Accompa- 
nied with Religious Services — Diseases, bodily and spiritual — His own 
Health — Recreations during and after sickness — Assyrian Antiquities — 
Missionary Physicians — Stated Religious Services of the Mission — Native 
Helpers — Priest Michael — Deacon Jeremiah — Micha and Hanna — The 
Arabic — First Impressions of the Field — Discouragements — Women — 
Schools — Extracts from Journal — Selections from Letters — To Dr. Perkins 

— Mr. Coan — Mr. Stoddard — Mr. Seely e — His Brother — Dr. Anderson 

— Mr. Scofield — Dr. Hitchcock 169 



CONTENTS. 



ix 



CHAPTER XI. 

Excursion to Sheikh Adi, the seat of the Yezidees. or Devil-worshipers — Their 
number — Called Heathen — Baadri — Hussein Bey — White Garments — 
Cleanliness — English Consul — Convent near Al-Kosh — The Monks — The 
Jereed, and the Shaking of the Spear — Bozan, the Place of Gathering for 
the General Judgment — Spirit-rappings — The Butcheries of Beder Khan 
Bey — Sunday — The Locality — Ceremonies — The Dance — Baptism of Chil- 
dren — The Temple — Doctrines — Sheikh Adi, the Good Principle — Melek 
Taoos the Evil— His Symbol, a Peacock— A Breakfast with Sheikh Nasir 

— Reverence Satan — Adore the Sun — Relic of Sabeanism — Schools, &c, 
at Mosul 213 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Winter and Spring of 1853 — Seed Time and Harvest both natural and 
spiritual— His Tongue unloosed — Discussions on the Way of Salvation — 
Crowds in the Dispensary and the Study — Extracts from Journal — Great 
Excitement— Great Fatigue — Great Joy — Feasts of St. Peter and St Elias— 
Fast of the Prophet Jonah — Summoned before the Cadi — Refuses to give 
Medicines without the Gospel— Persecution at Tel Keif— The Jews — The 
Yezidees — The Arabs— Nimrood — Palace of Sennacherib at Koyunjik — 
Bible Illustrations — Linguistic Speculations — Uncle Tom's Cabin— Post 
Days— Moslems like the Chief Priests and Pharisees— No Sadducees — Im- 
plicit Faith — Ignorance — Papal Lies — History of the Reformation repeated 
— Arguments 228 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Second Summer in Mosul — The Heat — Insects — Missionary Labors and Joys 
— Arrival of Mr. and Mrs Marsh — Commentary on the Book of Jonah — 
The Hot Sun — The East Wind — The Gourd — The " Exceeding Great City » 

— Articles on Mosul — Nestorian and Jacobite Liturgies — Prophecy — Tour 
to Oroomiah — Bartulli — Churches — Trees — Threshing — Karamels — An- 
cient Bumadus— The Zab — An Old Friend — Nocturnal Adventures— 
Arbeel— Ain Kawa — Preaching till Midnight-- Sheikh Laua— Exciting 
Scenes — Koords — Night Ride — Ravendouz —Basalt Pillars — An Encounter 

— Oroomiah — A Paradise — Sickness — Letter of Dr Perkins — " Our Coun- 
try's Sin " — Anti-Slavery Circular — Peculiar Policy of the Nestorian Mis- 
sion — Life in and around Oroomiah — Visit to Tabreez with Mr. Cochran — 
Narrow Escape on the Lake of Oroomiah — Return with Messrs. Rhea and 
Coan to Mosul — Gawar — Deacon Tamo — Moun tains of J eloo — Valleys — 
Love of Home — Erwintoos-Too — Bass — Tekhoma — Scene of the Massacre 

— Dr. Grant 255 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Fellowship of Assyrian and Nestorian Missions — Imperfect Health of Dr. 
Lobdell — English Patients — Practical Questions — The largest Liberty — 
Languages — Gift of Tongues — Climate — Examination of Church Mem- 
bers—A Marriage — A Hospital— Preaching at the Dispensary— Obstacles 
—Effect of the War — Rabbi Shiloam — Moollah Yoosuf— Annual Report of 
the Mission — Persecution — Papists — Progress — Honesty — Thanksgiving at 
Mosul— Private and Inward Life 290 



X 



CONTEXTS. 



CHAPTER XV. 
Second Winter in Mosul — Ice — Health — Resolutions — Growth in Grace 

— The Bible — The Dispensary — Spread of the Truth — Nimrood and Koyun- 
jik — Shiloam — Illustrations of Life in Mosul — Oriental Theology — Prot- 
estant Community at Diarbekr — General Meeting of the Assyrian Mission — 
Journey of Dr. Lobdell and Mr. Marsh to Diarbekr — Changes and Progress 
there — Letters to Mr. Crane and Dr. Perkins 303 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Riots at Mosul— Intercourse with Mosul Dignitaries— The Cadi — The Kai- 
makam — Yiehye Effendi — The Prince of the Scholars — The Prince of the 
Merchants — The Pasha — Death of Yiehye Effendi and Moollah Yussuf 

— Burial Rites — Moslem Bigotry — Journey with Mrs. Williams for her 
Health — Akra — Paradise — Morality no part of Religion — Dr. Bacon 

— Rural Scene — Increased Illness of Mrs. Williams — Death — Return to 
Mosul — Sickness of Mr. Williams — Death again in the Missionary Circle 

— Death of Friends in America — Of Mr Crane — Missionary Work — 
Plot for an Insurrection — Letter to the Tribune in Defence of Missions — 
To the Society of Inquiry at Andover — Anti-Slavery Circular — Notes on 
Xenophon's Anabasis — Contributions to the American Oriental Society — 
Letters of Professors Salisbury and Whitney— Theology 320 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Extracts from Journal — Contributions by Missionaries to the Advancement 
of Learning — Dr. Judson — Dr. Perkins — Health Station at Deira — Dr. 
Lobdell's Journey thither — Establishment of a Seminary at Mosul — The 
Education Question — Disturbed State of the Country — Yezdinshir Bey — 
Siege of Jezireh — Protestant Cemetery — Demolition of the Wall at the Insti- 
gation of the Papists — Action of the Board on Slavery — Combination to 
drive away the Missionaries — Archbishop Behnam — Scarlet Fever — Pota- 
toes in Mosul — Letter written at Nimrood — Sculptures, Coins, and other 
Relics of Antiquity — The Nineveh Gallery at Amherst — Bible Illus- 
trations 343 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Tour to Baghdad and Babylon — Voyage down the Tigris — Kalah Sherghat — 
Tekrit — Birthplace of Saladin — Samarah — A gorgeous Sunset — Palms and 
Pomegranates — Post — Baghdad — Col. Rawlinson — The Residency — Cli- 
mate — English Hospitality — Mr. Bruhl — Prof. Petermann — M. Fresnel — 
The Belgian Colonel — Aleppo Button —Circular Boats — Ride to Babylon — 
Canals and Khans— The Count — The Pasha — Babel— Birs Nimrood— Cof- 
fins and Tombs — Theory of Babylon —Pilgrimage to Kazmain — Jewish 
Hospital — Visit to the Pasha — Arrival of Mr. Murray — The Steamer — Sun- 
day Levee — Interview with the Ambassador — Return by post to Mosul 367 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Occupations after his return from Baghdad — Chills and Fever — Last Letter — 
Last Entry in private Journal — Mrs. Lobdell's Journal of his Sickness — 
Death — Burial by the side of Dr. Grant — Communion of Choice Spirits in 
Heaven — Wife and Children — Age — Brainerd — Martyn — Fruits of his 
Labors — Character — Recollections and Impressions of his Friends — Mr. 
Lothrop — Mr. Seelye — Dr. Perkins — Mr. Marsh 390 



MEMOIR. 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory — Missionaries the Heroes and Martyrs of Modern History — 
Lives often short ; in this respect, like that of Christ — Traits of Dr. Lobdell's 
Life, Character, and Field of Labor — Corresponding- Characteristics of this 
Memoir. 

The Roman mother pointed to her sons, saying, "These 
are my jewels." Christian missionaries are among the 
choicest jewels of the church. Their example and influ- 
ence are her true riches ; their memory is her imperishable 
crown. They are the heroes of modern history, who con- 
tend against fearful odds, win bloodless battles, plant the 
standard of the cross on distant shores, and annex the 
farthest East with the remotest West to the dominions of 
the Prince of Peace. They are the martyrs of these lat- 
ter days, who attest the truth and power of the religion 
of Jesus by their consecrated and self-denying lives, — not 
unfrequently by their early and triumphant deaths. As a 
class, they are perhaps the nearest living representatives 
of the first great Missionary, who was " sent " into our 
world for its redemption, — the brightest earthly image of 
the first Christian Martyr, who sealed his own iSTew Tes- 
tament with his own precious blood. For the honor of 
Christ, then, as well as for the edification of the church, 
the memory of missionaries should be cherished; their 
names should be written on earth as, we are assured, they 
are registered in heaven ; their influence, so far as possi- 
ble, should be perpetuated through time as, we know, it 
will be in eternity. 



12 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



What though they are cut down, like the morning 
flower, in the fresh bloom, perchance in the very bud, of 
their beauty and usefulness ! So much the more reason 
is there, if possible, to perpetuate the impression of such 
a character, — to catch and preserve the fragrance of such 
a life. This is only another point of resemblance to him 
whose public ministry was only half of the sacred seven, 
the perfect number of the Hebrews, and only the tenth 
part of an entire generation; and who encouraged his 
followers to lose their life here, and find it hereafter, by 
that beautiful and instructive simile, — " Except a corn of 
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone ; but 
if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." 

The subject of this memoir was scarcely three full years 
in the field of his missionary labors : yet he lived long 
enough to develop a mature Christian character ; to exert 
a powerful Christian influence ; to attach strongly to him- 
self many both at home and in foreign lands, and, thus, 
when he was taken to a better world, to draw them up- 
ward by a sweet and almost irresistible attraction. The 
" corn of wheat n was already ripe when it fell into the 
ground, and eternity alone will reap the full harvest of 
immortal fruit. 

The life of Dr. Lobdell, though short, was stirring and 
eventful ; it were hardly extravagant to say, it was heroic 
and martyr-like, almost from the first, in its perpetual 
struggle with difficulties. His character, though of course 
not what it would have been had he lived to a more ad- 
vanced age, was strongly marked, original, bold, free from 
all affectation, and all imitation of any human being, yet 
subdued by the grace of God, and modeled ever more 
and more into the image of Christ. And his field is one 
of peculiar interest, — the cradle of the human race ; the 
neighborhood, if not the very site, of the Garden of Eden ; 
lying at the base of the mountains of Ararat ; the land of 
Shinar, of Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh ; the 



MESOPOTAMIA. 



13 



country of Asshur, and Nineveh, and Rehoboth, and Ca- 
lah, and Resen ; the birth-land of Abraham and the 
Hebrew patriarchs ; the burial-place of Jonah, and Eze- 
kiel, and Daniel, and Nahum, among the prophets ; the 
theater of events scarcely less miraculous, the occasion of 
an inspiration even more prophetic, and the source of an 
influence on the chosen people no less important, than 
those connected with their sojourn in, and exodus from, 
Egypt. Mesopotamia is the fountain of sacred history; 
and it can not but awaken profound interest in the 
observing and reflecting mind to see the stream, under 
the guidance of Christian missions, " flow back where it 
began." 

Much of the same interest attaches to the entire field 
of Turkish missions. The theater of the most important 
events in the history of our world's redemption (to say 
nothing of the strange fascinations that hang about the 
secular history of those countries of the Orient now under 
Ottoman rule), — the scene of the whole history of the 
old Jewish economy, and of the commencement of the 
new Christian dispensation, — it is now not only drawing 
the attention of all Christendom as the brilliant prize for 
which the great powers of Europe are contending, but, 
what is of infinitely higher moment, it is now again fast- 
ening on itself the admiring gaze of angels and principali- 
ties and powers in heavenly places, as the scene of the 
conflicts and triumphs of American missionaries ; conflicts 
and triumphs which are winning more honor to our name 
and nation in the estimation of the wise and good of 
earth, as well as in the eyes of the holy in heaven, than 
all the boasted acquisitions of American valor and states- 
manship, or even of American enterprise and skill, whether 
in the political or the commercial world. 

No small part of this great missionary field was visited 
by Dr. Lobdell on the way to his own station ; and as he 
tarried with his missionary brethren, and entered with all 
2 



14 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



his heart into their labors, and recorded the results of his 
observations in his copious journals, the history and pres- 
ent state of several of the most interesting stations be- 
come a part of his own history, and will be transferred 
with more or less fullness to these pages. 

It was eminently characteristic of our young brother to 
spnpathize with everything human, as well as everything 
Christian, around him ; to live with and in the men and 
the things with which, from time to time, he had to do. 
Hence his journal, which he began to keep long before he 
went to college, and continued with scarcely an interrup- 
tion till his last sickness, is a full — and frank as full — 
record, not only of his own daily life, but of the sayings 
and doings of others with whom he was associated ; and 
is almost a history, not of himself merely, but also of his 
times. His life thus gains in breadth and depth what it 
lost in length; and his biography cannot be truly and 
faithfully written without exhibiting more or less of this 
characteristic feature. Should any part of these memoirs 
appear to enter into too much detail of apparently extra- 
neous matter, our apology will be found in this fact, to- 
gether with the fullness of the journals, which rendered 
selection the chief difficulty. We do not apprehend, 
however, that, in the view of most readers, these inci- 
dental sketches of other missionaries and other missions 
will detract from the instruction and interest of a life 
which, if we have not altogether mistaken it, had in it 
much that was attractive and noble, and not a little that 
should stimulate us "to make our lives," as his was, 
" sublime." 



CHAPTER II. 



Parentage Early Life — Self-support — Self-education — Six Years on a 
Farm — Teaching — Study of Medicine— Preparation for College — Enters 
at Amherst College. 

He^ry Lobdell was born in Danbury, Fairfield coun- 
ty, Connecticut, January 25th, 1827. The little, old, 
wood-colored house in which he first saw the light, and 
where he spent his earliest years, though no longer occupied 
by any of the family connection, still stands on an emi- 
nence in the outskirts of that busy yet beautiful manufac- 
turing village, and overlooks a scene of activity and 
industry as untiring as that by which his own life was 
marked. It commands, also, an extensive prospect of 
those hills and valleys, of that rugged surface and pictur- 
esque scenery, which distinguish in different degrees the 
western counties of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and 
fit them to produce, not corn and wine, but men. Those 
counties may well be called the birthplace of American 
Missions. There was the Mission School at Cornwall, in 
which native preachers were trained for the American 
Indians and the Sandwich Islands. There is Williams 
College, where clustered the young men, and went up the 
prayers, that led to the formation of the American Board 
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Mills and Hall 
and Fiske and Parsons were born there ; and not a few 
other pioneer missionaries, some of whom rest from their 
labors and their works do follow them, while others still 
live to gather in the harvest, and see on earth the fruits 
of their toils. And not existence only, but their distinc- 
tive character has been given to American Missions, by 
the enterprise and energy, the temperance and patience, 
and power of endurance, and the intelligent and manly 



16 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



piety residing in these hill towns of Western New Eng^ 
land. May the fountain never dry up ! 

Henry was the second of six children, and the oldest 
son of Henry C. and Almina M. Lobdell, who were both 
natives of Fairfield county, and both live to mourn the 
loss of their first-born son. His parents were poor, and 
he never ceased to thank God for their poverty, as his 
safeguard from temptation, and the spring of his own exer- 
tions. Both are persons of strongly marked character. 
His father, a comb-manufacturer, is a man of vigorous 
native intellect, resolute will and thoughtful spirit, accus- 
tomed to think for himself on every subject, not excepting 
the subject of religion. He would seem to have inherited 
a tendency to skepticism, which he transmitted to his son ; 
though the grace of God triumphed over it, (not without 
a severe struggle,) in the son, and made him at length the 
instrument of counteracting it in the father. His mother 
unites a strong mind with lively feelings. She is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a woman of 
earnest piety and uncommon excellence ; and her fondest 
hopes and strongest desires, which were for the religious 
character of her children, have been realized, in a great 
measure through the co-operation and influence of her 
eldest son, in the hopeful conversion of them all. 

Henry manifested at a very early age an active, inquis- 
itive mind, and a determined will combined with an 
amiable and affectionate disposition. It was characteristic 
of the boy, and of the future man also, that he ran away, 
not from but to school, when he was two and a half years 
old ; and he was ever after among the foremost in his 
classes. 

But from early childhood he was taught to connect 
study with labor. His parents were dependent upon their 
own daily toil for the sustenance of the family, and it 
became necessary that his support should as soon as pos- 
sible cease to burden them. At nine years old he begun 



EARLY EDUCATION. 



IT 



to help himself, by doing what he could in a neighboring 
field and shop. At ten, he was placed in the family of a 
farmer in Reading, an adjoining town ; where he spent six 
years, working on the farm in the summer, and attending 
school during the winter. 

He never loved the work of the farm. But the hard 
summer toil was soon forgotten when winter came. " In 
the winter season," he afterwards wrote, " I feasted my 
soul with the books I was to study, and all the works in 
Mr. C.'s library, from Paris' Pharmacology and the Stat- 
utes of Connecticut, to Marco Polo's Adventures and the 
most insignificant advertisement which appeared in the 
Republican Farmer. Mr. M.'s family lent me all their 
Saturday Couriers, and E. H. once allowed me the privi- 
lege of looking over a Leipsic edition of the Greek 
Classics, at which my astonished eyes opened wide. An 
old Ainsworth's Dictionary was loaned me ; and after 
bedtime I worked away at it so long every evening in 
my chamber, that my guardians at length forbade my 
taking a light to my room at all. This made me ache. I 
could have endured the tedious labors on a rocky farm, if 
I could only have had books enough to read when my 
work was done." 

His second winter in Reading he always considered as 
an era in his life. To the little brick school-house of the 
district came a teacher, who gave him a new impulse 
towards study, a new idea, almost, of education and of 
himself. Dr. Lobdell always spoke of him in after life 
with great esteem and affection. "I often think," he says in 
reviewing this period, " I should have been in a very differ- 
ent situation and a very different man, if I had not been 
instructed by him. How little men heed their influence. 
We often touch unconsciously springs in the souls of men, 
which put them in motion forever. Mr. H. awakened 
thought in the opening minds of the children at school 
with me, whose effect is still visible. His power of arous- 
2* 



18 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



ing the mind to activity, was of more consequence than 
the amount of knowledge communicated. The mind was 
made to develop itself, like the plant, from within out- 
wards. Heaping knowledge upon it often serves the same 
purpose as ashes over a few coals ; the fire may be pre- 
served, but it will not increase. Perhaps I was never so 
much stimulated to toil as I was in that little school-house, 
by the offer of a beautiful volume to the pupil who should 
be oftenest at the head of his class in spelling. I think 
my general correctness in that particular now is owing 
very much to the exercises of that winter. I gained the 
prize — a Life of Washington ! I little thought, then, 
that it would go with me across the ocean and sea and land 
to Nineveh. How delighted I was to w^alk ten miles to 
Danbury, with that dear volume in my pocket, after the 
last day of that winter's school ! I am sure I never 
gained a prize since, that did me half so much good. 
Mother was delighted to see me, I well remember, and it ' 
was late that night before the lids of Washington were 
closed." 

At sixteen, he commenced teaching in one of the outer 
districts of his native town. Though so young, he sus- 
tained the customary examinations with great credit, and 
elicited the warm commendations of those who conducted 
them : " Well clone," said the Committee ; " go on as you 
have begun, and you will soon be at the head of the High 
School at the Center." He now began to entertain 
thoughts and plans which he had never before dared to 
cherish. He began to think that he might have a different 
career before him from that which his situation in earlier 
boyhood had seemed to promise. Partly from prefer- 
ence, and partly, perhaps, because that was the profession 
which lay most within his reach, he determined to become 
a physician ; and with characteristic promptness and de- 
cision, he entered at once upon the study. His medical 
teacher was Di\ H. 'N. Bennett, who lived in Bethel, about 



STUDY OF MEDICINE. 



19 



three miles from the place where he was teaching ; and 
the doctor has often expressed his surprise and gratifica- 
tion, alike, at the self-denying zeal and patience with which 
he pursued the study under such disadvantageous circum- 
stances, and at the rapidity and accuracy of his young 
pupil's attainments. 

" It was when he was seventeen," says his college class- 
mate and most intimate friend,* "that I first became 
acquainted with him. He was then rather short, very 
pale and thin, and already having a considerable stoop of 
head and shoulders. I was interested in him from the 
first ; and it was not long before we became very intimate. 
I soon learned that he had read much, and had formed 
opinions upon many things, which he was very positive 
in asserting and maintaining. His judgment once formed 
upon any subject, he was loth to abandon. Upon any- 
thing he had learned and clearly understood, he knew he 
was not apt to be mistaken. This trait never left him, 
though it was never repulsive. Every one felt that when 
he expressed an opinion it was not rashly formed, and 
could not therefore be hastily relinquished." 

"During his seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth 
years, I saw much of him. Though teaching school and 
studying medicine, he managed to find time for other 
pursuits. He became greatly interested in the cause of 
temperance ; and frequently lectured on the subject in the 
school-houses of the different neighborhoods. He joined 
the order of the ' Sons of Temperance,' of which his father 
was a prominent member, and soon took an active and 
influential part in their proceedings. He was active in the 
village lyceums and debating societies. He had a great 
fondness for public speaking; and, during the summer 
mornings, he was in the habit of going before sunrise to 

* Rev. J. H. Seelye, late of Schenectady, now Professor Seelye, of Amherst 
College, to whom the author is chiefly indebted for these notices of Dr. Lob- 
dell's early life. 



20 



^JLEMOIB OF LOBDELL. 



the woods to exercise his voice in reading and declama- 
tion. His taste for mathematics was already marked. 
TTithout any oral instruction, he acquired at this time the 
elements of Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Sur- 
veying. Desirous of gaining a situation where he could 
carry out these studies more fully, and add to them, also, 
some knowledge of Latin and Greek, he applied for, and 
obtained, the post of assistant teacher at Danbury Acade- 
my, of which Rev. J. R. Irwin was then j>rincipal. This 
brought him in connection with a wider circle of men, 
and gave him more extended hopes and higher desires 
than he had yet cherished." 

" It was in his nineteenth year that he first ventured to 
think of entering college. The thought grew up in our 
mutual conferences, and was cherished as something 
which we both greatly desired, but which neither of us 
seemed likely to realize. 'He had no pecuniary means, 
and there was no one upon whom he could rely for any 
assistance in this direction. Nevertheless, he did not dis- 
miss the thought, but hoped, and even believed, that 
some way would be opened, though all now seemed so 
dark." 

In the Fall Tenn of 1845, he found himself a member 
of the Freshman class in Amherst College. It was as 
surprising to himself, almost, as it was to his friends. He 
had left Danbury in September of that year, under an 
engagement as assistant teacher in a new school about 
to be opened in Hartford. The success of the enterprise 
did not equal the expectations of the principal, and the 
engagement was of necessity relinquished. Now, what 
was to be done ? Away from home, out of employment, 
with about twenty dollars in money, and without a Mend 
in the world to whom he could look with any certainty 
for another dollar, he resolved to enter college, and forth- 
with set out for Amherst. Such was his hope and cour- 
age and self-reliance, at this early age : such, it should be 



DIARY. 



21 



added, was his trust in Providence, when as yet he had 
no distinct, conscious ho|)e that he was a Christian. 

His diary, which he began on his eighteenth birth-day, 
j>resents to us the artless yet earnest and aspiring boy of 
this period in a variety of interesting aspects. Now he 
is making his debut before a debating society, maintaining 
the affirmative of the question : " Was Mohammed a 
greater scourge to mankind than Napoleon ? " — an opin- 
ion which he never changed in his subsequent experience 
of the evils of Mohammedanism. The next question was, 
whether Learning or Wealth exerts the greater influence? 
He, of course, went in heartily for Learning. And in 
both these early trials of his strength in argument, he 
records the result — "got it " — with a brevity and a pride 
not inferior to that with which a Caesar wrote his famous 
"veni, vidiy vici" to the Roman Senate. Ere long, he is 
chosen president of the society ; and, in his capacity as 
umpire, decides that the saw-mill has been a greater bless- 
ing to the world than the cotton-gin, " chiefly," as he says, 
" because the cotton-gin has been the means of perpetu- 
ating slavery," — where, again, his life-long hatred to 
slavery shows that "the child was father of the man." 
Here he is writing " poetry for the Danbury Times ; " and 
there he is inditing a "letter in Greek, Latin, French, and 
English " to his Lucy, of which he " preserved a copy," — 
in ail which, coining events are only casting their shadows 
before. To-day, he rolls a wheelbarrow-load of wood, a 
long and weary mile or more, from his home on Grassy 
Plain to his select school in Bethel. To-morrow, as he 
visits his sylvan study in the early morning, and makes 
the rocks and woods resound with his impassioned decla- 
mation, he is mistaken for a crazy man who had wan- 
dered away some weeks previous ; and an effort is set on 
foot to capture and cage him. At one time, he registers 
his hours of rising and retiring, and his habits of reading 
and study, with the significant addition, which the reader 



22 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



will please to remember is in the indicative, and not in 
the imperative, mood : " Improve every moment." At 
another, he says : " The desire that bums within me to be 
somebody, grows stronger and stronger. There is some- 
thing in my nature that wants to go out and up." One 
page is chiefly occupied with his religious struggles and 
conflicts. The next is full of his hopes and fears, encour- 
agements and discouragements, touching the great ques- 
tion of a public education. Sometimes he is almost ready 
to despair ; and thinks, perhaps he might as well go at 
once into the practice of medicine, and, in the course of 
a year, " marry Lucy and be happy." But hope soon re- 
turns, courage prevails ; and he resolves for the present 
to woo only the Muses, and ever to seek a higher end 
than present happiness. 

" I never knew a man," says the experienced teacher 
with whom he taught and at the same time pursued his 
preparatory studies at Danbury Academy, " who was so 
little disturbed by finding obstacles in his way ; he ad- 
vanced so fearlessly upon them, and grajypled so resolutely 
with them, as if conscious of inherent or delegated power 
to overcome them. His admiration of men who were 
noted for preeminent talents and attainments, kindled . 
within his bosom such fervid desires for a thorough edu- 
cation as swept away at once difficulties that have de- 
terred many a one from attempting to ascend the hill of 
science. Possessing a physical frame capable of great 
endurance, he was able to devote from twelve to sixteen 
hours daily to close study without experiencing any ap- 
parent injury. His perceptive powers were quick; his 
memory, retentive and ready, enabling him to select and 
lay up for future use whatever he supposed might be of 
advantage in coming days. If he met with any article in 
the course of his reading which he regarded as superior 
to most writers on the same subject, he would co]3y into 
a memorandum-book, kept for this purpose } either the 
entire article or a well-digested epitome." 



CHAPTER III. 



Early Religious Character — Skeptical Doubts and Difficulties — Counteract- 
ing Christian Influences — Conversion — Decides at the same time to be a 
Minister — Commences at once an active Christian Life. 

It was never in the nature of Dr. Lobdell to take any- 
thing on the mere authority of others. He always wished 
to hear or read both sides of a controverted subject, to 
sift the evidence, and then to decide for himself. He was 
an independent thinker in literature, politics, and all the 
affairs of this life. He could not, therefore, be expected 
to accept the truths of religion without investigation. 
His parents, as we have already seen, differed in their re- 
ligious opinions ; and while he felt strongly the power of 
a mother's prayers, and tears, and Christian life, he could 
not but imbibe more or less of the influence, silent and 
unintentional though it was, of his father's skeptical bias. 
The tendency to doubts and difficulties, which thus grew 
naturally out of his circumstances and early education, 
and which was perhaps inherited in part as a constitu- 
tional tendency, was, unfortunately, strengthened by the 
evil influence of certain companions of his boyhood, older 
than himself, who were in the habit of ridiculing and 
denouncing all religion. Books of an irreligious and skep- 
tical character were placed in his hands and eagerly de- 
voured. They took strong hold of his mind, and their 
influence never entirely left him. They not only acted as 
a powerful hindrance to his conversion, but their poison 
operated afterwards through all his spiritual life. He 
could never shake off their hold. In college, in the theo- 
logical seminary, and on missionary ground, these early 



24 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



thoughts would sometimes disturb the serenity of his 
most sacred hours. 

But there were strong counteracting influences within 
and around him, which were destined, under the provi- 
dence and the grace of God, to make him a Christian, a 
Christian minister, and a Christian missionary. He read 
good books with more frequency and avidity than bad 
ones. The lives of good men had an especial charm for 
him. These showed him the power of vital godliness. 
The history of the Christian church pointed him to Chris- 
tianity as the fountain of whatever is most godlike in 
human action. And even the history of Christian nations 
led him to the same holy religion, as the source of their 
superiority to other nations. The Bible was not only his 
reading, but his study. He had read it through in one of 
the early years of his residence on the farm in Reading, and 
it was never afterwards neglected. A large Bible-class was 
formed among the young people at Bethel ; of which he 
was a constant attendant and a deeply interested mem- 
ber. He was regular in his attendance on the weekly 
prayer-meetings, as well as on the worship of the Sabbath 
and the sanctuary. 

Good as well as evil companions threw their influence 
around him. The young man of whom we have already 
spoken as his most intimate friend, was already a decided 
Christian when they first formed the acquaintance ; and 
to his Christian faithfulness, with the blessing of God, 
Dr. Lobdell always attributed his salvation. "After meet- 
ing, J. H. S. came almost home with me, and urged me very 
strongly to seek religion. We talked for about an hour. J 
went home shedding tears and crying to God." " J. H. S. 
tells me I must study theology ; says it is my duty. I 
have some very serious thoughts about it, and sincerely 
wish to be guided in the path of duty." Such entries are 
not unfrequent in his diary. And when he is on the ove 
of parting with his friend for some months, and going to 



A TRUE FRIEND. 



25 



Hartford, he says : " How often has my dear friend, J. H. 
S., spoken to me on the all-important subject of securing 
my salvation ! How often have I expressed the wish that 
I may be convinced of the truth of religion ! Oh, may I 
soon be brought to view these things aright ! " Such per- 
severing personal efforts to win souls to Christ are seldom 
without their reward ; nor were they destined in this in- 
stance to prove fruitless. 

Young Lobdell was remarkably candid and conscien- 
tious. Long before the time at which he was accustomed 
to date his conversion, it was among the deepest desires 
of his heart to know the truth, and to do his duty, in the 
great matter of religion. "Many were the wishes I had," 
he says, as he read on both sides, and looked at the sub- 
ject from opposite points of view, "that I might know 
the truth. I am not even prepared to admit that the 
Bible is true. If it is, which I am determined to find out 
if possible, I can see no excuse for not becoming a Chris- 
tian, and making a public profession of religion." There 
was never such a wide chasm between faith and practice, 
between the creed and the conduct, in Dr. Lobdell, as 
there is in too many. With him, to be convinced of the 
truth was to endeavor at least to obey it. He had but 
to know his duty, and he would at once make an effort 
for its performance. As his understanding could not rest 
without ascertaining the truth, so his conscience and his 
whole nature forbade him to hold the truth without at- 
tempting to obey it. 

He had a strong desire to be useful ; and for some time 
before he cherished any personal hope in Christ, the ques- 
tion would often arise, whether the Christian ministry was 
not the sphere in which he could do the most good. He 
felt his need of a Saviour, — of such a Saviour as was re- 
vealed in the gospel of Christ. He saw that, without the 
gospel, men everywhere were miserable ; and that a cor- 
dial embrace of the truth as it is in Jesus was just the 
3 



26 



MEMOIR OF LOKDELL. 



remedy which they needed, — just the influence, and the 
only influence, that could elevate them and make them 
happy. And he already envied the life and coveted the 
usefulness of those who were wise to win souls : " Read 
the life of Harlan Page, and was cheered by the recital 
of his manner of doing good. lie was a Christian. By 
the grace of God, he was the means of saving about a 
hundred souls. O, what a treasure ! Can not I work in 
the same way? Will I not ? O God! tell me what 
course to pursue. If I am a physician, I am determined 
to use every opportunity in trying to save sinners." This 
was written while, as yet, he had no conscious hope of his 
own salvation. His heart was clearly in advance of his 
head. The spirit of faith and love had already outrun 
the convictions of his understanding. This is, perhaps, 
still more apparent hi the following extract from his diary, 
written a few days later, amid the perplexities that came 
upon him at Hartford. After hearing Dr. Hawes on the 
Sabbath, he says : " Oh that I could always hear such 
preaching, and that I could now talk with him in private 
on religion ! I feel the need of a Saviour, but am not yet 
entirely convinced of the reality of the Christian scheme. 
Oh that I may have my mind soon settled on this sub- 
ject! It seems as if misfortunes, cares and many difficul- 
ties were now before me ; but I look to the sufferings of 
Christ, and murmur not? The sufferings of Christ had 
a practical power to comfort his heart, before his intellect 
was fully persuaded of their nature and their divine 
efficacy. 

Under the same trials, and indeed under others of a 
still earlier date, he shows a full belief and a real trust in 
the providence of God. On leaving home to go to Hart- 
ford, he says : " Have some sorrowful thoughts, but almost 
believe that I am directed by my God ; and that, in the 
end, the loss of some present enjoyment will be amply 
compensated. It seems as if I could trace the workings 



RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 



27 



of that almighty hand in directing me in the course of life 
I have hitherto pursued." And when difficulties thicken 
about him, and his hopes are dashed, and darkness and 
uncertainty cover the future, he resolves to "banish 
despondency," and " believes that all will be for the best." 
He might well trust providence. He had been led from 
early childhood in a way that he knew not, and provided 
for in a manner that he thought not of, by a heavenly 
Father's hand. And now the same kind and paternal 
providence was leading him through thick darkness to 
marvellous light, — was pressing him, as it were, through 
narrow straits into a broad and open place. 

And with the providence of God, the Spirit of God 
was manifestly cooperating, convincing him of his weak- 
ness, ignorance and guilt, showing him his need of a 
divine Guide and Teacher, as well as an Almighty Saviour, 
subduing his will, leading him to a more childlike trust in 
God, teaching him to find comfort and hope at the cross 
of Christ, drawing out his compassion for the souls of 
men, and exciting in him longing desires to be instru- 
mental of their salvation. In these various states of 
mind, which are sufficiently apparent in the above ex- 
tracts, and more apparent after reading the whole diary, 
we can not but see the evidence, — and we think our read- 
ers will agree with us in the conclusion, — that he was 
already taught of God, already born of the Spirit, already 
under the influence of a sincere love to Christ and to the 
souls of men, before he was conscious of the exercise of a 
saving faith, or cherished any personal hope of an interest 
in the great salvation. In a letter which he found time to 
write to his friend Seelye, the very day he entered college, 
he says : " I wish I could see it to be my duty to prepare 
for the ministry ; but I can not yet. Heaven, hell, eter- 
nity, are continually before my view. I am fully per- 
suaded that no man, unless a Christian, ever did his full 
duty and obeyed his God. ... If there ever was a being 



•28 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



who wished both to know what is right and to do his 
duty, it is I. Not a day passes but a feeble voice ascends 
to God. But I have sometimes feared it is all mockery, 
from the want of confiding faith. May this not long be 
so, is my humble prayer." 

Every day's observation confirms the teaching of Scrip- 
ture, that "there are diversities of operations, but the 
same Spirit." The three great questions — the truth of 
Christianity, his personal interest in it, and the consecra- 
tion of himself to the Christian ministry, were together 
pressed home upon the mind and heart of young Lobdell 
by the providence and the Spirit of God ; and neither of 
them was so settled as to give him any peace or satisfac- 
tion, till they were all resolved together ; and that, not as 
he fondly flattered himself, not as men in general would 
logically infer, not perhaps as Christian men would gen- 
erally expect, — not by first working out the problem of 
the evidences of Christianity, and then settling the ques- 
tion of his personal faith and salvation, and, last of all, 
dedicating himself to the service of Christ in his gospel ; — 
but if there was any priority, the process was in the 
reverse order. He first deliberately resolved to make it 
the great business of his life to preach Jesus Christ and 
him crucified, to dying men. Then, and not till then, did 
he exj^erience all the preciousness of that Saviour to his 
own soul ; and in that blissful experience his doubts and 
difficulties vanished, like darkness and mist before the 
rising sun. Even so our Saviour taught, that " he who 
(loeth his wiU shall know of the doctrine, whether it be 
of God." And so in all his future life, when these doubts 
and difficulties would return irpon him, like a strong man 
armed, as they sometimes did even on missionary ground, 
and he could neither reason them down nor will them 
down, he would turn his back upon them, and lose sight 
and thought of them in doing the will of his divine 
Master. 



THE JOY OF COXVERSIO]*. 



29 



His feelings were always exuberant, and his joy at the 
great change which now came over him was thus ex- 
pressed in a letter to his friend, bearing date, Amherst 
College, October 15th, 1845 : " Could you have a knoAvl- 
edge of my feelings at the present time, I am confident 
that joy and gladness would brighten your countenance, 
as much as grief and pain may formerly have darkened it. 
Oh ! never, my dear friend, shall I forget your kindness 
towards me in pointing me to that Saviour who has bled 
and died for me. It is by your instrumentality, to all hu- 
man appearance, that I have been rescued from the yawn- 
ing gulf of eternal misery. Rescued, do I say ? Yes, yes, 
Julius, I have at length consecrated myself to the service 
of my God. Praise him that he has looked down in 
mercy, and drawn me by his omnipotent power to give 
myself away to him. How strange it was, as you say, 
that I did not yield to the strivings of the Holy Spirit, 
which troubled my guilty conscience from day to day. 
But, thank God, I have been permitted to hope that I am 
saved from the eternal world of wo. I trust I shall ever 
praise him that I was not sent to the judgment seat 
before I made my peace with him. . . . Millions of 
human beings I see in imagination standing on or hurry- 
ing over the brink of that precipice, which leads to the 
eternal world of wo. Each has an immortal soul. What 
a thought ! Oh the value of a soul ! Can I be the instru- 
ment of saving one from the misery that seems to await 
it ? I will try. I have determined, heedless of the 
pleasure I had anticipated of soon being quietly settled in 
life, and living in the enjoyment of the world, to devote 
myself to the interests of Christianity. The only question 
with me is, how can I do the most good ? Is it by preach- 
ing publicly ? If so, and I shall remain convinced, as I 
now am, I mean to do it." 

The reader will, perhaps, be struck with the peculiar 
vividness with which " the eternal world of wo " seems to 
3* 



30 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



be set before the mind of the writer of this letter. Aside 
from the lively joy of his own rescue, this peculiarity is, 
perhaps, explained by the fact, that the doctrine of 
future and eternal punishment had long been to him 
a subject of peculiar difficulty. He read and thought 
and reasoned much on the subject, up to the time 
of his hopeful conversion. The first interview which 
the writer of these pages had with him soon after the 
great change in his views and feelings, had for its object, 
chiefly, to ask for the manuscript of a sermon which 
the writer had preached in the college chapel the previous 
Sabbath on this subject. The text was in Rev. xix., 3 : 
" And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up 
forever and ever;" and the doctrine of the discourse was, 
that the everlasting destruction of the wicked is a needful 
vindication of divine justice ; and as such, all holy beings 
will approve and rejoice in it, as all good citizens rejoice 
at the infliction of condign punishment on the transgres- 
sors of the law of the land. Lobdell took the sermon to 
his room, read and copied it, and expressed his cordial 
acquiescence in the sentiment. From the time when this 
doctrine of revelation became a part of his accepted creed, 
it was not, as it is with many professed believers, an idle 
tale or a practical nonentity, but a vivid and dreadful 
reality. An endless hell was ever before him just as real 
as an eternal heaven, and he believed and acted upon the 
belief that it was the certain and inevitable doom of all 
who die without a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

It was only a short time after this great change in his 
feelings, that with characteristic promptness and decision 
he made a public profession of his faith in Christ. Seldom 
does the first term of the year pass away in Amherst Col- 
lege without some hopeful conversions, and some addi- 
tions from the world to the church, especially in the 
Freshman class. It is partly, perha|)s, the natural result 
of the new and trying circumstances in which they are 



PUBLIC PROFESSION OF RELIGION. 31 

placed. Away from home and friends, cast perhaps for 
the first time on their own resources, and exposed to 
temptations and dangers, it is natural that they should 
feel, as they never did before, their need of an all-wise 
friend and an almighty protector. And when, besides 
this, they hear faithful preaching and come under the 
influence of faithful Christian friends, they are not unfre- 
quently led 4u icpwytar^e an* 1 ^termJ It wn« on the* 

9th of November, 1845, that, with four others, Lobdell 
was proposed for admission to the church ; on the 23d 
of the same month, this little band of young Christians 
stood up before the whole college, and avouched the Lord 
Jehovah to be their God, and publicly dedicated them- 
selves forever to his service. Lobdell and one other were 
baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost. It was one of those seasons of solemn 
interest and sacred joy, of which there have been so many 
in the history of this Christian college, long to be remem- 
bered by those who have witnessed them, and whose 
influence has been felt to the ends of the earth, and will 
be to the end of time, and through the ages of eternity. 
The feelings of the subject of this memoir on those event- 
ful Sabbaths are thus recorded in his diary : " Scarcely 
ever have such feelings filled my breast. Oh the good- 
ness of God towards me ! What sweet communion with 
him have I this day enjoyed. How willing am I to live 
and endure any privations for the advancement of his 
cause. I lean on the arm of Christ for support, feeling 
that my own strength is but weakness. Oh that I may 
be the means, with the help of God, of saving all my rela- 
tions and dear friends from death eternal ! If I ever utter 
a sincere prayer, it is when I cry to God for their salva- 
tion. May I be the means of doing much good to my 
fellow-students. Let my heart be warm in the service of 
God. May I have grace to support me in every duty 
now especially devolved upon me." 



32 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



The sincerity of these prayers was evinced in imme- 
diate and constant efforts, by private conversation, by 
jDiiblic exhortations, and by epistolary correspondence, to 
win his fellow-students, his relations, and other friends to 
the knowledge and obedience of that truth which he had 
found so precious in his own happy experience. 




CHAPTER IV. 



College Life — Variety of Character — Mental Excitement — Engaged in 
Teaching — High Rank as a Scholar — Received as a Beneficiary of the 
American Education Society — Economy — Faithfulness in all College 
Studies — Habits of Study — Prize Essay — Reading — Manner of Read- 
ing—Writing and Speaking — College Societies — Total Abstinence — 
Prayer Meetings — Secret Prayer — Meditation — The Bible and the Sab- 
bath — Christian Life — Relation to Teachers and Fellow-Students— Chris- 
tian Motives in Study — Personal Efforts for the Salvation of Sinners — In- 
terest in Revivals — Vacations — Usefulness in Teaching — At South Am- 
herst — In New London — The ill-fated Atlantic — At Old Hadley — In 
New York City — Interested in and adapted to the West — Decision to be a 
Foreign Missionary — Letter to his Mother. 

College life is proverbially subject to fixed laws; to 
usages which have come clown from antiquity, and there- 
fore can not easily change with times and circumstances ; to 
rules which are enacted for the government of many, and 
therefore can not safely bend to the caprice or the genius 
of single individuals. To the superficial looker-on, it 
might well appear as monotonous as the college bell, by 
which it is regulated; as stereotype as the text-books, to 
whose mastery it is devoted. The same unvarying routine 
of prayers, meals, study hours, and recitations, from day to 
day and week to week, term after term and year after 
year, might seem to furnish little scope for genius and 
originality, little room for incident and variety, and still 
less for adventure and romance. But one who looks be- 
neath the surface can see no less variety of character and 
conduct, no less of heroic achievement, and scarcely less of 
what is sometimes called romance in real life, in the little 
secluded college community, than in the great world by 
which it is surrounded. The public are sufficiently famil- 
iar with stories of college pranks and tricks. These are 
stereotype indeed. They have been retailed and detailed 



34 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



and exaggerated by the tongue and by the pen of those 
heroes of their own tales, who often have nothing else to 
tell of their achievements, till too many outside of college 
walls have scarcely any other associations with college 
life, than of nocturnal adventures, sophomoric forays and 
tutorial reprisals. But there is, in fact, a great deal of 
quite another sort of genius, and of heroism too, which 
passes unobserved by the common eye, and seldom reaches 
the ear of the public. There is the ring and the flash 
which show the true metal, when "Greek meets Greek" 
in private discussion or public debate, in the study, in the 
literary society, or in the lecture-room. There is that 
marvelous mental activity, that almost perpetual effer- 
vescence of wit and genius, which results from the com- 
bined action of so many youthful minds on such fruitful 
subjects, and which explains the unquestionable fact, that 
so many of the great discoveries and movements that have 
changed the current of human history, have originated in 
the university. There are heroic conflicts, not only with 
ignorance and indolence and temptation, but with poverty, 
and discouragement, and difficulties of every kind. There 
are mighty struggles, not only for superiority to others, but 
for a far nobler victory over self. There are high aspira- 
tions, not for rank and distinction merely, but for true 
scholarship and moral excellence. 

Henry Lobdell felt the power of all these circumstances 
and motives pressing upon his excitable mind, and stirring 
him to unwonted activity. He expatiated in the broad 
field of college studies and college life, as in a new world. 
He exulted in the consciousness of new powers. " Oh ! 
how I prize my privileges in college," he exclaims, as soon 
as he began to enjoy them. And as daily collision with 
teachers and fellow-students elicited daily more and more 
the consciousness of intellectual life; as new subjects, com- 
ing continually before him, awakened in him a never-end- 
ing succession of new ideas; as his ardent and aspiring 



COLLEGE STRUGGLES. 



35 



mind caught eagerly new discoveries and teemed with 
new projects, he was ready not only to cry out, "I have 
found it," with the self-gratulation of the ancient philoso- 
pher of Syracuse, but with something like the benevolence 
of the Christian, to say to others, " Come and see ; " come 
and enjoy it with me; this is the place for calling a man's 
faculties into vigorous and joyous action. He soon had 
his friend Seelye with him for a classmate, and at length 
for a roommate; and it was not long before a number of 
kindred spirits, attracted by him from iris native "Fair- 
field," shone around him as a constellation of bright stars 
in the institution. 

But his college life was far from flowing in a smooth 
and untroubled stream. It was rather a continual strug- 
gle w^ith wind and tide. He had not been in college a 
week, before his bank — his "D anbury Bank" as he face- 
tiously calls it — was reduced to five dollars capital and 
deposits; and before his first term closed he was obliged 
to suspend specie payments. His first vacation replen- 
ished it somewhat by teaching. But before the end of his 
Freshman year, his resources were again exhausted, and 
he was in debt. Again he had recourse to teaching, that 
standing resort — would that we could say, never-failing 
resource — of poor students, to which they betake themselves 
— for much the same purpose, it would seem, for which 
the old Greek philosophers frequented the courts of princes, 
viz.: "to give what they have, and to get lohat they have 
not " Finding his services in demand, and not feeling in 
any very imminent peril of overstocking his bank, he con- 
tinued to teach through two entire terms of his Sophomore 
year. On his return to college at the commencement of 
the third term, such was his industry, and such his facility 
of learning, he was already prepared for immediate exami- 
nation in Latin and mathematics. His Greek was deferred 
and made up during the fall vacation. He went on through 
the Junior year without any interruption, though his 



36 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



straits at times occasioned him much perplexity; and 
he resorted to all the lawful means, between the two ex- 
tremes of digging and begging, to obtain the needful sup- 
ply. Like the two young men of whom Ave read in the 
history of one of the minor Socratic schools of philosophy, 
he would grind corn in the prison by night, if he might 
thereby procure the means to study by day; but he must, 
at all events, study and seek after wisdom. "An educa- 
tion I will have," he wrote his father, "cost what it may. 
It looks pretty dr^rk ahead sometimes; but a little further 
on, it looks bright enough to compensate for it all." He 
sold books and periodicals. He wrote for the newspapers 
and magazines. He competed for prizes in and out of 
college, with various success. But he coveted time even 
more than money. And for the sake of saving a year in 
professional study, and thus entering so much sooner the 
missionary field, not content with the incessant labors and 
excitements already superadded to his studies in college, 
in November, 1848, before the close of the first term of his 
Senior year, he went to New York and attended a course 
of medical lectures. Finally he w^as absent from college 
a part of the last term of the same year, teaching, that he 
might be able to pay his bills at Commencement. 

When he looked back from his missionary station and 
saw at what an expense of health and strength, as well as 
knowledge and culture, this saving of time was purchased, 
he disapproved of this haste, and, as we shall see more fully 
hereafter, advised his younger brother to abridge nothing 
from the entire college course. But notwithstanding these 
repeated absences, amounting in all to more than an entire 
year of the regular curriculum, so remarkable was his 
power of concentration and rapid acquisition, that he was 
graduated with a very high rank in a class distinguished 
for talents and scholarship; and his oration at the Com- 
mencement of 18i9 was not only received with marked 



ECONOMY. 



87 



applause by the audience, but noticed with special com- 
mendation in the public journals. 

In common with no inconsiderable proportion of our 
best ministers and missionaries, Lobdell was a beneficiary 
of the American Education Society. This was a trial to 
his naturally proud and independent spirit. Like the 
great missionary explorer of Central Africa, whom he re- 
sembled in some of the leading traits of his character, and 
whose career would have had for him many attractions, 
he would rather have made his way unassisted and alone. 
But he submitted to receive aid, not only as a necessary 
means of saving time, but as a needful lesson in the school 
of humility. Economy was not natural to him. It was a 
virtue which was not born in him, and which it was never 
quite easy for him to practise. He was naturally gener- 
ous, not to say lavish, of money. He could not resist the 
temptation to buy books. He must have food for his 
craving intellect. He would have the tools for doing well 
his appointed work. He never could withhold the hand 
of charity, when the needy object was before his eyes. 
He seemed to love others better than himself. While 
struggling with poverty himself, he would relieve the ne- 
cessities of the widow and the fatherless whom he knew 
in Amherst, or the destitute strangers whom he met in his 
walks through the haunts of wretchedness in the city of 
New York. "Dec. 3d, 1847: Went into a hotel in Broad- 
way. A little, fine-looking boy came in to sell toothpicks. 
Poor, but bright. Gave him enough to send him to school 
a week, which he said he would devote to that object. 
Evening School — cost three cents a night. Poor boy! 
would I could take and educate you. I know you would 
do well. But I can hardly get along myself." This is by 
no means the only or the most striking instance of the 
kind that might be gleaned from his college diary. But 
he never lavished money needlessly on himself. Both 
money and time he could put to a better use than in 
4 



33 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



catering to his appetites. He wasted no dollars in riding, 
no shillings in oysters and ice creams, no cents in nuts and 
candies. He often walked more or less on his way to and 
from college, sometimes rode in second-class cars, and gen- 
erally went on foot when he had occasion to visit places 
in the vicinity. He boarded most of the time in a club, 
where he could live cheap, though in so doing he was 
obliged to separate himself from some of his best friends, 
who were able to board in private families. 

He was not only a talented and successful, but, what is 
a higher and perhaps rarer excellence, a conscientious 
and faithful student. Xext to God and his own soul, his 
lessons received the first attention. His business in col- 
lege was to pursue college studies ; and with this primary 
duty, he never suffered toil and anxiety for pecuniary 
means, much less idle talk or present gratification of what- 
ever kind, to interfere. While on college ground, he was 
never absent or tardy at a college exercise. His hours of 
study and recreation, though of the latter he allowed him- 
self too little, were as regular as those of public recitation. 
In the summer of his Sophomore year, as we learn from 
his diary, he rose at four, and retired at nine. He walked 
a short distance, or exercised a little in the gymnasium, 
after each of his meals, and the rest of the day, excepting 
the hours of recitation and of public and private exer- 
cises of devotion, he studied " about all the time." 

He was faithful alike in the studies of all the depart- 
ments. His natural preference, perhaps, was for the 
mathematics and the physical sciences. He loved argu- 
ment. He delighted in demonstration. His mind was 
eminently practical ; and he was pleased to see the appli- 
cations of science to the uses of common life, as well as 
the carrying out of mathematical principles in the struc- 
ture of the universe. At the same time, he looked at the 
several branches of mathematical and physical science as 
so many parts of the science of God ; and the manifesta- 



MATHEMATICS AND CLASSICS. 



39 



tions of divine wisdom and goodness in chemistry, 
natural philosophy, and natural history, often drew from 
him emphatic expressions of wonder and delight. 

When he entered college, he was the most deficient in 
Greek and Latin, and therefore the least able to appre- 
ciate and enjoy the beauty of the ancient classics. But 
for that very reason, instead of studying them less, as 
many short-sighted and irresolute students do, he studied 
them more ; just as Kirke White, finding himself deficient 
in a taste for the mathematics, and regarding it as indi- 
cative of a want of just balance and proportion in his 
mental faculties, resolved to labor strenuously till the 
balance was restored. He made rapid proficiency in the 
languages ; read appreciatingly Greek and Latin authors ; 
admired especially Demosthenes and Tacitus, and 
mourned that the light of Christianity never dawned 
*ipon them ; insisted on the great value, if not the indis- 
pensable necessity of classical studies as a discipline of the 
mental powers, particularly the power of communication, 
and as a preparation for influence and usefulness, especially 
in the sacred ministry ; and came at length to such an 
appreciation and enjoyment of their intrinsic beauty and 
excellence, that he wished he could stay at home to spend 
his life in the study of the classics. 

As the mathematics are the framework of the material 
universe, so " the dead languages," (so called, apparently, 
because they never die,) are the roots of the recent 
tongues, and Greek and Roman culture is the foundation 
of modern refinement. It is not strange, then, that in 
the studies of the Junior year, he thought he had almost 
completed the circle of human wisdom, and quite reached 
the climax of pleasurable excitement. But when he 
became a Senior, mental philosophy, with its accompany- 
ing ethical studies, was, if possible, still more captivating. 
" I do love metaphysics," he says in his diary, Se|3t. 3d, 
1848. " There it is we look into the seeds of things." 



40 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



There was then no such thing as an established prize or 
scholarship in Amherst College. But Rev. Dr. Packard, 
of Shelburne, one of the original trustees and founders 
of the college, offered to that class a premium for the 
best essay on the Nature and Importance of Mental Sci- 
ence. Lobdell wrote on the subject, and gained the prize. 
The connection between physiology and psychology, as 
the connecting link between his medical and his meta- 
physical studies, was a subject in which he was greatly 
interested. He wrote on the subject, and read his essay 
before the class ; and the Professor (Prof. Smith, now of 
Union Theological Seminary, in Xew York City,) was so 
much pleased with it as to express a desire for its publica- 
tion. It was his purpose, if anything had occurred to 
prevent his going abroad as a missionary, to write a book 
on the subject. This idea is thus adverted to in his diary: 
" How infinite are the instances in which I daily behold 
the nice adaptation of the body to the spirit. What a 
mechanism is the human body ! I think, if I do not go 
to China, I shall write a work in my theologico-medieal 
character, on the adaptation of the various parts of the 
body to the human mind — bearing in mind that Chal- 
mers has treated in a general manner of this subject — so 
my medical knowledge. may not be useless. Still I hope 
to go to the heathen." His thesis at the end of his first 
course of medical lectures, in New York, was on the con- 
nection between psychology and medicine — a subject of 
vast importance, which is perhaps even more overlooked 
by physicians generally, than the correlative subject of the 
connection between physiology and theology is neglected 
by ordinary ministers. Xo man is qualified to prescribe 
for the maladies of either the body or the soul, who is not 
intimately acquainted with the mysterious sympathy that 
exists between them. 

In the school of Plato, at Athens, there was one disci- 
ple, small of stature, slender in form, with a forward, 



COLLATERAL STUDIES. 41 

downward look, expressive of intense thought and great 
mental activity — for so his form has come down to us in 
that most intensely thoughtful and intellectual statue in 
the Palazzo Spada, at Rome, and so his features have been 
transmitted to us by ancient writers — who was called 
" the reader " of the school. We will not say that Lob- 
dell was the Aristotle of his class ; for, besides the 
extravagance of the compliment, there were not a few 
points of dissimilarity. But he was at least Aristotelian 
in form and attitude, in the reasoning and practical cast 
of his mind, and in his intense devotion to reading and 
study. He read, in the first place, every thing he could 
lay hold of that was collateral to his studies. Go into 
his room after he had finished his lesson in natural philos- 
ophy, and you would see him poring over Silliman's Jour- 
nal, the Bridgewater Treatises, or Mrs. Somerville's 
Connection of the Physical Sciences. If the Iliad or 
Odyssey was the classic for the day, such books as Wood's 
Essay on the Original Genius of Homer, or Coleridge's 
Introduction to the Study of the Greek Classic Poets, 
would be found lying on his table. In connection with 
Demosthenes on the Crown, he read the counterpart ora- 
tion of iEschines, and, so far as possible, the other 
oratory, as well as the history of that period. While 
reciting with his class Plutarch on the Delay of the Deity 
in punishing the Wicked, he read, in a translation, not a 
few of the other ethical treatises of the great Grecian 
moralist. And when Stewart was the text-book in men- 
tal philosophy, we find him reading, at one time, St. 
Hilaire's Preface in French to the Translation of Aristotle, 
and Theodore Jouffroy, also in the original, as well as Dr. 
Moore on the Connection of Body and Mind, and Small 
Books on Great Subjects ; at another, Morell and Hickok's 
Rational Psychology. Then he took a wide range of 
reading in history, poetry, and general literature. His 
reading of medical authors was extensive. As he became 
4* 



42 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



interested in the cause of missions, he read every thing 
that had a bearing on the missionary work, and especially 
every thing relating to China, his then expected field of 
labor. Some books, such for instance as most of the current 
issues of the press, he devoured almost at a sitting. Others 
he studied, reflected upon them, discussed them with his 
fellow-students, and took notes or abstracts of their con- 
tents. Such were the standard authors in history, poetry 
and philosophy — Hume, Gibbon, Prescott, Milton, Cow- 
per, Young, Bacon, Johnson, Carlyle, Coleridge, Schlegel, 
Goethe, Schiller, Shakspeare, whose tragedies he greatly 
admired, and, most of all, the Bible, which he read and 
studied for its literature and philosophy, as well as its 
religion. In his Freshman year, he commenced an epitome 
of the Bible, " to see," he says, " my own views of its 
various parts now, and see if they change hereafter. I 
know it will take me a long time, probably years, writing 
only Sundays. But I want to know more of the Bible. 
To-day (Aug. 9, 1846,) have written on the Book of 
Ruth, as we are reading along here now." The philo- 
sophical emperor of Rome, the great philosopher and 
divine of New England, and not a few other good men 
read with their pen always at hand. Lobdell early 
adopted this very useful practice. " I read as much as 
possible, not in quantity, but in attention, and digest well 
what I do read, noting down all important thoughts, 
which I might otherwise forget." 

At the same time, he did not, like too many good schol- 
ars and great readers in college, neglect writing and 
speaking. " Knowledge is power," and so is a pond of 
water, power ; but it is of no use unless it is skillfully 
applied. Deeming the proper expression of his ideas not 
less essential than the ideas themselves, he devoted much 
time to writing, debating, and elocution, not only perform- 
ing punctually every part assigned him in the class and 
before the college at the appointed time, but writing for 



COLLEGE SOCIETIES. 43 



improvement for the College Magazine, and for other peri- 
odicals, speaking extempore whenever and wherever he 
had an opportunity, taking lessons and practising in the 
woods near the college, as he had done in those of his 
native place, till he was acknowledged to be the ablest 
debater, the readiest extemporizer, and one of the most 
direct and effective writers and speakers in the institution. 

As a means of cultivating his power of communication, 
he attached great value to the exercises of the Literary- 
Society, of which he was a member. Here, too, he 
resolved at the outset to attend every meeting and fulfill 
every appointment ; and he was not the man to fail in 
carrying such a resolution into full effect. He was very 
much interested in the meetings of the Society of Inquiry 
for Missions, and contributed not a little, particularly in 
the latter }3art of his college course, to the interest of the 
meetings, as well as to the right adjustment of the great 
practical questions which were there discussed. 

He was a faithful member and cordial supporter of the 
Antivenenian Society — a society based on a pledge of 
total abstinence from ardent S23irits, wine, opium and 
tobacco during connection with college — of which, from 
its first establishment in 1829, nearly $11 the officers, and a 
majority of the students, have always been members. 
His sense of the importance of such a society, and of the 
necessity of the principle as well as the practice of total 
abstinence among young men and their teachers, may be 
gathered from his record of what he witnessed of the cus- 
tomary New Year's visits in the city of New York. 
"Jan. 1, 1849. I went about to call with the other medi- 
cal students on the professors. How shameful in men 
thus exalted to offer to young men the damning stimulus, 
which will be their ruin ! It was easy for me to decline 
the proffered goblet from the venerable or the youthful 
hand. How strange that men have not the moral cour- 
age to stick to principle under all circumstances 



44 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



He was just as regular in his attendance on all the 
stated religious meetings of the week, as at the daily 
recitations or the public services of the chapel on the 
Sabbath. At the Sabbath morning prayer meeting, at the 
Thursday evening lecture, at the class meeting on Satur- 
day evening, he was always present, always ready to 
take a part in prayer or exhortation, always in earnest, as 
if he felt it to be not more his duty than his delight. To 
these stated meetings he added frequent special season 
of social prayer, and, in times of unusual religious interest 
a daily meeting of twenty minutes or half an hour at his 
own room or the room of a fellow-student, usually in his 
own " entry." In the latter part of his course, he origi- 
nated, I believe, — at all events he attended, — a weekly 
missionary meeting, which has since been sustained, under 
the name of the Missionary Band, and which usually 
numbers some twenty or twenty-five who intend to be 
foreign missionaries. His delight in social meetings for 
prayer is expressed in many a record in his diary. " How 
strange that Christians can neglect to attend the stated 
prayer meeting ! To me it is the most delightful part of 
the week. My soul is refreshed to mingle my prayers 
with those of my brethren for one great object, the con- 
version and sanctification of a world ; and I never go 
away from a prayer meeting feeling that I have gained no 
benefit." 

Xor did these frequent seasons of social prayer inter- 
fere with his private devotions. He commenced the 
practice of daily prayer with his room-mate the very first 
evening after the great change in his religious feelings. 
Since his early childhood, it was the first prayer he had 
offered in the presence of a fellow mortal. Neither of the 
two was a professor of religion at the time, though they 
joined the college church together before the end of the 
term ; and they continued this practice of united prayer 
as long as they roomed together. Besides, he had from 



PRAYER AND MEDITATION". 



45 



two to four stated seasons of daily secret prayer and 
meditation. If at any time lie neglected these or cut 
them short, he felt the effect in blunted religious sensibili- 
ties, in an impaired relish for social meetings and for pub- 
lic worship. He found by experience that his Christian 
enjoyment, his growth in grace and strength of religious 
principle, his faithfulness in every duty and his success in 
efforts to do good, were all in exact proportion to his im- 
provement and enjoyment of private devotions ; and his 
delight in secret prayer, as well as his conviction that it is 
the Christian's life, grew with every year of his college 
course. He thus sums up his convictions and conclusions 
near the close of his Senior year : 

" This important fact was impressed upon me, that we 
can not be at all sure of living through any one day aright, 
so as to look back upon it with entire satisfaction, without 
^continually asking divine aid in the discharge of duty. 
We must pray daily, hourly have a spirit of prayer, or 
we shall fall into many sad mistakes. It is in vain to try 
to convert a soul by mere reasoning, — prayer is needed. 
It should not only be the Christian's 4 watchword at the 
gate of death,' it should be his continually -felt word from 
hour to hour. It is our duty, and the most exalted privi- 
lege of man. Cut off this right hand ; but leave me the 
privilege of prayer ; it is the Christian's life." 

Meditation he regarded as a natural and necessary 
accompaniment of reading the Scriptures and prayer, the 
appropriate means of digesting spiritual food, and nurturing 
the Christian life, and not to be dispensed with even under 
the severest pressure of other duties : " I have little time 
for reading, this term, — hardly have time to meditate. 
Yet I will take a certain amount of time every day for this. 
And oh, how good to do it, — then I think of God and 
duty, and am happy." " I must pray more, and meditate. 
Three quarters of an hour a day is not enough." 

lie delighted in the Bible and the Sabbath, reverenced 



46 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



them as of divine origin and authority, regarded them as 
made for man and made for each other, and diligently 
improved them as among the most efficient of all Heaven's 
appointed means of sanctification. Not long after his 
conversion, (Sunday, February 1, 1846,) he writes thus : 
" Read Bickersteth's Scripture Help ; also twenty chap- 
ters in Proverbs. What a fountain of pure knowledge 
and wisdom there is in the Bible ! I never could under- 
stand its truths as I now do. All seems perfect harmony. 
Though once in a while a passage may seem to contradict 
! some other, yet if we compare them accurately with the 
context, we shall find that there is not more harmony in 
the rolling of the heavenly orbs around their common 
center, — that there is not more regularity and life and 
power in the rushing of the purple flood through our 
veins. Oh, how I delight to dwell on its precious truths." 
March 20, 1848 : " Read several chapters in Acts ; and 
the story of Paul's travels never seemed so interesting 
before. It was as pleasing as any novel I ever read. I do 
love the Bible." Thursday evening, June 8, 1848 : " The 
president gave us a good sermon on keeping the Sabbath. 
I will try to keep the day more holy, be better at the 
close of every one than at its beginning. It is a day 
given us to study the Bible and to advance in holiness." 
Few students, few young Christians in our day, it is to be 
feared, so esteem and so use the Sabbath. Yet universal 
observation and experience will attest that Christians 
grow in grace just in proportion to the sacredness with 
which they devote this holy day to the word and worship 
of God. His friends have informed the writer that young 
Lobdell observed the Sabbath with almost Puritanical 
strictness. He avoided all unnecessary labor, blacked his 
boots on Saturday, and made it as far as possible a " day 
of preparation" for the Sabbath. He condemned himself 
for having once taken the boat with some of his friends 
from Staten Island to New York to attend church there ; 



CHRISTIAN LIFE. 



47 



and in every suitable way, by precept and example, lie 
set his face as a flint against the prevailing desecration of 
the Lord's day. 

Yet he was at the farthest possible remove from a 
bigoted and fanatical regard for outward forms or inward 
feelings. Few Christians — few young Christians, espe- 
cially — have been so deeply sensible, as young Lobdell 
was in college, that Christianity is not a mere system of 
doctrines and observances, nor a seiies of feelings and 
frames of mind, but a life — a life of faith and love and 
holy joy, a life of obedience to the commands of God and 
devotion to the good of men. No one can read his diary 
without feeling that to do his whole duty and lead a 
Christian life was the strongest desire of his heart. No 
one could know him, even in college, without seeing that 
his chief study, his daily business, his highest ambition 
was to be a Christian scholar and a Christian man, and, 
in due time a Christian minister and missionary, "that need 
not be ashamed." He constantly looked at all his studies 
in their relation to God, and found in them perpetual 
illustrations of Christian truth and duty. He strove to 
be governed by Christian principles and to manifest a 
Christian spirit in all his relations to his teachers and his 
fellow-students. The terms in which he speaks of the 
president — his beloved president — and the professors, 
all of them, are habitually respectful, affectionate, gen- 
erous ; their hearts would be touched, could they read his 
expressions of love and confidence ; but they are too 
sacred for the public eye. He was genial, manly, frank, 
outspoken in conversation with his fellows. Yet he 
guarded his lips against causing needless pain to any 
student by what he said before his face, as well as against 
saying anything to the injury of others behind their back. 
" There is a habit which almost all the students have of 
speaking against others, if not directly, in such a manner 
that the person meant is always known ; and I am sorry 



48 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



to know that I am somewhat given to that fault. I 
resolve to say nothing of this sort in any place, that 
I would not say before the individual's face. I pray that 
I may be able to carry out this determination." " I began 
this day with the determination to live right. But at 

table I said some things to , for which I am sorry ; 

and I am led to see how vain it is to trust in my own 
strength. I thought I did trust in God. But to do this, 
one must feel constantly his relations to the world and to 
God, and must realize that every word and deed has an 
influence on eternal interests." 

It was his strenuous endeavor, and more and more as 
he advanced in his course, to study, not from selfish or 
worldly, but from conscientious and Christian motives. 
This cost his naturally ambitious spirit a severe and ju'o- 
tracted struggle. More than once he fell beneath the 
strong temptation to this easily besetting sin of college 
life. But he watched and prayed and strove, and at 
length he became, if not quite indifferent, yet quite supe- 
rior to human praise and worldly distinction. In his 
Freshman year, he writes : " Worldly ambition is too 
great in my bosom. I will try to eradicate it, root and 
branch. I offered a prayer this morning in the Rhetorical 
Room, (at the general meeting of the students on Sunday 
morning,) and as I closed, I even dared to think I had 
made a good prayer, and that my companions would 
think I was a fellow of some talent. Oh, what a thought 
for me to cherish ! Great God J has my piety become so 
cold and dead ? Renew it, Father in heaven ! " 

In his Sophomore year, he is conscious of a desire to 
stand well in his class, but says: "May I not desire it 
merely for the present honor, but for the good of my 
fellow-men. Vanity covers all these efforts of men for 
fame that must die. Give me, O God, that imperishable 
laurel, with which thou wilt deck the brow of every 
' beloved' one in thy kingdom !" The following entries 



CHRISTIAN MOTIVES. 



49 



in his diary of the Junior year indicate a growing indiffer- 
ence to the opinions of men as compared with the appro- 
bation of God : " Made a slight mistake in recitation this 
morning, but find it does not now affect me as it used to 
do. I tried to the best of my ability to get my lesson, 
but for want of time was not able to learn it perfectly. 
I believe God ajyproves, and that is enough." " To-day I 
'flunked' in my philosophy. It is the first time I ever 
did, and it shall be the last. Felt rather bad about it. 
I am determined to take a high stand in my class. But I 
hope I do it that I may better glorify God." " I do not 
feel God's presence as I should. Yet I know I am 
becoming more and more indifferent to human praise, and 
prefer to do God service, rather than myself. The appoint- 
ments of college do not affect me as formerly. Not that 
I am not as successful as ever, and more so perhaps ; but 
I am beginning to realize that there is no wisdom like 
that of serving God aright. I pray for strength to enable 
me to do it." As he advanced to Senior standing, a 
momentary pang of regret came over him for those offices 
in the Literary Society, which he had perhaps fairly 
earned by his fidelity and ability as a member, but which, 
like too many of the offices in the gift of the people, are 
not always bestowed on the most deserving. But he 
would not for a moment condescend to the " wire-pulling" 
and "pipe-laying," by which they were procured. He 
also wrote several pieces for publication, and acknowl- 
edges that he is not altogether free from that "last 
infirmity of noble minds," a desire for literary fame ; but 
he despises it, in itself considered, as merely " a fancied 
life in others' breath," and values it only as tributary to 
the cause of missions and the honor of Christ. " I am 
ambitious ; but if I know my own heart, it is that I may 
become instrumental of good." 

Before he dared to aspire to the honors of an educated 
minister of the gospel, or even to cherish a hope in Christ 
5 



50 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



for himself, it will be remembered that the life of Harlan 
Page appeared to him a life to be coveted. After his 
conversion, he regarded it as a life which he would 
endeavor to live, and entered at once upon a course of 
personal efforts for the salvation of sinners, which he 
pursued more or less faithfully to the day of his death, 
and whose results will be seen only in the light of another 
world. He talked with irreligious students at their rooms 
and at his own. He walked with them for the purpose of 
religious conversation. He wrote letters to relatives and 
friends who were at a distance. He felt a deep interest 
in revivals of religion, and, as is usually the case with those 
who are most faithful in the improvement of ordinary 
means and opportunities for usefulness, was ever ready to 
engage in special efforts for the salvation of souls. It was 
his happiness to witness in the second term of his Fresh- 
man year, one of those seasons of refreshing, so many of 
which have marked the history of Amherst College. His 
diary shows how much it enlisted his sympathies and 
efforts, and, though concise and fragmentary, would almost 
suffice to write a history of its progress. Thursday, Feb. 
26, 1846: "This is the day of annual fasting and prayer 
for colleges. No literary exercises. A. M. — Prayer 
meeting of all the members of college, officers and students. 
Very serious. P. M. — The most impressive sermon (I 
think I can say) that I ever heard. Evening. — Meeting 
of our class ; spoke and led in prayer. Interesting, very." 
Friday, 27: "All appear much interested in the work of 
a revival. Evening. — -The president met the professors 
of religion in college, and made some very serious remarks. 
He called on the Christian students of Amherst College to 
aid in the glorious work ; and I am sure many fervent 
prayers were offered up for a revival, by all who love the 
Lord. With three others, held a prayer meeting for the 
conversion of one of our class." Saturday, 28: "Even- 
ing. — Good sermon from Prof. , on the agency of 



REVIVAL II* COLLEGE. 



51 



the Holy Spirit in the conversion of sinners. After it, our 
class had a meeting. Good, solemn. God's Spirit was 
truly with us." Thursday, March 5 : " Our meetings are 
very interesting. God's Spirit is truly with us; and oh 
that Christians might awake to a sense of their duty! 
After the usual Thursday evening lecture, a meeting for 
special prayer at the Rhetorical Room. The professors 
spoke very affectingly. I resolved to live a better life." 
Monday evening, March 9: "Meeting at the president's. 
Question, Is the Spirit of the Lord among us or not? 
Quickly decided, that it is. It is indeed a solemn 
thought." Tuesday, 10: "Half a dozen of us have con- 
cluded to hold prayer meetings at each other's rooms half 
an hour, for several mornings. At our room this morning. 
It is truly pleasant to commune with God, and to feel that 
our sins are forgiven. I pray earnestly for his Spirit to 
assist me, that I may live more in accordance with the 
character of a Christian. How little I do for Christ, 
although I trust he bought me with his blood." Wednes- 
day, 11: "Many sinners are turning to God." Sunday, 
15: "Never have I observed such an appearance among 
the impenitent as to-day in this college. Many of the 
most thoughtless and hardened were very solemn, and 
seemed to feel that they were rebels against God." 16: 
"Good meeting at the president's. Very solemn talk with 
one of my class, who is deeply convicted of sin. Prayed 
with him, and entreated him to seek God before it is too 
late." 20: "Sinners are hourly, almost, flying to the 
Saviour. This evening a young man of the Sophomore 
class is heard praying (in an adjoining room) — has been 
for an hour and a half. Oh, what agony he sivffers! May 
God have mercy on him, and may he find sweet peace in 
Jesus." Sunday, 22: "What sermons! It seems as if no 
man could resist their power. I thank God that I am 
allowed to hear such glorious news from my friends 
around me, who are daily turning to God. One after 



52 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



another is converted. There is no great excitement. All 
is the work of God. I praise him, and will forever. 
Evening. — Just now, I hear, another is rejoicing in God. 
I have had some most serious conversations with him. 
For some time he has been serious and downcast; but 
now he is all wonder and joy." 

Wherever the announcement is made that Jesus of 
Nazareth is passing by, and the people flock to him with 
their spiritual maladies, and the blind receive their sight, 
the deaf hear, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the 
dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to 
them, there is, and well there may be, great joy in that 
city. But when a college is thus visited — where two or 
three hundred young men are congregated, with their 
young and active minds continually acting and reacting 
upon one another, with their fresh and warm hearts beat- 
ing in constant and lively sympathy; where all dwell in 
the same buildings, engage in the same studies and recre- 
ations, listen to the same literary and religious teachers, 
sit side by side in the same lecture-rooms, and meet daily 
in the same place for morning and evening prayers ; when 
all, in a word, are of the same age, and that the age most 
susceptible to lasting impressions, and all breathe the 
same atmosphere, and that an atmosphere charged with 
electric influences — when such a gracious visit is whis- 
pered through college^ and the blind are heard crying, 
" Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on us," and the lepers 
plead, "if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean," and 
those possessed of unclean spirits stand awed and trem- 
bling in that sacred presence, and even those quite dead 
in sins of the deej)est dye own his life-giving power — oh ! 
then who can describe the breathless silence and suspense 
with which anxious friends and sympathizing acquaintance 
watch the progress of each miracle of healing, as they 
come in succession under the eye and hand of the Great 
Physician ; and who can tell the thrill of unutterable joy 



FRUITS. 53 

that runs through the community, when they see and 
hear what he has clone for their souls ! And when the 
blind that now see, and the lepers that are cleansed, and 
the demoniacs that have been dispossessed, — some, perad- 
venture, of seven devils, — and the dead that have been 
raised, and among them, perhaps, some that were twice 
dead in their deej) and desperate depravity — when, after 
a season, all these come before the priest in the temple, 
and j^resent themselves as a thank-offering to the Lord, 
and the whole congregation see what miraculous changes 
have come over them, there is another scene of wonder 
and joy — joy, not on earth only, but in the presence of 
the angels of God. And as they go home, for the first 
time, new creatures in Christ Jesus, how many fountains 
of joy are opened in the bosoms of parents and friends. 
And as they go out into the world, and some become pas- 
tors of churches in the cities and villages of the older 
states, and others pioneers of the gospel in the new settle- 
ments, and others heralds of salvation to far-off heathen 
lands, and this young man becomes a Christian lawyer, 
and that a pious physician, and here and there one per- 
haps carries his religious principles with him to the bench 
or the legislative assembly, how the tide of holy and 
happy influence spreads over the world, and how will it 
roll on " all through time and down eternity ! " Such is 
no exaggerated description of a revival of religion in col- 
lege, and its fruits, as they have again and again been wit- 
nessed. Well might young Lobdell sympathize with its 
progress, and rejoice in its results. He had occasion to 
praise God for more than one such season during his col- 
lege course, though none was so marked as that of which 
we have taken note as having occurred in his Freshman 
year. Between twenty-five and thirty (the whole college 
at that time numbered only about a hundred and twenty- 
five) indulged the hope that they had passed from death 
to life. A large proportion of them are now ministers of 
5* 

i 



54 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



the gospel ; not a few are teachers of youth in academy 
or college. One is a missionary in China ; and another, 
who devoted himself to the missionary work, a youth of 
rare genius and promise and a bosom friend of Lobdell,* 
is in heaven. 

Lobdell's vacations were too much like term time. He 
did not know how to unbend. The word recreation was 
not in his vocabulary. Had it been, in all probability he 
would now have been in the midst of life and usefulness. 
Professor Wyttenbach, of the Leydeii University, extols 
the wisdom of the founders of the Dutch Universities in 
instituting vacations for the twofold purpose of affording 
the professors an opportunity to recruit, and the students 
time for an additional review of their studies. Lobdell 
seems to have looked on vacations as designed rather fo 
fresh excursions into the field of knowledge and of useful- 
ness. He took no excursions for health or pleasure. He 
never went shooting, fishing, riding, or even walking, for 
mere recreation. He seldom played or relaxed, except i 
cheerful conversations and visits with his friends, which h 
enjoyed greatly. His affections were lively. His ter 
perament was cheerful, almost buoyant. He rarely su 
fered from low spirits. There was in him nothing of th 
ascetic. He enjoyed, with a keen relish, study, wor 1 
prayer, and efforts to do good. These were the pastim 
and pleasure of his college vacations. 

It was a joyful meeting, when he met his mother for th 
first time, a member of college, a member of the churc" 
and, as he hoped, a member of the family of God. He 
last words at parting, when he left for Hartford, were 
" The next time I hear from you, Henry, I hope to he 
that you are converted." The very first letter she 
received from him at college, began with the joyfi 
announcement : * Mother, I hope I am converted." An 

*J. D. Poland, of North Brookfield, who died shortly after leaving t 
Theological Seminary at Andover, at the age of 24. 



VACATIONS 



55 



when they met after a separation of eight months, there 
was a new bond of synrpathy between them, and a gush 
of unwonted love and joy. " What a meeting I had with 
my mother ! I burst into tears ; but they were tears of 
joy. Both bound to heaven now — how glorious the 
thought ! But a father to be left ? Must it be ? Fer- 
vent are my prayers for his conversion ; and I pray God 
for wisdom to direct me in speaking to him on personal 
religion." This first entry in his diary, April 23, 1846, is 
the key-note to the entire vacation. He had written let- 
ters again and again to his father, to his sisters, to his 
unconverted friends and acquaintance, almost from the 
day of his own conversion. It was some weeks, however, 
before he could make up his mind to write to his father. 
The letter lies before me. It is modest, deferential, filial, 
yet decided and faithful. It was followed by others, some 
arguing at length the fundamental doctrines of religion, 
but all full of expressions of filial love, gratitude, and 
sympathy with the present trials, as well as anxiety for 
the future prospects of an honored but unbelieving 
parent. Such, doubtless, were the tone and temper of the 
letters he wrote at this time to other irreligious friends. 
And now he availed himself of the first opportunity to 
follow up his letters by personal exhortations to a religious 
life. He conversed respectfully and affectionately with 
his father. He took the younger children on his lap, and 
talked to them of Jesus. He pressed the subject of per- 
sonal religion upon the attention of the older members 
of the family, and upon the companions of his youth, by 
conversation or by letter, according as they were present 
or absent. And he had the happiness of knowing, sooner 
or later, that his faithfulness was not in vain. He read 
to his mother, sawed or split wood, and made himself gen- 
erally useful in the family. He distributed tracts, and 
attended religious meetings. He delivered lectures and 
addresses on temperance and education. Sometimes he 



56 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



sold books and periodicals to replenish his funds. More 
frequently he taught school, a district school, high school 
or academy, as he found opportunity. He taught five 
quarters during his four years' college course. If nothing 
else furnished sufficient occupation for his incessantly 
active mind, he engaged in the study of medicine. Thus 
were his vacations, like his term time, a scene of almos 
uninterrupted labor for his own improvement or for the 
comfort and well-being of others. 

His love of reading and study, and his affectionate 
attachment to home and friends, both made him shrink 
from teaching in vacation. But the necessity was laid 
upon him, and he made of it a virtue and a means of use 
fulness. "All are preparing to be off," he writes in his 
diary, at the end of his first term in college. Oh, with 
what exuberance of delight Freshmen hurry home at the 
close of their first college term ; and how keenly must 
our young friend have felt the contrast ! " All are prepar- 
ing to be off. But I must go and work in the school- 
house till next term, and six weeks more ! But I thank 
my Master that I can there do some good." He taught at 
this time the district school at South Amherst. And 
never, while memory lasts, will the good people of South 
Amherst forget that winter school, and the young Fresh- 
man that taught it. They remember him as an able, suc- 
cessful, devoted, and beloved teacher. But they think and 
speak of him chiefly as a real Christian, who said what he 
believed, and did as he said; who lived religion, and 
longed to see it embraced and exemplified by all around 
him. He made his lessons the vehicle of moral and reli- 
gious instruction. He gave occasional lectures on anatomy 
or some other science, and thus led the thoughts of his 
pupils up to their Maker. In connection with the morn- 
ing or evening prayer, he sometimes addressed the whole 
school more directly on their religious duties. He con- 
versed privately with individual pupils ; or, if that method 



TEACHING. 



57 



promised a better result, wrote them notes chiefly of a 
religious nature. In some cases these notes were 
repeated, and even continued in after years. The writer 
has before him a series of such letters, addressed to a 
favorite pupil ; and wherever they may begin, they all end 
with pressing, in various ways, the subject of experimental 
religion. He attended the social gatherings and the sew- 
ing circles of the parish ; and while entering with all the 
warmth and liveliness of his social nature — a liveliness 
which he sometimes condemned as excessive — into their 
social enjoyments, he always contrived to insinuate more 
or less of Christian influence. He took part in the Sun- 
day School, and the religious meetings, and thus extended 
his influence to all ages and classes of the people. Years 
afterwards, when Dr. Lobdell had already gone to his rest, 
and in another town far away from the scene of his labors, 
the writer fell in with a poor servant woman, who remem- 
bered and blessed him for his Christian fidelity ; it was a 
touching testimony at once to the memory of the dead, 
and to God's faithfulness to his promise — " The righteous 
shall be had in everlasting remembrance." 

The next year, Lobdell taught three quarters in a High 
School in ~New London, Ct. The school was different 
from that at South Amherst, and he stood in a different 
relation to it. He had not the principal charge, though 
he taught the highest branches. But his spirit was the 
same. Next to the perfect understanding of his lessons, 
it was his constant study how he could best win his way 
to the hearts of his pupils, and do them the greatest pos- 
sible good. The following extracts from his journal at 
this time, are not only illustrative of his wisdom and 
fidelity, but may be suggestive to other teachers : " I am 
endeavoring to gain the affections of my pupils, so that I 
can speak to them of eternal things. Oh that I may do 
my duty to them ! " " I try in my school to have my 
efforts all directed to save the souls under my care. 



58 



MEMOIK OF LOBDELL. 



"Would to God I could make them all realize that I wis 

their immortal good, when I am compelled to punis 
them. There is one way in which I frequently try t 
bring home religion to their hearts. If I am compelle 
to inflict punishment on a boy, I often keep him afte 
school, and then tell him of my firm belief in the Bible 
that God will bring me to an account for all that I d 
here, for the very act of punishing him — that he will the 
cause the motives I had in punishing him to appear di 
tinctly before me — and I must be myself punished if I 
have done wrong in punishing him. Often do such 
remarks cause the tear to trickle down the sorrowful 
cheek, and a promise of amendment then taken I often 
find far better than any corporeal punishment. I pray 
God to give me a disposition to do right always." Here, 
too, he was a teacher in the Sunday School, and " often 
took part in religious meetings in a very acceptable man- 
ner " — such is the testimony of Rev. Dr. Edwards, whose 
church he usually attended, and who adds : " he was 
regarded here as a very faithful and industrious teacher, 
and an earnest and devoted Christian." 

While in New London, he narrowly escaped sharing the 
fate of the passengers of the ill-fated Atlantic which, on 
Friday, Nov. 27, 1846, at four in the morning, (the morn- 
ing of the annual thanksgiving,) drifted in a storm upon a 
rock near Fisher's Island, and was totally wrecked. Very 
many of those on board found a watery grave, while the 
rest escaped only through perils and hardships of the 
most appalling nature. Lobdell was detained by an un- 
expected visit from a friend. His associate in the school 
went on board, and was, with difficulty, saved. On Sun- 
day following, some of the dead bodies were carried 
into the Second Congregational Church, and a sermon, 
suited to the solemn occasion, was preached by Rev. Dr. 
McEwen. " 03i! what a day this has been," Lobdell writes 
in his journal: "May the impressions my mind has re- 



MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 



59 



ceived, be abiding as eternity. May I work for God while 
the day lasts. A few more years, and all this will be for- 
gotten by the multitude ; but I pray God I may never 
forget it." On Monday, he wrote letters to some of his 
unconverted friends, and " entreated that they would re- 
ceive them as if coming from the grave." 

At the close of his Senior year, and during his Senior 
vacation, he took the place of a friend of his, who was in 
bad health, as Principal of Hopkins Academy, in Hadley, 
Mass. He was there not quite an entire term. But the 
memory of his consistent piety, his missionary influence, 
and the Christian eloquence at once of his hps and his 
life, is still embalmed in the hearts of many there, though 
the good lady with whom he boarded and who loved him 
almost as a son, while she did not entertain a doubt of his 
sincere piety, could hardly forgive his Methodist mother 
for not having taught him the Assembly's Catechism. 

"While studying medicine in New York city, he found 
a field of truly missionary labor, both among the medical 
students, who were, for the most part, unbelievers, if not 
scoffers, and also among the poorer classes of the inhabi- 
tants, whose ignorance, degradation, vice, and crime, 
deeply affected his heart. The following extracts from 
his journal reveal somewhat of his feelings and his doings 
there: "After the lecture (Nov. 2, 1848,) I walked clown 
Broadway and up Center street, on my way home ; and I 
never have felt so great a call on myself for effort in the 
Christian work as I have to-night. How many thousands 
around my very door are going fast down to hell. And I 
believe it. Believe it ! Oh that this thought may lead 
me to devote every vacant moment to the scattering of 
tracts, to conversing with the poor, to do them good. 
This is my prayer, O God ; and wilt thou help me to do 
much for their eternal well-being." Nov. 14 : " Went 
through the region of 4 The Five Points.' Oh, what a hor- 
rid place! When will the world be purified! These 



GO 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



wretched beings live and die, and never hear of Christ. 
Who shall tell them, or must they perish ? " Saturday, 
Nov. 18: "Have had various talks with individuals this 
week on religion. Indeed, I will not let a day go by with- 
out talking with some on this subject. Find many so 
hardened, that it seems impossible to affect them ; and yet 
none is so inhuman as not, at times, to shed a human tear. 
Oh! may I remember that I leave this land soon for the 
heathen, and there are wretched heathen here." Sunday, 
Nov. 19 : " Talked to prisoners in the City Prison on tem- 
perance. I was called on, and make it a rule never to 
decline. I was glad to have the privilege of telling the 
poor prisoners that there is hope even for them" Sunday, 
Dec. 24 : " Heard this morning an agent of the Sunday 
School Union. Feel much for the West, and if God shall 
not open the way for me to go East, I think I shall go 
West, and try to build up a church, yet not even there 
4 on another man's foundation.' " 

Some of his best friends thought that " the West " Avas 
Lobdell's appropriate sphere. He knew much by experi- 
ence of the life of a colporter and a home missionary. 
While a student in college, he had already preached — it 
was " lay preaching," but none the less powerful for that, 
— wherever and whenever God gave him the opportunity. 
And he had that ready, extemporaneous, and moving elo- 
quence, which would have given him great power over 
the masses at the West. The writer confesses that he 
had doubts whether Lobdell had not mistaken his sphere, 
and pleads guilty to the charge of having queried with 
him on the subject. But he maintained, that all his pow- 
ers and all his experience would find full scope among the 
heathen ; that there was the field for self-denial, there, too, 
for talents, learning, eloquence, and "heroic action;" and, 
what was decisive, the heathen at home might hear the 
gospel if they would, and might, peradventure, come 
under its influence and be saved; but the heathen abroad 



RESOLVES TO BE A MISSIONARY. 



61 



were beyond its reach, and must perish unless it was car- 
ried to them by Christian missionaries. This was a part 
of his creed, fully taught, as he believed, in the Bible ; 
and, like every other part of his creed, it was to him a 
reality. And duty was to him a reality. While his mind 
was balancing the subject, or if at any subsequent time it 
became unsettled, the only question was, What is duty? 
" My prayer is, c Not my will, but thine, O God, be done ! ' 
If I see it my duty to go to China, I know I will not hesi- 
tate an instant. But I fear my vision will be blinded. 
Oh that the shining honors and transient glitter of this 
land may not deceive me. May I reject them all, if neces- 
sary, and cling to the cross of Christ." 

It was in the summer of 1846, in his Freshman year, 
that his attention seems to have been first called to the 
subject, as a personal matter, by hearing Rev. Mr. Bur- 
gess, of the Mahratta Mission, in the college chapel. His 
prompt response, recorded in his diary, was : " I will go, 
if I can see it to be my duty." About a month later, he 
listened to a stirring appeal from Rev. Dr. Scudder, of 
Ceylon, and was greatly moved. He went to his room, 
not to study, but to pray. It was a special subject of 
prayer through the week ; and then, being asked by a 
class-mate if he was willing to be a missionary, he said, 
" Yes, and I think I shall be ; " and asking in turn the 
same question, heard, with great pleasure, a like res]3onse 
from him. In June, 1847, the attention of these two 
young men was particularly called to China by one of 
the Tutors ; and in August of the same year, we find them 
formally devoting themselves to missionary labor in that 
field, should Providence permit, and solemnly sealing the 
engagement with their own hand and seal. The resolu- 
tions, adopted after much prayer and meditation, are as 
follows : 

" Bought with the blood of Christ, we feel it not only 
our duty, but our highest privilege, to consecrate all we 
6 " 



62 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



are, and have, and hope to be, to the service of God, who 
in his infinite love has redeemed us. And that our com- 
ing consecration may be joyfully made, and, in prospect, 
exert a beneficial influence on our lives, 

"Resolved, 1. That in obedience to the command of 
our Saviour — 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature,' and in view of the condition of 
millions of perishing heathen, we, bidding adieu to our 
friends and our native land, will seek China as our field 
of labor, unless God in his providence shall otherwise 
direct. 

" Resolved, 2. That in all our future life and study, un- 
influenced by college and seminary honors, except so far 
as is consistent with Christian character, we will strive 
to cultivate a missionary spirit. 

" Resolved, 3. That in view of our intended departure 
from our Christian home — our beloved country — we 
will seek and improve every opportunity for confirming 
our brethren in the Christian faith, and warning the im- 
penitent, esjoecially our relatives and friends, of their 
danger. 

" Resolved, 4. That in our mutual intercourse, we will 
ever exercise a spirit of forbearance and love, will kindly 
admonish each other of our faults, and, hand in hand, with 
firm faith in God, will press on in our Christian course, 
till we enter heaven. 

" To these resolutions, in humble dependence on God 
for sinyport and direction, we will, by his aid, firmly ad- 
here. May God bless us in our efforts, for Christ's sake." 

In the course of a few months, they had the happiness 
of numbering others, whom they loved as classmates and 
friends, in their little missionary band. Not all of them 
persevered in their intention. Not all of them were per- 
mitted to fulfill the desire of their hearts. One of them 
we have already mentioned as early transferred to a bet- 
ter world. Lobdell never swerved from his purpose, and 



LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. 



63 



never regretted his decision, early in his college course, to 
become a missionary. Facts show that few college gradu- 
ates ever stand on heathen shores, unless they do dedicate 
themselves to the work while members of college. That 
is the forming period in a young man's life ; and what a 
professedly pious young man is in his standard of piety 
and in his governing purpose when he leaves college, that 
he ordinarily continues to be through his professional 
studies and his public life. Lobdell felt and rejoiced in 
the happy influence of the decision from the day when it 
was made. It not only afforded him rest and peace — it 
shaped his reading and study. It set before him a high 
standard of Christian character and conduct. It gave 
him an object to live for which enlarged his views, enno- 
bled his aims, and inspired his soul with something of its 
own grandeur and loftiness. 

The materials of this chapter have been drawn chiefly 
from the journal. The reader would perhaps like to see 
a letter bearing his college "image and superscription." 
The following may serve as a specimen. It was written 
to his mother in his Junior year : 

Amherst College, Sept. 6, 1848. 
Dear Mother : — I am sorry not to have been able to 
comply with your request " to write soon." But now I 
will do as well as possible to supply you with a short ac- 
count of what has transpired with and around me thus 
far this term. 

It has been a very pleasant term to me, though our 
class has been obliged to study very hard. In fact, this is 
the place to work, any time ; and were it not for a long 
vacation now and then, we students could stand such 
severe study but a few years. Some, however, might 
live to the age of Methusaleh, so far as hard study has 
any thing to do with regulating the length of life, for they 
stay here to enjoy themselves and get their A.B., careless 
about the claims of an ignorant world. You will believe 



64 



MEMOIR OE LOBDELL. 



I am not one of this character ; and ray thin cheeks may 
tend to confirm your opinion, when you see them again. 
But though hard work does make a bone or two stick out 
a little here and there, it is delightful to look into the 
causes of things, and learn the history and development 
of man. I would not give up this enrploynient for all the 
mere gold of a world. It seems evident to me, that I am 
training up my spirit for eternity, and Mammon is not 
there a god. 

My health has been very good, as usual, since I left 
home, and with the exception of a headache once in a 
while, I have been perfectly well. And what is more im- 
portant, I trust that my progress in spiritual knowledge 
and health is greater than it has ever been before. 

Every day serves to confirm me in my views of religion. 
Those doubts, which so long haunted me, are dissolving 
away before the light of truth, and soon doubtless it will 
be my delight to rest firm on God's promises for ever. 
Yes, I would do this now. How many are his exhibitions 
of goodness and mercy to us ! To-day the President has 
given us two fine sermons, well adapted for a fast-day, 
on Prayer and Providence. I wish father could have lis- 
tened to them. He went down into the bottom of the 
subject, and showed conclusively that God hears prayer 
and exerts a special providence ; and this too, not only 
from the Bible, but, what to some is more convincing, 
from philosophy itself. The fact is, if men knew more, 
they would have less hesitation in believing and obeying 
God. A little learning is indeed dangerous; for how 
many are deluded and lost by a faint glimmering of light, 
when the full sun would have disclosed to them the won- 
drous power and mercy of a redeeming Saviour. 

There has been something of a revival here this winter. 
Quite a number have been converted, and there is still 
some interest. Some pious parents, who have long prayed 
for the conversion of their sons, have rejoiced to know 
that they have prevailed with God. Some holy souls have 



SAVING SOULS. 



65 



rejoiced to see these sinners returning to their only Re- 
deemer. 

What a change this conversion is ! How different one's 
views before and after conversion ! The world — a dying 
world — then calls aloud for the knowledge of a Saviour's 
love, and the converted heart feels like listening to and 
obeying the call. His life is given up to his Master ; and 
it matters little to him whether it be spent amid the ice 
of Greenland, the hot sands of Africa, the barbarians of 
India, or where knowledge and peace are spread wide and 
universal. Yet he does often feel as though the bright 
land of New England is too good for him ; that the cries 
of the dying heathen should be answered ; that Christ's 
command, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gos- 
pel to every creature," should be obeyed. And this is 
natural, for what would he not give for the knowledge of 
Jesus, far away amid the darkness of pagan superstition 
and idolatry? He feels that those immortal souls are 
living for eternal woe, if he give them not the gospel. 
Hence the reason why so many converts in colleges go 
and proclaim to such the everlasting truth of God. And 
it is a noble work ! 

Yes, mother, this business of saving souls is a great 
business ; and are you at all times living so that you can feel 
this truth ? Let us remember to pray and faint not, for 
our end is at hand. Yes, soon shall we wing our way to 
our Father's bosom ; and when we remember this, let it 
encourage us to do our duty while we stay; for then 
great shall be our reward. Be careful, mother, of your 
example and influence. I received a letter from H. a few 
days ago, and I hope she will live devoted to God. I hope 
to see and talk with you all soon. Tell the children 
to read the Bible a little before I come home, or they 
may find it hard to answer some questions which may be 
asked them. God be with you. 

Yours, with affection, 
6* Henry. 



CHAPTER V. 



Professional Studies — Inducements to delay — Medical and Theological Stud- 
ies at New Haven — Freedom of Thought and Speech — Medical Diploma — 
At Auburn — Severe Mental Conflict — Extracts from Diary — Peace in Be- 
lieving— Danbury Institute — Marriage — Translation of Prof. DeFelices' 
History of the Protestants of France — Establishment of the Second Congre- 
gational Church in Danbury — Letter to its Members — Offers himself to the 
service of the American Board — Preference for China — Willingness to go to 
Mosul — Residence at Andover — Attendance on Hospital Practice in New- 
York— Various Other Engagements — Warns his Brother against Similar 
Haste. 

Numerous and inviting are the avenues to honor and 
profit which open before a young man, who leaves one of 
our American colleges with a reputation for superior tal- 
ents and distinguished scholarship. So far from being 
under the necessity, like those who have finished the aca- 
demic course in one of the Universities of Great Britain, 
or on the Continent, of pursuing professional studies for a 
definite number of years afterwards, and then of waiting, 
perhaps a still longer time, for some incumbent to die be- 
fore he can obtain a situation, there are only too many 
opportunities, real or fancied, of immediate wealth and 
distinction, which throng around him to allure him from 
the path of self-denying duty, or at least to turn him 
aside from the course of severe discipline and thorough 
preparation by some shorter road to the summit of influ- 
ence and usefulness, on which his eye is fixed. It is not 
strange that many ambitious youth, who have struggled 
on through years of poverty, yield to such temptations. 
They would have had strong attractions, not to say an 
irresistible power, over a person constituted and situated 
as Lobdell was when he left college, if his heart had not 



PROFESSIONAL STUDIES AT NEW HAVEN. 



67 



been touched by the grace of God, and made true to his 
will, as the needle to the magnetic pole. Thus, drawn by 
higher attractions, he felt no disposition to turn aside from 
the great work to which he had devoted his life. He 
was somewhat tempted to delay, for a year or more, his 
professional studies. He was solicited to take the charge 
of a High School, with a large salary. He was urged to 
become a tutor in Williston Seminary, where, though 
the emoluments would have been less, the honors and 
pleasures would have been greater. But he was eager to 
be in the field which he had chosen and which Providence 
seemed to have been marking out for him from the very 
commencement of his medical studies, long before he ever 
thought of being a missionary or a minister — the field of 
medico-ministerial missionary labor ; and he decided to en- 
ter at once upon the preparation. A few weeks spent in 
visiting his friends, (with the usual accompaniment of tem- 
perance addresses and religious labors,) and in preparing 
and sending some of his best college essays to the Knicker- 
bocker* and other magazines (thus gathering up the frag- 
ments that nothing might be lost) — having in the mean 
time attended also, and enjoyed, as a hungry man enjoys 
delicious food, the meeting of the American Board at Pitts- 
field — after a few weeks thus spent, we find him about 
the middle of October, 1849, in New Haven, with two 
strings to his bow as usual, and both stretched to their 
utmost tension, attending the full course of medical lec- 
tures, and, at the same time, studying Hebrew with Prof. 
Gibbs, and Theology with Dr. Taylor, besides stealing now 
and then a lecture from Prof. Silliman, or some other pro- 
fessor whom he particularly desired to hear. "Every 
thing seems to stimulate to effort here," he writes. " Li- 
braries open their huge tomes to the student. Professors 

*The Essay which appeared in the Knickerbocker, (Sept. 1849,) was on " The 
Times and Poetry of Chaucer." It led to an interview with the editor, and a 
Cordial invitation to become a stated contributor. 



68 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



are about, thick as locusts, though differing from the 
Egyptian kind, inasmuch as they nourish, and do not 
devour." " It makes one feel that ' some things can be 
done as well as others.' I hoj)e to be able to work, and 
to have all my energies consecrated to the service of God. 
Be it my prayer to toil only for God and good." The 
peculiar ethical and theological philosophy of Dr. Taylor 
could not but engage his attention. " Dr. Bushnell's 
Views " also " perplexed " him " considerably." He did 
not become a partisan for or against either of them. But 
he was a strenuous advocate for the utmost freedom of 
thinking and printing. " It does seem as if the Avars be- 
tween Old School and New School have been as savage, 
almost, as the fires "of the Inquisition." " Free thought 
and fair and honest criticism are the only safeguards from 
a persecuting mob. Let us have these, and truth will be 
found. But so long as a man is afraid to open his mouth, 
if he cannot think exactly as the Fathers did, there must, 
of necessity, be a stand-still in theology." 

But neither theology nor medicine so engrossed his 
thoughts but that he was ever ready to press home upon 
his fellow-students, personally, the great truths and duties 
of religion — upon the medical students the truth of 
Christianity, and upon the theological, the duty of preach- 
ing the gospel to every creature. And he was never so 
exhausted by the labors of the week, but that when Sun- 
day came, he was glad to go and teach a class in the 
County "Jail." On the 17th of January, 1850, he was 
examined and received his diploma, as Doctor of Medi- 
cine ; and on the same day took leave of his theological 
teachers and other friends in New Haven, from whom he 
parted, as they did from him, with sincere regret and 
affect ion. 

But friends of an earlier date — the friends of his boy- 
hood and his college life — called him to Auburn ; and 
when his medical studies were finished, in accordance with 



AT AUBURN. 



69 



a previous promise and plan, he obeyed the call ; and, 
after a flying visit to his relatives in Fairfield County, 
(made two days longer than it otherwise would have been 
for the sole purpose of " preaching the Lamb of God, the 
Saviour of sinners, at the Iron Works School House, on 
Sunday evening,") we find him at Auburn, rooming with 
one of those friends, sleeping with another, and already 
engaged in the study of theology. 

It is not unfrequently the case that the first year in the 
Theological Seminary is marked by severe mental con- 
flicts. The student now, for the first time, perhaps, 
encounters in their full strength the objections that have 
been urged against the books and the doctrines of the 
Christian Revelation. Or, if these objections are already 
familiar, they come back upon him with renewed and com- 
bined power now, when it is his business to look them in 
the face, to grapple with them hand to hand, and conquer 
them, if possible, not for himself only, but for those he 
may be called to teach the truths of religion. Sometimes 
it seems as if the very heavens over his head would fall, 
and the solid earth be removed and cast into the midst of 
the sea. The process, though painful, is needful and 
wholesome to the soul. Without it, the student in theol- 
ogy never could have seen so clearly how deep and solid 
the foundations of Christian truth are, nor would he ever 
have appreciated so highly the unspeakable value of his 
faith and hope in Christ. 

Such a conflict is the most marked feature of Dr. Lob- 
deli's history in the Theological Seminary at Auburn. 
His doubts, however, concerned not so much the evidences 
of Christianity and the divine authority of the Scriptures, 
f >r these points were immovably established in that great 
conflict which preceded his conversion; but his chief diffi- 
culties now respected the person of the Redeemer, the 
ULiiurs of the atonement, and the eternity of future pun- 
Lsliinjiit. His diary tells the Avhole story; indeed, for 



70 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



many weeks it scarcely tells any thing else. Cries of an- 
guish are extorted from him, as he wrestles with his own 
spirit ; and the reader, who is permitted to look in upon 
the struggle, can not but be moved to sympathy and com- 
passion, though he foresees the happy issue. The follow- 
ing extracts will afford some glimpses of the workings of 
his mind : 

Feb. 15, 1850. "Reading Letters to a Trinitarian, by 
George Bush. Much troubled in mind. Oh for divine 
light ! " 

17, Sunday. " Am resolved not to investigate abstruse 
and disputed points in theology any more, when I am not 
in a state of mind that rests filially on God. I must live 
near to him, or I can not come to ttie truth as it is in Jesus. 
Oh how my mind is working on these difficulties! It can 
not be satisfied. I pray for divine guidance. Life is short ; 
I must be in earnest. I hope never to discuss religious 
propositions for the sake of mere discussion ; and always 
to acknowledge being beaten when I see my defeat." 

20. " My mind is harassed with doubts ; and, O my 
God, shall I ever see the truth ? I would fly to it, as the 
dove did to the peaks of Ararat, could I discern the rock 
amid the waves. God has not given a revelation to man 
which all his efforts are unable to comprehend, especially in 
its most vital points. No, I may be blind that I do not see 
the truths of the Word as they are, yet I do feel that I 
want to do so. I can not sympathize with some notions 
prevalent now in the Orthodox churches, more than I can 
with some of the tenets of the Unitarians. But if hard 
work will enable me to discover the real truth, I will find 
it ; and, by the grace of God, I will follow it. I must 
read the Word more, and for the present make it my 
chief business to settle the foundations of my faith." 

21. " Think I have found a demonstration of the falsity 
of the Swedenborgian doctrine of the Incarnation in 
physiology. I shall write to Prof. Bush to-day about it, 
as he professes to be open to conviction." 



MENTAL CONFLICT. 



71 



23. " Last night, as I heard of my brother's conversion, 
I could but j^raise God from the heart ; for I am sure such 
a change always effects good. Oh that I could see the 
real will of God concerning me ! I am willing to do any 
thing — to be any thing — even to go to the gallows for 
the truth's sake. But what is truth ? . . . This idea, 
that Christ is but a manifestation of Jehovah, seems to 
darken my way in prayer. I read the Bible most dili- 
gently ; for here I must stand or fall. Of its credibility 
and consequent authority, I have no doubt ; but how shall 
it be interpreted ? " 

24, Sunday. "I was affected in teaching my class in 
prison. Oh for the spirit of love and devotion ! " 

28, Fast for Colleges. " Skepticism is poisoning my 
piety. God save, or I perish ! I would do any thing to 
come to the truth. I was much affected this morning in 
reading the declaration of the Saviour, that man must be 
'born again.' Christianity either makes known eternal 
flames, or its mission has been vastly mistaken by men. I 
can sympathize with heart-felt prayer, for my very soul 
declares that this is acceptable to God." 

March 1. "Dr. Bushnell's writings have caused me 
many an hour of doubt and trouble. I can but feel that 
his views detract from the true glory of Christ, as ' the 
sent of God.' But I honor him for publishing them, if he 
thought them truth. And did he not ? " 

4. "The missionary meeting this morning was very 
interesting. It does seem if a man prepared to preach 
believes the heathen are going to an eternal hell, he can 
not refuse to offer himself to God, hoping to go to them 
with the glad tidings of salvation. Oh how much unbe- 
lief there is among Christians ! And this, more than 
almost any thing else, makes me doubt some of the cardi- 
nal truths. This evening, at our meeting, I urged several 
brethren to go on a foreign mission ; but they could not 
see it their duty." 



72 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



5. "I am giving much attention to the Bible, deter- 
mined to make my faith rest implicitly on its teachings ; 
for it is truth. . . . To-day went forth with tracts for 
the people." (He had given up tract distribution, when 
his mental conflict was at its height. Pie is now mani- 
festly working his way out.) " This is a good work for 
the soul. Would that Christians generally wore more 
engaged in tract distribution." 

9. " This is a lovely morning ; all is beautiful without, 
and in my own soul^ I feel a peace unusual. My life I 
devote once more to the service of God and man in 
solemn consecration. I feel more and more the necessity 
of a high-toned spirituality in order to avoid the reception 
of error in my struggles after truth. I suppose my educa- 
tion in early life has made my mind what it is. And yet, 
as in the study of a language, there must at first be diffi- 
cult points, may it not be thus in theology ? Day will 
soon begin to dawn. Thus I hope." 

10, Sunday. " How much I do owe to Jesus ! Begone 
all skepticism and all doubt ! I will try to live the Chris- 
tian life, whether evangelical Christianity be truth or a 
fable. So help me God. This alone satisfies the cravings 
of my immortal nature, and this is the highest demonstra- 
tion of its credibility. Oh that from this hour I may be 
humble and self-denying! All I have my Heavenly 
Father has given me ; all I have to him be consecrate. I 
hope to begin my morrow's labors with a heart of deep 
love to God and man." 

The biographer of the late lamented Dr. Arnold re- 
marks, that "Arnold's doubts were better than most 
men's certainties." Do not the above extracts manifest a 
desire to know the truth, and a determination to follow it, 
though it should lead to the stake ; do they not breathe a 
spirit of truth and of love — love to Christ, love to man, 
and love to God — which is far more Christian than a 
dogmatic and uncharitable orthodoxy, though it be of the 



THE VICTORY. 



73 



straitest sect ? And when such a mind does settle down 
upon the great evangelical doctrines of the gospel, and 
find rest and -peace on that firm foundation, its testimony 
is of some value, as the testimony of undoubted honesty 
and thorough experience. It will be seen, however, that 
Dr. Lobdell did not gain the victory by battling directly 
with doubts and difficulties. He studied the Word of 
God, with earnest prayer for divine guidance ; he inter- 
preted that Word according to the common laws of inter- 
pretation; he found in it the doctrines of evangelical 
Christianity ; he saw their truth, not so much by the eye of 
reason, as by the eye of faith and spiritual intuition ; his 
whole soul felt that they were true, because they met his 
own wants, and corresponded with his own experience un- 
der the teaching and illumination of the Holy Spirit. And 
it is in some such way as this, that doubting minds, which 
are anxious to know the truth, usually find relief. 

Scarcely had Dr. Lobdell settled these questions, involv- 
ing, as he felt, the very life of his soul — settled them at 
least so far as to find peace in believing — when he was 
unexpectedly called to decide another question, which, he 
could not but think, had an important bearing on the 
whole course of his present life. He was invited and 
urged to take charge of the Danbury Institute, a board- 
ing school for boys, which was already in successful opera- 
tion, and promised an ample pecuniary return. By taking 
it, he flattered himself he could pay off all his debts, 
which, owing to the death of an uncle of whom he had 
borrowed money, were, just at this time, pressing hard 
upon him, provide a surplus sufficient to carry him com- 
fortably through his professional studies, and relieve 
him, for the remainder of his stay in this country, 
from those embarrassments which had hitherto harassed 
him more or less all his days. Besides, he could educate, 
to a considerable extent, his younger brother and sisters, 
and, in this and other ways, pay a debt he owed to those 
7 



74 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



parents, who, though unable to do for him what they 
would, had never failed to do what they could for Ms edu- 
cation, and who felt that in giving him up to the mission- 
ary service, they were going to lose the prop of their 
declining years. lie would like, also, to do something 
more for education and religion in his native town and 
county, before he went to a foreign land. At the same 
time, he thought the school itself would afford him at 
once an inviting field of present usefulness, and not a bad 
preparation for the practical duties of the missionary 
work. 

Another consideration had weight with him — we will 
not say how much weight ; perhaps some of our readers 
will think it turned the scales. As long ago as when he 
was a boy, on the farm in Reading, he had a school-mate, 
whose bright face, active mind, warm heart, and winning 
Avays, made an impression on him, which no change of 
place, no lapse of time, no vicissitude of life, ever effaced. 
This school-mate of his early boyhood was to be the 
friend of his youth, and the companion of his riper years. 
We have seen him writing letters to her in Greek, Latin, 
French and English, while engaged in his preparatory 
studies. These letters were continued when he was 
better able to write in a foreign language, but probably 
less disposed to display his learning. Her name appears 
on the first page of his first journal ; and it appears, also, 
on the last page of his last. Her Christian life commenced 
? about the same time as his. His consecration to the life 
of a missionary met from her a ready response. One 
motive which influenced him to take his first course of 
medical lectures in New York, was a desire to afford her 
better advantages for mental culture. She was doubtless 
satisfied with her instruction — she studied chiefly with 
him. This was her college course. And she was destined 
to pursue her professional studies, if we may so call them, 
under the same accomplished teacher. The invitation to 



• 



MARRIAGE, 



75 



the Boarding School in Danbury, which was the property 
of a mutual friend of theirs, and in which she was already 
an assistant teacher, was accompanied by a suggestion 
that he should be married. This seemed essential to 
the plan. After much consultation and deliberation, he 
decided to undertake the enterprise. It involved the 
sundering of old ties, as well as the forming of new ones. 
He had to tear himself away from friends scarcely less 
dear than those to whom he was to join himself. Some 
of his friends at Auburn feared, some of those at Danbury 
hoped, that it would be the end at once of his theological 
studies, and of his missionary plans and purposes ; " but 
they little know," he writes, " the strength of our attach- 
ment to the cause of the heathen." He was obliged to 
break away from studies which were endeared to him by 
the very struggle they had cost him, as well as by the 
promise they now gave of shining, like the rising sun, 
with increasing light " unto the perfect day ; " but he 
hoped to resume them at some future time, free from 
pecuniary embarrassments, and under more favorable 
circumstances. 

He left Auburn on the 20th of March. On the 9th of 
April, 1850, he was married in Ridgefield, Fairfield 
County, Ct., to Miss Lucy Williams, of whom, as she still 
lives, it is enough to say that with congenial tastes and 
views, she possessed other qualities that were unlike and 
compensatory to those of her husband, and that nature, 
providence and grace, had fitted her to be the companion 
and help-meet of Dr. Lobdell. Born in the same " hill 
country," and in a like humble lot, taught early in the 
same common schools, and living ever after in the constant 
interchange of kind wishes and good deeds, with a process 
of mutual influence and assimilation going on continually 
between them — like the two rivers of Mesopotamia, 
whose banks were to be the scene of their future labors, 
whose sources gush forth from the same mountain range, 



76 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



and whose streams, for hundreds of miles, flow on almost 
side by side through the same broad valley, with innumer- 
able channels of inter-communication between thern — so 
these two lives, after flowing on for years in separate yet 
parallel and connected streams, were henceforth to be 
united in one ; but alas, like those same rivers, through 
how short a distance ! 

The Boarding School opened auspiciously soon after the 
marriage. He continued in it a year and a quarter, giving 
good satisfaction to his patrons and to the community, 
realizing in considerable measure, though not fully, the 
solid advantages he had anticipated for himself, and mov- 
ing on with constantly accelerated velocity in the wear 
and tear and work of life. He was too busy at this period 
to write a journal. He wrote few letters but those of 
business and necessity. We have, therefore, compara- 
tively few records of this portion of his life. 

A circular, issued at the close of his first year, contains 
some rather characteristic ideas touching the government 
and education of boys, and exhibits, incidentally, some of 
the results of his experience : " It is considered a primary 
object to educate boys to depend on themselves for the J 
attainment of what they undertake, and to enter upon 
their chosen employment under a full persuasion that of 
those who fear God, not one in a thousand need fail of 
success in judiciously chosen pursuits." 

" Those who endeavor to do well, should always be 
permitted to feel that they are approved, and that they 
enjoy the confidence and esteem of their preceptor and 
friends, in proportion to the faithfulness of the effort, 
rather than the extent of their attainment; and to feel 
that there is a reward in the consciousness of doing right." 

" Those persons are now boys who are soon to take the 
possession of this country, and to control the destiny of 
the world. There is, therefore, no more honorable and im- 
portant occupation than that of their teacher. It is always 



PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 



77 



our custom to treat pupils with that respect and considera- 
tion which is due to the stations they are expected to fill. 
Thus they learn to respect themselves, and form the design 
of fulfilling their own hopes, and the just expectations of 
their friends. This will furnish the best discipline, both 
of the mind and manners." 

" In the course of a long experience, it has been found 
that some who suffered under the reputation of being bad 
boys, were entirely misunderstood. In all such cases 
committed to our care, it has been found that, without any 
special effort with them, they have become, at once, prom- 
inent among the best in the school. It would be a very 
remarkable case, if a boy had no good qualities. A skillful 
teacher will discover these ; and with this hint he can not 
well mistake the proper treatment. No really vicious or 
incorrigible boy can be retained under any pretext what- 
ever." 

"Young persons should be educated in the world in 
which they are expected to live, and should be prepared 
for the dangers they must encounter. It is not sufficient 
to place them alone upon a mountain top, whence they 
may discover the world and its dangers at a distance, 
with the aid of a telescope. While they are carefully 
shielded from contagion, they should be surrounded by 
pleasant circumstances, and enjoy the wholesome influence 
of good examples." 

"The study of the Holy Scriptures and religious in- 
struction are daily attended to." 

Besides the care of the school, and his usual activity in 
the cause of temperance and the salvation of men, there 
were two enterprises, of a public nature, which, we know, 
occupied not a little of his time and thoughts, during his 
connection with the Danbury Institute. 

The first was a translation of a large octavo volume 
from the French. The following letter, in which he 
acquaints his friend with the work in which he was already 
7* 



78 



MEMOIR OF" LOBDELL. 



engaged, will suffice, also, for the information of the 
reader. The surgical operation mentioned at the begin- 
ning also illustrates the variety of his engagements at 
this time : 

Danbury, Jan. 7th, 1851. 

My ever dear J. : — To be plain with you, I am tre- 
mendously hurried. This was doubtless the cause of my 
being taken sick a few weeks ago. . . . On Sunday, I 
assisted Dr. Bennett in taking off the arm of a woman at 
the shoulder joint ; a thing never done but once before in 
this State, I believe. She had the same trouble with 
which I was threatened. It is not, however, epidemic. 
It was a terrible operation ; she seemed to be dying dur- 
ing the process — Dr. Knight's patient did die — but ours 
revived, contrary to the expectations of all of us. 

As to business, I am at work upon a translation of G. 
de F.'s — the Observer correspondent — Histoire des Pro- 
testants de France, a volume of six hundred and fifty 
octavo pages: and my printer demands of me about 
twenty pages daily. Oh ! how it pushes ; but I think I 
shall get through it. He stereotypes the book, and gives 
me so much a cojdv. I have finished about two hundred 
pages — hope to finish it in a month. I did intend to put 
in fifty pages of notes ; but I have hardly time to prepare 
them. Monsieur de Felice is Professor in the French 
Protestant Seminary, at Montauban. Monsieur L. Pilate 
has given me a flattering account of him. More anon. 
Now do excuse me ; I was up at three this morning. 
Look out, J. ; do n't do too much. We must both be care- 
ful. I would love to be with you. 

Yours affectionately, 

H. LOBDELL. 

P. S. Written at recess. Please excuse, &c. 

The book was well received. It is before the public, 
and will speak for itself. 



SECOND CHURCH IN D ANBURY. 



79 



The other enterprise above referred to was the estab- 
lishment of the Second Congregational Church in Danbury, 
in whose origin he felt a deep interest, and took an active 
and prominent part. The old Congregational Church 
and society there was large, wealthy, and almost entirely 
supported by an ample fund. The consequence need not 
be told. Dr. Lobdell thought it in imminent danger of 
dying by plethora, and of course recommended bleeding, 
in other words, colonization. Of course all the doctors — 
(and there are many who deem themselves competent to 
prescribe in such a case) — did not agree; and a pretty 
severe conflict was the result. But there can be but one 
opinion as to the motives of Dr. Lobdell. His sole object 
was to promote the cause of Christ by making, if possible, 
two working churches instead of one that was sitting at 
ease — at all events, by establishing one truly missionary 
church, who should esteem personal efforts for the salva- 
tion of souls and for the conversion of the world, their 
great life-work. 

The following letter, sent back to the church from his 
missionary station, lets us look into the very depths of his 
heart. Would that it could be read to every church in 
our land ! 

Mosul, March 2d, 1854. 
To the Members of the Second Congregational 
Church in Danbury : 

Dear Brethren and Sisters : — It has long been in 
my heart to write you a note expressive of my deep inter- 
est in you as members of the same church with myself ; 
and had I not presumed that you have occasionally listened 
to extracts from my letters to pur dear pastor, I should 
have done so ere now. 

I think I may venture to speak very freely to you, even 
as I used to when among you. You will certainly believe 
that I have no desire but to make Christ more dear to 



80 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



you. He is to me my life, my all. I could not stay in this 
wicked city a single month longer, and be at ease, without 
Christ to dwell with me. Faith in him — a faith working 
by love — is the only support of the soul. I say, a faith 
that works, for all faith that is without works is dead — is 
no faith at all, any more than a corpse is a man. The 
missionary's joy arises from his labors for Christ; not that 
he feels that they are deserving of any thing good, but 
Christ reveals himself to all who try to please him, so 
that labors of love have their ever-present reward. It is 
not striving to secure hereafter the blessedness of heaven, 
that leads him to labor ; it is the consciousness that Jesus 
is pleased with him while he is at work. No Christian 
can be happy unless he makes daily efforts to bless others ; 
taking up the cross is essential to Christian joy. 

And now, my dear friends, I do not wish you to infer 
that I suppose I can labor in Mosul to the glory of God, 
any better than each one of you can in Danbury. Who- 
ever has a heart to do something for human salvation, can 
always find opportunity to do it. And let me ask of you, 
do you all work as earnestly and as faithfully as your 
Lord requires ? " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever 
I command you," says Christ ; and this implies, that un- 
less we make vigorous efforts to fulfill his commandments, 
we cannot be his friends. Christ's command is, that "we 
go into all the world and preach the gospel." Now, my 
dear friends, are you doing all that is required of you in 
this matter? I do not ask if you make pecuniary sacri- 
fices to sustain your church services — this I know you do. 
But I ask you if you engage in those personal labors for 
Christ, which are of more consequence than giving money 
to the Lord ? The silver and the gold are his ; you are 
only his stewards. Your own character is your* — this 
only. Now do you manifest the character of Christ ? Do 
you make it a rule to attend all the exercises of your 
church ? Do you love the prayer meeting ? Do you labor 



LET TEH. 



SI 



in the Sunday School ? Do you go out into the highways 
to bring the people in ? Do you pray, as you ought, for 
the heathen at home and the heathen abroad ? Do you 
love to hear of the work 7 of the Lord, as you love to hear 
news from California or Washington ? Are you enough 
interested in the great moral revolutions now going on in 
Turkey, China and India ? Do you love the monthly con- 
cert, as do the Protestants in Mosul ? They esteem it a 
great favor to hear of the progress of the gospel every 
month. They almost invariably attend all our prayer 
meetings ; and though when the church was first organ- 
ized, it was thought a shame by persons outside of the 
church for some of them to pray publicly, they are all 
ready to pray, when asked, and at all proper times. They 
make it their chief business to preach Christ at their 
homes, at their neighbors', in their shops, whenever and 
wherever they may. They are a working church — a sort 
of apostolic set if I may so speak; and I doubt not you 
theoretically agree with me, that this is the sort of Chris- 
tians that is wanted every where. Now you will not 
murmur, if I ask you to make your church apostolic. 
Stand by your pastor, through good, report and through 
evil report, till you have evidence of his unfaithfulness. 
He has made great sacrifices to start and continue your 
enterprise, and you will not doubt his engagedness in the 
work of saving souls.* Oh that I could believe that every 
one of you, in his or her sphere, was as faithful as he ! 
How can you encourage him ? You can be prompt in 
attendance at the church services, especially at meetings 
where it is expected that church members will be — the 
praying circle, the monthly concert. The professed 
Christian that does not love the monthly concert, has lit- 
tle reason to think he is born of God. Do you not think 
the first Christians were always ready to pray for the 
pagans and the Jews — that as they rejoiced to hear of 

*Rev. W. C. Scofield was their first pastor. 



82 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



the conversion of Cornelius and his Gentile brethren, 
(Acts x. and xL) so all Christians, in all times, should 
rejoice to learn what God is doing in all lands for the 
honor of his Son, our Lord ? 

The only reason that led me to unite with others in 
organizing your church was, that it was to be a mission- 
ary enterprise. If I had thought it was to be an ordinary 
church, spiritually dead a good deal of the time, I should 
have been much less earnest. But I know it was organ- 
ized for the glory of God. I know that its first members 
desired only that there might be a working church in 
Banbury; And shall it not be such? Oh! I beg you, 
brethren and sisters, make its interests dear as the apple 
of your eye, for these interests are but the welfare of 
immortal souls, and the well-being of the universe of God. 

I can not tell you now of our work in Mosul. You will 
find its history in the Herald and the Journal of Missions. 
I shall always delight to hear from any of you, and 
• especially to know that myself and mine are not forgotten 
in your prayers. 

Your affectionate brother, 

H. Lobdell. 

In connection with this letter to the church, we can not 
withhold the following extract from a letter to the pastor. 
While it shows his deep interest in the people, it illus- 
trates also his idea of ministerial, as well as Christian 
character and life : 

" Oh, how much Danbury needs a genuine revival of 
God's work ! May your little church be instrumental in 
the conversion of a multitude of souls. May all its mem- 
bers be as earnest as the native Christians of the East — 
every one deeming himself and herself commissioned to 
propagate the gospel. That church will not foil to pros- 
per, in which all the members toil earnestly for God. 
How. much depends upon the hearty cooperation of pastor 



OFFERS HIMSELF TO THE BOARD. 



83 



and people ! My dear brother, be thou faithful unto death, 
and entreat the members of our church to be up and doing 
while the day lasts, for the night cometh. Before this 
reaches you, I have confidence that a great work will have 
taken place in your midst ; for it is true, that God helps 
those who will help themselves, even in spiritual matters. 
The human seems necessary to the divine in this world. 
Let us not attribute any efficiency to ourselves, but make 
our bodies fit temples for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. 
Then God will work through us, and his kingdom come. 
Let not a refreshing from on high be followed by indiffer- 
ence. How soon we shall have done all we have to do ; 
and when our end comes, may we be conscious of having 
labored earnestly for our Heavenly Father." 

The reader will be glad to know, and yet he will hardly 
need be told, that a church established with such motives, 
and under such auspices, though encountering much oppo- 
sition, lives, and thrives, and enjoys frequent revivals of 
religion. It was a pleasant coincidence to the writer, 
when, in response to some inquiries touching the present 
condition of the church, he received answer that it was 
then (Jan., 1858) rejoicing in the most remarkable work 
of God's converting and sanctifying grace which the town 
had ever witnessed. 

As his labors at Danbury drew towards a close, having 
disposed of his interest in the Boarding School to the 
gentleman who during a portion of the time had been his 
partner, he opened a correspondence with the Secreta- 
ries of the American Board, with a view to obtaining 
their advice, rather than with any expectation of offering 
himself immediately to the service of the Board. But 
being informed by them that they were in pressing want 
of three missionary physicians, two in Persia, and one in 
Fuh Chau, China, being advised to make immediate pro- 
posals, he addressed them a letter on the 23d of July, 
1851, offering himself to their acceptance, declaring a 



84 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



preference for Fuh Chau, though submitting himself to 
their disposal, and at the same time expressing his wish 
to remain in the country as long as might consist with the 
interests of the mission, that he might prosecute further 
his theological studies, and also gain some experience as a 
physician and surgeon, in the practice of the hospital. 
This letter was followed by another on the 30th, in which 
he enters into a more detailed account of his personal his- 
tory, religious experience, theological views and desires in 
regird to the missionary work. " These facts," he says, 
after giving an outline of his personal history, " I have 
supposed would be as useful to you in determining what 
to do with me, as any I could state ; and perhaps you can 
judge quite as well of my religious character from seeing 
that my eye has been constantly on the missionary field 
for six years past, amid all my wanderings, as from any 
positive statements with regard to my religious experi- 
ence. However, I would say that my feelings have had 
alternations — some light, some shade — until I have 
learned to trust God entirely, and look steadfastly unto 
Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith. I have for 
two years past enjoyed much communion with God, and 
have realized that he is a Father and a Friend. I know 
that I love the Saviour and his disciples, and that I would 
do every thing for the glory of God. 

u I wish to go on a mission, that I may save souls. I con- 
sider it a self-denying work, and yet I love to think of 
going. I have full faith in the power and determination 
of God to bring this world into a willing obedience to 
himself, and am prepared to labor in faith, whether any 
encouraging results are witnessed in my day or not. I 
know that the hearts of men are 4 desperately wicked,' 
and that they will not be changed but by the grace of 
God. Yet I pray that, as he works by means in the king- 
dom of grace not less than in that of nature, he may use 
me for the promotion of his glory in the earth. 



AXDOVER. 



85 



"I prefer Fuh Chau to any other field, because my heart 
has long been in China ; because I think the climate 
adapted to my own and my wife's constitution ; because I 
think those persons at the mission, as well as two friends 
who hope to go there, are such as I could work with 
j^leasantly and usefully ; and, finally, because the field 
seems to me of so great importance at the present time." 

This preference was overruled by the wishes of the Sec- 
retaries, and the urgent necessities of another field. He 
also yielded his desire to remain in this country, if possi- 
ble, another year. In a letter dated Theological Seminary, 
Andover, Aug. 21, 1851, he says : "After much delibera- 
tion and prayer, I now desire to say to the Secretaries of 
the Board, that I feel entirely willing to leave my destina- 
tion to them. I will go cheerfully to any station whither 
you may desire to send me, and at any time, if it is possi- 
ble for me to get my outfit ready. I have had serious 
objections to leaving the country this autumn, in conse- 
quence of deficient preparation. I yield to your advice, 
and would say, that I am quite willing to go to Mosul." 

The new field, to which he was thus unexpectedly 
assigned, very naturally grew in his esteem and affections, 
until, before he left the country, he almost preferred it to 
his long cherished and much beloved China. 

The brief and uncertain interval of time which re- 
mained before embarkation, was now doubly precious, and 
he was intent upon making the most of it. The first six 
or eight weeks were spent at Andover, in hearing the 
lectures of the different professors, and in studying, 
especially Systematic Theology. Neither journal nor let- 
ters remain to give us a view of his interior life at this 
time. But our readers, who know the place and who 
already know something of the man, will be at no loss to 
imagine the intense mental and spiritual activity and ex- 
citement which must have been awakened in such a mind 
at such a place, where such men teach and are taught ; true 
8 



80 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



steel coming in collision with true flint, and eliciting per- 
petual flashes of intellectual and spiritual light; where, in 
the large and choice library, as in a sacred shrine, (to bor- 
row the language of Bacon,) " all the relics of the ancient 
saints, full of true virtue, and that without delusion or 
imposture, are preserved and reposed ; " where the mental 
and moral atmosphere is as pure and bracing as the 
natural ; and where the very ground is holy, having been 
trodden by the feet and hallowed by the prayers of holy 
men, theologians, scholars, ministers and missionaries, 
many of whom have gone to their reward, and others are 
still toiling for the glory of God and the good of men in 
every quarter of the globe. The professors there, although 
they could have had but a short acquaintance with him, 
remember with interest " his inquisitive spirit, his love of 
truth, and his intense devotion to the great work of his 
life." His room-mate at Andover, (Rev. J. M. Manning, 
of Boston,) says : " He was with me only a few weeks, 
just before the close of my Junior year. Though he 
roomed with me, I saw but very little of him, for he was 
continually on the move. He rushed over the course of 
study there during those few weeks ; then attended the 
meeting of the Board at Portland ; finished the Hospitals 
and the Theological Seminary at New York in a fortnight, 
as you will see by the enclosed letter ; had got ready for 
his voyage by the middle of November, and was waiting 
for orders to sail — meanwhile acting as doctor, preacher, 
and missionary agent. How he managed to do so much 
and do it so well, in so short a time, was always a marvel 
to me." 

The letter above-mentioned, addressed to his friend and 
room-mate, and bearing date Ridgefield, Nov. 17, 1851, 
will fill out sufficiently the outline of his subsequent 
labors nearly up to the time of his embarkation : " I have 
been preaching almost every Sabbath, (and sometimes 
during the week,) since I left Portland, and was in New 



NEW YORK. 



87 



York a fortnight, attending the City and Bellevue Hos- 
pitals, and seeing what practice I could at the Dispensaries 
and the Eye Infirmary. Since I came to this place, I have 
had more cutting and prescribing and acting as accoucher 
to do than eA^er before fell to my lot — probably in conse- 
quence of the circulation of the report that I am ' fresh 
from a New York hospital.' 

" I heard all the professors lecture at the Union Theo- 
logical Seminary, and am well satisfied that the Junior 
and Senior years must be good there. How much pleas- 
ure it would have given me to spend another year in 
theological study ; but I have work to do elsewhere. I 
trust that I can make myself useful with my knife and 
gospel milk, at least. 

" I hope you will come out and see us at Mosul ; we 
will entertain you to the best of our ability. Come, and 
bring a host. 

" I feel quite glad to go, though romance has already 
yielded up its power, and the stern duties of a life amid 
Arabs and Koords are pressing around me. I am working 
away at the Arabic some, and trying to stir up a mission- 
ary spirit in the churches around here, which, I pray, may 
spread, and produce results such as the church of God 
ought to reach. And yet a fire must be fanned and fed, 
or it will go out." 

At the same time that he was attending the New York 
hospitals through the day, he spent his evenings at the 
book stores and book auctions, picking up such books as 
would be of service to him in the field of his missionary 
labors, particularly books relating to the geography, his- 
tory, and antiquities of Assyria. He had also to provide 
himself with surgical instruments and other helps to medi- 
cal practice. 

It was at this time, we believe — if not, it was while 
scarcely less busy in studying medicine and metaphysics 
in New York two years before, and in either case it 



88 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



equally illustrates his character — that he was met by a 
college classmate in the streets of New York, walking at 
his usual quick pace, and bearing under his arm a number 
of new books, of rather unusual appearance. "What 
strange books are those?" was the first salutation. "Span- 
ish books," was the reply. "And what, in the name of 
wonder, have you to do with Spanish books, with all the 
other business you now have on your hands?" "Oh, 
there is a native Spaniard boarding where I stop, and I 
thought some knowledge of the language might sometime 
be of use to me ; I did not think it right to lose the 
opportunity." Were our readers to infer from such facts 
that he studied nothing thoroughly and in earnest, they 
would much mistake the man. His concentrativeness was 
quite as marvelous as his inquisitiveness ; and if he looked 
into more things at once than most men, it was partly, at 
least, because he could quicker penetrate them to the cen- 
ter. At the same time it must be confessed, (for it is no 
part of our object to paint a faultless character,) that Dr. 
Lobdell loved change, and wore himself out in incessant 
efforts to accomplish in one day the work of two or more. 
As he reviewed his college and professional course in after 
years, he saw his error, and, in a letter from Mosul to his 
brother, then fitting for college, warns him not to commit 
the same mistake. 

Mosul, Jan. 26th, 1854. 
Dear Brother: — Yesterday, if I mistake not, I was 
twenty-seven years old. I feel as if I were forty. So let 
me warn you not to imitate my example, and wear out 
before you get hardened. Do not hurry through college, 
the seminary, and life. " There is a time for every pur- 
pose under heaven." It is a mistake for a young man to 
overstrain himself in order to do some big thing. Gristle 
must get hardened into bone before a child walks, or else 
he will have the rickets or crooked legs. 



RETROSPECT. 



89 



I feel the effects of my early labors. You know I fitted 
for college, and taught school all the time I was fitting ; 
that I did in three years in college what ought to have 
taken me four, besides attending a course of medical lec- 
tures ; that I got my diploma to practice in six months 
after graduating at Amherst, and put through the Hebrew 
Grammar meanwhile ; that I skimmed Dr. Taylor's The- 
ology and Prof. Gibbs' Hermeneutics at the same time ; 
got all the lore of Auburn in three months ; taught the 
"Danbury Institute" a year and a quarter, and wrote over 
that French octavo at the same time, besides speechifying 
and writing for the Fountain and the magazines of New 
York and Philadelphia ; that I digested Prof. Park's Sys- 
tem of Divinity and Prof. Phelps' Homiietics in a single 
summer; that I attended the New York Hospital and Eye 
Infirmary, and waited on patients, and meanwhile got 
ordained to preach the gospel the month before sailing; 
that I tried to learn Arabic, talk in it of Christ, and see a 
hundred patients a day last winter; and that consequently 
I ruined my constitution, was obliged to flee to Persia for 
health, and am now half laid aside, a weak and a " used-up 
man." 

But do not be lazy, or a poor scholar ; only take time 
enough, and study according to your strength. Perhaps 
we are constituted differently, and I need not warn you 
of the danger of hard work. You seem to have cut me 
entirely. Is this the first good effect of deciding not to 
become a missionary ? If you can not write me ten lines 
a month, or a fortnight, you must be hard pressed. I beg 
you to open the valves. 

Yours, semi-angrily, 

8* 



CHAPTER VI. 



Voyage to Smyrna and Beyroot — Licensure — Ordination — Embarkation — I 
Life at Sea — Humor — Sympathy — Hurricane — Sailors — Bible — Plans for 
its Elucidation — Reading — Gibraltar — Malta — Grecian Archipelago — 
Smyrna— View from the Harbor — Scene in the Streets — The American 
Missionaries and their Work —Antiquities —Austrian Steamship Stamboul — 
Same Route as Paul's to Phenicia — Patmos and the Seven Churches of Asia 

— Beyroot — Chapel and Press of American Mission — The Syrian Field 

— Laborers — Results — Prospects. 

Dr. Lobdell was licensed to preach the gospel at Au- 
burndale, Mass., Aug. 13th, 1851, by the Mendon Associa- 
tion of Congregational Ministers. A few years later, the 
same house which witnessed this missionary licensure, 
witnessed also a missionary wedding. A daughter of 
Rev. Mr. Harding was married to Mr. Williams, went out 
with him to Mosul, died almost immediately after her 
arrival; and the bodies of the two young missionaries, 
who were thus set apart to the work of missions beneath 
the same roof in the suburbs of Boston, now sleep in the 
same sacred enclosure, near the banks of the Tigris, 
awaiting the morning: of the resurrection. 

It was Dr. Lobdell's expectation to be ordained to the 
missionary work at the Tabernacle in New York City on 
Sunday evening, Oct. 5th, with Dr. L. II. Gulick, of the 
Micronesian Mission, and to have sailed in the ship Leland 
on the 17th of the same month with Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, 
and Miss Harris. He was examined and approved on 
Saturday ; but when the Sabbath came, he was so sick as 
to be unable to receive ordination. He was ordained the 
next Sunday evening (Oct. 12,) at the Pilgrim Church in 
Brooklyn ; Rev. Dr. Bethune preaching the Sermon, Rev. 
Dr. Storrs giving the Charge, and Rev. Mr. Atkinson the 
Right Hand of Fellowship. "It was a deeply solemn 
scene ; " (such is his brief note of the event in his diary, 



EMBARKATION. 



91 



"which at this period is little more than a series of events 
and dates) : " God grant I may be faithful to my trust ! 
I am to preach the gospel ; thank God for this privilege — 
especially the privilege of preaching to those c who are 
ready to die' in distant Nineveh." Being still too unwell 
to sail in the Leland, his voyage was deferred forty days. 
It was only a detention at the beginning, however ; in the 
end, as we shall see, he arrived at Malta just as soon as he 
would have done had he sailed according to the original 
plan, and was thankful for the sickness, which gave him a 
longer time with his friends, instead of a longer voyage 
across the ocean. 

On the 21st of November he writes his last letter from 
home to his most intimate friend, concluding with these 
words : " Let us live, and, like Baxter, make each effort, 
as though it were to be our last. Our w r ork will soon be 
over, and if I melt down under the scorching sun of Old 
Nineveh, I pray that God will accept the cheerful sacrifice." 

On the 27th, (the annual Thanksgiving), we find him at 
Boston, thankful most of all that God has given him the 
opportunity, and so favorable an opportunity, to go to a 
foreign land. On the 29th, Dr. and Mrs. Lobdell, with 
Mr. and Mrs. Eddy, of the Syrian Mission, and Mr. and 
Mrs. Sutphen, of the Armenian, embarked on the Sultana, 
bound for Smyrna. Religious services were conducted 
on board by Rev. Mr. Laurie, returned missionary from 
Mosul. There was one friend with whom the trial of 
parting was particularly severe. His father had never 
sympathized with the high purpose of his life — had never 
given his free and full consent to his going on a mission. 
Yet with all a father's love, he had followed the son, till 
now it was necessary for them to part and meet no more, 
till they should meet in another world. The scene can 
be better imagined than described. Unable to say what 
he would, the' son put into the father's hand a parting 
note. Its purport need not be told. The last farewell 



92 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



was given with comparative ease to other friends. And 
soon the bark was under weigh, and soon it was bounding 
before a favorable gale towards its destination. 

Life at sea is too monotonous — too much the same on 
all ships and in all seas to require description. Yet life 
at sea tries the temper, reveals the character, shows the 
man, the scholar and the Christian, quite as much, per- 
haps, as life on land. Dr. Lobdell wrote a minute account 
of every day's occurrences in his diary, in letters to friends, 
and in a series of letters, which were printed in the Dan- 
bury Times ; and in them all, while he manifests the same 
restless activity, the same observing eye and inquisitive 
spirit, the same insatiable love of books, and the same 
indefatigable zeal in doing good, which w^e have always 
remarked in him ; he develops, also, a quiet vein of humor, 
and a ready, genial sympathy with men and things around 
him, which we have not yet had much opportunity to see. 
We quote at random from private and public letters, more 
to reflect the man than to describe the voyage : " It was 
not two hours after passing Fort Independence before 
our party began to look unutterable things. Our bark 
bounded a little too gaily for landsmen. The bell to din- 
ner was answered by a large minority — two! I had 
dreamed of all sorts of horrible things in my early days, 
but never of sea-sickness ; and hence it was to me at least 
1 a new thing under the sun.' It is an indefinable but ter- 
rible affair. After three days I crawled out of my berth, 
and tried in vain to take some nourishment. At length, 
however, the monster disappeared, and left me an appe- 
tite more keen and unsatisfiable, if I may coin a word, than 
had ever before fallen to my lot. So you may imagine 
that by this time (eighteen days out) I must have ex- 
panded considerably. 

" The fifth day out, we had what our good Capt, "Wat- 
son called a genuine hurricane. He has made nineteen 
voyages to Smyrna, and therefore ought to know. I was 



VOYAGE. 



93 



able to get on deck after the storm had passed, and form 
some notion of waves at sea. * It is said, that they never 
exceed twenty-five feet in height; but I could scarcely 
believe these were not forty. Neptune seemed to have 
come forth in his glory. I never before got so vivid a con- 
ception of the Infinite. It was a scene for the poet ; but 
as twilight deepened, and the phosphorescence appeared 
around the vessel, the scene was grander still, and I almost 
regretted that I had not myself c the vision and the faculty 
divine.' You are aware, no doubt, that naturalists attrib- 
ute this phosphorescence to a species of crustaceous ani- 
malcula, gifted with a j>ower similar to that of our fire-fly, 
or the European glow-worm. These creatures must fill 
the ocean. Surely there is not a drop too much in all 
this swelling flood, for each drop furnishes an abode for 
organized beings to revel and sport in. 

"I have learned to compassionate the sailor. Every 
alternate four hours, he is on duty, night and day. I won- 
der that he has so large a heart. But in a good ship and 
under a good captain, sailors always apj^ear to be the hap- 
piest of the happy. I admire the open countenance be- 
neath the slouched tarpaulin. They are as a class generous 
and frank ; and it is to be regretted that among many on 
land, the word sailor is only another name for outcast. 
If there is any object of Christian benevolence worthy 
of the Church, it is to be found in giving the pure gospel 
to these wanderers, who visit, for good or evil, every 
shore. Let every ship become a Bethel, and Christianity 
has triumphed. 

"We all jog along finely together, have established an 
evening prayer meeting, and enjoy a good long 'sing' on 
deck in the moonlight exceedingly. We have not been 
able to have preaching on board yet — shall probably 
begin next Sabbath. We can distribute a few tracts and 
exert a religious influence, at least, by example — that 
strongest mode of teaching. I take more pleasure in read- 



94 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



ing the Bible than ever before. There is a freshness in 
old Genesis even, that I have not before observed. I 
intend to investigate, as leisure allows, the sources of As- 
syrian history, hoping, after a series of years, if Provi- 
dence permits, to elucidate somewhat the difficulties of 
Mesopotamian chronology. I think there is a good field 
here for exploration. It is possible I may meet Dr. Rob- 
inson at Mosul, and profit by his suggestions. 

" I read with perfect avidity now — am devouring all 
the Travels I can come across : e. g., Dix's Residence in 
Madeira, Spain, and Florence; Southgate's Tour in the 
East; Stephens' Travels in Greece, &c. ; Burgess' Greece 
and Levant, and Fletcher's Notes on Nineveh, besides 
miscellaneous works 6 too numerous to mention.' So you 
see I am not alone. 

"The incidents of shipboard thus far (Dec. 17) have 
been ' like angels' visits.' True, we have seen a young 
whale spouting defiance to the heavens, passed under the 
stern of a French vessel, seen four ships besides, gazed 
for hours upon a few sea-gulls and Mother Carey's chick- 
ens ; read, mused and slept ; watched a herd of porpoises 
bounding over the hills, and had a snuff of balmy breeze 
from the sunny south. 

" Dec. 22d. Yesterday Cape St. Vincent came in sight, 
and forty ships w^ere seen struggling with us to get into 
the straits of Gibraltar. . . . This morning we woke be- 
tween Capes Spartel and Trafalgar. Sable Africa rose 
up 

Cheerless and crownless in her voiceless woe/ 

Lord Nelson seemed living again, as an English frigate 
fired her guns near the old scene of conflict. Peace to 
thy ashes, brave man ! Our entrance into the Straits was 
calm as the blue mountains that hemmed us in. Tangier 
recalled the troubles of 1812; how dark the land those 
mountains hide ! At three P. M., the famous Rock was des- 



GIBRALTAR MALTA. 



95 



cried running out towards the Sierra opposite, both 
well worthy of the name, 'Pillars of Hercules.' Tarifa, 
the most southern point of the continent, is about fifteen 
miles west of the Rock ; and from it that huge tongue of 
adamant can easily be seen. The straits are here about 
nine miles in width. The flags of five nations are floating 
on the breeze. I shall give you some account of the cur- 
rents here, and a view of the citadel of British power in 
the Mediterranean in my next, which, if the mail carries 
safely, you will receive from Malta." 

But hold, we are getting ourselves into business ; if 
we must investigate the currents of the Mediterranean, 
study the natural, civil and military history of Gib- 
raltar, and digest all the facts that our young mis- 
sionary friend will observe with his all-seeing eyes during 
a two days' stay at that Ehrenbreitstein of Southern Eu- 
rope, together with all that he has collected with his om- 
nivorous mind from the books we saw him devouring with 
such insatiate appetite on the voyage. Of course, he ful- 
filled his promise, and wrote a very instructive and inter- 
esting letter ; but we will leave it to the readers of the 
Danbury Times, and pass on with the writer to Malta. 

"Our passage through the Mediterranean was rather 
unpleasant ; but we could not complain when we arrived 
at Malta, about five weeks from Boston, and found there 
a ship, in which sickness prevented my leaving America, 
that started over forty days previous to ours. Three mis- 
sionary friends were on board of her, and hailed us with 
great pleasure, as we came to our moorings. We had 
much delightful intercourse during our three days' stay 
at Malta." 

They visited Civita Vecchia, the former capital of the 
island, St. Paul's Cave, where St. Paul, Luke and Tro- 
phimus dwelt three months after their shipwreck; the 
Cathedral built on the site of the old palace of the Roman 
Governor, Publius; and the Catacombs, where, in a vast 



96 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



city of the dead, hewn out of the solid rock, " patriarchs 
and babes sleep alike unknown," and the very nation to 
which they belonged is a question which baffles the skill 
of the antiquarian. The terraced hillsides and the suc- 
cessive crops of divers kinds, which persevering industry 
extracts out of the flinty rock, excited their wonder. But 
Dr. Lobdell was chiefly interested in the character, condi- 
dition, and prospects of the poor people : " On our way, 
beggar boys and girls crowded around us, and presented 
a sorrowful contrast to the pampered inmates of the 
palace we had just seen. How the conviction comes 
home on the soul, that in these lands, the rich are draw- 
ing out the life-blood of the poor ! Hasten the progress 
of that gospel, which requires each man to be an actor, 
and allows no idler to see the kingdom of heaven. Man 
ought to be valued by the good he does, or washes to man- 
kind. But how different the criterion of the world ! 

"Oh for a purification! But 'who can bring a clean 
thing out of an unclean?' From what I saw in Malta, I 
have no hesitation in saying, that the Roman Church has 
not been calumniated by Protestants ; I see not how it 
could be. There is a full-robed and self-confident priest 
for every eighty persons in Malta. It is no wonder the 
majority of the people are very poor. I respect any man's 
religion if he is sincere ; and I am not the one to speak 
evil of the deluded victims of the papacy ; but I despise a 
hypocrite and an impostor any where, and no where so 
much as when an imposition is practised under the guise 
of sanctity." 

He pays a splendid tribute to the true nobility of the 
Knights of Malta, erst the Knights of St. John's of Rhodes; 
and as he " gazed back on this rocky isle, ' Europe's best 
bulwark 'gainst the Ottomite,' he felt that he was going 
towards an old worn-out world." 

As he traverses the islands of the Archipelago, " thick 
as the rocky hills in Connecticut," passing " not far from 
Lemnos, where Vulcan dropped," "sailing between Negro- 



SCIO. 



97 



pont and Andros," and at length coming " near Scio, that 
fair island which the Turks laid waste," classical history 
and mythology revive for a season ; but those old recol- 
lections soon give place to sympathy for the more recent 
sufferings of the present Greeks, and to indignation against 
their bigoted and bloody persecutors. "Is it possible, 
thought I, that Sciote boys and girls were ever sold pub- 
licly in Smyrna and Constantinople at a dollar a head ! 
History answered, yes ! Oh, if Heaven ever visits judg- 
ment on a nation for its crimes — and who can doubt it 
amid the wreck of empires ? — the time is not far distant 
when the atrocities enacted here will bring down ven- 
geance on the heads of the bloody Turks. Already I read 
the doom of this empire — it has no inherent power to 
rise. It shall soon be what Assyria and Babylon have for 
ages been. Let the wave of civilization and liberty roll 
back from the West : it shall sweep away the last vestige 
of Turkish bigotry and power. No Eastern empire has 
ever had a resurrection. The days of Turkey and Mo- 
hammedanism are fast numbering. Work the press, gen- 
tlemen, and do your share towards lifting men from 
barbarism. There is no Christianity without education, 
and no right education without Christianity." 

Soon after passing Scio, they enter the beautiful bay of 
Smyrna. A rapid glance at the ruined castle on Mt. 
Pagus above and behind the city; at the hill-sides, covered 
with burying grounds and planted with cypresses ; at the 
terraced roofs of the houses, forming one uniform, \Aane 
surface, broken here and there by the minarets of the 
mosks, and diversified by the flags of the consuls ; at the 
forest of masts in the harbor ; the vessels of war and the 
flags of all nations, — a glance at these, and the Sultana is 
at anchor, and they bid a glad and yet sad farewell to the 
noble bark that has so long been their home on the moun- 
tain wave — the American bark, in leaving which, they 
sever the last tie that bound them to their country. As 



98 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



they pass through the thronged streets of a city of 100,000 

inhabitants, and u meet strings of camels, donkeys bear- 
ing large baskets of coal or slaughtered sheep, and men 
carrying enormous loads of lumber or huge bales of cotton 
on their backs," while not a wheeled carriage is anywhere 
to be seen, they feel for the first time that they are in the 
Orient. They are struck with the strange diversity of 
languages, costumes, manners ; there is but one common 
bond — the love of money; and smoking is apparently 
ine only common habit. They have now gone through 
the most busy part of the city on the plain, and come up 
on the slope of the hill where the American missionaries 
have their residence ; and soon all else is forgotten in 
the warm welcome and embrace of Christian brethren. 
Messrs. Riggs, Johnston and Benjamin were then at that 
station. Xone of them is now there — such are the 
changes which a few years work in our missions. The 
first is in this country for his health ; the second has been 
dismissed from his connection with the Board ; and the 
third is not, for God took him. " I stopped," writes Dr. 
Lobdell in a private letter, " with Mr. Iviggs, a ripe scholar, 
a graduate of Amherst, and a noble man. He would 
have ranked with Robinson and Edwards if he had staid 
at home. But he is better engaged in Smyrna. His 
translation of the Bible into Armenian, and other works, 
will make him one of earth's greatest benefactors. - Oh, 
my dear J., do not encourage any man to stay at home, 
because his talents are too good to be wasted on ' the 
desert air ' of the East. Full-grown men are wanted to 
demolish the piles which superstition has raised in these 
dark lands. Genius of the first order may here find full 
scope." 

He spent two Sabbaths in Smyrna, and "found the 
groceries open, guns fired, and drums sounded as if a 
Fourth of July had arrived;" but was greatly j^leased 
to see the deep interest manifested by the native hearers 



SMYK^A. 



99 



in the services of his missionary brethren. These were 
then held in a part of one of the missionary's houses. A 
small but neat chapel note echoes with the voice of prayer, 
and invites the passing stranger to turn in and see that 
God is there in very deed. Large cities, even in Chris- 
tian lands, are not easily leavened with the truth and the 
spirit of the gospel. The fruits are more abundant, cer- 
tainly more manifest, in the smaller towns and villages. 
It will be many years, perhaps centuries, before this golden 
candlestick of one of "the Seven Churches of Asia" 
will shine with all, and more than all, its primeval light, 
before this gem of the Ionian Cities will glitter in the di- 
adem of the Redeemer. But the light has been re-kindled ; 
and we trust in God, it will never go out. "I rejoice to 
be on missionary ground," says Dr. Lobdell, after witness- 
ing the good beginning which had then been made, " and 
I go forward not doubting that, though only after witness- 
ing many reverses, the cross of Christ shall triumph." 

The intervening week, he spent in visits to the bazaars, 
in excursions to interesting localities, in acquainting him- 
self with the operations of the missionaries, and in study- 
ing the manners and character of the people of the East. 
In this last study, he received thus early some rough les- 
sons. He was stoned by Turkish boys, and robbed of 
some trifling articles by the Greeks of Bournabat. 

Nor could he fail to be interested in those classical and 
sacred associations, so many of which cluster about Smyr- 
na. " Antiquities," he says, " are curiosities I must omit. 
Suffice it to say, I passed near the birth-place of Horner,* 
and stood by the Stadium, where the disciple of John — 
the beloved Polycarp — was burned by the authority of the 
Romans. You see, I believe in the real existence of Ho- 
mer, and think Smyrna has the most claim to the honor 
of his nativity. Polycarp died, but his religion lives, 

* The banks of the river Meles, from which Homer is said to hare derived 
the epithet of Melesigenes, or Meles-born. 



100 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



while the tyrant, who burnt him, has fulfilled the predic- 
tion, c The memory of the wicked shall rot.' * 

On the 26th of January, 1852, Dr. and Mrs. Lobdell 
took leave of their missionary friends — not only of those 
with whom they had formed so pleasant an acquaintance 
in Smyrna, but also of Mr. and Mrs. Sutphen, who had 
been their companions on the voyage across the ocean — 
and embarked on the Austrian Steamer Stamboul for 
Beyroot. 

Their route was the very same as that pursued by Paul 
and his traveling companions and recorded in the twen- 
tieth and twenty-first chapters of the Acts — by way of 
" Chios," " Samos," " Cos," " Rhodes," and " Cyprus," to 
"Phenicia." These names all occur in Luke's journal of 
Paul's voyage, as they do in Dr. Lobdell's journal of his 
own. And they had the same classical associations in the 
mind of the ancient and the modern missionary. For 
Paul was familiar wuth the Greek classics, and the names 
of Homer, Pythagoras, and Hippocrat es must have occurred 
to him also, as he sailed past the islands with which they 
are indissolubly associated ; he also mused on the instabil- 
ity of man's proudest works, as he entered the harbor once 
bestrode by the Colossus of Rhodes ; and he also pitied 
the weakness and depravity of men, as he rode over the 
waves, from which the goddess Venus was fabled to have 
sprung, and brushed the shores, that glittered with temples 
sacred to her corrupt, and idolatrous worship. There was, 
however, this striking difference. The ancient navigator 
crept more cautiously along the shore, and peradventure 
consumed as many weeks as the modern steamship takes 
days for the accomplishment of the voyage ; and while the 
ancient missionary mourned over pagan idolatry, the mod- 
ern was grieved at Mohammedan bigotry and Christian 
superstition. 

Xor was it Paul only, whose missionary visits had given 
to these islands and the cities on the adjacent continent, 



PATHOS BEYROOT. 



101 



a charm " above all Greek, above all Roman fame." There, 
on their right, as our travelers steamed from Samos to Cos, 
"the isle that is called Patmos," suggested the thought, 
" how often a single name stands as the only representa- 
tive or glory of a generation, while the very ground on 
which he trod becomes immortalized ; for what were Pat- 
mos without the sainted John?" And there, on their 
left, are the shores of Asia Minor and those ruins which 
mark the sites of the Seven Churches of Asia ; too true 
an emblem of the declension which was already visible to 
the eye of the Apocalyptic Seer, and of the utter ruin 
which has since overwhelmed the corrupt Christianity of 
those lands. But sad as are the sights which every where 
meet the eye of the missionary on this route, he rejoices 
that he carries with him " the remedy " for ruined cities 
as well as ruined churches — " for poor harbors and poor 
boats as well as poor deluded souls," — the pure gospel 
of Christ. " No progressive principle inherent in human- 
ity, no socialistic paraphernalia will revolutionize them. 
They need a higher influence, — divine truth and the 
divine Spirit." 

On Saturday morning, Jan. 31st, the snowy summits of 
Lebanon glittering in the rising sun indicate that the 
voyage is drawing to a close ; soon Beyroot is seen nes- 
tling near the base of that long and vast mountain range ; 
and ere long, they round the headland on which the 
city is built, and come to anchor in the harbor. Beyroot, 
the sacred city of Baal Beerith in the time of the Pheni- 
cians, and the seat of a far-famed school of law under the 
empire of the Romans, and hence styled " the mother and 
nurse of the laws " by the Emperor Justinian, has be- 
come in modern times the centre of European commerce 
and European civilization in Syria, and, what is of far 
greater \nterest to the Christian, as the central station of 
the Syrian Mission, it has become the radiating point of 
Protestant Christianity to the Arabic-speaking races of 
9* 



102 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



the Turkish Empire. A little outside of the crumbling 
wall, about half way up the slope on which the new city- 
is building, in the midst of the population which is fast 
overflowing its ancient bounds, stands a plain and unpre- 
tending two-story brick building, which is the focal point 
of this spiritual illumination. The basement is the chapel 
of the American mission ; in the upper story is the press, 
where are printing Arabic versions of tracts, religious 
books, and the sacred Scriptures. Near by is the ceme- 
tery, where, beneath tall cypresses, sleep the remains of 
Pliny Fisk, Eli Smith, and not a few missionary wives and 
children — precious seed, whose fruit is yet to wave like 
the cedars of Lebanon. And yonder, in full sight, on the 
sides of Lebanon, hang the mountain villages, where the 
schools and churches, established by the American mis- 
sionaries, shine as lights in that dark Eastern world. And 
there, at the foot of these sacred mountain ranges, at the 
distances severally of one, two, and three days' journey, 
he, on this side, Sidon and Tyre, and, on the opposite side, 
Damascus, — those ancient cities which have, in our day, 
once more begun to have a place in history, — the history 
of Christian missions. 

At this interesting station Dr. Lobdell remained three 
weeks, suffering most of the time from sickness, either in 
his own person or in his family, yet plunging into the 
Arabic, dipping into the history and antiquities of the 
city and the surrounding country, making excursions along 
the seashore and to the mountains, and holding sweet 
communion with one of the most delightful circles of 
Christian brethren and sisters that can be found in this 
imperfect world. Of the antiquities, among which are 
ruined bridges, aqueducts and temples of Baal, by for the 
most striking are the rock-hewn inscriptions near the 
mouth of the Nahr el Kelb, (Dog River,) in which the 
successive conquerors of the country, — the Assyrians, the 
Egyptians, the Romans, and the Turks, — have recorded 



MISSIONARY WORK. 



103 



their names in monuments characteristic, and enduring as 
the everlasting mountains. There Dr. Lobdell's eyes first 
rested on those cuneiform characters with which he was 
afterwards to become so familiar. 

He thus records his impressions of the missionary work 
in Syria : — " Our long delay at Beyroot has given me an 
opportunity to inspect the internal workings of the mis- 
sion, and conversations with Dr. Vandyck and Mr. Thomp- 
son of Sidon and Hasbeiya, Mr. Calhoun of Abeih, and 
Mr. Ford of Aleppo, as well as with the missionaries at 
this station, have furnished my heart much occasion to 
rejoice in the general fruitfulness of the Syrian field. The 
people are rousing from their long sleep. Every thing is 
more hopeful, I am told, than at any previous time in the 
history of the mission. Dr. Eli Smith is busy on the 
translation of the Old Testament, aided by two native 
brethren. Dr. Deforest is engaged in conducting a Fe- 
male Boarding School. Mr. Whiting is pastor of the 
native church, and Mr. Hurtter is secular sujjerintendent 
and printer. All are A ery constantly employed, and seem 
happy in their work. I think the Arab mind is both acute 
and capacious. There is full opportunity among them for 
the best efforts of the best men." " Oh ! could my dear 
brethren and sisters in D anbury appreciate the value of 
the gos}3el as one can in this land of darkness and death, 
they would be awake. While in Beyroot, I saw several 
cases of severe persecution — threats of poisoning, ban- 
ishment, torture, — but these could not quench the striv- 
ings of the Spirit. Persecution will try men's souls. I 
was greatly delighted to see the interest with which men 
there studied the Bible. They had meetings for this pur- 
pose every week, and about forty young men assembled 
every Sabbath noon to ask questions of Dr. Smith. Some 
of the young men in America might learn profitable les- 
sons from their course. They used often to think there, 
that Sunday Schools and Bible Classes were for small 



104 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



children. But could they see with what eagerness the 
Bible is studied among the inquiring and the converted 
in the East, I think they would feel that it is a deep mine 
which they have explored but very little. Gray-headed 
men put on spectacles and commence their A B C's, that 
they may know what the Bible says. People do not 
question the authority of the Bible ; the inquiry is, What 
does it say ? All the Christian sects of Syria have a great 
reverence for the Bible. Woe to the shepherds who keep 
it from their flocks Very few possess it entire. It has 
hitherto been very costly ; who will refuse to aid its cir- 
culation ? " 

In running over the list of the laborers whom Dr. Lob- 
dell found at Beyroot, it is affecting to note again the 
ravages of time. Whiting, the pioneer, Smith, the scholar, 
and Deforest, the beloved physician and teacher, have 
ceased from their earthly labors. Mr. Ford and Dr. Van- 
dyck have been torn up from their stations, like a tree 
from the soil in which it was rooted, and transferred to 
Beyroot to fill the places of the departed, and all this for 
want of seasonable and sufficient reinforcements to relieve 
and strengthen them, before they were crushed beneath 
their excessive labors ! When and where will this fatal 
process end? 



CHAPTER VII. 



Journey to Aintab — English Steamer — Tripoli — Latakiya — Detention of two 
Weeks — Appeal for Missionaries at Latakiya — Manner of Traveling — 
Hardships and Dangers of the Way — Valley of the Orontes — Sabbath at 
Killis — Piety of the Native Brethren — Call for Missionaries — Three Weeks 
in Aintab — The Work there — Petitioned to remain — Appeal for a Mis- 
sionary Physician — History and Present State of the Mission. 

Although Mrs. Lobclell was still so unwell that it was 
with difficulty she reached the wharf, yet they resolved to 
accompany Mr. Ford on his return to Aleppo ; and ac- 
cordingly on Saturday, Feb. 21st, they embarked in a 
transient English steamer for Latakiya. The sailors were 
dirty, greasy, and groggy, and the captain more clever than 
clean. But, with favoring winds, the voyage was only of 
fifteen hours, and every hour brought renewed health and 
strength to Mrs. Lobdell. At midnight they stopped a 
little while in the roadstead opposite Tripoli, one of the 
most beautiful seaport cities of Syria, quite distinguished 
in the history of the Saracens and the Crusaders, and 
recently occupied by Messrs. Lyon and Jessuj), as a sta- 
tion of the Syrian Mission. At nine in the morning they 
reached Latakiya, and though it was the Sabbath, they 
were obliged to go ashore, that the steamer might con- 
tinue its voyage. Through the kindness of the American 
Vice-Consul, they soon found lodgings in an upper room 
of moderate size, with unglazed and iron-barred windows, 
furnished with mats, a piece or two of old carpeting, a 
single chair and a single table — comfortable quarters for 
Syria, very comfortable in comparison with what they 
were to find afterwards, but now reminding them very 
strongly of u the upper story of the I) anbury jail." And 



106 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



here they were obliged to remain two entire weeks for ani- 
mals to convey them on their further journey. None could 
be found in Latakiya, capable of carrying the covered 
litter, ill which Mrs. Lobdell and the child had to be con- 
veyed. Mr. Ford was therefore obliged to proceed alone, 
and send back animals from Aleppo. Meanwhile Dr. 
Lobdell occupied himself in writing letters to his friends, 
ministering to the health and comfort of his wife and 
child, studying Arabic where not a soul could speak 
English, looking into the manners, customs, and religion 
of the people, and learning, what however it did not take 
a very long time to learn, that Syria is, as a Maltese once 
said in his broken English to one of the missionaries at Bey- 
root, " a plenty -patience country? After witnessing for 
the first time the pictures, crossings, kissings and genu- 
flexions, and above all the indecent levity of the priests 
and the people in the Greek Church, he concludes that it 
is little better than the Roman Catholic : " I looked on 
the ceremony with pity and sorrow^. And is this the 
Christianity of the East, thought I? May the day be 
hastened, when these people shall see a better representa- 
tion of the religion of the Cross. I have had several 
requests from the people, that I would remain here and 
teach them c Protestantism.' But my work is not here. 
May they soon have some one to unfold to them Christ 
and him crucified, with apostolic simplicity and earnest- 
ness." In marked contrast with the parade and ceremony 
of the Greek Church, we see the good missionary holding 
a simple service with his family in their little jail-like 
upper room. " I read a sermon from a manuscript. Lucy 
and Mary were my audience. We had a good meeting." 
At evening he writes in his journal: "have had a solemn 
but good day." 

In a letter to Dr. Anderson, written from Aintab, he 
presses the claims of Latakiya upon the attention of the 
Prudential Committee : " It is a central place, and I have 



LATAKIYA ANTIOCH. 



107 



no hesitation in saying, that there is every probability, that 
faithful laborers stationed there would find the work of 
the Lord prospering in their hands, before they had ex- 
pended half the effort and money that have been devoted 
- to many places in the East, which it would be both folly 
and a crime to abandon. Shall its fifteen thousand in- 
habitants forever grope their way down to death ? " 

The question still remains unanswered. And why? 
" Because the laborers are few." 

It may not be amiss to remark, that Latakiya is the 
ancient Laodicea, not however that of the Apocalypse, 
but one of half a dozen others bearing the same name ; 
and one of four cities in the same Province (Seleucia, 
Antioch, Laodicea and Apamea,) all of more or less in- 
terest, which Seleucus, the founder of the Seleucian dy- 
nasty, built, and called severally after his own name, and 
after that of his father, his mother, and his wife. Antioch, 
where "the disciples were first called Christians," has 
lately received a missionary from America. May Latakiya 
now famous chiefly for its fine tobacco, soon become an 
emporium of the gospel ! 

On the 4th of March, the mules engaged by Mr. Ford 
arrived. But the owner, who had been paid partly in 
advance, had pocketed the money and decamped ; and 
the chief muleteer now refused to take them, unless they 
would pay nearly double the stipulated price. By the 
intervention of the Consul and the appliance of ready 
money, the difficulty was at length adjusted, and the con- 
tract sealed over a cup of coffee. And at nine A. M. of 
Saturday, March 6th, they set out on their land journey, 
which, though as reckoned by distance it was less in all 
than four hundred and fifty miles, was to take more time 
than it had taken to cross the Atlantic and the Mediter- 
ranean, and required a vastly greater amount of personal 
sacrifice and patience. 

" About a hundred persons collected around us as we 



108 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL, 



started. The takht-i-rawan, in which Mrs. Lobdell and the 
little one were to ride, was to them a curiosity, and pos- 
sibly it would be to Yankees at home. It was a rudely 
constructed bier, painted blue, with red curtains over 
windows of glass and shutters of wire, borne between 
two mules fore and aft, whose backs were covered with 
immense pack saddles, which of themselves would be a 
sufficient burden for any four-footed animal in America.* 
Our train consisted of eight other mules, some having a 
huge box on either side of their broad saddles, and the rest 
mounted by three slender specimens of humanity. A 
couple of donkeys served to make a decent variety, and 
the mule with large bundles of bedding, and half a dozen 
bells round her neck, led the van, as we moved off ' over 
the hills and far away.' " 

They were six days of actual travel, and eight days, 
including unavoidable detentions, in going about ninety 
miles. The first night they slept in a stable, the smaller 
of two that " had been scraped out for their reception," 
and preferred to the larger, because " it gave less marked 
evidence of the recent occupancy of cattle ; " but they 
found comfort, and even joy in thinking of him who was 
bom in a stable, and afterwards had not where to lay his 
head. " The people were the most wretched human 
beings I ever saw. Laziness was visible in every house. 
Democracy seemed to be the approved form of govern- 
ment. Equality was their din and cry. We must eat, 
sleep, and act as they did. We did not get out of the 
village until two of our muleteers had received from each 
other a number of severe blows ; but fortunately we 
escaped ourselves in a respectable state of preservation." 

Near the close of the second day, two men sprung upon 
them from the way side and demanded "buckshish." 
But the Doctor professed not to understand Arabic ! They 

* In a private letter, he likens it to " the covered body of a N. E. market 
wagon, bating the wheels." 



JISR THE ORONTES. 



109 



followed on, firing a gun, and renewing their demand 
with sundry significant gestures. But the resolute Yan- 
kee did not approve of " taxation without representation." 
And at length they gave him over for " a hard customer." 

The next day, it began to rain while they were six 
miles (two hours) from any human habitation. "It 
poured down like a New England thunder storm, and I 
rode on drenched and cold. It tried to snow, but split 
the difference, and hailed tremendously." But they quite 
forgot the past, when after an hour, it ceased to rain, the 
sun came out, and they looked down, from the mountain 
west, on the beautiful valley of the famous Orontes. 
" The plain was variegated like a Persian carpet. Its red 
soil, green crops, yellow flowers, and thriving appearance, 
at once recalled the valley of the Connecticut and the 
view from Mt. Ilolyoke." But man — only man was vile. 
What was their disappointment, as they descended from 
the mountain and entered the village of Jisr, to find 
amid so much fertility and loveliness, " one-story mud 
huts, grass-covered, and filled with miserable people, large 
piles of dung in front of the doors, and every possible 
sign of wretchedness around. Oh what a blot upon 
nature, what a curse man can be ! " 

"We slept in a wretched khan, uncomfortable and sad ; 
for misery was all around us. Morning came, and we 
began to prepare for departure. I saw that our muleteer 
made no haste, so I surveyed the Roman ruins of the 
town. A magnificent bridge of fourteen arches crosses 
the Orontes, a suj3erbly paved road runs north from the 
town, a fortress stands in its center, all giving proof of 
what has been and what may be. The contrast of these 
noble works with the mud shanties of the people, the 
ruined aqueducts with the miserable walls, was sad enough: 
what can not Mohammedanism and human depravity pol- 
lute and destroy?" 

" Before we left the khan, my servant had some loud 
10 



110 



MEMOIE OF LOBDELL. 



words with the landlord over the sum to be paid him ; 
and as usual in such cases, the tumult became general. 
Mrs. Lobdell, partly from fear and partly to try the effect 
of music upon them, began to sing, 6 Did Christ o'er sin- 
ners weep,' &c. The effect was instantaneous. The 
storm was succeeded by a calm. But this was not the 
end of their troubles. 

" We set out. While on the great bridge, two ruffians 
seized the bridle of my mule and cried out, 6 buckshish,' 
'buckshish.' Their requests were a little too authorita- 
tive to suit me, and raising my hickory cane, I drove them 
off with great difficulty. One of them returned to the 
charge, when I turned the instrument and plied the knob 
over his skull not very compassionately. While he was 
attempting to pick up a stone, I made out to escape, and 
the two, with a dozen others, then attacked Pelo. I feared 
they would rob, if not kill him; but after an hour, he 
came on after us, having got away by making them a 
considerable present. I found out that my chief mule- 
teer was the cause of the attack, and I intended to make 
him suffer for it when I reached Aleppo, but my proof was 
deficient." 

"As we wandered through the plain we had a good 
time to muse. What a contrast the peaceful stream and 
winding valley presented with the dark and bloody people ! 
Mrs. L. could not restrain her tears ; but the babe's haj3py 
unconsciousness and quiet smile soon gave her thoughts 
another direction." 

Towards night of the same day, they found themselves 
sinking in marshy ground ; the takkt broke down, Mrs. L. 
then mounted a mule and he fell ; the baby was thrown from 
another; indeed, every animal and all the baggage was 
precipitated into the mud. Mrs. L. was carried out on 
the backs of four muleteers, and it was an hour before we 
" all came safe to land." ... u It was not till near nine 
o'clock in the evening, that lights were seen glimmering 



ALEPPO 



111 



in the distance. For two hours it had been so dark and 
stormy, that I had given the reins entirely to my mule. 
The animal's eyes were better than mine. We were glad 
to get into a khan once more, after riding thirteen hours 
amid danger and storms. 

" That was an eventful day to us, but we needed the 
discipline. I need not detail the incidents of our travel 
thence to Aleppo. We were kept at Maarat Musreen two 
days by rains, spent another night in a miserable hovel 
among calves and chickens, and reached Aleppo, the city 
of camels, bazaars, and smokers, in tolerable health and 
full of hope. 

" I find I have not seen all the East yet ; but »I have 
seen enough to know that there is no land like the United 
States. God grant that our countrymen may never forget 
the source of their prosperity — the religion of the Puri- 
tans — the gospel of Christ." 

They were soon comfortably installed in Mr. Ford's 
house at Aleppo ; but to their great disappointment, Mr. 
Ford had already left with Mr. Marsh of Mosul, to attend 
the general meeting of the Syria mission at Beyroot, so 
long had our travellers been delayed on their way. There 
they remained five' days resting, recruiting for their fur- 
ther journey, forming some j)leasant acquaintances with 
English and French merchants, rejoicing in the apparent 
sincerity and scriptural piety of the few Protestant Chris- 
tians, looking with more or less interest on the gardens, 
bazaars, Saracenic walls, and crumbling ruins* of a city 
which at the close of the last century, numbered 230,000 
inhabitants, but now only 80,000 ; and sorrowing most of 
all, that a city, still so large, should have but a single, sol- 
itary missionary,! to preach the pure gospel to its igno- 
rant and bigoted population. 

* In 1822, an earthquake overturned most of the public buildings and reduced 
the greater part of the city to a heap of ruins, 
t Dr. Pratt now occupies the place then occupied by Mr. Ford. 



112 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



In Aleppo, Dr. Lobclell received his first package of 
letters from " home," and among the rest one from the 
pastor of his beloved church in X) anbury. It calls forth 
the liveliest emotions. He answers it immediately, and 
as he looks back upon their blessings he thus speaks, in 
contrast, of what his eyes had seen, and his heart had 
felt in the villages which he had just passed through, and 
in the great city which was now his place of sojourn : " I 
do not believe a single individual with whom I had any- 
thing to do in those villages, knows anything about the 
way, the truth, and the life. Many profess to love Chris- 
tianity, but their religion has not even the form of godli- 
ness. And then the temporal wretchedness — what can 
relieve it but the gospel ? Some of these places appeared 
to be waiting for the fires of Sodom and Gomorrah. You 
can form no conception of their filth, misery, and pollu- 
tion. My heart mourned over them. But I can only 
send a faint voice to my countrymen for help. Come 
and teach them; they know not what they do. I will 
welcome others, as my brethren have welcomed me, to a 
share in their trials and their joys, their sufferings and 
their reward. No earthly inducement can be offered, but 
a mere natural sympathy that is ineffective and futile ; but 
clad in the panoply of heaven, and laboring with the eye 
upon eternity, one can live and die for their salvation. I 
do not love my country less, that I am far away ; I pray 
that she may fulfill her glorious mission. She seems to 
me to be the star of hope for the nations. But her own 
salvation depends upon her attachment to the Bible, and 
her zeal in its propagation. There is no worse enemy to 
his own country, than he who would hoard its blessings 
like the miser. True philanthropy and true patriotism 
are inseparable. While the state of the world at large is 
what it is, that is a false patriotism which turns all its care 
upon the land of one's nativity. The true patriot is he 



KILLIS. 



113 



who views the whole world as his country, wiio realizes 
that humanity has a common interest in a common des- 
tiny. Let us be neither Greek, Jew, Turk, English, or 
American, if w^e must forget our relationship to the uni- 
versal brotherhood. Let demagogues be partisans, but let 
Christians be philanthropists. 

" Since reaching Aleppo, and seeing the diversity of sects 
here, all holding fundamental errors, I feel more than ever 
that the pure precepts of the gospel are the only sure guide 
to unity and safety. It is sad to find not a score of real 
Christians among a population of 80,000. But ' a little 
leaven leaveneth the whole lump.' So we w^ill hope. 
There is much to encourage labor, and it is not too much 
to ask, that into this quarter of the Lord's vineyard, the 
American churches should send a hundred laborers this 
year. New Englanders are generous, but they can afford 
to be more so. They are at the summit of the race ; may 
their benefactions flow over the earth. Cry aloud, and 
spare not, my brother. After the conflict is peace and a 
crown." 

Leaving Aleppo on Friday, March 19th, two days brought 
them to Killis, where they spent the Sabbath ; and then 
after two days more of greater hardship and suffering than 
they had experienced even on their journey from Latakiya 
to Aleppo, they arrived, tired, chilled with the cold, and 
sick, at the quarantine in Aintab. The incidents of this 
journey and Dr. Lobdell's observations by the way, as he 
narrates them in a full but unadorned journal sent to his 
friends, exceed in interest many a chapter in those ro- 
mances and books of travel, which so fascinate the reading 
public of our day. But they were quite subordinate in 
his estimation to the moral and religious aspects of those 
most interesting missionary stations ; and we can not dwell 
upon them in this memoir. 

The following extracts from letters giving an account 
10* 



114 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



of the Sabbath at Killis, and the state of things at Aintab, 
though somewhat disconnected, can not but be read with 
deep interest. 

Aintab, Syria, March 30, 1852. 
Dear Brother Scofield, — I have just time to say a 
few words about our journey hither from Aleppo, and the 
state of things in Aintab. I may also say something of 
Killis, where we spent the last Sabbath. We had rainy 
weather most of the time, and were obliged to sleep in 
very uncomfortable mud huts two out of the four nights 
we were on the road. But I need not speak of the neces- 
sity of sleeping in the same room with a dozen different 
species of animals of all sizes and habits, of the dirty floors, 
the muddy yards, the wretched people, and our little dif- 
ficulties en route. I might interest you, perhaps, with a 
description of our appearance while crossing a swamp, and 
the house in which we were obliged to lie on the wet 
earthen floor, while our baggage was left for the night in 
the mud ; our eating rice with penknives, and seeing the 
natives make their beds in dirty cut straw. But you wish 
to know the state of the people's souls, and the opinions 
of your brother regarding the openings here for missionary 
effort. 

I have already sent to the United States a little account 
of our stay with our native brother Sarkis at Killis ; of 
our cordial welcome to the hospitalities of his house, which 
he insisted on almost vacating for our accommodation ; 
of the contrast between its whitewashed walls and its cur- 
tained, carpeted, and every way comfortable apartments 
with the hovel in which we had passed the previous night, 
and with the ordinary houses of the unenlightened masses 
of the people ; of the voices of prayer and hymns of praise 
from the native brethren which were the last sounds 
I heard on Saturday evening, and the first I heard on 
Sunday morning \ and of the unity, faith, and love, which 



A SABBATH IN KILLIS. 



115 



were manifested by this little band of truly primitive dis- 
ciples, gathered almost entirely by the labors of native 
Protestant lay Christians. I will just show you the way 
in which I succeeded in communicating with the native 
brethren. I had no letter of recommendation to them, 
and was taken to the house of this Protestant by our 
Moslem muleteer. The brethren were amazed at the di- 
minutive size of my Bible, and though I could speak no 
Turkish and but little Arabic, I managed to assure them, 
by quoting passages with proper names, of the identity of 
our books. We were all of one spirit, and I prayed with 
them in English at their request. Our songs were heart- 
felt, if not musical. In the afternoon, they requested me 
to go with them to a little, low, cold room — their church 
— and compare our Bibles still further. By learning a 
few Turkish words, I could refer them to the chapter and 
verse which I wished to bring to their notice. Desiring 
to learn the extent of their acquaintance with the doc- 
trines of Protestantism, I requested them to take the lead 
in the selection. They quoted such passages as these : — 
" Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of 
you is justified by the law " ; " We are the circumcision 
which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ 
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh," &c. I need 
not specify others. These show that they have the seed 
of the gospel. Their holy conversation, so far as I could 1 
understand it, and their anxiety to have a preacher sent 
them from America, prove that they are looking to J esus, 
and wish their fellow citizens to know the gospel in its 
purity. They said it could not be pleasant for my coun- 
trymen to leave all their blessings and come to dwell with 
such a poor people as they ; nevertheless, they would send 
forth a Macedonian cry. And do you not think I could 
appreciate their earnestness, when they turned my eye to 
the joassage in Luke, declaring that "the harvest is great," 
and to Christ's answer to the man who said, " I will fol- 



116 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



low thee, but let me first go bid them farewell which are 
in my house." — "No man having put his hand to the 
plow, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven." 
I never spent such a Sabbath as that. We sat three suc- 
cessive hours together, and I felt that it was good to be 
there. Poor they were, but yet they were richer than 
many with their millions ; their treasure is in heaven, and 
their hearts are there also. They held no less than four 
services of their own, besides the time they spent with 
me ; and even when I awoke in the morning, the voice of 
prayer and songs of praise were rising from their bowed 
hearts, declaring that they had a peace which the world 
can neither give nor take away. They are mostly dyers, 
but their souls are clean. I could have stopped with them, 
dirty and unattractive as the town was, with great pleas- 
ure. The next morning they followed us* out of town — 
about twenty men — and having bade them a soul-felt fare- 
well, we all looked up to heaven in token of our common 
hopes, and separated to meet again only in eternity. But, 
my dear brother, will you not remember those clear poor 
Christians without a leader? Will not our church re- 
member them ? They rejoiced greatly, when I told them 
as I left, that I had written the evening before in their 
behalf to America. You would rejoice to labor with 
them ; if you can not come, send a substitute. Danbury 
ought to send forth twelve missionaries in as many years ; 
will you not try to stir up the people to their duty. 

Since reaching Aintab, though we have spent a nomi- 
nal five days' quarantine in a damp room, through which 
the cold winds whistled mournfully, and have been out 
only one day, I have seen enough to reassure you that a 
glorious work is transpiring here. The j)eople are poor, 
but what a fullness of the Holy Ghost many of them have ! 
The church is not large, but many are seeking to enter. 
Of the building, I shall speak hereafter — a mere mat- 
covered frame and bare ground. Schools are held in it, 



AINTAB. 



117 



and a blind teacher in the female department is the most 
interesting man I ever saw. He reminds me of Stephen, 
— his countenance is heavenly, and his heart is full of 
peace. You may see his portrait in an old number of the 
Day Spring. Though blind, he sees. Mr. and Mrs. 
Schneider are absent ; Mr. and Mrs. Crane and Mrs. Dr. 
Smith are the only missionaries left. They are all feeble. 
They need medical help very much here, and desire me to 
stay; but I must go on. The American Board should 
send not ten, but fifty men into this region soon. The 
towns are open and the people call. Will the churches 
hear ? It is not rhetoric when the missionaries state the 
wants of this people — it is sober matter of fact. I rejoice 
to be here. Mrs. L. is not very strong, but we shall go on 
next week." 

Detained two ' or three weeks by the sickness of Mrs. 
Lobdell and their babe, Dr. Lobdell wrote a week later to 
the same friend. He describes briefly the situation of 
Aintab, its countless graves, its varied population, and the 
beautiful valley, in which mounds and meads, flocks and 
streams are to be seen in every direction. "There is 
nothing particularly attractive in the region about, except 
this valley, and there are no public works or remains of 
antiquity to interest the traveler. But a few years ago 
it had not been heard of out of Asia Minor and Syria ; 
now its reputation is world-wide. Victories of Saracens 
and Crusaders — what are they, compared with the moral 
triumphs and conquests that have recently been witnessed 
here ! The town is built of a coarse, chalky limestone, 
which easily crumbles, and in many places the walls are 
seen tumbling down. I have noticed the walls of mosks 
disintegrating and giving a good illustration of the wor- 
shipers that gather five times daily in them. Poverty is 
written all over the city. But a spirit of enterprise is ap- 
pearing among those to whom the gospel has been faith- 
fully preached for a few years past. Dr. Smith, though 



118 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



dead, yet speaks. The posts which he established in Asia 
Minor have become the admiration of all the people. 
His influence is scarcely less apparent in the secular, than 
in the religious condition of the community." 

He fulfills his promise and gives a description of the 
church edifice ; how it grew by successive and irregular ad- 
ditions, till an old one-story stone house, some fifteen feet by 
forty, became a great tabernacle " enclosed by straw mats 
against stakes, thatched with straw, like an old-fashioned 
New England barn," and, with the help of a rude "gallery 
formed by stretching a few boards across the west end," 
capable of containing rather than accommodating six or 
seven hundred worshipers; and the original place of 
worship — the nucleus about which the successive accre- 
tions had gathered — was now set apart for the women. 
" It is of course deeply interesting to see the audience on 
the Sabbath. The pulpit is a little platform behind a 
desk, considerably less furnished than those usually found 
in a New England school-house, and recesses are left in 
the walls, where the boots and overshoes of the natives are 
deposited as they enter. They all sit cross-legged on the 
mats that are spread on the earthen floor ; and when a 
hymn has been read, the whole audience unite in a tre- 
mendous burst of would-be music. During prayer their 
heads are uncovered by removing their turbans. When 
preaching has commenced every eye is turned towards 
the preacher and remains riveted on him till he closes his 
discourse. Oh, how I wanted to preach to that audience ! 

" The women all wore their white veils or sheets, which 
cover the entire person ; and we could not but think of 
the contrast of their condition with that of the women at 
home. Even the ladies of the mission families deem it 
wise to regard somewhat the oriental notion of their in- 
feriority to the men. It will not do for one of them to 
ride on horseback here. It is but lately that even the 
gentlemen of the mission could go out without receiv- 



THE NATIVE CHRISTIAN'S. 



119 



ing a volley of stones. You may remember that Mr. 
Johnston was driven away from here some years ago by 
showers of stones. I have not had a single insult offered 
me since I came here. This is owing to one or both of 
two reasons, — my habit of daily dispensing medicines, and 
the advance of Protestant doctrines and influence. Prob- 
ably the latter is the chief reason. All classes, Mohamme- 
dans even, have united in petitioning me to remain here. 
Several hundred have signed a paper, and gray-headed 
men wept, when assured that I must go. I have sent an 
earnest appeal to the Prudential Committee of our Board 
to send them a physician as soon as possible. They also 
need more ministers. The whole region is awake. 
Whence shall come the men ? " 

In the above mentioned appeal to the Prudential Com- 
mittee, dated Aintab, April 5, 1852, Dr. Lobdell thus 
writes : " Surely American Christians have not a tithe of 
the devotion of converted Armenians, if they will refuse 
to listen to the Macedonian cry of these their oppressed 
brethren. I have no hesitation in saying, that at least three 
able-bodied men are required at this station constantly, 
and a fourth would be able to do great good by circulating 
among the adjacent towns and villages. The brethren here 
have already been obliged to diminish the number of their 
preaching services nearly one-half, though this is evident- 
ly much to the disadvantage of the work, which is still as 
encouraging as ever. I attended the services on the Sab- 
bath, with my pockets full of medicines, from which I had 
been prescribing on the way, and felt that it must require 
no ordinary amount of effort to preach acceptably to the 
six hundred anxious hearers squatted on their mats under 
that thatched roof. Very many of them have a much 
clearer idea of the great doctrines of grace, than the ma- 
jority of Christians in the United States, for they have 
studied the word of God more faithfully. The number of 
inquirers, the demand for earnest and logical preaching, 



120 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



the debilitating influence of a foreign climate, and the 
necessity of prescribing for the sick, are so great, that I 
do not wonder Mr. Schneider feels that the labor is too 
exhausting for his energies, nor that Mr. Crane declares 
that he shall be forced to leave Aintab, unless a reinforce- 
ment soon arrives. It is impossible for an enlightened 
Christian to be among them and not task himself severely. 

" It is to be feared the idea is prevalent in the United 
States, that almost all the people here are Protestants, 
and the great majority genuine Christians. This is far 
from being the truth. The work is yet in its infancy. It 
is not so popular to be a Protestant, that persecution is 
not still to be endured. The old Armenians are bitter 
yet, and the Mohammedans of course are contemptuous 
and bitterly hostile. The city numbers about fifty thou- 
sand inhabitants; the Old Armenian Church ten thou- 
sand, the Protestant community less than one thousand, 
and the true followers of Christ less than one hundred. 
Is the work done ? " 

After speaking of the necessity (growing out of the ed- 
ucation and peculiar circumstances of the people,) that 
the missionaries should be their medical and secular, not 
less than their religious advisers, he comes to their urgent 
need of a physician and their importunate solicitations 
that he would remain with them, and encloses a transla- 
tion of their earnest petition to this effect. In this peti- 
tion, the people acknowledge their unspeakable obliga- 
tions for the benefits, for which they were already indebt- 
ed, under God, to the American missionaries. " ~No words 
of ours," they say, " can express the gratitude we feel." 
They impute it to their own ingratitude and sinfulness, 
that God has removed Dr. Smith from their midst. But 
what shall they do ? They have as little confidence in 
their old physicians as in their former religious teachers. 
And "without a physician we shall die. We all there- 
fore, being anxious to get relief, would request Dr. Lob- 



PETITION JED TO REMAIN. 



121 



dell (not as a matter of obligation, but as a favor to us) to 
remain among us. And we would ask it still further, as 
we believe it would be for the benefit of the missionaries 
laboring in our midst. With a firm hope and confidence 
that the gospel will spread still more rapidly in this region, 
and feeling, moreover, the extreme need of two addition- 
al missionaries coming to this place, we would, with ex- 
ceeding gratitude and desire, receive this one, regarding 
him as already come." 

In conclusion of his letter to Dr. Anderson, Dr. Lobdell 
says: "I was told that the four hundred and twenty 
names affixed to the above paper, were signed in a single 
evening. A member of the old community told Mr. Crane 
he would hand him two or three hundred names from that 
church, if he wished. I was told by one of the wealth- 
iest of the Armenians — himself not a Protestant — that 
if I would stay here, and practice for the poor, defending 
them from the rapacity of their native doctors, he would 
give a thousand piastres to the cause. He has already 
given two thousand towards the erection of the new Prot- 
estant church. ... I have been greatly interested in the 
work here, and I need not say, that I should feel quite 
disposed to listen to this petition of the people, if it was 
for me to decide. But I am designated to Mosul, and 
choose to go there, lest I should meet the fate of Jonah, or 
at least be said to build on another man's foundation." 
He adds, in a postscript : " The brethren have just de- 
parted, after receiving a second time my answer in the 
negative. Stout men shed tears. I almost feel it my 
duty to stay. But I can not. Do send a man." 

In 1853, an ordained physician, Dr. Pratt, was sent to 
Aintab. But scarcely had he reached the station, when 
Mr. and Mrs. Crane, worn out with labor and exposure to 
an uncongenial climate, were obliged to leave ; one of 
Dr. Pratt's first letters home chronicles their departure 
from the city, followed by a great company of men, 
11 



122 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



women and children, " whose sad faces told how they felt 
to have a spiritual guide depart to return no more." " It 
seems to me," he says, " that this missionary life is one of 
high joys and keen sorrows ; and one of the keenest sor- 
rows is to feel, that these poor people, who are earnest for 
instruction, must be left to their ignorance, because none 
can be found to come and teach them, or those who are 
here are called away." Well may he add, " We earnestly 
pray for an outpouring of the Spirit upon our seminaries 
and colleges, that our fields may thence be supplied with 
laborers." In 1856, Mr. Schneider was constrained to 
break away from his overwhelming cares and labors as 
pastor of the church, teacher of the theological class, and 
evangelist and overseer of the whole surrounding country, 
and come home to recruit his health and strength for 
future usefulness, leaving Mrs. Schneider (who had lately 
returned from the United States) as she hoped, to supply, 
in some measure, his unavoidable lack of service ; but, as 
the event proved, to die, after a few months, in the ab- 
sence of her husband, and in the midst of missionary ex- 
ertions, appropriate to her sex, and entitling her to a place 
in the history of missions among the "honorable women" 
whose names are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. 
Dr. Schneider has recently returned to the field of his 
former labors ; and Dr. Pratt has removed to Aleppo. 

The history of this station is full of interest — full, also, 
of instruction and reproof to the churches, whose scanty 
v contributions of men and money have been honored as the 
means of its establishment. In the autumn of 1847, Dr. 
Smith arrived to take the place of Mr. Johnston, who had 
been stoned by the people and ordered away by the gov- 
ernment ; and being a physician, and the cholera begin- 
ning to prevail, he was enabled to hold his ground. In 
less than five years from that time the Protestant commu- 
nity had become what Dr. Lobdell found it, with a church 
of nearly a hundred members, and a congregation of six 



AN" APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 



123 



hundred. And in the five years that have since elapsed, 
it has advanced with a steady and uninterrupted progress, 
till it has doubled in numbers and resources, and more than 
doubled its influence in the city and ihg country around. 
The new house of worship, to which Dr. Lobdell alludes, 
was dedicated on the first Sabbath of the year, a building 
of stone, with alternate layers of white and black, eighty- 
two feet by fifty-nine, with a gallery on three sides, and 
capable of seating fifteen hundred persons , it was the first 
church of the Protestant community, built under a firman 
in the Turkish Empire. The church is even more remarka- 
ble for its graces than for its numbers. Five of its members 
have been trained in the little theological school under 
the instruction of Dr. Schneider, for the ministerial ofiice, 
and it was his last delightful work before leaving the 
mission to ordain them as pastors over Protestant churches; 
while a score of preaching members, like the lay preachers 
of the first church at Jerusalem, go " every where preach- 
ing the word." And the whole church, and indeed, the 
whole Protestant community is, what every church ought 
to be, a Temperance Society, an Industrial Society, an 
Honesty and Veracity Society, a Society for promoting 
Christian knowledge and Christian morals; and a Society 
for propagating the pure Gospel. To be a Protestant at 
Aintab is, of course, to be, in fact and by the -acknowledg- 
ment of Mohammedans and nominal Christians, a tem- 
perate, industrious, honest, truthful man ; in other words, 
so far forth a real Christian, and not only a Christian him- 
self, but so zealous to make others real Christians that he 
is a virtual missionary, whatever may be his occupation 
and wherever his lot may be cast. What would be 
thought in this country of four or five hundred persons 
attending an ordinary monthly concert, and large au- 
diences lingering about the preacher, hanging on his lips 
and almost compelling him to continue ]3reaching till past 
midnight, and even till the morning dawn ! Truly apos- 
tolic scenes have been often witnessed there, and as one 



124 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



reads the story in the letters, or hears it from the lips of 
the missionaries, he feels as if he were reading in the Acts 
of the Apostles, or hearing from the apostles themselves, 
the wonderful results which God has wrought through 
their instrumentality. Christianity has not lost its power. 
Were so-called Protestant Christian churches every 
where such, were they all such in our beloved land, the 
evangelization of the world would not long be delayed. 

In a letter to his father, Dr. Lobdell makes the power 
of the gospel, as displayed in the transformation and eleva- 
tion of the Protestants at Aintab — in their industry, tem- 
perance and frugality, as well as in their intelligence, piety 
and benevolence — the basis of the following argument 
and appeal in behalf of the divine origin of Christianity ; 
" To what can all this be attributed but to the spirit of 
Christ, which they have received within a few years past ? 
Oh, let us not refuse to see the proof, that the Bible is 
divine, that Jesus is the Redeemer of men, that both the 
Bible and the Spirit of God are necessary to the regener- 
ation and salvation of the world. My dear father, I would 
rather hear that you pray morning and night with your 
family with the earnestness of these poor Christians, than 
to know that you are making a fortune in gold to the 
neglect of your duty to God ! I rejoice in your temporal 
prosperity , I pray that it may be still greater : but, after 
all, I do feel that this is comparatively unimportant, and 
I can say with the Apostle, whom Christ especially loved, 
' I wish above all things, that thou mayest prosper, and be 
in health even as thy soul prospered 

" If I have spoken of trials, you must not think that 
either Lucy or myself would be iciUing to return to Amer- 
ica. We love the missionary work more, the more we see 
of its utility. It is a self-denying, but not an unprofitable 
calling. We are growing stronger in faith, and feel will- 
ing to trust to our heavenly Father our souls and our 
lives. Whatever be our lot, we feel confident, that God 
approves our course, and are at rest." 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Aintab to Mosul — View from the hill — Fences — Pollat Avedis — Fountain 
of Aleppo Water — Moslem Prayers — Sleeping in a Tent — Illustrations of 
Scripture — Crossing a River — Native Helper at Nisib — Crossing the Eu- 
phrates — Detention — Asdour — Bir — Enlightened Turkey — Woman — The 
Dragoman Zenope — Desert Plain — Abraham — Dipper — Orion — Khan of 
the Four Kings — Sabbath there — A Pastoral Country — Oorfa— Lurchiz 
Avedis — Abraham's Cave — The Protestant Community — Appeal for a Mis- 
sionary — Severek — Birth-place cf Judas Iscariot —The " Black Mountain" 
— No Forests in Turkey — Thunder Storm — Late arrival at Diarbekr — 
Gates closed — Key obtained by Mr Dunmore — Diarbekr — Situation — His- 
tory — View from the hill across the River — Stoned by the Moslems — Prom- 
ising Missionary Station — Departure — Voyage down the Tigris — Boat of 
Skins — Scenery — Arrival at Mosul. 

A fatiguing journey, by land, of nine days still lay 
before our weary travelers ere they should reach the wa- 
ters of the Tigris at Diarbekr. But their route lay across 
Northern Mesopotamia ; two days would bring them to 
the banks of the Euphrates, two more to Oorfa, the " Ur 
of the Chaldees," and the birth-place of Abraham; and 
every day, while it carried them over lands trodden by 
the feet of patriarchs, and still pastured by flocks and 
herds in primitive style, would bring them nearer, not 
only to their own future home, but to the cradle of human 
history. Hence though the days were to be long, and the 
fatigue and exposure great — though they expected to be, 
as they were, day after day, ten, twelve and thirteen hours 
in the saddle — yet they set out with more of hope and 
joy than of fear, on this part of their journey. The taJcht- 
i-rawan, which Mrs. Lobdell had relinquished for the sad- 
dle from Aleppo to Aintab, in the present state of her 
11* 



126 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



health, was necessarily resumed ; and Dr. Lobdell himself 
was sometimes so overcome with fatigue, as to be obliged 
to seek in it temporary rest, Mrs. Lobdell meanwhile taking 
his place on the back of the mule. His journals and let- 
ters on this route are unusually full. One, who should 
read them thoroughly, would be quite familiar, not only 
with all the incidents of the journey, but with the phys- 
ical, social, and moral aspects of the country. The follow- 
ing extracts are chiefly such as illustrate the present con- 
dition of the country, the character and habits of the peo- 
ple, and the progress and prospects of the missionary 
enterprise. 

" It cost us some tears to bid adieu to our kind mis- 
sionary and native friends in Aintab ; and as, on the 14th 
of April, we wound our way out of the city through a 
crowd of Turks who took some pleasure in insulting us. 
I felt that the triumph of the gospel is not complete, even 
in that favored field of missionary effort. Mr. Crane 
walked out with Lucy — an abominable procedure in the 
eyes of those who consider woman nothing but a slave ; 
Stephen carried little Mary ; I rode Mr. Schneider's horse, 
having a red girdle about my loins, and a white turban 
round my tarboosh / while a band of Protestants followed 
to do us honor. We found the taJcht-i-rawan at the east 
end of the town, near the extremity of the great ' city of 
the dead and after it was loaded and adieus were said, 
we proceeded on our way. Mr. Crane wished to go with 
us to Diarbekr ; but the demand for laborers is so great at 
his station, that he could only accompany us a short dis- 
tance. Pollat Avedis, a native preacher, a giant in theol- 
ogy and a dove in gentleness, with a young Armenian, 
also rode out with us. We galloped on, Zenope, my drag- 
oman, (a very agreeable graduate of the Bebek Seminary, 
who speaks English remarkably well and understands 
practical chemistry better than any college graduate I ever 
met), and Stephen keeping near the takht to protect its 



DEPASTURE FROM AINTAB. 



127 



inmates from harm. We rode to the top of a hill south- 
east of the city, and had a fine view of the plain and the 
moving companies upon it. A village lay south of us on 
one of the roads to Aleppo, past which Dr. Bacon came. 
You may recollect he said, the prospect, as he came in sight 
of Aintab, was one of the finest he ever saw. It is a charac- 
teristic of these countries, that all the fine valleys are sur- 
rounded by barren hills, which throw a cheerless gloom over 
what would otherwise be some of the fairest fields of nature. 
We busied ourselves in examining the geological character 
of the region, and in enjoying 'the shadow of a great rock 
in a weary land,' while the rest of the company went 
around the hill. We then rode down into the valley, 
taking a view of a narrow ravine, which the water had 
worn out from the lime-stone rock, and for myself casting 
a last glance upon the minarets and light-brown houses 
of Aintab. A stream of considerable size winds through 
the valley, turning a mill and watering the fine meadows 
and trees. Tall, slim poplars were planted close together, 
and formed quite a beautiful fence around the well-tilled 
and productive lots. Here, almost for the first time since 
I came into the country, I have seen the division of land 
by fences. Even here, the fence is raised for its intrinsic 
value ; for as soon as these trees get to be five or six inches 
in diameter, they are felled and employed as sleepers to 
support the mud roofs of houses. Peach and apricot trees 
were loaded with rich pink blossoms, and gave evidence 
of the budding propensities of spring. 

" Pollat propounded various questions of a theological 
character, and we passed the time very agreeably in dis- 
cussing them. I was surprised at the acuteness and 
clearness of his mind. He was once a thorough infidel, 
but thought out his way into a pure Christianity. Such 
a man will not be weak-minded. He has endured great 
persecution ; but it has been a purifying furnace, and now 
his faith glows all the brighter for the trial. 



128 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



" After riding about two hours and a half, we came to 
a bubbling fountain, which, after running about seventy 
miles, supplies the people of Aleppo with water. I took 
a drink from it, and noticed near by a Moslem repeating 
his howlings and his prayers. Soon one of our train fol- 
lowed his example, keeping his eye turned towards the 
Prophet's land, instead of heaven." 

That night, they slept, for the first time, in a tent, "with 
fez and coat on," and wrapt in thick quilts and blankets 
to protect them against the chilly night air. They met, 
of course, as travelers in the East always do, with fre- 
quent illustrations of Scriptural facts and images — such as 
shepherds leading their flocks, as the Lord leads his peo- 
ple ; carrying the lambs in their bosom, as the Good 
Shepherd carries the young and the feeble of his fold ; 
and separating the sheep from the goats, as the Judge 
will separate the righteous from the wicked in the day of 
judgment ; women watering the flocks at the wells, like 
Rebekah and Rachel, and carrying water m their pitchers 
into the city ; men following the plow with an ox-goad 
ten feet long, pointed with iron, and as good as a lance 
or spear, wherewith Shamgar might well slay six hundred 
men; and roads, if roads they may.be called, not en- 
closed by fences but running in an indefinite number of 
separate tracks through the plowed fields, so that the 
" sower as he went forth to sow," could not but scatter 
more or less of his seed on these beaten and barren 
tracks. 

" At 1 P. M. we crossed a large river by a roof-like * 
bridge — a work indicative of ancient enterprise. A wo- 
man was earring two kids in her bosom across the bridge, 
and the mules stood hesitating whether to step upon it, 
or stem the flood. Some chose one way, some the other. 
It was rather interesting to see our bundles of bedding 
dipped in the stream ! We had them covered with oiled- 
cloth and put in a painted bag, so as to endure the wind 
and weather " 



THE EUPHRATES. 



129 



" Our native brother, who is trying to teach the in- 
habitants of Nisib the truth of the gospel, came out to 
see us, and accompanied us some distance. It is gratify- 
ing to see how anxious our native brethren are to make 
known the riches of the gospel to their countrymen. 
They ask only the means of living, and they will go any- 
where to preach the word. At first, they were called 
vagabonds, and were often imprisoned as such ; but now 
that they go with the tools of their trade, or as mer- 
chants, into the towns about Aintab and even through all 
Asia Minor, they have a right to civil protection. They 
generally take a room in a khan, and work, sell, talk, and 
pray. Thus the truth spreads. Paul worked as a tent- 
maker, and his humble imitators emulate his invaluable 
example. ISTisib presents quite a neat exterior, but it is 
said to bear marks of poverty and shame within. It has 
mosks enough to make it a little pandemonium." 

They reached the western bank of the Euphrates, over 
against Bir, (or Bir-i-Jik,) just as the last ark for the day 
was ready to start for the other side. "It could take 
nothing but our persons ; and jDreferring to sleep in our 
tent, rather than separate from our baggage, we concluded 
to show our tezkerehs (passports,) and pitch near the 
lazaretto. Not a particle of food could be got but that 
we carried with us, and before we could get that in an 
eatable condition, it commenced raining, and the clouds 
threw quite a shadow over the bright expectations I had 
cherished about the paradisiacal Euphrates. We had rode 
eleven hours that day, and the last three under a burning 
sun, which not even my white-covered umbrella and huge 
turban could resist. 

"16th. We were thankful for a pleasant sleep, and 
resigned to the rains of the morning. But when we 
learned that no boats would be over that forenoon, we 
were a little disquieted. 

" I gathered some pebbles from the sacred stream, and 



130 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



got well wet in the operation. I hope you will prize 

them for the difficulty I had in collecting them, if for no 
other reason. Much to my surprise I found all my boxes 
from Aleppo had been undergoing a ten days' quarantine 
here. Our iron bedstead is left behind. Well, we can 
sleep on the floor for a while, if need be. That is a small 
inconvenience in this country. 

" If I had not felt that the delay was not owing to my 
own negligence, I should have been ill at ease, for it was 
a fine day to travel, and I knew the hot season would 
not tarry for us. But I cast a thought towards Con- 
necticut, and succeeded in making Lucy with myself feel 
that we were doing acceptable service even by delay. I 
had time to draw Bir, which lies like another Gibraltar, 
frowning over the waters. 

" About three P. M. we were greeted with the sight of 
twelve boats drawn by a hundred nearly naked men — 
the boats some twenty-five feet long, with flat bow, sharp 
stern, and an immense rudder, and the men ten or a dozen 
to each boat to draw it up the stream, and then two to 
see that it is pushed into the current and steered slant- 
ingly down to the landing-place : it was the most original 
method of navigation I had yet seen. A number of 
camels had just arrived, and we were obliged to hurry up 
our muleteers to get in advance of them. Just as we 
were ready to embark, we were agreeably surprised to 
see another native brother by the name of Asdour, who 
had taken quarters at a khan on the other side, that 
he might preach the pure gospel to the inhabitants of 
Bir. He offered the boatmen a present if they would 
take our party over first. They consented, though it ap- 
peared by their remarks about their happy disappoint- 
ment when he gave them ten piastres, that they had little 
confidence in his truthfulness. Then- surprise was over 
when they learned that he was a Protestant — another 
name for a temperate, virtuous, and honorable man. 



A NATIVE TEACHER. 



131 



" We of course found no distinction between cabin and 
deck passengers ; travelers, muleteers, boatmen, horses and 
mules were huddled confusedly together. But the sail was 
short. A great crowd stood around the custom-house, 
as we came to land, and it was with some difficulty Lucy 
reached the takht. She was suddenly shut up there, as it 
was dangerous for her to go through the streets unveiled 
and walking by the side of a man! This is that en- 
lightened Turkey, of which you hear so much of late. 

" Our baggage was taken to a cave, and we went to 
Asdour's room in the khan ; where, after putting up our 
beds, and then taking a walk about the town, our brother 
and host prayed with us in Turkish, and he, our drago- 
man, and ourselves, lay down and slept, all within the 
compass of one small room. 

" In the morning, our brother Asdour accompanied us 
on foot about two miles, anxious to do us honor, and to 
receive words of encouragement in his work. He has yet 
had but little success in convincing the people of the 
truth. But one's faith must not waver, if he does see but 
little fruit. The plant he fosters and the seed he sows 
may nourish another generation and bring forth c an 
hundred fold.' 

"We at length separated. I took a last view of the 
city and the gardens, and felt that I should probably see 
the Euphrates no more. There were no willows, or I 
should have imitated the captives of Babylon, and sat 
down to weep over the strange desolation before me. 

" A troop of men, women and children passed us on 
their way to Aleppo. They presented a curious spectacle, 
the women wearing immense turbans, and carrying their 
children before them on little donkeys, while the men 
on horses, alone, gave them neither sympathy nor aid. 
Woman here has no advocate. 

" Pretty soon we saw a man plowing with a team com- 
posed of a donkey and a steer. I smiled, whereupon our 



132 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



young guards informed the company, that this man was 
very poor, and therefore obliged to harness together these 
animals of so different a nature. I took occasion to dilate 
to Zenope on the glories of America. He is a man of 
fine talents, and came to Aintab to teach, though he 
knew his compensation was to be but ten dollars a month, 
and though he had a prospect of rising to affluence, if he 
would engage in a selfish pursuit of gain. He chose to 
be poor, that he might be Christ-like. Glorious choioe 
for thee, my brother ! May God give thee 1 a crown of 
life.' I know no young man in America, of finer talents 
or a better heart. And when he told me his wages just 
enabled him to pay his board and get his clothing, and 
that he was unable to purchase books, I was affected to 
tears ! He reads English, and I have rejoiced to give him 
some leaves of knowledge. It is well that treasure can 
be laid up in heaven. 

"I noticed several familiar flowers as we rode along, but 
very many unknown ones. Every thing here wears a new 
aspect. 

" A thunder storm obliged us to put on our rubber coats, 
and it was sunset when it cleared away. On and on we 
rode over an immense plain, covered with grass and sand. 
I had time to think of the friends across the sea, and muse 
upon the wanderings of the patriarchs. It was a consola- 
tion to believe that Abraham once drove his flocks across 
that wide expanse. We saw only a few clusters of mud- 
huts, looking like stacks of hay, before darkness rendered 
observation impossible. One by one the stars came out, 
and I was glad to see the Dipper hanging round the pole, 
just as I used to see it in my native land. Orion, too, 
with his shining zone, assured me that I was still on terra 
firma. I trust I was accepted in my renewed consecra- 
tion and prayers to God. The desert plain was like a 
boundless ocean then; it symbolized infinity. I could 



A SABBATH IX MESOPOTAMIA. 



133 



discern the horizon, and the guard ahead ; but little more. 
That was a silent evening — a time for holy thought. I 
feared to go far from the takht~i-ratva?i, and was glad to 
see that Lucy and Mary were sleeping in it, unconscious 
of the weariness that was settling down heavily upon me, 
after twelve hours' riding on horseback. 

" We dismounted at nine P. M. at the gate of the great 
Khan, three hundred feet square, built by four kings, as a 
meritorious deed whereby to purchase heaven, and hence 
known and noted through all these parts as the Charmelek 
Khan. ~No human being lives there. It is simply a place 
to accommodate mules and muleteers on their way across 
the country. We could not endure the dust and noise and 
filth of the building, and, having ascertained that there 
was no alternative, we iiitched our tent in the inner court, 
and having taken tea, lay down to rest just as my watch 
ticked the hour of midnight." 

The next day was the Sabbath; and they rested accord- 
ing to the commandment. Near by'was a well with sixty 
steps down to the water. Opposite was a mosk, with 
the unusual number of six minarets. In the neighbor- 
hood, several hundred mud stacks, or hollow cones, were 
arranged into a sort of city, already deserted for the sum- 
mer — they were the winter abode of wandering Arabs. 
All around spread those plains of Mesopotamia, on which 
Abraham had pastured his flocks, and where — perhaps, 
on the Sabbath — the God of glory appeared to him, and 
called him to the promised land. And now one of his 
promised seed, from a continent then unknown, gathers 
his little family and his few servants about him, reads the 
story of the patriarchs in the seventh chapter of the Acts, 
comments upon it, doubtless with some reference to his 
own call and wanderings, and then lifts up his heart in 
prayer to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not for 
himself only, but for the land from which the Father of 
12 



134 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



the Faithful went out, and which his believing children 
would now reclaim for a spiritual inheritance. 

The next day, (Monday, April 19,) they rose at three 
in the morning, and rode on, the greater part of the day, 
through a singularly romantic country, whose wells and 
cisterns and herds and flocks, sometimes very large, with 
their male and female keepers, constantly reminded them 
of the patriarchal age, and whose whole aspect convinced 
them, that this had ever been — as it is represented to have 
been in that oldest and truest of ancient histories, the 
book of Genesis — a pastoral land. 

" At eleven o'clock, twelve men on fine steeds, and armed 
to the teeth, appeared at a turn on the road, and, for a 
moment, my ears stood straight, and even my long hair 
began to rise. How it gratified us to learn that they 
were government officials. After about a month, as we 
learned from our guards, it will be very dangerous to pass 
along that route. Indeed, none who understand the dan- 
ger, will travel it then. The peasants will retire from the 
territory as soon as the heat begins to dry up the verdure, 
and then the Aneezees will take possession. They are fero- 
cious, and spare nobody that falls into their power. Two 
years ago, the Mutsellim (local governor) of Bir was 
stripped right there, and sent on his way quite empty 
and naked. 

" At length, the remains of an old Roman road assured 
us that we were approaching the famed JEdessa* In one 
place the rock was excavated for the road, and the steep 
descent towards the northeast was rendered quite passa- 
ble by art. The sun's rays, reflected from the white rocks, 
were quite annoying ; but we were consoled by looking 
down upon the fertile £>lain of Oorfa a few miles beyond. 

"At two P.M., the tombs north of the town came in 
sight, and the first view of the city was cheerless ; I was 

* Oorfa, the Ur of the Chaldees, is supposed to have been the Edessa of the 
Romans. 



UR OF THE CHALDEES. 



135 



glad to see a company of the people of Oorfa seated at the 
mouth of the caves in the suburbs, and a few urchins play- 
ing ball. This indicated some degree of civilization. We 
soon reached the road, which, by turning south, conducted 
to the city. Zenope rode ahead to find us lodgings, and 
our train waited in the hot sun about an hour for his 
return. Our Protestant brother, Lurchiz Avedis, invited 
us to spend the night with him, and we proceeded to fol- 
low him. I was urged to take off my white c California 5 
and put on a tarboosh, as the fanaticism of the natives in 
that quarter is proverbial. I rode into the city, carrying 
Mary, while Lucy walked with Zenope. It would not do 
for her to ride. We entered the south-west gate, and my 
eye most unexpectedly fell upon a beautiful grove, a crys- 
tal stream, and many marks of enterprise. A high castle 
was on the right, and two tall Corinthian columns stood 
upon its summit, where a certain Nimrod is fabled to have 
suspended malefactors ! 

"The bazaars appeared to furnish all the necessaries of 
life — a consideration of much importance in reference to 
its occupation by missionaries from America. The cus- 
tom house is quite a respectable building. We noticed, 
also, a large square tower, and a mosk formerly occu- 
pied as a Christian Church. But the chief object of inter- 
est in Oorfa is Abraham's Cave. There is no good reason 
to doubt that the patriarch was born very near it. A 
mosk has been erected over the spring that bubbles in 
the cave, of whose clear, cool water I had a taste, and 
which supplies sacred water for the sacred fish, that are 
domesticated in the stream below. It was amusing to 
see these fish, which no one is allowed to catch, jump 
over each other, as we threw a few crumbs into the 
water. 

" Our Protestant brethren were alike ready to do us 
service, and to ask us questions. They requested my 
interference in some ecclesiastical difficulties, and I Avent 



136 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



with them to the Pasha to secure the official acknowl- 
edgment of one of their number, as their legal head. 
They wanted jpie to address them as they gathered in a 
circle round me after tea, which I did through Zenope. 
I had quite a discussion with an Armenian of the Old 
Church, and hope I was instrumental in animating the 
faith of the persecuted ones." 

The following extract from a letter to Dr. Anderson 
will present this interesting place and people in their mis- 
sionary aspect : " We spent a very pleasant night in Oorfa. 
The late head of the Armenian community was formally 
acknowledged by the Pasha, when we came before him, 
as the head of the Protestants. The Pasha had not 
before heard of their firman, a sufficient commentary on 
the mode of legislation, and the amount of general infor- 
mation in the Turkish Empire. I addressed fifteen of the 
brethren through an interpreter, and commended them to 
God — sheep with only Christ as Shepherd. It was deeply 
affecting to see the tears fall from c eyes unused to wee]),' 
as we separated the next morning. A few of them accom- 
panied us some miles from the city, and besought me to 
use my influence to procure them an American mission- 
ary. What can I do ? Few places in this part of the 
empire have so many attractions as Oorfa. It is beauti- 
fully situated on the west side of a fertile plain ; and, 
though it is Edessa fallen, it retains many marks of its an- 
cient greatness. Abundant reasons offer for its imme- 
diate occupation. I drank from the spring in the cave, 
where Abraham is said to have been born, and should 
have been glad to end my wanderings there. In the 
name of the persecuted Protestants of Oorfa, I beg you 
to send them a missionary." 

Persecution afterwards scattered this little flock, and 
drove most of them to Aintab. But they have returned, 
and now rejoice in the presence of " an American Mission- 
ary," who is not only the spiritual guide of the Protestant 



SEVEREK. 



137 



community, but labors in hope that the little leaven will 
yet leaven the thirty thousand inhabitants of Oorfa, and 
the thousands more who dwell in the surrounding Pashalic. 
Mr. Nutting, formerly of Aintab, now enjoys the high 
privilege of preaching and teaching, where God "preached 
before the gospel to Abraham," and where one of the 
most famous of the theological schools of the early Chris- 
tian Church trained up ministers and missionaries for all 
the East. 

We must hurry over the remaining journey of four 
days from Oorfa to Diarbekr. The only important place 
is Severek, which lies half way between, and where the 
second night after leaving Oorfa, they pitched their tent 
on a fine grass plot without the city. "A number of 
officials called on us ; and soon after my return from a 
visit to the bazaars, the Mutsellim, or governor of the 
place, invited us to dine with him. This we declined as 
politely as possible, knowing that the less one has to do 
with such persons, the better. The higher in office a man 
rises in these parts, as a general rule, the deeper does he 
plunge in iniquity. The town is built of dark volcanic stone, 
and the rough pavements are very inconvenient for foot 
passengers. The streets are, of course, narrow and dirty. 
We purchased a few nuts and raisins, and were just pass- 
ing outside of the wall near the castle-crowned hill, when 
we were credibly informed, that in a certain garden of 
the city, were to be seen some memorials of Judas 
Iscariot, that Severek was his birth-place, that he went 
to Jerusalem, learned something about Christ and his 
new doctrines, returned, and by mistake married his 
mother in the place now occupied by this garden, dis- 
covered his error, went back to Jerusalem, betrayed 
Christ and hung himself! Not having any particular 
admiration for his character, I did not feel very anxious 
to pay my respects to his memory. The wretched ap- 
pearance of the town might perhaps lend some plausibility 
12* 



138 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



to the belief that it was cursed for being the scene of 
his nativity." 

The next morning they were up to breakfast before 
two, and on their way soon after four, Dr. Lobdell leading 
the van through the rocks and mud with a lantern. Their 
object was twofold, to get on as far as possible before the 
sun was up with a burning heat, and also to reach the 
summit of the Karajah Dagh or Black Mountain before 
night-fall. " This Karajah Dagh is the terror of all trav- 
elers in Mesopotamia. We were forced to make quite 
an acute angle to reach a convenient pass. We hoped 
we were late enough in the season to cross it comfortably. 
It is a region of extinct volcanic fires, every rock told its 
Plutonic history, lizards and poor Koords diversified the 
scenery. At eleven A. M. we descended a hill and dined 
by a rippling stream. When the proper time arrived to 
start again, I could not rouse the muleteers, so I took 
Mary on my horse, and rode ahead. The appearance of 
a hundred horsemen defiling through the pass, and guard- 
ing as many unarmed and handcuffed convicts, engrossed 
their attention and detained them still longer, but they at 
length got started. Then began the mud ; and the clouds 
threatened rain. We wished to get near the summit of 
the mountain if possible. The heat of the sun contended 
with the cold air of the mountain for supremacy. We 
suffered from both. The rain troubled us a little, and we 
feared the consequences. The grass was the finest we 
had seen. At three P. M. we came to a fine camping 
ground occupied by a troup of mules with loads of soap. 
We had previously met a string of ninety camels, each 
having two huge bags of gall nuts on their way to Aleppo. 
Several of them were hairless. Sometimes the owners 
pull off the hair that it may grow out uniform ; but I be- 
lieve, they generally shed it every year. It was hardly 
possible for our taJcht to get through the mud. A few 
weeks earlier, it could not have been got over the moun- 



KARAJAH DAGH. 



139 



tain. The animals, even now, would often sink half buried 
in the mud. About sunset we came to a bifurcation in 
the path — one track leading to a little village some three 
miles off our course, the other going straight over the 
mountain. We took the direct route, and encamped near 
a ruined Khan. Before our tent was up, the rain came in 
torrents. We pinned up the folds of the tent, and by 
means of stakes braced it against the wind, and made ar- 
rangements for all our party to get within. The poor 
muleteers deserved no better fate than to sleep exposed 
to the wind and weather. A small encampment was near, 
but we felt that we were alone. My thoughts were home- 
ward and heavenward. I slept soundly, and the morning 
found us in a comfortable state to resume our j ourney. 

" The ground was black, and hence the name of the 
mountain. The air was cold, the snow lay around us, 
and we were an hour reaching the table-land on the 
summit. This was crowned with oaks, that looked like 
apple-trees, and I thought of the storm-swept hills of 
America. There are no forests in Turkey. Trees are a 
luxury that my countrymen little prize, because they do 
not know their loss. 

" We crossed the little table-land, and having ascended 
a very difficult steep, soon came in sight of the plain and 
the clouds through which the Tigris was winding. I 
never saw more fleecy vapors ; they shut out of sight the 
city of our destination, but portended a cool journey 
through the day. Down we went. The descent was very 
difficult — mules fell now and then — but it was pleasant. 
We took strong puffs of the cool air, thinking that we 
were soon to feel the grateful influence of a mountain 
atmosphere no more. We dined at the base of the 
mountain." 

There again the tardiness of the muleteers delayed 
them a long time, in consequence of which they were ex- 
posed to a fearful thunder-storm, and were in imminent 



140 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



danger of being shut out of the city over night. Drenched 
and cold, Dr. Lobdell put spurs to his horse, and rode on 
to overtake the advance guard, consisting of the chief 
muleteer and a native brother who was traveling with 
them, and then to the gate of the city to make arrange- 
ments for the reception of the whole party. "I found 
that plain very long. After I had overtaken Aposh, the 
city seemed to be an hour distant ; I found it was two. 
The walls loomed up black and grand, and the turrets and 
minarets, surmounted with floating clouds, gave promise 

of no ordinary city We went up quite an ascent — 

but it was still far, very far, I thought, to the city. The 
sun was about to go down — we had scarcely seen it all 
day — when we rode past the Moslem burying-ground, 
and approached the massive gate that let us into the well- 
walled city. We hurried to Mr. Dunmore's house, and 
before I could go in, he told me the gates would shut out 
Lucy, if we did not hurry back at once. We hurried back, 
but they were already bolted. Mr. Dunmore started for 
the military Pasha's house to see if he could get the key. 
I was almost pulled from my horse by a soldier, while 
waiting alone.* I was wet, and felt almost certain Lucy 
would have to stay out in the damp, chilly air all night. 
I thought of the sinners who find the gate of the celes- 
tial city closed. I could only pray ; my anxiety kept me 
from suffering by the dampness and cold. At length I 
heard a noise at the outer gate. I called, and got a re- 
sponse from Zenope. I told the party to wait there ; and 
fortunately Mr. Dunmore soon arrived with the key. He 
told me he had got it only after much difficulty, and even 
then by stating I was an English Hakeem, or physician. 
I need not say I was rejoiced to see our party, funeral- 

* So the first American missionaries, who entered Damascus, were obliged to 
dismount. Koords — heathen — may ride through the streets, but not Christian 
dogs. Such is Moslem hatred of Christianity, where it can manifest itself with- 
out fear or restraint. 



DIARBEKR. 



141 



like, move through the streets of Diarbekr. I heeded not 
the streams that poured from the roofs into the narrow 
streets. We had a hearty welcome from Mr. and Mrs. 
Dunmore, and having changed our clothes, and taken tea, 
it was sweet to retire to our quiet rest beneath the roof 
of a countryman and Christian brother." 

Diarbekr, Mosul and Baghdad are the three principal 
cities on the Tigris, each a walled town of about forty 
thousand inhabitants, and situated at intervals of nearly 
three hundred miles from each other ; the first toward 
the source of the river, the last some two hundred miles 
from its mouth, and the other about midway between 
them. Diarbekr and Baghdad are situated at points 
where the Tigris and the Euphrates approach most nearly 
together, and Mosul at a point where the two rivers are 
most widely separated. Diarbekr stands near a bend in 
the Tigris, where it approaches nearest to, or rather is 
least distant from, the Mediterranean. It is for this 
reason chiefly, that the missionaries and other travelers 
to Mosul take a course so much to the north of the 
direct route; they strike for the nearest point on the Tigris, 
and then it is comparatively easy to float down the river 
in its first easterly, and then southerly, course. This 
general situation has doubtless conspired with the natural 
advantages of its immediate site — the sweep of the 
river by which it is encircled, and the noble plain which 
spreads around it — to make it, what it has been from 
time immemorial, an important city. It is the Amida of 
the Romans ; its massive lava walls, of surpassing height 
and solidity, crowned with seventy-two towers, were 
built by the Emperor Constantius ; and its great mosk, 
magnificent even in its ruins, was reared for a church, 
and after being burned, rebuilt by order of his imperial 
successors. It once contained two hundred thousand in- 
habitants. As one of the two stations of the Assyrian 
mission, it was an object of special interest to Dr. Lob- 



142 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



dell ; and, during a stay of ten days, he had ample oppor- 
tunity to look about the city, as well as to become 
acquainted with the character of the inhabitants. 

It was on the 23d of April that he arrived. On the 
24th, he " walked about the town, examined the venerable 
walls, and the gardens and groves beyond ; went through 
the bazaars ; was saluted with the cry of Wrote! Prote P 
called to see the sick wife of Hohannes, formerly a fierce 
persecutor, but now himself a persecuted man ; examined 
several diseased women and children ; pitied the native 
quacks, who terribly lacerate for supposed diseases ; and 
went home with the conviction that the town is a ren- 
dezvous for fanatics, scamps and Koords, and a miserable 
home for the Jacobites, Chaldeans and Armenians, who 
dwell within its massive walls." 

" The 25th was Sunday. The Protestants met at sunrise 
to pray and read. At eleven A.M. was preaching, as also 
at four P. M. I addressed them in the afternoon through 
Zenope, after which a young persecuted brother preached. 
Though not a member of the church, he seemed to speak 
from the fullness of his soul, of the power of the gospel." 

The ensuing week he spent in visiting the sick, con- 
versing with the native Christians, surveying the antiqui- 
ties, the paved road, the bridge of ten arches, and the 
old Roman walls, and exploring the city and the sur- 
rounding country. The view of the city, with its minarets 
and domes and walls and bastions, from a hill across the 
Tigris — in Koordistan — answered to his youthful im- 
agination of an Oriental city, rising like a rocky citadel 
out of the broad plain — like a turreted and castle-crowned 
island out of a sea of tropical verdure — girt around by a 
magnificent sweep of the Tigris, enclosed by rugged hills 
and snow-clad mountains, which, though distant, seemed 
like Nature's own impregnable fortifications thrown 
around it; and all this glittering and flashing in the cloud- 
less and dazzling sunshine of the Orient. But as he re- 



DIAEBEKR. 



143 



turned through the neglected burial grounds which lie 
outside of the gates of this, like other Mohammedan 
cities, and looked on the falling and decaying monuments, 
and saw the very walls of the city crumbling and dis- 
solving, he was led to reflect on the perishable nature of 
all human works. 

" I could not help asking myself how long it will be be- 
fore not a single monument now standing over the dead 
in America will bear any memorial of the dust beneath. 
There is no immortality but that of thought and right- 
eousness. The thinker lives forever; and so does the 
work and memory of the benevolent and good. Let me 
be a Henry Martyn rather than a Napoleon or Alexander." 

A letter to Dr. Anderson, written from Mosul, will sup- 
ply all that need be added of Dr. Lobdell's personal expe- 
rience at Diarbekr, as well as his observations of the 
missionary work there : — "As I remained there about 
ten days, I had an opportunity to see the nature and 
extent of the work in that place. It is deep, wide-spread, 
encouraging ; indeed, it is more so than in any place I 
have yet seen in the East, with the single exception of 
Aintab. The cleanliness and enterprise of the Protestants 
are very noticeable. The audience that gathers to hear 
the native helpers from Aintab, varies from sixty to 
ninety. It was with great pleasure I spoke to them, 
through an interpreter, of the instrumentality of gospel 
truth in fitting souls for heaven. The very novelty of 
the circumstances increased the interest. The women 
looked through a window from an upper room ; and the 
men, seated in Oriental style upon the straw-woven 
mats, seemed anxious to catch every thought. They 
have suffered severe persecution, but it has done more for 
the cause than indifference would. That for which a man 
will give up friends and a livelihood, which will enable him 
to meet the jeers and blows of enemies with a joy like 
the martyrs, must have a divine significance and power. 



144 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



It will excite inquiry and a desire for conformity to the 
claims of truth. The brethren in Diarbekr have been sub- 
jected to great trials, of which it is not my purpose or 
province to speak. 

"A few circumstances of a personal nature may be 
worthy of statement. I never went into the streets with- 
out being saluted with the cry of c Prote,' and seldom 
without receiving a shower of missiles. Several times, 
while walking for exercise with Mr. Dunmore, on the roof 
of his house, I was hit by stones flung from the roofs of 
adjacent buildings. The women screeched and threw 
dirt ; the boys hurled stones and brick-bats ; while the 
husbands and fathers stood by cheering them on in their 
diabolical work. The Saturday before I left, we happened 
to be walking through the open court of a mosk, and 
stopped to look at the tall Corinthian columns of marble 
raised around it by ancient Christian hands. A crowd of 
forty or fifty gathered round us, and though all classes of 
the citizens pass daily through the court, we were foreign- 
ers and Protestants, and it was a good time for the 
Moslems to wreak their vengeance. They at first attacked 
me, but when they saw I would offer no resistance, they 
fell upon Mr. Dunmore ; he tried to parry their blows 
with his cane, but was seized by the throat, and I feared 
he would be strangled. It would have been madness for 
me to rush to his assistance ; I tried to pass quietly away, 
but a part of them turned upon me, seized and hurled 
away my hat, and, though now in the open street, we 
both felt that it was quite uncertain whether we should 
escape alive. They at length began to throw stones ; one 
of two pounds' weight hit my side, and I picked it up as 
a witness against the offenders. The missiles came so 
thick, and the mob was so fierce, that we were obliged to 
run with all our might. We found temporary safety in 
the bazaars, and soon after effected our escape to Mr. 
Dnnmore's house. We were thankful for deliverance 



RAFT OF SKIXS. 



145 



from such a death, but we deemed it expedient to make a 
complaint to the Pasha ; we were refused redress, and 
were even told by the Pasha that he did not believe a 
word we said ! Such is justice and toleration in Diarbekr, 
We lefb him, not doubting that our representation of the 
facts to the American Embassador at Constantinople will 
secure his removal. The Moslems even call him a beast. 
Both Mr: Rassam, of Mosul, and Colonel Rawlinson, of 
Baghdad, have written to Sir Stratford Canning to pro- 
cure the appointment of an English Consul to reside 
there. 

" It is to be hoped you will send Mr. Dunmore an asso- 
ciate soon ; the labor and excitement at his station are too 
great for the powers of one man, especially while unfamil- 
iar with the language. A judicious adviser would be able 
to render brother Dunmore much assistance, even though 
fresh from America. Both Mr. Williams and myself are 
anxious you should not long allow him to endure the trial 
alone. I am confident that, when a favorably disposed 
Pasha and a broad-minded assistant missionary reach 
Diarbekr, the station will assume an interest inferior to 
few under the care of the Board." 

Persecution continued to rage at Diarbekr for years, but 
the progress of the church and the Protestant community 
there has fully justified the expectations of Dr. Lobdell. 

After many vexatious delays, occasioned chiefly by the 
dishonesty of the Moslems, who at first constructed their 
raft of rotten skins, and, when compelled to re-construct, 
still left it without any suitable floors — after all these dif- 
ficulties had been adjusted by repeated visits to the river, 
in which they became so familiar with Moslem insult and 
abuse that it excited only thankfulness for their own per- 
secutions, and prayer for the forgiveness of their enemies 
— all was at length in readiness for their departure. 

" Besides Mr Dunmore, a number of our native brethren 
accompanied us to the river, and among them three .who 
13 



148 



MEMOIR of lobdell. 



had just come to the city from a distant village to procure 
some one to teach them true Christianity. It is deeply 
affecting to see the interest which many m this country 
are now manifesting in the study of the Bible, particularly 
in regard to the errors of the Armenian, Jacobite, and 
Syrian churches. It is a just occasion of sorrow that the 
stations of our Missionary Board are unable to attend to 
the wants of all the villages around them." 

The raft, which had been constructed expressly for this 
voyage, and was to be taken to pieces as soon as it reached 
its destination, consisted of a hundred and twenty goat 
skins, inflated, tied side by side and end to end to a rec- 
tangular frame-work of large poles, and overlaid by succes- 
sive layers of smaller ones, and these last, for the special 
accommodation of Frank voyagers, were covered with a 
plank floor. About one half of the space was occupied 
by their tent, which, being permanently pitched, formed 
an awning over their heads, and a separate cabin for their 
own accommodation. "By placing a row of trunks, a 
couple of chairs, and a few boxes around our beds, we 
have quite a cozy apartment. To be sure, the chairs are 
mounted upon the trunks, and we are obliged to sit on 
the beds, but what of that ? It is a palace worthy of a 
king. The bow, or part which usually goes fomc a rd, is 
inhabited by two Koords, who ply a couple of rough oars, 
to the extremity of which are fastened a dozen slats of 
wood at right angles, while the center rests and turns 
round upon a pivot on a platform, to which they are 
attached by a split in the oar some eighteen inches in 
length ! Stephen, two Protestant Syrians, and the wife 
and two children of one of them, with their goods, occupy 
the remainder of the raft. They are going to reside in 
Mosul. I hired the whole Jcelek^ and they pay a small 
part of the exj>ense. One of them has been in the army, 
and he is not afraid of all the Arabs in the land. He has 
two or three long pistols, a dagger and a sword, and it 

4 



VOYAGE DOWN THE TIGRIS. 



147 



would require a pretty stout heart to meet him, standing, 
as he does, withal, nearly six and a half feet high ; he is a 
resolute-looking man, and yet he is a mild fellow in a calm, 
and also a good Protestant brother. He left his family at 
Diarbekr. His brother, a pleasant man, was in considera- 
ble trouble before he started, for the Pasha would not give 
his wife a tezJcereh — a passport or permit to leave the city. 
Fortunately for him, his wife was a woman of true courage ; 
she came to Mrs. Dunmore, and wanted to give her the 
eldest child, and declared she would go without permission. 
She had a plausible, legal excuse, since she was a native 
of Mosul. It is the policy of the Pashas, particularly in 
this part of Turkey, to be careful about losing the inhab- 
itants, and consequently some part of the taxes, of their 
pashalics. I am very sure that few persons, of any enter- 
prise or probity, would remain long in Diarbekr, if they 
could get permission to emigrate. Not long since nearly 
a hundred Protestants went to the Pasha, in a body, and 
told him that they wished to go to a place where they 
might have protection. They were refused permission. 
Their only hope of a redress of grievances lies in the ap- 
pointment of a new Pasha, or of an English Consul to 
reside there." 

All are now " aboard," — not excepting the heroine who 
had to go without a passport; — a tender and affectionate 
leave is taken of the resident missionary and the perse- 
cuted native brethren and sisters ; the raft is unmoored 
and pulled into the swift-flowing stream ; they drift 
through one of the arches of the great Saracenic bridge, 
and away they glide down the arrowy Tigris. We can not 
follow them from day to day, as they float down the swollen 
flood of this Oriental Tiber — this greater Pactolus, " yel- 
low not with gold but with mud," now between banks 
enameled with flowers of every hue, now by sand-banks 
alive with swallows, and now past bluffs and highlands 
rivaling in grandeur those of the Hudson ; we can not 



148 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



render the Koordish songs with which they were enter- 
tained by the boatmen, or paint the soft moonlight, or the 
beautiful sunrise, with which their eyes were delighted ; 
still less daguerreotype the moving panorama of mounds 
and meadows, of mud villages and rock-hewn caves, of 
men and beasts and inanimate things, which Dr. Lob- 
dell's quick eye observed and his ready hand jotted 
down in notes too brief to be fully understood by any 
one but himself, but which, had not his too busy and 
short life forbidden, he would, some time, have expanded 
into a full and life-like picture of the Arrowy River,* and 
the country through which it flows. 

" We were only four days and a half in going down, 
and we stopped every night on the river's bank to sleep. 
We had some fears for our safety ; but God mercifully 
watched over us. The fierce Shammar tribe of Arabs, we 
have since learned, were within a short distance of us the 
day before we reached Mosul; but we escaped their bloody 
hands. The Arabs, who did swim out upon their skins, and 
the Koords — armed to the teeth upon the shore — were 
unable to touch us, as the river was unusually high and 
alike swift. We had just fear enough to make the trip 
interesting. I do not remember ever having enjoyed four 
successive days so much as I did those on the river. The 
scenery is grand, equaling that of the far-famed Hudson. 
It might not wear as well, but it is unique and wonderful. 

" I need hardly say, that we received a hearty welcome 
from Mr. Williams and his family, as well as from the 
native brethren. Mr. Marsh had been absent about three 
months. They seemed to mourn his absence, and glad 
to welcome me and my medicines as a partial substitute. 
Thus ended my long journey. I hope that I have not 
come hither in vain. Pray that my faith may not waver, 

* Such is the meaning of the names by which the river is known in the sev- 
eral languages of the East. 



ARRIVAL AT MOSUL. 



149 



and hope with me, that the clouds, now hanging over the 
Christians of Mosul, may soon pass away. God grant 
that neither ill health nor ill success may ever force me 
to lay my bones in America. I love my country ; but I 
love the heathen and the deluded followers of the Fathers 
more. I wish that hundreds of my young Christian breth- 
ren would remember these souls, dead and buried in tres- 
passes and sins, and come to preach to them the Resur- 
rection and the Life." 



13* 



CHAPTER IX. 



Mosul —Situation — Description — Site of Nineveh — Nebbi Yoonus, Nimrood, 
&c.— Fulfillment of Prophecy — Al-Kosh, and Nahum the El-Koshite — River 
Chebar, and Ezekiel — Babylon — Ezekiel's Tomb — Tomb of Daniel — Shu- 
shanthe Palace— Heaps of Ruins — The inhabitants a sadder ruin — Ruined 
Churches — The Nestorians — The Jacobites — The Armenians — All admit 
the authority of the Scriptures — Inroads of the Papists — Providential Pre- 
paration for the Missionaries — The Malabar Priest — The mill-wright Micha 
— Trials of the early Missionaries — Death of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, Mr. 
Hinsdale, Mrs. Laurie, and Dr. Grant — Puseyite influence — Mr. Badger — 
Temporary Suspension of the Mission — Arrival of Mr. Marsh — Of Mr. and 
Mrs. Williams. 

Mosul is perhaps a modified form of Mespila — the 
name by which Xenophon knew the site of ancient Nine- 
veh. The city of Mosul is on the west side of the Tigris, 
some five hundred miles from its mouth, and nearly as 
many from its source. The dark and massive walls, the 
substantial stone houses with vaulted and terraced roofs, 
the handsome mosks, cafes, khans, and bazaars, bear a 
favorable comparison with other Oriental cities ; but, like 
almost every other city of Turkey or Persia, and as the 
natural consequence of the government and the religion, 
Mosul is in a declining state, its best buildings crumbling 
into ruins, the population reduced to half its former num- 
ber, two-thirds of the space unoccupied with houses, and 
more than two-thirds without inhabitants. Trade and 
manufactures are in a like depressed condition, the former 
being confined chiefly to the carrying trade on the river, 
and the latter consisting of little besides leather and cotton, 
particularly muslins, which are said to have derived their 
name from Mosul. The river, which is three hundred 
feet wide and fifty feet deep at the narrowest point, in a 
high flood spreads out to a mile in width, thus going over 



SITE OF ANCIENT NIJSTEVEH. 



151 



its banks, and inundating more or less of the surrounding 
country. It is ordinarily crossed by a bridge of bdats, 
but when the water is high, this lies useless by the west- 
ern bank, and they pass over by a ferry. The abutments 
of a massive stone bridge still remain, which, like the 
walls of Mosul itself, was built of materials taken from the 
ruins of Nineveh. 

Opposite Mosul, about three-fourths of a mile from the 
river, is a small village, Nunia, which bears up the name 
of ancient Nineveh. A mound here, crowned by a 
mosk-covered tomb, is called Nebbi Yoonus, and is vene- 
rated alike by Mohammedans, Jews, and Christians, as 
the tomb of the prophet Jonah. Another, of still, larger 
dimensions, and approaching two hundred feet in height 
at the highest part, rises out of the plain a short distance 
north ; it has become familiar to those interested in As- 
syrian antiquities under the name of Koyunjik. Similar 
mounds, or hills, cover the plain in every direction. A 
space about four miles in circuit is surrounded by a ditch 
and a moss-grown wall, about twenty feet high, — a part, 
doubtless, of the walls of Nineveh. 

Six hours below Mosul, on the east bank of the river, a 
still more remarkable mound, or pyramid, is found, with 
traces of a wall enclosing a circuit of four or five miles. 
This, from the mighty hunter of the primitive age, bears the 
name of Nimrood, and is well known to all who have seen 
Assyrian sculptures in the United States, as the source 
from which those sculptures came. Koyunjik and Nim- 
rood, together with Karamless and Khorsabad, similar 
and scarcely less interesting mounds, mark the corners of 
a parallelogram, or trapezium, some sixty miles in circuit, 
which was probably once covered with the streets and 
bazaars, the private and public edifices, and the palaces, 
gardens and parks of Nineveh — that " exceeding great 
city of three days' journey," and containing, at the least 
calculation, more than half a million of inhabitants, upon 



152 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



which the prophet Jonah was commissioned to denounce 
the judgments of heaven. The coincidence in dimensions 
is somewhat striking, — three days' journey in the East 
being just about sixty miles. This agrees also with the 
extent assigned to "Mneveh the Great" by profane 
authors. But when they go further, and represent the 
city as being surrounded in this whole vast circumference 
by lofty and solid walls, they state what is no where af- 
firmed in the sacred records, and what seems to be con- 
tradicted by modern observation, since no trace of so 
extensive a wall can any where be discovered. These 
mounds are perpetual monuments at once of the doom of 
wicked nations and of the truth of Scripture history and 
prophecy. They contain the palaces of the Assyrian 
monarchs, on whose walls of gypsum and alabaster heathen 
artists recorded the histories of their heathen masters, and 
sculptured the images of their false gods ; but the servants 
of the one living and true God in these latter days find 
in them a running commentary on his written word — 
dead yet speaking witnesses to the truth of the Old Tes- 
tament Scriptures. They read in those strange characters 
the same names of sovereigns and cities, not only of 
Assyria but of Judea also, with which they have become 
familiar in sacred history, while they see the fulfillment of 
prophecy in the utter ruin of those proud monuments of 
ancient wealth and power. The peasant now drives his 
plow over some of these mounds, while others pasture the 
flocks of the wild sons of the desert. The language of 
prophecy has now become simple history. " Nineveh is 
a desolation, dry like a wilderness ; flocks lie down in the 
midst of her, all the beasts of the nations ; both the cormo- 
rant and the bittern lodge in the upper lintels of it ; their 
voice sings in the windows ; desolation is in the thresh- 
olds." Travelers from distant lands — lands not in 
existence when Nineveh was "the rejoicing city, that 
dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am and there is 



FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY. 



153 



none beside me," — now " pass by, and hiss and wag their 
hand, and say, How is she become a desolation, a place 
for beasts to lie down in ! " Xenophon passed over the 
oround two thousand years ago, and admired the ruins, but 
never so much as heard the name of Nineveh. The Greeks, 
the Romans, the Parthians, the Sassanians, the Saracens, 
the Turks, have since ruled there, ignorant alike of those 
buried palaces and of the proud sovereigns that built them, 
and that strove to perpetuate their memories in imperish- 
able sculptures on the walls. Twenty-five centuries have 
rolled away since the Lord " stretched out his hand 
against the North, and destroyed Assyria,"* and now for 
the first time those monuments have found an interpreter. 
The same wise and prescient Power, which was treasuring 
up coal in the bowels of the earth ages before man was 
placed upon it, to drive the wheels of modern manufac- 
tures and commerce, — the same wonder-working Prov- 
idence which kept the new world from the knowledge 
of the inhabitants of the old, till our pilgrim fathers 
were ready to plant it with their new principles and insti- 
tutions> — buried these wonderful monuments out of sight 
through all the centuries in which they were not needed 
and could not have been understood, and brought them 
to light to reward the learning and to counteract the 
skepticism of modern times. 

Thirty-four miles north of Mosul, a little way up the 
side of one of the mountains of Koordistan, is the village 
of Al-Kosh, settled by a colony of Jewish exiles in the 
time of the Babylonish captivity, and now peopled 
entirely by Chaldean Christians, where Nahum " the El- 
Koshite" was born, and whither Jews and Christians 
still go on pilgrimage to a tomb that bears his name. 
There, from his mountain watch-tower, he looked down 
upon the lofty walls and magnificent palaces of the Assy- 



*Zeph. ii , 13-15. 



154 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



rian capital, and taking np "the burden of Nineveh" 
denounced upon the bloody city the opening of her gat^s 
to the enemy, the destruction by fire of her gorgeous 
palaces, and her utter depopulation, like the once popu- 
lous No of Upper Egypt.* 

About one hundred and thirty miles west of Mosul, 
another band, or a succession of bands of exiles, trans- 
planted by Assyrian and Babylonian conquerors from the 
mountains and valleys of Israel, settled down on the 
banks of the river Chebar. There, too, the spirit of pro- 
phecy came upon one of the captives, and he saw visions 
of God — of Jehovah, the God of Israel, riding upon 
the living creatures, and the wheels in majesty and glory 
which transcended infinitely the utmost pomp of the Assy- 
rian and Babylonian monarchs with their winged lions 
and bulls, the grand but motionless and lifeless symbols 
of their idolatry — J ehovah riding forth at the beginning 
of the vision, conquering and to conquer, as the appear- 
ance of a flash of lightning, and with a noise of great 
waters, as the noise of the Almighty ; and, at the end of 
the vision, establishing his own kingdom on earth, even 
as in heaven, with the New Jerusalem for its capital, and 
the new temple for its palace, in comparison with whose 
vast dimensions and magnificent structure all the temples 
and palaces of Nineveh and Babylon, even in their highest 
glory, would dwindle into insignificance. The prophecy 
of Ezekiel still lives, and the kingdom of God is marching 
steadily onward to its final and universal triumph ; but 
the waters of the river Chabour (for it still bears essen- 
tially its old name) mingling with those of the Euphrates, 
have gone over Babylon like a " sea," and turned the sur- 
rounding country into " pools of water ; " and " the wild 
beasts of the islands cry in their desolate houses, and 
the dragons in their pleasant palaces." The ruined site of 



* Nahum, i.. 1 ; iii., 7, 8, 13, 



SHUSHAN THE PALACE. 



155 



Babylon is some three hundred and fifty miles south of 
Mosul, on the Euphrates. It has " become heaps, an 
astonishment and an hissing, without inhabitant." Twelve 
miles south of it is a tomb which bears the name of the 
prophet Ezekiel. It is at " the little town of Keffll, which, 
from its want of luxuriant trees and vegetation, looks 
dull and somber in the extreme — a fitting place for the 
sepulcher of a captive prophet in a strange land. 5 '* 

Some two hundred and fifty miles east of Babylon, 
near the banks of a river which unites its waters with 
those of the Euphrates and the Tigris a little before they 
empty themselves into the Persian Gulf, is shown the 
tomb of the prophet Daniel, whose prophecies, like those 
of Ezekiel, are deeply colored throughout with the geog- 
raphy and history, the ideas and usages, of the city and 
empire of Babylon. The place, though now almost with- 
out inhabitant, bears the name of Shush, and unquestion- 
ably marks the site of Shushan the palace, and of Susa 
the rich and splendid winter capital of the Persians. 
Captain Loftus has recently laid bare the foundations and 
fragments of the marble columns of the palace which was 
built by Darius, and where, as he supposes, Xerxes, the 
husband of Esther, and the Ahasuerus of Scripture, " made 
a feast unto all the people that were in Shushan the 
palace, both unto great and small, seven days in the 
court of the garden of the king* s palace, where were white, 
green and blue hangings fastened with cords of fine linen 
and purple to silver rings and pillars of marole ; the beds 
were of gold and silver upon & pavement of red and blue 
and white and black marble." f 

Nineveh, Chebar, Babylon, and Shushan may be taken 
for the angles of a great parallelogram, or oblong, some 
four hundred miles in length, and more than two hundred 
in breadth, whose surface is more or less thickly sown 

* Loftus' Travels in Cnaldea and Susiana. t Esther, L, 5, 6. 



156 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



with mounds and " heaps," which mark the sites of ancient 
cities. Indeed, the entire space enclosed between the two 
great rivers, and lying on their tributaries — rivers more 
than a thousand miles long and watering a valley two 
hundred miles broad — is intersected with dry canals, and 
dotted with heaps of ruins. Many of these cities were 
already in ruins when the earliest Greek historians wrote. 
Forsaken cities occur in Xenophon's expedition through 
Mesopotamia quite as frequently as those that are in- 
habited. The cities which Alexander and his successors 
built out of the ruins of older ones have themselves been 
in ruins now a thousand years, and the few remaining 
cities of the Saracens and Turks are fast going to decay. 

A country so abounding in antiquities', and those of the 
oldest and grandest kind — a country so rich in sacred 
and classical associations — could not but interest any 
curious mind, especially any scholar, and, most of all, a 
scholar from the new world. Dr. Lobdell, as we shall 
see in the following pages, took a lively interest in Assy- 
rian antiquities, walked repeatedly through the deserted 
palaces of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Sardanapalus, 
visited the more desolate capital of Nebuchadnezzar and 
Belshazzar, formed the acquaintance of several of the Eng- 
lish explorers, and corresponded with the Oriental 
Society, and other scholars in his own country. 

But Mesopotamia has seen a sadder fall than that of 
Babylon and m Nineveh, and is overspread with more 
melancholy ruins than those heaps which cover ancient 
palaces, temples, and tombs. The Euphrates and the 
Tigris were among the rivers that watered Eden ; and 
how sad the fall of man since he walked and talked 
with God in the garden of primeval innocence ! The 
human race went out from the ark of Noah to re-people a 
world that had been washed from its pollutions by the 
deluge, and whether that ark rested on the Armenian 
Ararat, as is commonly supposed at the West, or on 



RUINS. 



157 



Yucli, a spur of the mountains of Koordistan, according to 
the more common tradition of Mohammedans, J ews, and 
Christians in the East, there can be little doubt that it 
was in Northern Mesopotamia that the post-diluvian 
patriarchs served God in their generation. The race was 
already fallen and ruined by sin , but what a decline has 
there been since in physical health, strength, and lon- 
gevity ; what degeneracy in moral purity and intellectual 
power; what mere wrecks of humanity, scarcely re- 
taining the human form, scarce deserving the name of 
human beings, now wander to and fro between the table 
lands of Northern Mesopotamia and the alternate sands 
and swamps of ASsyria, Babylonia, Chaldea, and Susiana. 

And then — saddest of all ruins ! — there are the 
wrecks of Christian churches in the cities and villages and 
on the 'mountains, like gallant ships stranded on the rocks 
and islands, and strewn along the shore after a storm, or 
like the drift of human works and human habitations that 
is left here and there on the high banks, after a fearful 
flood has swept over the valleys. The Christians, for 
whose benefit especially the mission at Mosul was first 
established, are the Nestorians and the Jacobites, both 
branches of the ancient and venerable Oriental church, 
but both cut off in the sixth and seventh centuries from 
the so-called Catholic Church, for heresy, the former 
because they believed that Christ had tico natures in one 
person, and the latter because they believed that he had 
one nature in one person. These were the two extremes in 
the great monophysite controversy, which so long agitated 
the church and convulsed the Roman empire. The 
church which claimed to be infallible, professed to stand 
on some undefinable mean between them, but in reality 
swung from one extreme to the other, according as the 
one or the other dogma gained the ascendency on the im- 
perial throne at Constantinople. The question was about 
words and names, or about metaphysical subtleties too 
14 



158 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 

nice for the cle&r discernment even of the sharpest intel- 
lects. Hence it has long since become obsolete, not only 
in the Catholic Church, but in the churches whose extreme 
views were the cause of their excision. Whether Christ 
consisted of two distinct natures, whether he subsisted in 
two distinct natures, or whether the natures were distinct 
only in conception but not in their actual existence — not 
whether he was in fact both God and man, but how the 
divinity was united to the humanity — this was the ques- 
tion which perplexed councils and cabinets, divided 
churches, distracted provinces, and even set armies in 
hostile array against each other It is a dark chapter in 
the history of the church. It demonstrates more con- 
clusively than any amount of reasoning, the deplorable 
evils of a union of church and state. It proves that the 
church in this age was more concerned for the form than 
for the substance of Christianity ; that she was more afraid 
of the smallest constructive heresy than of the grossest 
injustice and immorality; that she was more zealous 
for the honor of the Virgin Mary than for the worship 
and service of Jesus Christ ; and that the authority of the 
church — in other words, of the church and state hie- 
rarchy — was quite paramount to the law of God. As we 
read this dark chapter, — to say nothing of subsequent 
darker chapters — in the history of the church, we almost 
cease to wonder at the otherwise mysterious providence 
of God in permitting the rise of Mohammedanism. We see 
r that the church not only deserved such a scourge, but 
needed such an iconoclast to dash in pieces her idols, and 
herself too, if she would still cleave to her idols, and 
her sins. 

The Nestorians derived their name from Nestorius, a 
presbyter of the church at Antioch, who, " for the rigid 
austerity of his life and the impressive fervor of his 
preaching," was made patriarch of Constantinople in 
A. D. 428,. but was deposed, excommunicated, and finally 



JACOBITES. 



159 



banished from the empire because he presumed to question 
the propriety of calling Mary " the mother of God," and 
to hold the damnable heresy, since held for substance by 
all Protestant sects, that Christ unites " two distinct- 
natures in one person for ever." The Jacobites are so 
called from Jacob, a monk . and presbyter from the district 
of Msibis in Mesopotamia, who, under the disguise of a 
beggar, traversed Syria and the adjacent provinces, rallied 
the believers in the doctrine of the one nature of Christ, 
who in their turn were now persecuted and oppressed ; 
" ordained clergy for them, gave them a superior in the 
patriarch of Antioch, and labored for them himself during 
a period of thirty years, until A. D. 578, as a bishop, 
probably at Edessa."* This name was never adopted by 
all who held the doctrine, and the Jacobites, as a sect, 
have always been chiefly confined, as they now are, to that 
section — Mesopotamia- — in which the founder of the 
sect lived and died. 

But the Nestorians have a history, which is one of the 
brightest chapters in the history of the church — a history 
of missionary enterprises which extended their churches 
from Egypt to China, and from north of the Caspian Sea 
to the southern bounds of India, but alas ! a history of 
bloody and cruel persecutions too, which have extin- 
guished the last spark of Christianity in the larger part of 
this vast territory, and driven the poor remnants of the 
Nestorian church, like hunted and stricken deer, into the 
mountains that mark the confines of the Turkish and Per- 
sian empires. They have been called " the Protestants 
of the East." In their palmy days, their theological 
schools were in advance of all others in sound learning as 
well as in Christian influence, and their teachers and 
preachers were the best expositors of the Scriptures. 

*For the origin of the Nestorians and Jacobites, see Neander, Vol. II., pp. 
485-557: History of the doctrine concerning the person of Christ. 



160 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



They have retained not a few unscriptural ideas and 
usages from the corrupt church from which they sprung ; 
but the three great dissenting branches of the Oriental 
church, the Nestorians, the Jacobites and the Armenians, 
all acknowledge the Bible as the infallible rule of faith 
and practice. This gives the missionaries of the Protes- 
tant Christian churches a great advantage. They have k 
common standard. They may misinterpret it — they 
may wrest it to their own destruction — but the law and 
the testimony are confessedly to be found in the Scriptures 
of the Old and New Testament. The Greeks and the 
Roman Catholics will insist on the authority of the Church, 
and make void the law of God and the gospel of Christ 
by their traditions. The heathen not only deny the 
authority of revelation, but they have almost put out the 
light of reason. The missionary to the heathen must not 
only give them the Bible, he must almost create in them 
a conscience. The missionary to the Roman Catholics or 
the Greeks can scarcely find any common and solid ground 
on which to stand. He wants the fulcrum on which he 
can rest the lever, whereby he would move and elevate 
those dead and sunken masses. But these interesting frag- 
ments of the ancient Oriental church are " more noble," — 
they are willing to search the Scriptures, to see whether 
the missionary tells them the truth, and they will not 
deny the authority, though they may fail to submit to its 
divine teachings. 

The papacy has long had a covetous eye on these east- 
ern churches, and has seized every opportunity to make 
inroads on their territory. Infallible and immutable as 
the Romish Church is, she is now quite willing to over- 
look the doctrinal difference which was the ground of 
their excision. Provided only they will acknowledge 
the supremacy of the Pope, she can wink, for a season 
at least, at errors in doctrine and practice — she can wait 
for time and tact and persuasion and power, when once it 



NESTOEIANS. 



161 



is reestablished, to effect a full conformity to her own ritual. 
By such unscrupulous means she has been but too suc- 
cessful in the accomplishment of her end. In 1780, the 
Nestorian Patriarch of the Plain, whose residence was at 
Mosul, submitted to the Roman See, thus leaving the 
Patriarch of the Mountains and the feeble churches, which 
acknowledged his supremacy, to stand alone in their resist- 
ance. " This secession," says Mr. Laurie in his admirable 
biography of Dr. Grant, "was secured partly by bribes 
and partly by violence, and was followed by still severer 
oppression of the proselyted patriarch. At his death, in 
1841, his office, instead of descending to his nephew, ac- 
cording to previous custom, was conferred on a Chaldean 
from Salmas, and the very name of Mar Elias (hitherto 
the hereditary and official name of the patriarch,) ex- 
changed for that of Mar Nicola, by a decree from the 
Pope. Nor is this interference with the patriarchate the 
only wrong Rome has inflicted on a sister church. She 
has altered her ancient liturgy, introduced her own idola- 
trous worship of images, suppressed the second command- 
ment, and, as a matter of course, forbids the circulation 
of the Scriptures that would expose the mutilation. The 
people are restive under her yoke, and the day of retribu- 
tion may be near at hand." Such was the state of the 
Nestorian Church, when the missionaries, sent by the 
American Board to the mountain Nestorians, found them- 
selves shut out from that field by an exterminating war, 
and in the mysterious providence of God placed in an- 
other (Mosul) amid a population of forty thousand souls, 
" of whom nearly one-third were Christians." 

Very similar was the condition of the Jacobites, the 
other branch of the ancient church of Antioch. " By her 
usual arts," we borrow the language of Mr. Laurie, " Rome 
had seduced a portion of the people, and, true to her 
persecuting character, she now invoked the aid of the 
Turks to take away the churches from those who still 
14* 



162 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



remained true to their ancient faith. c On the side of 
their oppressors there was p>ower,' and soon rough parti- 
tion walls divided the sanctuaries of their fathers. On 
one side, the faithful remnant chanted their ancient 
hymns ; on the other, rose the voices of the Papists amid 
images imported from Rome." 

The Romish perverts, or seceders, from the churches of 
the East, have taken new names, and have had the wis- 
dom to choose, and the arrogance to assume the national 
or provincial names, which should have belonged to the 
original churches. Those who have gone out from the 
Nestorian church are called Chaldeans, and those who 
have left the Jacobites, Syrians. The patriarch of the 
Chaldeans and Syrians resides at Mosul ; of the Jacobites 
at Mardin, in Mesopotamia ; and of the Nestorians in the 
mountains of Koordistan. 

The missionaries seemed to have come too late ; they 
found "the whole region abandoned to Papal superstition 
and Moslem fanaticism." But Providence had prepared 
the way in a remarkable manner for their favorable recep- 
tion and the immediate communication of the pure gospel 
to their persecuted brethren, even before they had 
acquired the language. This can not be better told than 
in the words of the biographer of Dr. Grant, who has him- 
self been on the ground and borne a part in the early his- 
tory of the mission : " As they had once been duped by 
the plausible pretences of the Papists, they were cautious 
in their advances towards strangers. But Providence had 
provided for this also. When Dr. Grant arrived in Mosul, 
he found Joseph Matthews, a Jacobite priest from Mala- 
bar, — a graduate of the English College at Cottayam, 
and very evangelical in his views, — on his way to the 
patriarch at Mardin, to be ordained Metropolitan of the 
Jacobites in India. He spoke English with much pro- 
priety, and manifested a deep interest in the spiritual wel- 
fare of his church. He at once gave the missionaries the 



THE JACOBITE MILLWRIGHT. 



163 



right hand of fellowship, and did all in his power to 
recommend them to the people. But then, though with 
the former he could converse in English, he had no 
* medium of intercourse with the latter. And this opens 
another page of missionary providence. 

" A young Jacobite millwright had grown up to man- 
hood without knowing a letter. Such a thing as an adult 
learning to read was, to him at least, unheard of, so that 
when he made the attempt he was laughed at for his 
pains. Undismayed by ridicule, he induced the son of a 
priest to teach him the Syriac alphabet; and after he 
came home from his day's work among the rude horse- 
mills of the city, by the light of his lamp, in the solitude 
of his own room, he spelled his way into a tolerable knowl- 
edge of the ancient Syriac. Not content with merely 
repeating the sounds of the words, as others did, he sought 
for their meaning, and, mark the result ! the priest from 
India spoke this language freely, and, with Micha (the 
millwright) for an interpreter, he preached Christ and 
him crucified, to the Jacobites of Mosul. What a chain 
of providences ! Just when that church, hard pressed by 
its enemies, was looking round for help, the missionaries 
were sent ; and while they were held back from entering 
the field they came from America to occupy, a priest from 
India, prepared to appreciate their object, was sent to 
introduce them into another ; and from among that other 
people, in an unusual way, God provided an interpreter 
for his servant from the East." 

For two months, this coadjutor, sent by Providence 
from a distant land, cooperated with the mission, in the 
circulation of the Scriptures, and in the preaching of the 
gospel; and then, at the end of September, 1841, he went 
with his interpreter to the residence of the J acobite pa- 
triarch in Mardin. " In the spring, Priest Matthew re- 
turned to Mosul as Mutran * Athanasius, his zeal no whit 

* £isl*0£. Witli this new office, lie took also a new name. 



104 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



abated by the transformation ; and Micha returned also, 
a more intelligent and valuable assistant, though not then, 
as he thinks, a converted man." 

The bishop remained during the summer, rendering 
cheerful assistance to Mr. Hinsdale, while Dr. Grant was 
absent on a tour among the mountain Nestorians ; and 
then he returned to India, where he proved an able and 
faithful pastor and teacher of the flock. Micha continued 
to be the interpreter and teacher of the missionaries, till 
repeated deaths and adverse providences occasioned a 
temporary suspension of the mission. During the dark 
and stormy night, he stood at his post, encouraging the 
little band of true believers, and watching and praying 
for the morning. When other missionaries at length 
arrived, he was there to welcome them ; and there he still 
remains a pillar in the church, and, so far as his imper- 
fect health will allow, an efficient fellow-laborer in the 
work of the mission. 

We must now revert to the sad histoiy of the many and 
peculiar trials which befell the first missionaries. It was 
in the autumn of 1839, that Dr Grant, the intrepid pio- 
neer in the mission to the mountain Nestorians, first 
visited Mosul, partly for the sake of exploring Mesopo- 
tamia and Assyria, and ascertaining the state of the Jaco- 
bite and Xestorian churches, and partly for the sake of 
entering the mountains from the Turkish side, since they 
are, for the most part, subject nominally to the Turkish 
empire. In January, 1841, Messrs. Hinsdale and Mitchell, 
with their wives, left the United States to go by way of 
Mosul, and join Dr. Grant in his mountain mission. De- 
tained by ill health and the unforeseen but unavoidable 
delays incident to travel in the East, it was already the 
middle of June before they reached Diarbekr. They set 
out almost immediately by the land route for Mosul. But * 
Mr. Mitchell died on the way, and was buried at Telabel, 
about five hours from Jezirah. On the 7th of July, the 



TRIALS OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES. 165 

remainder of the party reached Mosul, having suffered 
every thing but death from the heat of the climate, the 
hardships and trials of the journey, and the barbarity of 
the inhabitants But Mrs. Mitchell was to find rest only 
in her grave. On the 12th, she went to join her husband 
in that land where they shall no more say, I am sick. 
u Mr. Hinsdale, who had watched with Mrs. Mitchell, till 
he fainted in attempting to walk from one room to another, 
was taken violently ill before her death, and was not able 
to leave his bed till August. Mrs. Hinsdale, at the same 
time, was too ill to render him any assistance." On the 
24th, Dr. Grant arrived from the mountains just in time 
to' save Mr. Hinsdale from a relapse, that would otherwise, 
probably, have proved fatal. On the 12th of November, 
1842, Mr. and Mrs. Laurie reached Mosul, the former sick 
with chills and fever, and the latter worn out with fatigue 
and anxiety. Mr Hinsdale, who had just returned from 
the mountains, devoted himself to their recovery till con- 
stant watching and care, together with a cold contracted 
in the mountains, induced a fever, of which he died on 
the 26th of December. In December, 1843, Mrs. Laurie, 
after two months' decline, fell asleep in Jesus. And in 
April, 1844, the mission was called to endure a more severe 
trial than any it had yet experienced, in the death of the 
enterprising pioneer, the fearless soldier of the cross, the 
skillful physician, the heroic and devoted missionary, Dr. 
Grant. It was just nine years since he left Utica, N". Y., 
to embark for the shores of Asia. During that time, he 
had made five distinct missionary tours among the scat- 
tered tribes and villages of the Koordish mountains. Once 
he had visited his native land, chiefly to plead the cause 
of his beloved mission, by his tongue and by his pen, and, 
if possible, to enlist volunteers in the service. Constrained 
by a sense of duty to his own family, he was soon con- 
templating a second visit to the United States. But 
another home and other friends were destined to welcome 



166 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



liim. Exhausted by. incessant ministries to the bodies 
and the souls of the poor Xestorian fugitives, who, driven 
from the mountains by their unrelenting enemies, fled for 
refuge to Mosul and died there in great numbers of a 
malignant typhus fever, he also took the disease. Dr. 
Azariah Smith had providentially arrived just before ; but 
the disease baffled medical skill, and the extinction of the 
independence and almost of the existence of the moun- 
tain Nestorians was soon followed by the death of their 
indefatigable friend and benefactor. Of the seven mis- 
sionaries who first went to that field, five sleep on the 
banks of the Tigris — precious dust awaiting a glorious 
resurrection — precious seed, too, we doubt not, destined 
yet to spring up in a spiritual harvest that shall wave 
like the corn in the Assyrian valley, and like the trees of 
the forest in the Koordish mountains. Nor were these 
their only trials. Not only did cruel and bloody enemies 
destroy the fold and scatter the flock on the mountains, 
wolves in sheep's clothing seized upon the fugitives in the 
valley. Most of them fell into the hands of the papists. 
The patriarch of the valley had gone over to the pope, 
and taken most of the people with him. The papists 
had possession of the churches,- the schools, the convents, 
the revenues, all the ecclesiastical property. So long as 
the fugitives adhered to the faith of their fathers, they 
could expect neither charity nor justice. They w^ere de- 
nied needful food, raiment, and shelter. Nay, they were 
even refused burial in the churches that were properly their 
own. But if they would only turn papists, not only char- 
ity but bribes were distributed with a liberal hand. "Forty 
thousand piastres of French gold are said to have aided 
the arguments employed to convince them of the identity 
of that church with their own." They were generally too 
weak in the faith to withstand such temptations. 

Moreover the papists found a virtual ally, and the Prot- 
estants a bitter enemy in one from whom better things 



SUSPENSION OF THE MISSION. 



167 



should have been expected. An Englishman who de- 
nounced the American missionaries as mere schismatics, 
tampered with Micha and others who had become more 
or less enlightened, and endeavored to withdraw them 
from the influence of the missionaries, and even labored 
to poison the minds of the Jacobites against the Syriac 
Bibles of the British and Foreign Bible Society, (which 
were circulated by the missionaries,) because they did not 
contain the Apocrypha. Micha spurned his insinuations. 
Bishop Athanasius withstood him to the face. The mis- 
sionaries bore opposition from this unexpected source with 
Christian meekness and forbearance. But it was among 
their sorest trials ; for it was not an enemy that reproached 
them — it was one who should have been their friend. 

Bereaved, disappointed, and shut out from their expected 
field of labor, the survivors returned to America. After 
little more than three years from its commencement, the 
mission was suspended. For a time, Micha was left almost 
alone to stem the flood of papal errors and diffuse the 
light of the pure gospel. But the influence of the truth, 
preached by the missionaries and further extended by the 
circulation of the Scriptures, was still working on many 
minds, not only among the Jacobites, but among the papal 
Nestorians. There was a remarkable movement especially 
in the convent at Al-Kosh, the seat of papal learning and 
influence ; and Micha found coadjutors among those who 
had been monks in that monastery. The visits of Messrs. 
Perkins and Stocking from Oroomiah, and of Mr. Ford 
from Aleppo — the former in 1849, and the latter in 1850 
— encouraged the native brethren and kept alive the 
flame. In March, 1850, Rev. D. W. Marsh, a graduate of 
Williams College and of Union Theological Seminary, 
arrived at Mosul, and with the advice and cooperation of 
Mr. Ford, purchased a house for a place of worship, and 
took measures for the formation of a Protestant commu- 
nity. In May, 1851, Rev. W. F. Williams, of Utica, 1N T . Y., 



163 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



and a graduate of Auburn Theological Seminary, arrived 
from Beyroot, bringing together with Mrs. Williams, Miss 
Salome Karabet, "the first missionary from the native 
church of Abeih," to engage in the instruction of females. 
Mr. Marsh and Mr. and Mrs. Williams composed the mis- 
sion, when Dr. and Mrs. Lobdell joined it ; though Mr. 
Marsh was then absent on a visit to his native land, and 
only Mr. and Mrs. Williams were there to welcome them, 
on their arrival on Saturday, the 8th of May, 1852, 



CHAPTER X. 



Climate of Mosul — Extreme heat — Dryness — Houses — Bargains — Cheap 
living — Opening of his Boxes — Medical Practice — Dispensary — Accompa- 
nied with Religious Services — Diseases, bodily and spiritual — His own 
Health — Eecreations during and after sickness — Assyrian Antiquities — 
Missionary Physicians — Stated Religious Services of the Mission — Native 
Helpers — Priest Michael — Deacon Jeremiah — Micha and Hanna — The 
Arabic — First Impressions of the Field — Discouragements — Women — 
Schools — Extracts from Journal — Selections from Letters — To Dr. Perkins 

— Mr Coan — Mr. Stoddard — Mr. Seelye — His Brother — Dr. Anderson 

— Mr. Scofield — Dr. Hitchcock. 

The latitude of Mosul is about the same with the south 
line of Virginia. But the heat of summer is far more 
intense in Assyria, than it is in any part of the United 
States. For weeks and months together, the thermometer 
ranges from 100° to 110°, and sometimes rises even to 
117° in the shade at mid-day ; and not unfrequently it 
stands through the night at the highest point which it 
ever reaches in the day-time in our climate. The average 
temperature of the day and the night is usually as high as 
95° in the month of July, 90° for the three summer 
months, and 67° for the whole year. The dryness of the 
atmosphere is as excessive as the heat. Rain, dew, and 
even clouds are unknown through the summer, which is the 
dry season. " For two weeks past," writes Mrs. Lobdell 
early in November, " 87° has been the highest point the 
mercury has reached. We are just beginning to sit in our 
room with the doors closed, and I fancy in about two 
weeks more we shall find a fire comfortable. Last night, 
we had quite a shower of rain, and most of the day has 
been cloudy. A clouded sky is a new thing for us to see 
in Mosul. No rain fell for four or five months after we 
15 



170 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELt. 



reached here, except a few drops the week after we ar- 
rived." Add to this excessive heat and dryness an occa- 
sional sirocco, when the atmosphere becomes a stifling 
cloud of fine sand, and an impalpable dust penetrates not 
only every crevice about the doors and windows, but 
every closet and drawer in the house, and the reader will 
readily imagine some of the inconveniences and discom- 
forts of a summer in Mosul. " In July, every dry object 
communicates the sensation of heat. Beds seem just 
scorched with a warming-pan, and even the stone floor is 
hot to the touch. A change of linen, instead of imparting 
the cooling sensation that it does in other climes, feels as 
if fresh from the mouth of a furnace ; for perspiration 
keeps the body cooler than the dry substances around it. 
Such extreme heat deals most unmercifully with furniture. 
Solid mahogany desks are split; articles fastened with 
glue fall to pieces ; miniatures painted on ivory curl like 
a shaving, and the ivory handles of knives and forks crack 
from end to end. An unfortunate piano that had wan- 
dered from England to one of the consulates, was contin- 
ually wrenched out of tune and rendered useless." Such 
is the graphic description which Mr. Laurie, in his Life of 
Dr. Grant, gives of the effect of the climate, even on in- 
animate things ; and the unanimous testimony of Dr. Lob- 
dell and others who have spent years in the country, 
forbids the supposition which we are at first inclined to 
entertain, that it is exaggerated. 

No wonder, that the first missionary families, who were 
so unfortunate as to arrive in mid-summer, were swept 
away almost as by the plague. The marvel is, how any 
human being, how any living thing but salamanders, can 
exist in such a climate. Men and animals shun, by every 
possible means, the heat at noon-day. The direct rays of 
the sun scorch and burn like the flames of a furnace. 
Even the buffaloes, in default of a shade, bury themselves 
up to the nostrils in the waters of the Tigris. The kings 



LIFE IN MOSUL. 



171 



and nobles of ancient Nineveh built the walls of their 
]3alaces under ground. The rich men of Mosul, and all 
who can afford the luxury, " have serdctbs or cellars fitted 
up under the court of the house for sitting-rooms in the 
summer; and the nights are spent on the roofs by all 
classes, from May till September." In the spring and 
autumn, the occupants of the better houses find a de- 
lightful place for sitting and breathing the pure air, for 
lounging on the divan, or talking with a friend, in the 
leetvan — a spacious alcove opening into the court by a 
broad and lofty arch, and often elegantly furnished and 
adorned.* In Damascus and some other cities of the 
East, the court, and sometimes the leeioan itself, is made 
doubly refreshing by the cooling air and the sweet music 
of an ever-flowing fountain. But no such luxury charms 
the senses of the wealthy inhabitants of Mosul, who are 
content to drink water brought to them in skins on the 
backs of animals from the muddy Tigris. Dr. Lobdell 
and his family boarded with Mr. Williams for two months 
and more, till the heat of the summer, and their increas- 
ing calls for medical advice and spiritual counsel, ren- 
dered it necessary that they should find more ample ac- 
commodations. They then leased a house belonging to 
Eunice Bey, — one of the Moslem nobility, — for which 
they were to pay him an annual rent of about seventy-five 
dollars. The bargain was made through Mr. Rassam, the 
English Vice-Consul ; for, as Mr. R. said, " the Bey would 
think it a disgrace to talk about the bargain with the 
other party ; though he would not hesitate to rob all the 
poor in Mosul." In making purchases, of whatever kind, Dr. 
Lobdell was continually reminded of Abraham's purchase 
of a burial-place from the sons of Heth. They would 
begin with offering to give him the article, or allowing him 

* Dr. L. suggests that it was probably in the leewan of the High Priest's pal- 
ace, that Jesus underwent his mock trial, while Peter and other lookers-on 
were in the open court. Hence Jesus could hear Peter's denial, and look on him. 



172 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



to set his own price ; and, after setting a price and rising 
upon if, perhaps more than once, they would end with 
demanding two or three times the market value. Even 
at this rate, however, every thing in the East seems cheap 
to an American, so low is the standard of prices. Thus 
wheat sometimes does not exceed fifteen cents a bushel. 
A common laborer can be hired for twelve to fifteen cents 
a clay ; the best masons and carpenters for thirty, and fe- 
males for eight. Dr. Lobdell bought a horse for twenty- 
seven dollars, which, in this country, would have been 
worth a hundred or a hundred and fifty. His house was 
in the Moslem quarter of the city. The windows were 
at least twenty feet above the street, and looked out upon 
brown walls from fifteen to sixteen feet high, and nothing 
else all around it. Not a green thing was to be seen. 
The donkeys trudged along the pavement loaded with 
dirt, grapes, joss* and the like ; and the only variation 
afforded to this monotony was the cry of the muezzin 
from the minarets of the mosks, and now and then a 
coarse Arab song from the back of a donkey. As he was 
making some repairs for his own convenience, the Bey 
requested him to remove the letters of the Koran, with 
which the leeican was ornamented, fearing that they 
would be profaned by such drunken revels as were too 
common in Frank houses in the East ! Dr. Lobdell al- 
most reproved himself for expending so much money on 
a house ; yet, when he had done his best to improve it, 
(being very often his own architect and mechanic, while 
the workmen whom he employed, after the manner of the 
country, stood, and smoked and talked and looked on), 
he said no minister in America would live in it. 

TVhen he came to open his boxes of goods, he was sorry, 
but hardly disappointed, to find that they were in a sad 
condition. A box of glass, which he bought at Aleppo, 



* A mixture of stones and pounded gypsum. 



MEDICAL PRACTICE. 



173 



was, two thirds of it, broken. Furniture from America 
was scarcely in a better plight ; and books, bedding, and 
wearing apparel, wet, moldy, smoking and fermenting, 
were so massed and matted together that it was not easy 
to distinguish one thing from another. He had, however, 
the comfort of knowing that he had fared better than 
some of his brethren, who, on opening their boxes, found 
flour and fruit, coffee and cocoa, books and bedding re- 
duced to such a state that they could not tell whether 
pulp or paste predominated. 

Scarcely had Dr. Lobdell set foot in Mosul, when he 
was besieged by patients of every class and description. 
He therefore went every where armed with pills, pincers, 
and lancets. He made professional calls in the city, and, 
after a while, in villages at some hours' distance. He 
opened a dispensary, where medicine was administered to 
all classes, always accompanied with prayer, and the read- 
ing and expounding of the Scriptures. For a time, he 
did all this gratuitously, and received patients at all hours 
of the day. It was afterwards found necessary, or 
deemed expedient, to open the dispensary only at a fixed 
hour in the after part of the day, and to charge a small 
fee in case the patient was able to pay, and in proportion 
to his ability. Still the room, and sometimes the court, 
was crowded. A hundred patients, high and low, rich 
and poor, Moslem, Jew, and Christian, were often present 
together. Some rode on horses, some on donkeys, some 
came on foot, and some were bome on the shoulders or in 
the arms of their friends. The majority were often Mo- 
hammedans. But they made no objection to the religious 
services, which were the indispensable condition of re- 
ceiving the medicines. While Dr. Lobdell was ignorant 
of the language, Mr. Williams, or one of the native help- 
ers, conducted the religious services. It was not long, 
however, before the Doctor himself could point a lancet 
or sweeten a pill with more or less of the truths of the 
15* 



174 



MEMOllt OF LOBDELL. 



gospel. He soon trained an assistant also in the admin- 
istration of medicines, though Ablahad's office vtm chiefly 
that of an apothecary, and in that he needed close and 
constant watching. 

The diseases were of every kind, real or imaginary, pos- 
sible or conceivable. As in soul, so in body, they an- 
swered to the description of the prophet. Every organ, 
from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, had its 
disease or its bruise. All was wounds and putrifying 
sores ; and they had not been bound up, neither mollified 
with ointment. Goitre, leprosy, ojDhthalmia, — all so bad 
as to make the person a mass of deformity, — and those 
worse diseases, which are not to be named in Christen- 
dom, but with which the whole body of Islam is, as it 
w^ere, rotten, and the whole blood cancerous — these were 
among the most common types of disease, with which he 
v^as every day familiar. But the most frequent distemper 
w^ith which he met, and which tried his patience most, 
was fecu% fright. If any thing fell near them, especially 
the women, they must see the hakeem. They wanted 
medicine to make them thin, and medicine to make them 
fat, — medicine to make them hot, and medicine to make 
them cool. Children must have medicine to make them 
strong. They asked for medicine for the idiotic and the 
insane. A man holding a high office in the government, 
once brought him his watch to mend, thinking the ha- 
keem must, of course, understand the mechanic arts. In 
short, they regarded him as a kind of magician, who 
knew all arts, and could work all miracles. They were 
astonished at his diagnosis of diseases and his foresight of 
the issue. He was not only more skillful but more frank 
than the native physicians. The native doctors were in 
the habit of arsuring those who were near their end, that 
they would recover. He made it a rule to deal in perfect 
honesty and truthfulness, as with the well, so with the 
sick and the dying ; and whenever, there was any chance 



NATIVE IDEAS OF MEDICINE. 



175 



or any hope of a good result, to direct those who were at 
the point of death to Jesus, as the only Physician who 
could now be of any use to them, — the Physician of the 
soul. 

Their ideas and uses of medicine were as strange as 
their diseases. They would apply pills externally, and 
swallow the papers in which medicines were put up. 
They would ask, if the papers were to be dissolved in 
water, as well as the contents. They would insist on tak- 
ing a quart of medicine all at once, or, perhaps, go to the 
other extreme, and lay aside the medicine till they should 
get better. The Doctor would direct the removal of a 
little of the superfluous hair, and, on re-visiting the pa- 
tient, find his whole head shaven. It was no uncommon 
thing for the native doctors to blister the head all over, 
and to cauterize every other part of the body with a hot 
ir6n. We do not mean to say, that this last was done all 
at once ; but after repeated prescriptions, in some cases, 
scarcely a square inch could be found on the whole body 
that was not cauterized. At the same time they had a 
great dread of cutting and amjuitation, as this is the mark 
of a convicted thief or felon. 

The draught which such scenes must make upon the sym- 
pathies, was scarcely less exhausting to Dr. Lobdell than 
the bodily fatigue. He was treated with the utmost kind- 
ness and respect. He was saluted with the title, not only 
of Hakeem, but Consul, Bey, Effendi. He received wel- 
come and valuable presents. The people, sometimes at 
least, showed that they were capable of gratitude, though 
there is no such word in the Arabic language. But he 
never could forget that they were immortal beings, hasting 
— and, as he could not but believe, unprepared — to the 
retributions of eternity. Their bodily diseases were, to 
his eyes, but the symbols of the more dreadful malady to 
which their souls were subject ; and the deaths, which he 
so often witnessed or foresaw, were, in his view, but the 



176 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



awful prelude of death eternal. These were realities to 
him ; and he longed, but could hardly hope, to make them 
realities to his patients. Even when worn out with care 
and toil, and so sick himself that he could not foresee 
the result, we find in his brief journal such entries as 
these : " Calls plenty. Poor people ! What will become 
of their souls ? Oh that their sonls may be touched and 
healed ! " And on seeing or hearing of a death among 
his patients, the reluctant conviction is forced from him 
that another soul is lost. 

At three different times during his first summer in 
Mosul, Dr. Lobdell suffered from severe attacks of acute 
disease. The first, in June, was only an inflammation in 
the ear and face, not dangerous but protracted and pain- 
ful in the extreme, so as sometimes to extort from him 
the cry, " pain, pain, pain." The latter part of August 
he was attacked with a fever, which lasted only a few 
days, but left him very weak, and brought him to look 
death in the face. 

Again, late in October, he was seized with a violent 
headache, which continued day after day, and threatened 
to end in inflammation of the brain. At the .same time 
Mary was suffering severely from ophthalmia — a disease 
which often produces such swelling of the face that the 
eye is invisible, and is attended with such extreme pain, 
that the sufferer would gladly have the eye bored out, if 
he could thus find relief. But both the father and the 
child were mercifully delivered from the extreme forms 
of their respective diseases, and, with the return of the 
cooler weather of the autumn, they were restored to their 
usual health. 

Mrs. Lobdell was, at times, quite overcome with the 
fatigue and anxiety of watching the sick, superadded to 
the extreme heat of the climate ; but she generally en- 
joyed as good health as she had enjoyed in the United 
States. 



MEDICINE FOR THE SOUL. 



177 



Dr. Lobdell employed his sick clays, when he was not 
too sick, and sometimes when he was, in reading a variety 
of literary, religious, and professional books, of which he 
was as passionately fond as ever, but which, amid the 
pressure of medical practice and missionary labors at Mo- 
sul, he found less time to read than he had ever before 
found in all his life. While recovering his health, and 
for the sake of regaining his strength more perfectly, he 
made excursions in the surrounding country, particularly 
amoDg the mounds of ancient Mneveh ; examined with 
his own eyes the remains of Assyrian antiquities, which 
were at that time being brought to light ; compared notes 
with Capt. Loftus, Mr. Rassam, the English Vice Consul, 
and Mr. Hodder, to whose skill in drawing Col. Rawlin- 
son has been so much indebted ; and was preparing to 
form an independent judgment, if possible, of the history 
and the significance of those wonderful monuments. 

But neither books nor antiquities, his own sickness nor 
his attendance on others, could divert his mind from the 
proper work of the Christian missionary. He valued his 
medical practice and reputation only as an auxiliary to 
the propagation of the gospel and the salvation of souls. 
He was impatient for the time when his command of the 
language would enable him to preach Christ with his own 
lips to the sick and the dying : " Called to see a woman 
dying. How I wanted to point her to Jesus. But my 
tongue is tied ! " Meanwhile he insisted that they should 
hear the gospel from the hps of others ; that none, whether 
Christian or Mohammedan, should go from the dispen- 
siry with medicine, without having the offer of medicine 
for the soul without money and without price. This was 
the way in which Christ and his apostles conducted their 
mission ; and he believed the modern missionary would 
be safe and wise in following their example. Wherever 
olismonary physicians had labored, especially in the early 
stages of a mission, he thought he had seen the good 



178 



MEMOIR OF LOEDELL. 



effects, and he looked for happy results to follow his own 
labors as a physician. He hoped and expected that the 
faithful preaching of the truth at the dispensary would be 
followed by an increased attendance on the religious ser- 
vices. 

The regular preaching services were at or near sunrise 
in the morning, and at half-past four in the afternoon of the 
Sabbath, and on Wednesday evening. Besides, there was 
a Bible-class Sabbath noon, and a stated prayer-meeting 
on Saturday, at the house of some of the brethren. In 
the preaching, Mr. Williams had the cooperation of Priest 
Michael and Deacon Jeremiah. 

Michael is one of the papal priests — the " El-Koshites " 
— -referred to in the last chapter as having come to the 
help of Micha during the suspension of the mission. In 
a joint-letter, which he and Micha then wrote to the na- 
tive helpers at Oroomiah,* they give the following ac- 
count of themselves : " It is proper that we make known 
to you, dear friends, that we are two men in the city of 
Mosul who have cast off the way of error, and laid hold 
of the pure doctrines of the gospel of life, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Our names are, of one of us, Michael, 
of the family Joomalah, who has come out from under 
the yoke of Rome ; and the other, Micha Alnakker, the 
son of Jonas, of Jacobite Syrian origin, of Mosul. We 
both became acquainted with the way of truth through 
study and examination of the holy Scriptures, under the 
supervision of our English Christian brethren, that is, the 
Americans, who formerly dwelt in Mosul, but not one of 
whom is now here. And behold we are now striving for 
the faith once delivered to the saints, and bear the testi- 
mony of Jesus Christ, witnessing to all and teaching all 
whom we meet, in private and in public, according to the 
ability given to us of God." 



* The letter is translated by Rev. J. Perkins, D. D., of Oroomiah. 



NATIVE PREACHERS. 



179 



Deacon Jeremiah was also a papist and a monk from 
the monastery at Al-Kosh. Dr. Perkins saw him when 
he visited Mosul, and speaks of him as follows : * " Early 
this morning, one of the evangelical ' brethren 5 called to 
see us. He was formerly a monk, in the papal monastery 
of Rabban Hernias, near Al-Kosh, where he spent nine 
years. He escaped from the monastery, after many pre- 
vious attempts, more than a year ago. He had long been 
deeply disgusted with the abominations of that den of 
evil agents and evil deeds. He is a very interesting, in- 
telligent man, twenty-six years old, and was now engaged 
in teaching a school for the J acobite bishop, Mr. Rassam 
having obtained this place for him after he left the mon- 
astery and discarded the papacy, as he was cast off by his 
friends and sorely persecuted by his enemies." 

Dr. Perkins did not see Michael, as he had been sent 
by Mr. Rassam to Jezirah to look after a school there, 
which Mr. Rassam had undertaken to sustain at his own 
expense ; but he heard him spoken of as entirely evangel- 
ical and ready to cooperate in efforts to make known the 
gospel. His conversion was the more remarkable, be- 
cause he was already sixty years old. Jeremiah accompa- 
nied Dr. Perkins and Mr. Stocking on their return to 
Oroomiah, and while spending the winter there, came 
under the influence of one of the revivals by which that 
mission has been so much blest, and experienced there, for 
the first time, as he thought, a saving change. He had 
been enlightened before, but now he was regenerated, and 
when he returned to Mosul, and began to preach the gos- 
pel there under the direction of Mr. Marsh, " the great 
change in his whole character made a striking impression 
on all who had previously known him." 

Among the lay members of the little church, Mich a, 
the stone-cutter, was still a pillar. His brother, Hanna, 
was also a consistent and devoted Christian. 

* Missionary Herald for February, 1S50, p. 55. 



180 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL.. 



With these and the other brethren, Dr. Lobdell enjoyed 
sweet communion in prayer and conversation, listening to 
the simple narration of their Christian experience and 
their trials in the past history of the mission, rejoicing in 
the manifest identity of the Christian spirit though on op- 
posite sides of the globe, and communicating to them, first 
through an interpreter and afterwards with a stammering 
tongue, as best he could, still more of the unsearchable 
riches of the gospel of Christ. Next to the Chinese, the 
Arabic is perhaps the most difficult language in which our 
missionaries have occasion to teach or preach. It is easy 
enough to get a smattering of Arabic words; but to mas- 
ter it, as it is written in books, and, what is a very differ- 
ent matter, as it is spoken in its different dialects by the 
people, and to make it an accurate and adequate vehicle 
of Christian truth to unchristian, or at best, unspiritual 
hearers, is a task to which few missionaries have felt them- 
selves fully competent. It is amusing, though it excites 
somewhat of compassion also, to hear the missionaries tell 
of their own blunders in the choice of words, — how, for 
example, they prayed that the gospel might be a light to 
" the ears of corn" and how, when they inquired if there 
was any such thing as thunder on Mount Lebanon, a plow- 
share was brought them that they might see it with their 
own eyes. Dr. Lobdell complains particularly of the com- 
plicated grammatical structure of the language, and its 
inadequacy, with all its richness, to express the ideas of 
spiritual religion. "I hope," he says, after seeing the 
crowds of thoughtless and careless people that gather 
around the sick and dying, " we may be able to produce 
some conviction of the solemnity of life and death. The 
Arabic has no word for solemnity, nor gratitude, nor love 
in its fullest sense. It has a word for sin, but it is only a 
name. Words have lost their meaning. Death broods 
over the people." A little more than a month after his 
arrival, at the earnest request of the people, Dr. Lobdell 



DISCOURAGEMENTS. 



181 



preached his first sermon through Micha as interpreter. 
A week or two after, he had the satisfaction of taking 
part, for the first time, in the examination of a candidate 
(Budrus, that is, Peter) for admission to the church. 
Sometimes he is much encouraged by the increasing num- 
ber of Bible-readers, of attendants on the daily service 
connected with the dispensary, and of sincere if not anx- 
ious inquirers after the truth. 

But his first impressions of the field did not, on the 
whole, promise a speedy harvest. He could not but think 
it a much less promising field than very many others that 
were open and yet unoccupied among the Armenians. 
In his first letter to the Mission House, dated Mosul, May 
21st, 1852, he thus expresses himself : " It would be pre- 
sumptuous for me to express the conviction that there is 
little probability of great immediate results in Mosul, if I 
had not some sufficient data as the basis of that predic- 
tion. At present, the work advances very slowly. Yes- 
terday I saw for the first time considerable encourage- 
ment. A large number of persons have assembled daily 
in our court, since my arrival, to receive medicines, and 
yesterday eleven men called and asked permission to dis- 
cuss the question of Protestantism versus Tradition. Mr. 
Williams says this is the most encouraging fact he has 
met during the past year. There are doubtless a few in- 
dividuals, besides the members of the church, who are 
earnest in the investigation of the truth ; but I have been 
surprised to mark the contrast of this people with the 
Armenians. The latter are anxious seekers, the former 
indifferent spectators. We trust that when they come to 
understand the benevolence of our motives, they will be 
led to feel that we have the gospel spirit and are laboring 
for their salvation. 

" Of course you will receive these views as simply first 
impressions. Wherein they conflict with those expressed 
by others more experienced, they should doubtless be 
16 



182 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



regarded with corresponding distrust. I have just come 

from places where the gospel is drawing multitudes around 
it, and this may account for the convictions I have ex- 
pressed." 

The greatest number of attendants on the Protestant 
services at this time was twenty. The Chaldean (papal) 
priests threatened to excommunicate (one of them actu- 
ally executed the threat) any of their flock who should 
even speak with the Americans. The archbishop of the 
Jacobites (Behnam by name) was secretly hostile, though 
he did not dare openly to oppose the Protestants. The 
government, at the instigation of the ecclesiastics, taxed 
the Protestants much higher than the members of any 
other Christian sects, and, being so far from Constanti- 
nople, could disregard frequent firmans with impunity ; 
just as a former Pasha at Mosul answered the firman, 
which reserved to the Sultan the right of inflicting capital 
punishment, by throwing down before the leading men 
whom he had assembled for that purpose, the heads of all 
who were then in prison. The taxes being promptly paid, 
under the influence of the missionaries, it was for the in- 
terest of the Pasha to protect the Protestants in the un- 
disturbed enjoyment of their worship. Yet during the 
great fast of Ramadan, they were not allowed to sing, and 
their meetings for prayer on the roofs of their houses were 
sometimes disturbed by the howlings of the fanatical 
Moslems. "Want of harmony in the church, and that im- 
perfection of Christian character in its members which 
must be expected in converts from semi-heathenism, and 
which we see even in the churches gathered by the apos- 
tles, — these were sometimes severer trials than any that 
could come from without. And then most discouraging 
of all was that general apathy, of which he speaks in the 
above letter, — that block-like insensibility to spiritual and 
eternal things, which astonishes the preacher of the gos- 
pel at home, and is still more distressing to the faithful 



THE WOMEN. 



183 



missionary, wherever men are not moved by the special 
presence and power of the Holy Spirit. 

The women, who, in Protestant Christian lands, are 
usually the most susceptible to religious impressions, were 
found in Mosul, as they are apt to be found in the East, 
less accessible, because more degraded and besotted, than 
the other sex. Mrs. Lobdell thus commiserates the un- 
happy condition even of the Christian women. " I long 
to be able to talk with the degraded women here. Oh, 
they are so degraded ! Only two women are members of 
our church. One is the mother of Micha, and the other 
a middle-aged woman, wife of one of our church mem- 
bers. They are very exemplary in their lives, and love 
to come to the prayer-meeting and listen to the truth. 
Only one of our church-members has a pious wife. The 
others give no indications of concern for their immortal 
souls. One of them does not know how to read. The 
two others can read a little, but I think not understand- 
ingly. The mother of Micha can not read, and thinks she 
can not learn now, as her eyes are growing dim. A woman 
here, as in all heathen lands, is of small consequence. If 
she attends to her husband's wants and her children, 
which few of the women here do, she has fulfilled her mis- 
sion. The Christian women seldom go to their churches. 
It is a great shame for a woman to be often seen in 
the street. But it is no matter whether they go to their 
churches or not ; for when they do go, they only pray to 
the Virgin Mary and worship pictures. The priests get 
their money, which ought to be spent in buying clothing 
for their half-clad children. It is very difficult to procure 
little girls to educate. They grow up uneducated, and 
often marry before they are twelve years old. We have 
a girls' school here numbering about fifteen, and a school 
for boys also." 

The following extracts from his diary will show the 
spirit in which Dr. Lobdell bore disappointment, sick- 



184 



MEMOER OF LOBDELL. 



ness, and the various trials of missionary life. " May 23. 
Sunday. Preaching by Mr. W. at a little after sunrise. 
Only twenty hearers — hope my mc lical practice will open 
the way to the people. 

"May 26. Went to see Kos (Priest) Michael's boy — 
very sick ; also a poor female teacher. Poverty is 
scarcely distinguishable from riches among the Christians 
— they are so plundered, it is policy to conceal. Lucy is 
tired out. I am in pain from. my ear. But we have 
been blessed. 

"May 80. Sunday. Went to our chapel. Jeremiah 
preached. But few present, and half of them asleep. 
Felt the need of living to God. Oh for his guidance and 
blessing! Reading journal and letters of Henry Martyn. 
He says : ' How mean does appear in my view com- 
pared with David Brainerd.' I agree with him, and 
hence shall try to live only for the welfare of souls. 
O for great grace ! 

" June 3. Very sick and sorrowful. If I knew it were 
God's will, I could easily die to-day. I have thought 
much of what I can do. Perhaps God will show me that 
he can get along without me. 

" July 13. Great crowd at the dispensary. Good done. 
JButrus door-keeper. I hope these great numbers will 
furnish the means of approach to souls. What are the 
diseases of the body, compared with those of the soul ? 

" Aug. 1. Greatly taken with Stuart's Daniel. How 
learned that man ! When I last saw him, he knew infi- 
nitely less than now. Rest, glorified spirit ! thy work is 
well done. 

"Aug. 8. Evening. On the roof. Brown walls. 
Dismal place ; but by the stars so clear and bright, I shall 
soon tread my way to heaven. Then be cheerful, my 
soul; faint not, grow in grace, and muse on the rest above. 

" Aug. 22. A day of preparation for heaven. Looked 
at this world and the next. No fear to die ; care not 



DIARY. 



185 



which shall come, death or life. Blessed be God for faith 
in Jesus. This sustains me. I can leave all my cares and 
friends to him. How little I have done for him ! Well, 
he can do without me. I am ready to be offered or to 
live. c Thy will be done.' 

" Aug. 24. A little improved, perhaps, but very weak. 
What is to be the result of this attack ? I trust it will 
make me more heavenly-minded, and more careful of my 
strength. How it should be husbanded here. How 
would my friends feel, if they knew my situation ? My 
greatest concern is, that some of them are in the Jbroad 
road. Oh, turn them to Christ, Divine Spirit, and let us 
all meet in heaven ! 

" Aug. 25. Able to write out my short diary for four 
days past. Not much stronger than yesterday. Read an 
article in Littell on Wellington. Meditated on the bat- 
tles of Napoleon's time. Be it mine to make peace. 

"Aug. 27. Have felt very ill to-day. Now (4, P. M.) 
I am feeling a little better. Have not been able to read 
to-day. Life, Oh, what is life ! May the rest of my life 
tell on souls. How little can I do at best. 

" Aug. 29. I am very weak still. My hope is in God. 

My faith looks up to thee, 
Thou Lamb of Calvary, 
Saviour divine. 

Read Henry Martyn this morning. As he envied Brain- 
erd's devotion, so I envy, if it be Christian, his. He lived 
to effect much. I have done nothing. Must I be taken 
away without seeing any fruit of my labors ? Well, be it 
my chief business now to be ready for my dear Saviour's 
coming. O ! my soul, be thou transformed into the like- 
ness of Christ. I long to depart ; but I am yet desirous 
to remain. God's will be done ! 

" Aug. 30. Feel much better ; air cool. Oh ! how good 
to feel that I am recovering. Now I can do something 
for the poor souls here. May I not, like Jonah, mourn 
• 16* 



186 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



the loss of my gourd, while these Mnevites are perishing. 
Oh for wisdom and grace ! 

" Sept. 12. Sunday. Attended church after three 
Sabbaths' absence. Pleasant. Brother Williams preached 
earnestly on the essence of the gospel. Meditation 
sweet. Private prayer consoling. Feel more entirely 
given to Christ than formerly. Yet I cry out, 6 My lean- 
ness, my leanness ! ' My strength is not great ; but 
my illness is teaching me not to complain of my ills. 
How much God has favored me ! With whom would I 
exchange places in the whole earth ? There is not a king 
or prince living with whom I would make a transfer. 
Intensely interested in D'Aubigne. Kept Mary in my 
arms, while Lucy went to church. Sat on roof after tea. 
Stars far off, but I shall soon visit them." 

To this outline of the history of the mission, and of the 
outward and inward life of Dr. Lobdell, which w^e have 
gathered chiefly from his journal, we now append selec- 
tions from his letters which were written during the same 
period, viz., from his arrival at Mosul in May, 1852, to the 
close of the year. They are arranged in the order of their 
dates. 

Mosul, June 1st, 1852. 
To Rev. J. Perkins, D. D., Oroomiah, Persia. 

My Dear Elder Brother: — Your welcome note- of 
the 4th ult. was as joyfully as it was unexpectedly 
received. After a tedious voyage and journey of five 
months, when the heat of a Mosul summer is beginning to 
come on, and with much to depress the mind, I need not 
say that words of fraternal greeting and sympathy are 
twice dear. How universal is the tie of Christian sym- 
pathy. It is not necessary that one follower of the 
Redeemer should see the countenance of another to 
recognize his spirit ; in Christ, the disciples are one. 
United to him as their head, they are united with 
each other as members of the same body. This invisible 



LETTER TO DR. PERKINS. 



187 



union of Christians is the pledge and prophecy of ever- 
lasting joy. In the simple fact that we are laboring 
together for the same end, there is enough, as you say, to 
create in us " a deep interest in our success and welfare ; " 
but it is to me a pleasant thought, that I can look back 
upon the home and friends so dear to you. Amherst, I 
love thee well ! Thy missionary sons are all dear to my 
heart. There is something about that college of peculiar 
interest to the church of God. I bless him that I was led 
thither, and that my future was shaped under the mold- 
ing influence of Prof. Fiske and Dr. Hitchcock. The one 
has gone to his reward ; the other is soon to go. And 
we, dear brother, are to come after. How much I owe to 
them. It is a great change from infidelity to faith in 
Christ. And though neither of those men can know the 
extent to which their godly lives and scientific demon- 
strations of divine truth contributed to turn my thoughts 
to the matter of personal religion and consecration to the 
missionary work, still I delight to think of the time, when 
on " the mount of God," we shall converse together of 
these things. Perhaps the fact of your having gone to 
Persia had much to do with my leaving the land of my 
birth. Thus it is we are constantly touching springs 
that move the mass of mind. There is then some reason 
why we should attach some interest to the simple fact of 
our having come from the same college hill. I would not 
unduly magnify it ; for well do I recollect the pleasure I 
had in communing with brother Stoddard, when in 
America. Indeed, we are all one in Christ Jesus ; and it 
is my prayer that in the relation we sustain as members 
of adjacent missions, we may ever feel that we have a 
common object and ever be animated with a desire for the 
glory of our Master. 

We found the state of things here less encouraging 
than we had been led to expect. The number of hearers 
does not exceed twenty, and there appears to be a dead-. * 



188 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



ness to religious truth very unlike the state of things 
among the Armenians. But these Jacobites and Chal- 
deans are to be converted to God, and we will have faith. 
At the time of your visit there were many things to 
encourage. But ecclesiastical opposition and civil oppres- 
sion have done much to retard the work. A time of trial, 
however, is often the seed-time of a glorious harvest. 

I am glad to know that the brethren of your mission 
are all encouraged still, and that you have so much evi- 
dence of the presence of God. May he never forsake you. 

TO THE SAME. 

Mosul, June 16th, 1852. 

Rev. Dr. Perkins, 

Dear Brother : — We received letters last week from 
some of the native brethren of Diarbekr, requesting us to 
use our influence with Mr. Rassam and the Pasha here to 
secure redress for an act of violence. Before Mr. Dun- 
more left for Erzeroom, it seems, he married a Syrian girl 
to a Protestant, with the consent of her father, mother, 
and uncle. The next day her brother came into the city 
from a village, and began to show his indignation by 
taking her case before the Pasha. The Pasha referred 
the matter to the bishop, who asked the girl whether she 
was Syrian or Protestant. She replied that she was not 
a Protestant then ; whereupon he married her at once to 
a Jacobite ! The case is important, as the bishop threat- 
ens to annul all the marriages performed by Dr. A. Smith, 
while he was in Diarbekr. The work there is deeply 
interesting, but full of perplexity and trials. It is hoped 
that the appointment of another Pasha will not long be 
delayed. 

As to matters in Mosul, there is nothing occurring of 
very special interest. My dispensary is pretty well 
patronized. Brother "Williams opens the dispensation 
* with reading the Testament and prayer. I am glad to 



TO HIS BROTHER. 



189 



say, that the brethren appear to be getting awake. The 
people on the Boohtan are needing attention. 

You will remember me, if you please, to brother Stod- 
dard, and assure him of the fact that I am one, whom his 
earnest appeals, while in America, very much affected. 

TO HIS BROTHER. 

Mosul, June 16th, 1852. 

My Dear Brother Frank : — As to your advice not 
to kill the Arabs at first, I can only say, that their bodies 
are of such peculiar make, that I have succeeded in killing 
only two since I have been here. It is but justice to add, 
however, that these two would have died sooner than 
they did, had they not received some American physic. 
I find that the people consider me a sort of magician. 
Often, as I ask them, "What is the matter?" they say, "You 
know," and say no more. The touching of their pulse has 
a mysterious power. I am very confident, as Dr. Mott 
told me it would be, that I do twice as much good here 
by my knowledge of medicine, as I could without it. But 
after all, if the practice of medicine is not made subser- 
vient to the higher purpose of religious instruction and 
impression, it is of comparative insignificance. The med- 
icine for the soul is of infinitely more importance than 
that for the body. Hence the necessity that every 
medical missionary shall have a thorough theological 
training. To secure this, a collegiate course is almost 
indispensable. I do not regret that I worked my way 
through Amherst College. I am very sure that even here 
it pays. Do not think that the best acquirements will 
not be serviceable on missionary ground. The man who 
has not force of character enough to do well at home, can 
never do much as a missionary. He will have more per- 
plexing questions to solve there than at home, and he will 
have far less counsel and advice. 

Therefore let me say, again, that you should bring your 



190 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



mind, as soon as Providence permits, to a decision respect- 
ing your place of labor, and then prepare yourself for thai. 
If I had known that I should come to Mosul, I never 
should have studied Spanish or German ; but should have 
given more time to French, and a good deal more to 
Italian. 

I am very well contented here, and am sure I shall do 
more for the everlasting good of men than I should have 
done in the United States. What is fame ? Ask the 
buried dead in their sepulchers of Nineveh. I am glad 
you are going into the temperance question. Study your 
speeches. Talk methodically. Dress plain. Be earnest ; 
be holy. 

So much advice I have given you and my sheet is full. 
My prayers do not fail to go up for your welfare, and for 
the dear sisters and friends in America. I shall not look 
upon them again in the flesh. I pray that I may meet 
them on the Mount of God. 

TO DR. PERKINS. 

Rev. J. Perkins, D. D. 

My Dear Brother : — Yesterday was our post day, 
and having dispatched some missives to America, I had 
sat down to read the Koran, when not less to my joy 
than to my surprise, the package from Oroomiah was 
announced. With the mercury up stairs at 112°, you 
may believe that we retreated to our cool serdab to 
spend an hour in the perusal of those pleasant letters. 
Ton?" parcel was thrice welcome, for I had sweet com- 
munion thereby with those dear professors in my Alma 
Mater. How my heart clings to Prof. T — . That 
instructive epistle of his was read by me, I am sure, with 
quite as much interest as by yourself. I was glad too to 
see again that little-bodied but broad-minded Professor of 
Zoology, and hear again the reason for his belief in that 
doctrine of a plurality of Adams. He has one of the 



LETTERS. 



191 



keenest and most logical minds I ever met. How I wish 
he could take that trip to the East he so much desires. 

We sent Jeremiah up to Diarbekr about three weeks 
ago, and last post brought us intelligence from him. He 
had an interesting visit at Mardin, though from his zeal 
in making known the truth, he was threatened with banish- 
ment from the place. Matters in Diarbekr were in a less 
troubled state than we had been led to fear. He will 
talk considerably in the Boohtan on his return. We need 
a work of grace, here, such a work as you have had in 
Oroomiah — this only will make our converts zealous and 
strong, and bring opposers to the foot of the cross. We 
expect to see that day ; but if we die without the sight, 
we are confident that the day will come. 

At present there is a good deal of stagnation. Perhaps 
our occasional remarks and prayers at the dispensary are 
not in vain. It is so hot, that we find it difficult to keep 
up our Wednesday and Saturday evening meetings. We 
hold them on the roofs. Brother Williams is a statistical 
man, and will no doubt tell you how the mercury has 
ranged here thus far this summer. I hung a thermom- 
eter in the sun the other day, and the heat soon snapped 
it. I was not mindful at the time, that it was marked for 
only 120°. The mercury has been above 150° in the sun 
here, and several days last week it stood at 115° in the 
shade. The air is very dry, and like that from an oven. 
I never knew what power the sun has, till I came to 
Mosul. 

TO REV. G. W. C0A1S", GAWAR. 

Mosul, Aug. 4th, 1852. 
Dear Brother Coa:*: — I hope you will have no 
more such deeply interesting intelligence to communicate 
as your last contained. I had the impression that Mosul 
was the worst place in the world ; indeed that was the 
chief reason Dr. Anderson begged me off from Fuh Chau. 
I had consulted with Mr. Merrick, formerly of Oroomiah, 



192 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



about the nature of life in Gawar, and at one time was 
about* to put in a strong plea to the Prudential Committee 
to send me thither instead of to Mosul. You will remem- 
ber, they advertised for a physician for that place. 

But if you are never to have a house to live in, and are 
to have men shot down before the door of your hut 
frequently, I shall, perhaps, have special occasion to thank 
God for sending me a little farther to the south. I got 
some faint idea of a village in Koordistan in a recent visit 
to Tel-Keif. I was called out there — a donkey ride of about 
three hours — to see some very sick persons ; and after 
traveling about the village till midnight, looking at the 
sick and dying, I stretched myself upon a roof to sleep. 
Every house in the place appeared to have two or three 
wide-awake curs, and their constant yelping, together 
with the vigorous bites of the mosquitoes and the fleas, 
induced me to get up in half an hour and start for Mosul. 
I suppose Tel-Keif is a magnificent place for Koordistan — 
what then is Gawar ? I can sympathize with you in your 
privations and trialsj and pray that you may soon get a 
strong foothold in that realm of Satan and his vicegerent 
the Pope. 

Would n't some of that snow, piled up near you, find a 
warm welcome in Mosul ? It is so cold to-day, that I 
begin to fear the summer is nearly past. I doubt if the 
mercury gets above 110° ! It has risen to 115° frequently 
of late. Last night I was sufficiently cool, though I 
suppose the mercury would have shown the air in my 
sleeping room at 90° or 93°. The body becomes very 
susceptible to the influence of the cold after being heated 
so tremendously for a month. The skin is exceedingly 
sensitive ; indeed, a sheet of water hangs about the body 
all day. The pores are all wide open. 

I pray that the dreadful scourge now sweeping over 
the plain of Oroomiah may not visit you nor us. What 
fearful havoc it would make in this climate. The cholera 
and plague have done their dreadful work here in days 



LETTER TO MR. STODDARD. 



193 



past. The city is now becoming restored to its former 
condition, and for the sake of the poor natives, as well as 
our own, we pray that the cholera may not soon come 
again. 

I do not yet see that Mosul ought not to be occupied 
by our Board. There are some fifty thousand sinners 
here, and though the work for the present must necessa- 
rily be slow, it is destined to go forward. The bishop of 
the Jacobites forbids his flock to come near us, but they 
are gathering courage. Formerly the Chaldean priests 
would not salute Kos Michael or any of our people ; but 
now we are all on a good footing with them. We only 
need a refreshing from on high to enable us to bear 
patiently all our trials, and to nerve us for our work. 

TO REV. DAVID STODDARD, OROOMIAH. 

Mosul, Aug. 5th, 1852. 
Dear Brother Stoddard: — I had just finished ail 
my letters for the messenger but yours, when Brother 
Williams handed me your very valuable letter of June 
26th. He wishes to despatch the postman in a few 
minutes, and though I should be very happy to waive all 
ceremony, agreeable to your suggestion, I am unable at 
this time to write you a very long letter. My soul grew 
to you in America, and you are not changed materially, I 
apprehend, in Oroomiah. Do you remember my finding 
you at the Tontine in New Haven, and your telling me 
that you went there to avoid conversation with friends ? 
I did not think at that time, I should ever be settled so 
near you. But I rejoice to be here, and to know that 
in our loneliness we have the sympathies of kind friends 
beyond the mountains as well as beyond the seas, who 
will take delight in trying to smooth for us our thorny 
way, or at least scatter flowers by its side. There is no 
joy like that of Christian communion. " Blest be the tie 
that binds " us together. May we be one in spirit, as we 
are one in aim. When you said once, " It is sweet to be a 
17 



194 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



missionary," I dropped my head and wept. Yes, brother, 
I find it so* This consciousness that we have followed 
our Lord's will, that we are not hying unto ourselyes but 
unto him who died for us and rose again — oh! what 
better thing is there on the earth? I feel that I have too 
little of that spirit which Christ manifested in behalf of 
man; but it is comforting to know that if we are his, we 
shall one day awake in his likeness. The likeness of 
Christ ! The same image ! How great the change ! 
How bright the glory ! It is enough, then, that Christ is 
ours. We will toil on till he calls us home. 

Our community seems to be encouraged. I see no 
reason for despondency. We need to be filled with the 
Holy Ghost, and then why can't we preach the gospel 
here as Peter probably did on his way to Babylon ? Per- 
haps Thomas labored here, as well as Jonah — this proyes 
the practicability of our laboring here, does it not? It 
remains to be seen whether we shall be burned out [by 
the summer heat]. I am not anxious about that. Let the 
Lord direct. 

TO EEY. J. H. SEELYE, SCHENECTADY, 5T. Y. 

Mosul, Sept. 10, 1852. 
My evee dear Chum axd Brother : — ... I must 
come to personal affairs in Mosul. For the geography, 
antiquities, &c, I must refer you to the books, premising 
that my ambition to write some big thing, has departed. 
I am quite content to attend to my appropriate work. If 
conversation or recreation shall enable me to develop any 
new thing, I will not despiae it ; but my aim henceforth, 
by the grace of God, shall be to save souls. For three 
weeks I have been confined to my bed, or at least to my 
house. At one time I thought it probable I should die. 
My mind was calm. I had come hither in obedience to the 
call of God ; he would take care of my wife and child ; 
to him I commited them and myself. He has raised me 
up ; I hope it is for some good purpose I have been 



TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN NINEVEH. 195 

afflicted. Severe exertion brought me clown. A hun- 
dred patients daily and a heat of 105° to 115° were too 
much. Yesterday was the first day since the 23d of June 
that the mercury did not go above 100°. Seventy-eight 
days and nights oven-like ! You will not wonder that I 
melted. It is trying when the bed-clothes burn you, and 
the morning is more oppressive than any noon in Amer- 
ica. Still we are happy. Our work is plenty, and, we 
hope, slowly progressing. We may have to retreat to 
Oroomiah — a journey of nine days through Dr. Bacon's 
Koords — next summer. By the way, the money they 
took from him and his party has been returned. 

Layard gives a fair view of the ruins of Nineveh. But 
I can not stay to tell you my feelings as I walked through 
the palace of Sennacherib. As a recreation, I expect to 
pay a visit with Mr. Rassam to the Sheitani or Devil- 
worshipers, at Sheikh Adi — three days distant — in a 
week or two. This is a very interesting region to the 
church historian and antiquary. The old churches are 
deader than the gospel-dealers were before Luther's day. 
May a reformer arise ! We make good progress in the 
Arabic. Lucy and Mary are in excellent health. The little 
one is a great comfort to us ; she begins to chatter and 
walk nicely. We have no occasion to repent coming 
hither ; nevertheless we are constantly looking away from 
our miserable sun-burnt abode to that house not made 
with hands — that city whose builder and maker is God. 

TO HIS BROTHER. 

Mosul, Oct. 19th, 1852. 

Dear Brother Frank : — Shall I write you an account 
of twenty-four hours in modern Nineveh ? 

The first business in the morning was an operation for 
hemorrhoids. Then Deacon Jeremiah had a friend he 
wished me to visit. We found her in a room about eight 
feet by ten, on the floor of course — perhaps not half a 



196 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



dozen families in Mosul use bedsteads — all spread rugs or 
coarse mats on the floor or ground, and generally roll them 
up and lay them away during the day. She was sur- m 
rounded by a dozen women anxious for her recovery. 
She said she had a fright in the night by the fall of a 
looking-glass, which broke at her feet. A fright or hobtah 
is the most common cause of disease here. 

I assured her of her speedy restoration to health, and 
wrote a prescription which my clever assistant, Ablahad, 
would put up at the dispensary, and charging her not to 
lay the physic up on the shelf, left to accompany Deacon 
Elias Fuez, (a native brother from Beyroot, who has come 
to take Salome thither,) to Ko^oinjik. We started, and 
Thoma and Suleiman donkeyed behind us. A rapid gal- 
lop soon brought us through a crowd of camels, donkeys, 
and mules, and piles of cucumbers and melons, to the 
mound. This, according to C. J. Rich, formerly English 
Consul at Bagdad, is 178 feet in its greatest height, 1,850 
feet from east to west, and 1,147 from north to south. 
It stands about midway of the ruined walls of Nineveh 
on the river side, a short distance north of Xebbi Yunus, 
or the mound of the prophet Jonah. Out of this latter, 
a number of sculptures have been taken, and last week, 
in digging a cellar, a large bull was found. The Pasha, 1 
am told, sent men to break the monster in pieces, to pre- 
vent the English and French from digging into the sacred 
precincts. 

About thirty men, Jebour Arabs for the most part, are 
now employed by the English in excavating at Koyunjik. 
Latterly, nothing has turned up but blocks inscribed with 
cuneiform characters. The western part of the mound 
has been pretty thoroughly explored, and trenches are 
still open in all directions. The slabs are somewhat in- 
jured by exposure to the air and water, yet hundreds of 
feet still remain of the great halls, that Sennacherib built 
for the satisfaction of his pride. The large winged bulls 



SCULPTURES. 



197 



now remaining (several have been removed to London) 
are cracked and show the effects of fire, as do many of 
the slabs. The slabs are about six feet high and eight 
feet long, and they line the- halls. Exquisitely wrought 
sculptures of battle scenes — warriors armed with spears, 
bows, arrows, swords, and slings, and holding the heads 
of victims in their hands, — gigantic deities with the arms 
of a man, the head of a dragon and stoutly horned, — 
splendid horses led by grooms — swimmers and fish — 
palm-trees and grape-vines thick with clusters — captives, 
perhaps from Jerusalem, tied together by their waists or 
handcuffed; — who would not wish to read the inscrip- 
tions on the bulls and learn the true import of these fig- 
ures ? 

These sculptures are about fifteen or twenty feet below 
the surface, and in the mass of clay above, pieces of jit- 
tery, fragments of carved stones, and pieces of coals are 
sometimes seen. We knocked off a few specimens of the 
gypsum containing arrow-headed characters, and suppose 
they will be interesting to our friends in Beyroot. Although 
I had visited this place before, it had a fresh interest. At 
some future day, I shall write out, if I get time, a full 
account of the ruins and relics. 

At 4 P. M. we were at home, and I visited the dispen- 
sary as usual. 

Little Mary has been suffering some days with ophthal- 
mia, and Lucy has become quite fatigued. All last night, 
we were much disturbed by her cries. She buries her 
face in the pillows, and sleeps on her knees. Half the 
people are, sometime or other, sufferers from this disease. 
Many eyes are entirely lost. 

A crowd of patients every morning sit in my court, and 
as I mount my horse for exercise or visiting, I have gen- 
erally half a dozen arms thrust into my face, that I may 
feel their pulses. 

I forgot to mention one item of yesterday's doings. A 
17* 



198 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



Moslem dignitary, with a couple of black attendants, was 
forcing his way into my bed-room for medicine, when 
Thoma called on him to desist, npon which the dignitary 
struck him over the head. I was informed of this, and at 
once sent for Mr. Rassam to a»ttend to the matter. He 
despatched his cavass or official servant, to the Pasha, 
who sent a soldier and imprisoned the Bey. The punish- 
ment was left to my 2^leasiire. There is no statute law in 
Turkey. Before the Tanzimat, a Pasha could imprison 
without any charge being brought. I thought the man 
had better reflect on the fact, that although we Americans 
do not have a train of armed servants around us, we can 
nevertheless have justice done us ; and so I let him sleep 
in prison last night. His relatives came this morning to 
beg his release. 

TO REV. DR. ANDERSON. 

Mosul, Oct. 20th, 1852. 

Rev. R. Anderson, D. D. 

My Dear Sir : — Frequent rides outside of the 

walls of the city,* prepared me for a visit to Xebbi Yunus, 
the village around the tomb of our illustrious predecessor, 
and now the theater of the Pasha's antiquarian researches ! 
A few days after, Mr. Williams accompanied me to ISTim- 
roud. Shemmas Ereemiah (Deacon Jeremiah) also went 
with us, that we might bear the gospel to the Jacobites 
of Bartulli, and the Syrians of Kara-Kosh. The exces- 
sive heat and a terrible fright occasioned by the approach 
of forty mounted Arabs twirling their long spears and 
shouting their battle-cry, while we were sitting down in 
the tomb of Sardanapalus to dine, induced us to mount 
our horses in haste and turn their heads towards Mosul. 
We thus lost the opportunity to preach to the people in 
those villages, but hope to make another attempt, as soon 

* While recovering from the sickness of which he speaks in the former part 
of the letter. 



BUYIXG CONVERTS. 



199 



as the weather becomes cool enough to allow of comfort- 
able travel. 

Much has been said about the inability of the Mosul- 
lees to understand the publications of the Beyroot press, 
but so far as I have been able to learn, the only difficulty 
is that a higher order of Arabic is employed in the books, 
than in conversation. Nations of different Arabic locali- 
ties have no difficulty in comprehending each other's 
meaning, when brought together. I think you may take 
it as a settled matter, that the issues of the present Arabic 
press will become intelligible, whereA^er the language is 
spoken, when the minds of the people are a little elevated. 
And previous to that, the voice of the living preacher 
must be heard. Dr. Kalley found the conversion of the 
Arabs much more difficult than that of the Portuguese. 
The latter could read already or were easily taught, while 
the former have a deep aversion to study. It is no part 
of their education. Of course, the perusal of spiritual 
books at this day is essential to the progress of the truth ; 
and it is pleasant to know, that very many works are dis- 
posed of even in Mosul. The city is a central place, and 
we have many opportunities to make ourselves and our 
work known in the villages from the Zakho to the Zab. 
A short time since, three Chaldeans from the Tiyari came 
to us, and stated that they had been deputed by their 

' brethren, to come to Mosul and learn if it was true that 
the Americans pay the salian,* of every Protestant con- 
vert, and give him two hundred piastres a month besides ! 
If so, they were authorized to treat for the capitulation 
of their village. Should we offer a pecuniary inducement, 

* I have no doubt, that very soon Protestants would be 
sufficiently numerous among the flocks of the Jesuit and 
Jacobite bishops. Paul never bought anybody to be a 
Christian, and his example is safe. 

* The house-tax of fifty piastres annually. 



200 



MEM OIK OF LOBDELL. 



Our little community stand together manfully. We 
find more engagedness on their part in the great work, 
than was apparent in the early part of the summer. They 
are beginning to feel an individual responsibility. The 
attendance at our evening meetings is considerably in- 
creased. The threat of excommunication uttered a few 
Sabbaths since by a Chaldean priest against every mem- 
ber of his church, who should dare to visit or to speak 
with the Americans, has had the usual effects of such 
attempts ad terrorem. Mutran Behnam, the Jacobite 
Archbishop, is too cunning to threaten his people ; he 
takes the images out of his church, preaches somewhat 
evangelically, and thus persuades his flock, that they are 
sure enough of salvation, if they remain in their own 
communion. He has not a particle of sincerity, but is 
crafty and resolute in his efforts to secure the patriarchate. 
All he wants is office and money. He would sell himself to 
us for ten dollars a month ; indeed, he has made that offer. 
Is not this a strong indication that he fears our influence 
among his people ? For so much evidence of our pros- 
perity, we thank God and take courage. 

Shemmas Elias Fuez of the Beyroot church came here 
about a fortnight since for Salome, who is soon to marry 
John Wortabet of Hasbeiya ; and he has been very faith- 
ful to our brethren in his sermons and conversations. 
He has done us much good ; it would be worth a great 
deal to us, if we had with us permanently a native preacher 
like him, an example of cleanliness, ability, and devotion. 
The best way to convince the Yezidees, Moslems, and 
even native Christians of the truthfulness and value of 
our Protestant doctrines, will be to give them a proof in 
the general thrift, neatness, and honesty of a truly Chris- 
tian community. We pray for such a regeneration as 
shall change the outer as well as the inner man. Let in- 
tegrity and industry become a general characteristic of 
Protestants here as in Aintab, and we shall not need to 
faint even with a heat of 115°. 



VALUE OP THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 201 

What work can be pleasanter than to instruct and 
guide an ignorant and deluded people in the doctrines of 
the Bible and the reformation ! Already we begin to see 
the legitimate effects of free thought and bold inquiry. 
The shackles are breaking. Pray with us, that the liberty 
with which Christ makes his children free, may be enjoyed 
by all these priest-ridden people. As a place of ease and 
physical enjoyment, give me the meanest cottage in the 
most secluded part of New England for a home, in prefer- 
ence to the best palace in Mosul ; but as a spot whereon 
to build a structure to the glory of God, and fulfill the 
mission of the Christian, I ask no better place than this 
adopted home. 

TO REV. W. S. SCOFIELD, D ANBURY, CT. 

Mosul, Oct., 1852. 

My Dear Brother Scofield : — ... Have I told 
you that I was kept to my bed-room for three weeks, last 
month ? At one time I stood very near the grave. I 
looked into it, but it had no terrors. Not that I felt any 
conviction of my personal holiness. God knows I feel 
myself unfit to join in the melodies of heaven. But I 
realized the preciousness and power of the Saviour's blood; 
I knew that I placed my salvation in it, and " he that 
believeth in the name of the Lord J esus Christ shall be 
saved." Oh, the infinite value of faith in him at such an 
hour ! If the Sultan, the Czar or Victoria had offered me 
the throne of empire for my hope, they could not all have 
purchased it. The Christian's treasure is not corruptible ; 
the bank of God never breaks ! 

I still live ; but oh ! what is life, my brother ? It is 
worth little but as a time for getting ourselves and others 
ready for the kingdom. Preach " as a dying man," and 
let no blood be in your skirts in the day of account. Oh 
that your hearers, my townsmen, many of them my per- 
son ;il friends, would all "look to Jesus " and be saved! 
Let our little church be a burning and a shining light ; 



202 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



it matters not whether the wealthy sit in her seats ; " unto 
the poor the gospel is preached." This is emphatically 
the case in these lands. So it was in the time of Christ 
and his apostles — so it is now. Oh the deceitfulness of 
riches ! I look over these multitudes in Mosul, and from 
the rich, proud Moslem Bey down to the meanest beggar 
I see scarcely a descent. If anything, the lowest part of 
the inclined plane supports that which is highest in the 
sight of the world. From a higher point of view, all are 
alike sinners, and need a Saviour's blood. It is a law in 
Turkey that has few exceptions, the larger a man is, the 
more of a knave. A Moslem thinks nothing of beating a 
Christian any time. I was called the other day to see a 
Christian's skull, after a Mussulman had given him a 
public drubbing. He dared not go to the Pasha for re- 
dress, although in America such an act would subject the 
offender to a year in the State prison. True Christianity 
prevailing in a community renders even the noble by birth 
and wealth respectful towards the poor, and it is a matter 
of rejoicing that our country shows so many examples of 
a consecration of fortune to the service of humanity and 
God. No American is poor in reality, for he has held out 
to him the light of life. The heathen are poor; they 
grope in perpetual darkness. A Yezidee woman told me, 
the other day, she knew nothing about Christ — the 
women of her race never prayed — the men only once a 
year ! What will you think, when I say that, even this 
once, they pray only to the Devil ! It does one's soul 
good to be here amid so much sin and pollution. The 
eye looks upward to the everlasting hills. 

As for us, we must ripen for the kingdom fast. God 
help us while you pray. I did not expect a long life 
when I left America ; I am fully persuaded it will be a 
short one. But with the grace of God it will be long 
enough ; and then it will be so sweet resting after the 
work is done ! Let such a thought cheer you, dear 
brother, in your arduous toils. 



LETTER TO DR. HITCHCOCK. 



203 



TO REY. E. HITCHCOCK, D. D., LL. D., PRESIDENT OF AMHERST 
COLLEGE. 

Mosul, Mesopotamia, Nov., 1852. 

Pres. Hitchcock. 

My Dear Sir : — By the last post I received a letter 
from my cousin, Mr. H. 1ST. Barnum, and in it he stated 
that you had requested him to inquire of me, if I could send 
some specimens from the ruins of Nineveh for the college 
cabinet. It will give me the greatest pleasure to select 
something of interest, and presuming that your remark to 
Mr. B. was made with some understanding of the diffi- 
culty of transportation, I shall not hesitate to incur the 
necessary expense. Could I send you the specimens at 
my own expense, I should be very glad ; but you know, 
we missionaries are expected to receive only what is 
necessary to feed and clothe us. 

I am almost afraid that, in your land of railroads, you 
will think the cost exceeds the value. Please remember 
the blocks must ride some five hundred miles on the backs 
of animals, and some five thousand on the sea. So, as it 
will be some weeks before I can get the loads ready, you 
will do me a favor by intimating whether you wish some 
large or only small specimens. And yet I think I shall 
just pack up ichat you ought to- have, and let you look to 
some benefactor, like Williston, for the wherewithal to 
pay mule-drivers and the ship-captain. 

Bless God for benefactors. If your college had had none, 
I should not have been here. I never shall forget that 
evening, my dear father in the gospel, when you kindly 
told me, as I was about to leave college for the want 
of funds, not to despair — " some way will open ; look to 
God ; have no desire but to do his will and — wait." I 
waited, and then resolved from my inmost heart to preach 
the gospel and trust in God. 

You were a father to me in college, and may God 



204 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



reward you for your kindness. I owe no man more than 
you. I am glad the trustees will not accept of your offer 
of resignation — you can not be spared from the presiden- 
tial chair. Your labors are abundant, but your reward 
will be proportionate. My pen refuses to say all that my 
heart prompts ; suffice it that I acknowledge myself eter- 
nally indebted to you. 

I have had no occasion to regret coming to Mosul. 
There is a great field here, and it is whitening. Send us 
the reapers. 

P. S. The geology of this region is quite jDeculiar ; are 
you acquainted with it ? 

P. S. No. 2. Jan. 1st, 1853. This note was sent back 
from Constantinople, more than half way to America, and 
is to start again on Monday. The blocks will be got 
under way soon. 

TO DR. PERKINS. 

Mosul, Not. 3d, 1852. 

Rev. Dr. Perkins. 

Dear Brother: — After returning from Sheikh-Adi, 
I was attacked by a severe cold, and am still suffering 
somewhat from the effects of an inflammation of the mem- 
branes surrounding the brain. While on my bed the 
other day, I took up the journal of the American Oriental 
Society, and it occurred to me that I might ask a ques- 
tion or two of you regarding your article on a visit to 
Mosul, with j^rofit to myself at least. I do not write as a 
reviewer, but as an inquirer. My first query is : On the 
supposition that the river washed the walls of the city in 
the days of its glory,* have you any way of accounting 
for the existence of the iron clamped dam across the 
Tigris near Mmroud. It seems pretty evident, that the 
dam, the remains of which are still magnificent, must 

* The mounds are now at some distance from the bank of the river, 



CAPTAIN LOFTUS. 



205 



have been made in order to turn the water near Selamiyeh 
over the plain. It would have given great facilities for 
irrigation. *You are aware that quite a garden lines the 
river now, near the bend at the northwest angle of the 
plain. . . . The native idea, that it (the dam) was a foot- 
path for Nimrod to visit the Hamam Ali, or Sulphur 
Springs, the other side, will hardly satisfy a Yankee. 

. . . What do you think of the idea, that the " exceed- 
ing great city of three days 5 journey," has reference to 
Jonah's preaching through the various streets ? If that 
idea is tenable, Nineveh would have been large enough 
without Khorsabad and Mimroud. Pass over these queries 
as hastily as you please in reply, and allow me to say, that 
I derived great pleasure from the perusal of your journal. 

We had a visit from Mr. Loftus some days since. I 
saw a few of his coins from Susa. I suppose you saw 
them. He is a very pleasant man. He surely has a claim 
to our gratitude for his efforts to benefit our Gawar breth- 
ren. He has gone to investigate the great Assyrian bury- 
ing ground near the confluence of the Euphrates and the 
Tigris. Mr. Hormuzd Rassam has just returned from 
England with instructions to jDursue investigations under 
Col. Rawlinson's direction. 

Dec. 3d. Mr. Williams has gone to Diarbekr, taking 
Micha with him. Last night, about eleven o'clock, our 
little Mary was taken with a cough, which greatly resem- 
bled an attack of croup. I gave her medicine, and thought 
of your beloved Judith, who also crossed the sea. I have 
felt much for you, ever since I heard of your daughter's 
death, and I trust my prayers have been fervent that God 
would give you consolation. Mary is better to-day, and 
we hope she may not be seriously ill. You must have 
had a very interesting communion season, when all. the 
members of your mission were together, Such are heavr 
enly places in Christ Jesus. One of your deacons preached 
for us half a day, when they were here. We were pleased 
18 



206 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



with them. They accompanied brother W. as far as 
Jezireh* 

m 

TO EEY. J. W. SEELTE. 

Mosul, Nov. 4th, 1852. 
My Dear Brother J.: — I have no reason and no 
right to doubt, that in deciding your course of life, 
you have had sole reference to the question, how you 
can best promote the divine glory on the earth. Your 
decision disagrees, indeed, with my convictions ; for no 
educational interest in America can have, at present, so 
strong a claim upon a preacher of the gospel, as the lost 
condition of the heathen. There will always be men 
enough to accept posts of honor ; there are too few will- 
ing to enter places of secluded toil and great hardship. 
Let the best scholars of our colleges, for a single genera- 
tion, seek to convert the heathen to Christ by direct labors 
among them, and the time would not be distant, when 
their salvation would become the prominent consideration 
of the church. It would return more to its apostolic char- 
acter, and, both at home and abroad, the gospel would 
have free course, and be glorified. But you have not a 
particle of doubt, that " your present plans are in the line 
of duty." That is enough for me. 

, . . By the way, why do n't you have the " Rational 
Pyschology " * put into German while at Halle. It would 
flourish better among the philosophers, surely, than among 
*the practical utilitarians. I am convinced it is a great 
work. After ail, Albert Barnes is doing more for human- 
ity in his simple commentaries. The truth is, there is a 
great practical conviction in all western minds of the truth 
of Christianity. Hegel and others may get up a party, 
but they can not triumph over the instincts of an enlight- 
ened people. Still, as there are not many men who can 



* Dr. Hickok's. 



ASSYRIAN PALACES. 



207 



philosophize, I don't know as one should object to the 
success of a few ! 

What do you hear about those inscriptions along the 
supposed route of the Israelites ? Dr. F., a semi-donkey, 
of England, says, they are Arabic, and proves that the 
Hebrews used that language in Egypt ! 

The arrow-headed inscriptions are very plentiful through- 
out the valley of the Tigris, and there is every reason to 
suppose, that a complete history of the land will soon be 
made out, and that it will confirm the allusions of the 
biblical writers to the state of things before and subse- 
quent to the captivity. 

I have visited most of the mounds, where excavations 
have been made, and need only refer you to Layard 
and Botta for faithful delineations of the discoveries. I 
have walked through the palace of Sennacherib at Koy- 
unjik, hid in the tomb of Sardanapalus at Nimroud, to 
escape a band of mounted Arabs, gazed on the majestic 
bulls in the palaces of Pul and Esarhaddon, and taken a 
rough view of the relics of the dynasty of the Khorsabad 
kings. These antiquities are deeply interesting, and I 
might write a long account of my excursions to the 
mounds, and their contents. But I choose to refer you 
to the books, and to wait and answer any special inquiries 
you may wish to make. At present, I will only say, that 
a block some ten by fourteen feet, and a foot and a half 
thick, was lately discovered at Nimroud, bearing on each 
side a complete record of the later dynasties of the em- 
pire. The lists of kings are complete. 

We have a variety of sects, — Jacobites, Syrians, Chal- 
deans, and a few Nestorians, all in Mosul; and besides these 
we can find Yezidees, or devil-worshipers, Koords that are 
sun-worshipers, Koords Mohammedanized, and a host of 
bigoted born Moslems. The field is open and wide. We 
have frequent calls from inquirers ; but, of course, pre- 
judices are very strong, especially since Mr. Badger, who 



208 



ilEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



was here some two years ago, did all lie could, as lie 

admits in his late volumes, to show the native Chris- 
tians, that he had no connection with the Independents 
from America, and that their faith is the high road to 
infidelity. His influence is dying out, and we expect to 
make an impression here, that shall be permanent. We 
have formed a distinct Protestant community, as the only 
safeguard for our followers against severe persecution ; 
but their number is as yet not more than twenty. Hav- 
ing protection from the English Consul, we are not insulted 
here, as I was in Diarbekr; and our great, if not only 
enemy is — as in Christendom — the carnality of the heart. 
We are about to open a book-store, and to devote our- 
selves exclusively, if possible, to getting at men's hearts. 
Every pill must have its attendant tract and appeal. 

TO REV. D. STODDARD, OROOMIAH, 

Mosul, Dec. 3d, 1852. 

Dear Brother Stoddard: — We are not in the midst 
of a great commotion, nor in a dead calm. The surface is 
doubtless more quiet than the depths. People frequently 
call upon us for the purpose of conversation on religious 
topics, in spite of the threats of excommunication uttered 
by their clergy. But it seems very hard work to give any 
of them a conception of the true nature of sin. Religion 
is with them so much a matter of business, that it has lost 
all sacredness ; and I sometimes wish there was a sprink- 
ling of infidelity among them, that we might be able, with 
God's help, to excite an earnestness of inquiry that should 
enlist the conscience as well as the intellect. Perhaps you 
have the same difficulty ; though I have been accustomed 
to think the !N"estorians more susceptible to religious emo- 
tions than many other communities. 

I am getting more and more in love with these people. 
I was a little disappointed when I came here, having 
passed through Aintab and Diarbekr \ but I now feel that 



LETTER TO MR. STODDARD. 



209 



I would not exchange my place of labor for any other in 
the world. I can but think, that this is a center of great 
importance in relation to the villages of the plain. 

I have recently removed my medicines to my own 
house, and with the assistance of Kos Michael, by seeing 
each patient privately, the matter of salvation is pressed 
upon all — Moslem, Chaldean, Jacobite and Jew. I some- 
times see indications of a solemnity and interest truly en- 
couraging. I have sent for some thousands of short tracts 
from Beyroot, and hope to use them to advantage. The 
sudden deaths of brother Sutphen and Mrs. Morgan* — 
both lovely Christians — make me feel that what I do must 
be done quickly. Yet my great temptation "is to wear 
myself out too fast. What wisdom, as well as grace, we 
missionaries need. 

Your Gawar station is truly in peril ; I am glad, though, 
our brethren returned to their post — on the same princi- 
ple, I suppose, that we Northerners oppose the observance 
of the fugitive slave law, preferring to take the penalty. 
The command of Christ to preach the gospel to every crea- 
ture, is more authoritative than such an order as our 
brethren received from the corrupt Turks. And then, 
too, they do not violate the conditions of their firman. I 
suspect you will see pretty clearly from this matter the 
necessity, brothers Williams and Marsh were under, of 
forming a Protestant community. 

Mr. Loftus desired a kind remembrance to the Ameri- 
cans over the hills. He went to Baghdad, but was forced 
by the Arabs to abandon his design of excavating in the 
great Assyrian burying ground near Hillah.f He has left 
for England. 

Your account of your astronomical observations^ was 

*The former was his fellow-voyager; the latter was at Malta when he ar- 
rived there. 

t In 1354, he resumed and completed the exploration of Warka, and found it 
to be indeed " a vast cemetery." See Travels in Chaldea and Susiana, chap. XIV. 

$ Mr. Stoddard found the air so clear, that he could see the satellites of Jupite* 
with the naked eye, and communicated the fact to Sir J. Herschel. 

18* 



210 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



very interesting. I shall be trying my eyes here. What 
philosophical difficulty is there in our low position ? Your 
letter to Sir J. Hersehel, I have no doubt, will be appre- 
ciated by him and by the world. 

Mr. Dunmore is back to his post, and says he hopes 
good from the new Pasha. 

TO HIS BROTHER. 

Mosul, Dec. 8th, 1852. 

Dear Brother Frank : — I promised in my last letter 
to our mother, to give you by next post some account of 
a recent trip to Tel Keif. This is a large village of Chal- 
deans — papal Nestorians — about nine miles north of 
Mosul, on the east side of the river. I was sent for to 
visit the sick wife of the Kiayah, or mayor of the town. 
Some successful powders that I left there, have given me 
quite as large a reputation for medical ability as I care to 
have cherished. Almost daily some one calls on me from 
that place for medicine, and I have the satisfaction of 
being the means of removing the great prejudice of the 
people against the Protestants, whose fame has spread all 
over the plain. 

Arrived at Tel Keif, the black-faced Kiayah embraced 
me with quite as much w^armth as I desired, and respect- 
fully saluting Jeremiah, who accompanied me, and for 
whom, as a Protestant, he had long entertained the great- 
est contempt, he led us by an entrance common to 
horses, donkeys and women, into his wife's sick room. I 
could see nothing but " the blackness of darkness " at first, 
but at length, by the aid of a dim taper and the uncovered 
holes in the wall, I discovered her, lying on the mat, and 
surrounded by about a score of sorrowing women. The 
people now crowded in, and crammed the whole place. 
As soon as I touched the woman's pulse and saw her eye, 
I promised, if God will, (a phrase always used here on such 
occasions, and indeed on all occasions of doubt, without a 



TEL KEIF. 



211 



thought of God,) to restore her. She had had extreme 
unction performed the evening previous, and the oil was 
still visible, accomplishing its sanctifying work ! A priest 
was on hand, also, and seemed quite vexed at my determi- 
nation to save the husband the necessity of giving him a 
thousand piastres for prayers over her soul, after she had 
given it forth to God. 

A consumptive man who was present drew from me 
the remark, that his business henceforth was to " look unto 
Jesus." The people expressed their approbation, though 
the priest might have advised a different resort. 

I was soon moving through the muddy streets, and en- 
tering the dark huts of the poor villagers, dispensing pills 
and papers with an unsparing hand. Some invoked the 
peace of God upon me, some the blessings of the Virgin, 
and all were profuse in their demonstrations- of respect. 

A wealthy Christian is always known here by the coins 
and ornaments on the head, neck, wrists, and ancles of his 
daughter. I had been prescribing for several in the family 
of such a man, and was so tormented with the jargon of 
salaams, blessings, and prayers for the increase of my pos- 
terity, {house, as they call it,) that I determined to see 
what idea the people had of a prayer. One woman 
begged me, for the Virgin! s sake, to give her physic. I 
asked her why she did not say, for Jesus' sake. This was 
beyond her depth. "Which is the greater," I asked, "Je- 
sus or Mary ? " " Why, the Virgin, of course ; she is his 
mother? "Who is greatest, Yesua (Jesus), Miriam 
(Mary), or Allah (God)?" "Mary and the Father are 
greater than Christ." " How are you to be saved from 
your sins ? " " By prayers to the Virgin." "In the blood 
of Christ alone" I told her, to the great astonishment of 
the priest-ridden crowd. 

I wanted to return to Mosul before night, but the Kia- 
yah seized me, after the fashion of the land, around, the 
body, and stay I must. After eating awhile upon chickens 



212 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



and bread, with the aid of fingers and a lamp, burning oil 
of sesame, I sat down for a little kaif, or pleasure. Jere- 
miah preached Christ to the crowd, and I explained the 
mystery of inoculation, and " the mystery of iniquity." 

About nine o'clock, the men dipped their rag tapers 
into the cup of black oil, (like " the vessels " of " the ten 
virgins,") lighted them, and started through the rain and 
darkness to their homes. I lay down with my clothes on, 
not to sleep nor to dream — but to scratch ! What a liv- 
ing sacrifice ! What filth ! What fleas ! 

In the morning, I gave the great crowd of applicants 
on the roof the needed medicine, and having taken a 
second look at the mayor's wife, started for home. You 
will find a specimen of Tel Keif officials in the first vol- 
ume of Layard. The drunken Kiayah who honored him, 
has given place to my host. 



CHAPTER XT. 



Excursion to Sheikh Adi, the seat of the Yezidees, or Devil-worshipers — Their 
number — Called Heathen — Baadri — Hussein Bey — White Garments — 
Cleanliness— English Consul — Convent near Al-Kosh — The Monks — The 
Jereed, and the Shaking of the Spear — Bozan, the Place of Gathering for 
the General Judgment — Spirit-rappings — The Butcheries of Beder Khan 
Bey — Sunday — The Locality — Ceremonies — The Dance — Baptism of Chil- 
dren—The Temple — Doctrines — Sheikh Adi, the Good Principle — Melek 
Taoos the Evil— His Symbol, a Peacock — A Breakfast with Sheikh Nasir 
— Reverence Satan — Adore the Sun — Relic of Sabeanism — Schools, &c. } 
at Mosul. 

In October, 1852, Dr. Lobdell made an excursion to 
Sheikh Adi, the seat of the Sheitani, or devil-worshipers. 
While he was on the ground, he wrote brief notes to Dr. 
Perkins and Mr. Coan, giving some account of the cere- 
monies at their annual festival. In December, he pre- 
pared a fuller narrative of his journey and observations, 
for the Mission House in Boston; and in January, 1853, 
he forwarded to his brother a minute and graphic journal 
of the excursion, which was published in successive num- 
bers of the New York Tribune. The last, though very 
interesting, is too long for these pages. The letter to the 
Mission House will occupy the present chapter. We 
have, however, taken the liberty to insert a paragraph or 
two of special interest, from the columns of the Tribune. 

Mosul, Dec. 20th, 1852. 

Rev. R. Anderson, D. D. 

Dear Sir : — I intended to give you a few particulars 
of a visit which the ladies and gentlemen of our station 
made with myself to the Shrine of the Yezidees, the first 
week in October, soon after our return ; but the pressure 
of more important matters prevented. The heat of sum- 



214 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



mer had begun to abate, and we were all so prostrated 
with general debility, that a short journey to the moun- 
tains of Koordistan seemed no less a duty than a pleasure. 

I had previously come in connection with some of the 
reputed devil- worshipers medically, and hoped that the 
opportunities I should have for free intercourse with the 
political and religious chiefs of the hundred thousand of 
these people, a great number of whom assemble at Sheikh 
Adi in the time of their annual festival, would enable me to 
form some definite opinion with regard to their religious ob- 
servances. I desired a sight of the heathen, as the Mosul- 
leans allow us to call the Yezidees. The Moslems and 
nominal Christians of Turkey deem themselves the pos- 
sessors of the whole truth of God, and they have often 
asked me why I came to teach them, when their neigh- 
bors need the instruction, which they do not. In this brief 
account of my visit I can state but few of many facts, 
which show that the Yezidees form a connecting link be- 
tween the idolater and the Moslem, and that they differ 
much less from the Nezrani * than the pride of the latter 
is willing to acknowledge. 

We left Mosul about daybreak, on Friday, the last day 
of September, and after a wearisome ride over the plain 
in a northeast direction, arrived at Baadri, the residence 
of Hussein Bey, the political head of the Yezidees, to re- 
ceive the respectful salutations of some hundreds of his 
people, before the hot sun sank behind the distant Sinjar 
hills across the Tigris.f 

The officials kissed our hands and treated us with the 
greatest attention. The white garments of the people at 
once struck our notice. Their horror of blue, of lettuce, 
and of bamiyeh, their reverence for the name of Satan, the 

* Nazarenes. So Christians are called in the East. 

t A good description of this prince can be found in Layard's Nineveh and its 
Remains, vol. 1, p. 227. Indeed, his reliable account of the opinions and practices 
of the Yezidees supersedes all necessity for a lengthy detail of the events of my 
visit. 



THE COXYEXT AT AL-KOSH. 



215 



peculiar cut of their garments, — all crescent-shaped at 
the neck, — their love of streams of water, and their ap- 
parent regard for each other, were soon observable. 

The next day I breathed, for the first time within five 
months, a bracing atmosphere that reminded me of the 
breezes of New England. The western face of the moun- 
tains from Jesireh to Baasheika is skirted with the villao-es 
of these people ; and my observations go to confirm the 
statement, that cleanliness is half of their religion. They 
may have rags, but these are pretty sure to be clean. 
Whereas the Moslems and Christians through the moun- 
tains appear to consider filthiness the essence of household 
felicity. 

The English Consul and his wife had joined us at Tel 
Keif, and he accompanied me, at my desire, to Rabban 
Hormuzd, the Chaldean convent near Al-Kosh, which is 
about three hours west of Baadri. Hussein Bey led the 
van with his retinue of spearsmen with gay abbas^ long 
spears, shining daggers, and greasy, braided locks, as an 
escort of honor. At short intervals, we met troops of his 
people in their Sunday, or, rather, festive " suits." All 
eagerly seized and kissed their chieftain's hand. It was 
pleasant to witness their affection for their young pa- 
triarch, who traces his ancestry back to the Sassanian 
dynasty. The men all carried guns, and the women gene- 
rally had a kettle or a baby on their backs. 

We reached the convent by a precipitous ascent, and 
forty monks came out to proffer us coffee, fruit, and wine. 
Kos Elisha generously showed us the coarse pictures of 
the chapel, the sanctum sanctorum hung with images of 
female saints, and the graves of the Chaldean patriarchs. 
Some of them were more than five hundred years old. 
From one of the tombs, Hussein Bey desired to take a 
little of the sacred dust celebrated for its febrifuge prop- 
erties. A tall, gaunt monk handed him some with all the 
gravity imaginable. Every sect in those regions vene- 



216 



MEMOIR OF LOBBELL. 



rates the saints of every other sect. Moslems, in time of 
famine, have been known to come in crowds to Christian 
priests, and beg them to offer prayers to their sacred dead 
for the return of plenty. The next month they would 
not hesitate to bury their daggers in Christian hearts for 
the propagation of the faith. 

We took dinner with the head of the convent, who was 
quite liberal with his new fruits and old liquors. He ex- 
pressed great indignation at the Italian emissaries for 
their attempts to introduce the Latin liturgy into their 
churches, which have hitherto made use of the dead Chal- 
dee. They are endeavoring to establish a school in Mosul 
for the instruction of youth in the forms of the popish ser- 
vice ; but it is not expected they will teach the embryo 
priests the Latin as a language. If they can only read it, 
as the priesthood now do the language of their fathers, so 
as to hide truth from the people's eyes, that will be 
enough. 

The impression I got of these monks of Rabban Hor- 
muzd was that which I have received of the priesthood 
in general in this country, — they have resorted to the 
convent chiefly as a means of livelihood. They thus 
avoid taxes, and w^hen they go among the people, are 
honored with the salutation of "Rabbi, Rabbi." The 
priests wield a tremendous power in this part of Turkey. 
True, it diminishes, as the light of truth spreads, but the 
darkness is very thick — so thick, we feel it. Whenever 
I have asked the question in Mosul, whether of a Papist 
or Jacobite, if he supposes a single priest in the city 
sought his office to benefit the people, I have invariably re- 
ceived the answer — no. It would, therefore, be too 
charitable to suppose that the monks of the mountains all 
go through their long prayers from any deep conviction 
of the exceeding sinfulness of sin ; though it is possible, 
some of them at times feel the necessity of having their 
iniquities forgiven from some quarter. I could not help 



SP1K1T-K A PJL'iJN G S. 



217 



feeling a special desire to teach one or two of the inquisi- 
tive among them the way, the truth, and the life, especially 
when I remembered that our two most efficient native 
assistants were formerly members of the same convent. 
Kos Elisha presented me a cane as we left, little thinking 
that I was one of those hideous Americans, whose Protes- 
tant movements had borne terror even to his eyrie in the 
mountain. 

On our return from Rabban Hormuzd to Baadri, we 
w^ere joined by the red-robed chief of the Deuideh and 
his train ; and the plain we were crossing afforded a fine 
opportunity for the skillful horsemen to play the jereed. 
As they darted swiftly past us to the acting enemy, I en- 
joyed a sight of that expressive " shaking of the spear," 
at which " leviathan laugh eth." At Bozan, we saw the 
place of gathering at the general resurrection, according 
to the creed of this people. The immense plain, stretch- 
ing north, west and south, would indeed furnish a grand 
theater for judgment. A score of places, where angels had 
sat conversing w T ith their prophets, were distinguished by 
conical piles of burnt gypsum, about three feet high, hav- 
ing a square hole near the top looking toward the south, 
and a sort of altar at the base, for the nightly lamp. I 
afterwards saw "the man in black," who holds direct 
communication between Sheikh Nasir, the religious head 
of the Yezidees, and his Satanic Majesty. The doctrine 
of spirit-rappings is not so new, as some of you Americans 
suppose. The devil-worship ers here have as good reason 
for their belief in the messages which this go-between 
brings from the spirit land, as the spiritualists in America 
have for the messages of their mediums. The simple- 
hearted devil-worshipers here are far less bound to the 
observance of the principles of the inductive philosophy, 
than the seers of Rochester and Stratford. Before the 
latter sneer at their brethren in this quarter of the world, 
let them look at home. The same kind of credulity that 
19 



218 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



has made these people adopt their curious religious notions, 
is working among spiritualists and free thinkers in Amer- 
ica ; it will not be strange if they come to adopt, in many- 
respects, a system like that of the Persian Magi. God will 
then be a fire ; the stars his manifested essence ; the uni- 
verse a machine played with by lawless spirits. 

The sun was just setting, when we returned to Baadri, 
and the shepherds were leading their immense flocks 
from the hills to their folds. All carried arms. The 
Koord and the Arab respect no right but that of might, 
any more than the Czar or the House of Hapsburg. The 
shades of evening cast a wild gloom over fort and tree 
and plain ; a silence disturbed only by the bleating of 
the flocks and the sullen growl of the watch-dogs on the 
roofs. A few years since, this quiet spot was the scene of 
a butchery of the most horrid kind. The cruel Koord has 
found the Sultan, influenced by England, too strong for 
him ; and it is hoped the world will never again hear of 
such atrocities as those of Beder Khan Bey. 

Sunday was a clear and beautiful day, but too little like 
a Christian Sabbath ! Women washing the garments of 
their lords in the brooks, shepherds watching their flocks, 
men gathering cotton, and all regardless of the sanctity 
of the day. The Yezidees observe no day of the week as 
holy time. The women do not wash on Wednesday^ but 
labor of other kinds is not omitted. Their religious festi- 
vals are regarded with the greatest respect; but even 
these, as I shall have occasion to show, are destitute of 
any observances which to a western mind have any 
resemblance to true religious worship, unless it be the 
adoration of His Satanic Highness. 

We read the episcopal service * and a sermon, but were 
constantly annoyed with calls from the officials ; I thought 
of the Sabbaths and sanctuaries of my native land — the 
great and silent congregation, the devotion, the intellect- 

* Thus uniting with the English Consul. 



THE WORSHIP, 



219 



ual repast, the solace of the gospel of peace, the warnings 
of a coming judgment. Oh, when shall this remnant of 
the Sabean fire- worshipers have such opportunities as 
Christendom affords, for learning the will of God ! Here 
they live from generation to generation, a changeless peo- 
ple, reverencing faint symbols of the Almighty, but never 
offering him a tribute of thanksgiving ; adopting exagger- 
ated notions about Christ and Mohammed, but choosing, 
in the main, the path of their fathers, though it leads to 
destruction. 

From Baadri, on Monday morning, we were four hours 
reaching Sheikh Adi. The French Consul had joined us 
Sunday evening ; and with about forty horsemen, armed 
to the teeth, bound to the scene of the festival, our 
entrance by a narrow defile upon the holy ground was 
made in considerable state. The multitude of trees, the 
babbling brooks and conical temples on square pedestals, 
though giving forth but a very " dim religious light," were 
grateful sights to eyes that had seen no green thing for 
half a year. 

It was estimated that about five thousand were present 
on our arrival. Soon the icorship opened. The whole 
valley is holy ground. Chiefs and people trod its terraces 
with naked feet. We foreigners were allowed some liber- 
ties. A large circle of men was formed beneath the mul- 
berry before our hovel, and shuffled their rough feet upon 
the rough pavement to a solemn tune upon tambourine 
and fife, turning one's thoughts to the days of the Sweet 
Singer of Israel. The timbrel, which is in common use in 
the Moslem and Christian villages, is never used at these 
festivals. This dance was repeated every afternoon for five 
days. It is deemed a shame for females to join in it, unless 
at very special request. What has woman to do with wor- 
ship ? The shrill tahlehl would now and then set the circle 
into a perfect frenzy. Every morning, mothers brought 
their naked children for baptism to the holy fountain, 



220 



MEMOIR of lobdell. 



whose waters, some of the priests tell the Moslems, have a 
secret connection with the Zemzem of Mecca. The ka- 
wahls receive a fee for this service. The offerings made at 
the shrines of Sheikh Acli were, for the most part, blankets 
and rugs, the offerers of which threw them over their heads 
and were followed with a terrible clattering of tambour- 
ines to the temple. Over the western face of this build- 
ing were numerous figures, apparently hieroglyphical, the 
import of which not even the priests understand. Ser- 
pents, shepherds' crooks, sharp-beaked birds, coarse combs, 
and various other objects were rejDresented — possibly the 
work of an impious builder, but probably significant of 
doctrines in their creed. 

We took off our shoes as we entered the coarse, dark 
room, where, every night during the festival, were music 
and dancing before MeleJc Taoos, King Peacock, or the 
deviVs image as one of the Sheikhs privately informed me. 
The shyness of strangers, generally remarked of them by 
travelers, seemed entirely removed towards us ; doubt- 
less owing to the consular interference of Mr. Rassam 
with the government in their behalf. Sheikh Nasir, the 
religious head of the tribe, declared to me that the tomb 
in the temple was that of Sheikh Adi, probably the Adee, 
a disciple of Manes, and not Mar Adi, or the Apostle Thad- 
deus, as some have thought. In the minds of the people, 
Sheikh Adi and God, or the Good Principle, are nearly 
synonymous. They attribute to him omnh^resence, om- 
nipotence, and the other attributes of Deity ; but are gen- 
erally willing to admit his inferiority to the one etern 
Being. In this respect Sheikh Acli bears some analo 
to the Christ of Christianity, but more with the Good 
Principle of the Manichees. Their doctrines are a motle 
mixture of Mohammedanism and Christianity with th 
philosophy of the older Persians. Ever suspicious o 
inquirers, they try to answer them in the way that wi 
least offend. They are all things to all men, that the 



THE SACKED EIKE. 



221 



may save themselves and their rites. In private, I 
found the priests quite communicative, especially after an 
emetic and some arrack had restored a man to his senses 
whom hundreds supposed to be in the last hour of life. 
Their thanksgiving and presents seemed to indicate a 
■willingness to tell me all they knew. 

It is very seldom, that Moslems or Christians reside in 
the villages of the Yezidees. Each village has its house 
at Sheikh Adi, a stone structure, some ten or fifteen feet 
square, with a flat mud roof, in which they deposit their 
valuables and their sick at the time of the feast. The 
greatest part of the pilgTims lie in the o]^en air along the 
sides of the mountains, which shut in all but a narrow 
entrance. Each company at night had its flaming torch, 
and the jewelled hills flashed with their numerous lights. 
Every new comer fired his gun, as soon as he came in sight 
of the temple. The hum of music, tramping and conver- 
sation scarcely died away at night, before the sun lifted his 
burning head upon the clean-dressed multitude that 
adored his beams. Whenever a priest appeared with a 
torch, they would pass their hands through the flame and 
reverentially kiss the blocks of stone around the shrines, 
where their respected leaders had placed the sacred fire. 
Every family brought a meat offering to Sheikh Adi. 
This was generally a sheep. The animals are thrust into 
an immense cauldron, and every morning each head of a 
household receives a share of the sacrifice. The surplus, 
with the baptismal fees and voluntary contributions, go into 
the purse of Hussein Bey, who is expected generously to 
provide for the needy among his people. I am glad to 
.say, that their confidence in him is not misplaced. 

Mr. Rassam and myself took breakfast with Sheikh 
Nasir and the other dignitaries one morning. A " bless- 
ing " was asked by a Jcawahl, who cried at the top of his 
voice in Koordish, their usual language, " Now let us cele- 
brate the feast of our glorious Sheikh Adi." Large cop- 
19* 



222 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



per dishes of meat and vegetables were passed first to the 
priests and " great men," and after that to the crowds of 
hungry bystanders. We ate meat, of course, with our 
fingers, and soup, rice and lebn, or sour milk, with rough 
wooden spoons. We were then expected to partake of 
tobacco smoke and coffee. 

Our Mosul party were quite pleased to see the apparent 
regard the two head chiefs paid their half dozen wives. 
Polygamy is common among them. Among all sects in 
Turkey, woman is considered as the servant of her hus- 
band. It is a great shame in Mosul for a woman to learn 
to read ; but the Yezidees go farther, and count it a dis- 
grace for a man to learn ! ^N~ot half a dozen men among 
their one hundred thousand can write their names. It 
seems to be thought necessary that a very few should 
know how to read and write, that the covetous world may 
not cheat them, and that the fragments of their religious 
books may be preserved. They seldom take a note for 
money loaned, and their honesty far surpasses that of 
their neighbors. 

They greatly dislike to be called Sheitani, though more 
from regard to the honor of Satan than their own shame. 
To take his name in vain is unpardonable sacrilege ! 
That they worship the devil, is to them a glory. God is 
too good to need propitiating ; and they see no reason 
why, if the bad kings of this world receive reverence, His 
Satanic Majesty should not also ! 

Sheikh N~asir candidly admitted that, according to their 
theology, none have a certainty of salvation but the disci 
pies of Sheikh Adi and Melek Taoos — - all others are le 
t o the uncovenanted mercies of God ! They tradition all 
hold to the great facts of the Biblical history, though 
under very distorted forms — forms that show how impos- 
sible it is for tradition to do more than convey a dim inti- 
mation of the truth. One of the chief priests related to 
me the following account of the origin of the devil's appel- 
lation — Melek Taoos, 



WOE SHIP OF SAT AX. 



223 



When Christ was on the cross in the absence of his 
friends, the devil, in the fashion of a dervish, came and 
took him down and carried him to heaven. Soon after 
the Marys came, and seeing their Lord gone, inquired of 
the dervish where he was. They would not believe his 
answer, but promised to do so if he would take the pieces 
of a cooked chicken, from which he was eating, and bring 
the animal to life. He agreed to do so, and bringing back 
bone to his bone — the cock crew ! The dervish then 
announced his real character, and they expressed their 
astonishment by a burst of adoration. Having informed 
them that he would henceforth always appear to them in 
the shape of a beautiful bird, he departed. The peacock 
(taoos) was henceforth chosen as their chieftain's symbol; 
and the Deity, if not the Sun also, was forced to give way 
in the Sabean system to the Prince of Hell. It is easy to 
see, in the above myth, some features of the gospel story 
of Joseph's laying the body of the Saviour in a sepulcher, 
the approach and inquiry of the women, the answer of the 
angels, the trial of Peter at the crowing of the cock, the 
appearance of Christ among his disciples, and the exclam- 
ation of Thomas, " My Lord and my God ! " 

The cock-shaped brazen symbols of Satan stand on 
pedestals a foot high, and are occasionally taken from 
village to village by the priests. They are sacred, as was 
the ark to the Israelites. The highest bidder always re- 
ceives the honor of lodging the image over night. Sacri- 
fices are offered on such occasions. 

One thinks of Tetzel and his sale of indulgences. But 
I believe these priests are more honest than were he and 
his sanctimonious companions. I presume this account 
of the origin of the regard of the Yezidees for the cock 
— which they never eat, though they do the hen — never 
before came to Protestant ears. Let it be compared with 
Mohammed's miraculous communings with the spirit 
world, and the popish miracles of Saint Januarius and the 



224 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



Virgin, still in good repute, before the Moslem and Papist 
affect to smile and despise. 

Dr. Lobdell afterwards received a somewhat different 
account of the brazen standards of the Yezidees, (as we 
learn from his journal for 1854,) and was led to doubt 
whether they were not rude images of the clove rather 
than the cock, and whether they did not represent Sheikh 
Adi, or the Good Principle, instead of Melek Taoos, or the 
Evil Principle, as, in common with Lay arc! and Badger, he 
had previously supposed. " Sheikh Adi," he was after- 
wards told, " is always symbolized by a white clove ; and 
the sinjaks {signs, bcmners) carried about by the kaicahls, 
are symbols of the faith — banners of Sheikh Adi, and not 
of Melek Taoos." 

The Druzes of Le'banon, the Yezidees say, were for- 
merly Yezidees. When the Jews were brought to Gozan, 
in the captivity, they were carried off to Lebanon, but 
soon became corrupted, and refused to receive the kaic- 
ahls from Assyria, So they were called Dur (far off) 
Yezcl (God), or People far from God. So much for the 
contradictory stories which Dr. Lobdell heard at different 
times, of this singular people. We return now to the 
letter. 

Sabeanism predominates over the elements of Moham- 
medanism and Christianity in their creed, if these were 
not added simply to secure the good will of the Moslems 
and Christians around them. However this may have 
been at first, it is evident that the people have as much 
faith in the myths now, as in the distinct relics of the As- 
syrianized Zoroastrianism preserved among them. They 
do not pray, even to Satan ; but, as they told me, they 
simply reverence him, not, however, according to the 
maxim of Confucius : " Respect the devil, but have as lit- 
tle to do with him as possible." Their meat and drink 
appears to be to do his will. 

Their great festival affords the young men a fine oppor- 



IGNORANCE OF THE WOMEN. 



225 



tunity for the choice of companions ; but, in all my stay, 
I saw no indecent gesture. The modesty of the females, 
while dancing, would put to shame the refined trippings 
of Christendom. But their ignorance is great. One of 
the women told me, that the females never pray nor en- 
gage in any of the acts of reverence ; for her part, she did 
not know as there was any life beyond this ; she had 
heard of Christ from her neighbors, but did not know 
what he proposed to do, nor who he was ; and she never 
had thought of sin as originating and existing in the 
heart. She promised to think of these things, which she 
then heard for the first time. 

How thankful I felt, at the scene of these orgies, that 
God had given me a birthplace where Christ crucified is 
known and preached, as the sinner's only hope. Amid all 
my discouragements, privations, and trials here, I am never 
sad when I put to myself the question, "Why art thou 
better than these ? " " Not unto us," not unto man be 
the glory of redemption ; let God be acknowledged as the 

ALL IN ALL. 

We left the valley of Sheikh Adi five days after our 
arrival. The feast was to continue three days longer. 
We stopped for the night at Ain Sifneh, a village two 
hours distant ; but the fleas and sand-flies forced us to 
leave the mud floors an hour before midnight, and start 
on our starless way. We passed Khorsabad about day- 
light, but had only time to see one of its immense winged 
and human-headed bulls — the old Assyrian symbol of 
the divine intelligence, swiftness, and power — and reached 
home as the sun was gilding the tomb of Jonah. 

Only three of our party had caught the prevalent oph- 
thalmia; and though it was only after much care and 
pain that their eyes were restored to health, we all re- 
joiced in invigorated strength, and felt more happy with 
our lot, having seen what man can become without "the 
glorious gospel of the blessed God." 



226 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



I have not pretended to give a complete view of the re- 
ligion of the Yezidees. This is not to be done in a small 
compass. I do not think, the best way to evangelize them 
will be to send missionaries directly to them, while they 
are so much needed in other fields, and are so scarce 
But it will be well enough for our friends to bear in min 
that when the Armenians and Jacobites and Nestorian 
are all brought to the truth, they have still other wor 
to do. 

A few words about matters here must close this pro 
tracted letter. Salome, who left us with Shemmas Elia 
Fuez, of Beyroot, Oct. 29th, has written us that the 
were ticenty-one days in reaching Diarbekr. Improve 
ments in traveling here are few and far between. Th 
only important difference in the mode of Salome's de 
parture and that of Rebekah from Mesopotamia to th 
land of Canaan, was, that she rode a mule, and her proto 
type a camel. 

There is considerable agitation in the waters at Mosu 
Our attempt to do the people good in spirit as well a 
body, at the dispensary, has greatly excited the priests, 
and they have threatened to anathematize all who submit 
to the process of question and answer. The consequence 
is, that just at present the majority of applicants for medi- 
cine are Moslems ; but many of the Christians come, 
Nicodemus-like, to talk over the matter, and always ex- 
press their indignation at the endeavors of the priesthood 
to close their eyes and their hearts. I have a class of four 
young men in English — two Protestants and two Jacob- 
ites ; and Mrs. Lobdell teaches half a dozen boys. Mr. 
Williams's Bible class is very interesting, and Mrs. Wil- 
liams is pleased with her class of women. Our girls' 
school is not very well attended, but that of the boys 
promises to be a nucleus of power. Jeremiah is doing 
good to those who call at his book store in the market. 
We have purchased a burying-place, in spite of opposition, 



RESULTS AT MOSUL. 



227 



and it is nearly ready to receive the remains of our breth- 
ren. Mr. Williams and Micha have gone on a preaching 
tour to Diarbekr, through Jebel Tour. We are desirous 
to know the precise condition of our cause in Mardin. 
Some reports have made us deem it a sort of Japan. 
Longer residence in Mosul produces contentment, and at 
times we feel a kind of exultation in view of the results 
that promise to appear around this old seat of empire, 
when the gospel shall have free course and be glorified. 



CHAPTER XII. 



The "Winter and Spring of 1853 — Seed Time and Harvest both natural and 
spiritual — His Tongue unloosed — Discussions on the Way of Salvation — 
Crowds in the Dispensary and the Study — Extracts from Journal — Great 
Excitement — Great Fatigue — Great Joy — Feasts of St. Peter and St. Elias — 
Fast of the Prophet Jonah —Summoned before the Cadi — Refuses to give 
Medicines without the Gospel — Persecution at Tel Keif — The Jews — The 
Yezidees — The Arabs — Nimrood — Palace of Sennacherib at Koyunjik — 
Bible Illustrations — Linguistic Speculations — Uncle Tom's Cabin — Post 
Days — Moslems like the Chief Priests and Pharisees — No Sadducees — Im- 
plicit Faith — Ignorance — Papal Lies — History of the Reformation repeated 
— Arguments. 

The change of the seasons is not less marked or less 
grateful in " the East," than it is in our Western world. 
It is not, however, a change from the extreme of heat to 
the extreme of cold, but from excessive heat to a moder- 
ate temperature, and from excessive drought to abundant 
moisture. The summer is there the hot and dry, and the 
winter the cool and rainy season. Upon the return of 
winter, the clouds veil the face of the burning sun. The 
heaven is no longer brass over head, nor the earth iron or 
powder and dust beneath the feet, nor the whole atmos- 
phere scorching, like that of an oven, or a burning, fiery 
furnace. The heavens give rain ; and the hard and bar- 
ren earth, made soft with showers, is carpeted with the 
green wheat and barley, or enameled with flowers of 
every form and color — anemones, poppies, forget-me-nots, 
May-weeds, tulips, and buttercups. The gardens produce, 
in rich luxuriance, beans, turnips, radishes larger than our 
beets, yet tender and delicate as their namesakes in 
America, cucumbers two feet long, pumpkin squashes of 
fifty pounds' weight, and all those vegetables which con- 



FIEST WINTER EN" MOSUL. 229 

stitute the main subsistence of the lower classes in the 
Orient. In mid-winter, the fruit trees already begin to 
blossom and put forth leaves and fruit. Man sympathizes 
with reviving nature, drinks in strength and activity with 
a more invigorating atmosphere, and goes forth to plow 
and sow ; and in April, he already begins to shout the 
harvest home. In many respects, the seasons and the 
corresponding customs of the people in Turkey are the 
reverse of those in America, not less so than are the 
usages of society, the forms of government, and the notions 
of religion. Indeed, Dr. Lobdell often speaks of the con- 
trariety as almost universal ; and he amused himself with 
making up a little book of contraries, which has not come 
into the hands of the writer, but to which he frequently 
alludes. In America, we " house up " in winter, and re- 
tire to our inmost chambers by night. In Assyria, they 
seek shelter in their houses and cellars from the burning 
heat of the midday sun, while they pass the night upon 
the roofs, or, if need be, in traveling, or in labors that 
require special exertion. With us, spring is the seed- 
time, and summer is the harvest ; they plow and sow in 
the winter, and gather in the harvest in the spring. And 
the winter and spring are the seasons when, if ever, the 
spiritual husbandman must go forth, bearing precious seed, 
and come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with 
him. 

The winter and spring of 1853, which, together with 
the summer and autumn of 1852, completed the first year 
of Dr. Lobdell's life in Mosul, was to him a period of great 
activity and great enjoyment in his work. Not only were 
his energies renewed and his spirits quickened by a cooler 
and more bracing air, and the people, for the same reason, 
in a better condition to hear and think and feel and act 
on the momentous subjects which he would fain press upon 
their consideration; his tongue was now, for the first 
time, so far unloosed that he could declare, though imper- 
20 



230 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



fectly, the glad tidings of the gospel of Christ. He was 
far from feeling that he was master of the Arabic. He 
was " not yet greatly in love with the khas, the 'ai?is, the 
ghains, the kefs, and the Jchas " of the guttural language. 
But he could make himself understood, and nothing could 
any longer restrain him from entering with all the ardor 
of his earnest nature, and all the fervor of his love for the 
truth and the souls of men, into the discussion of the fun- 
damental doctrines of the gospel with the multitude of 
errorists of every sort, — Mohammedans and Yezidees, 
Jews and Christians, Chaldeans and Syrians, Jacobites and 
Nestorians, — that now more than ever thronged his 
house. And this only increased the crowd. Curiosity to 
hear the doctrines and the arguments of the Protestants 
drew many, and a sincere spirit of inquiry brought some, 
though the medicines, the illustrations, (especially the 
skeleton)^ and the surgical instruments, were still the chief 
attraction to all ranks and classes. And they soon found 
that the hakeem was as skillful in wielding arguments as 
he was in handling instruments, and that the truths which 
he uttered with his lips, were as sharp as the knives and 
lancets which he held in his hands. He endeavored to 
restrict them to the 'asr, or the hour of evening prayer, 
at which the dispensary was regularly ojDen for the dis- 
pensation of medicines both for the body and the soul. 
But they came at all hours, and were so eager to hear and 
discuss, that he could not send them away, and often he 
relinquished his Arabic lesson, his English class, his read- 
ing and recreation, and gave up the whole day to succes- 
sive troops of eager visitors. A few extracts from his jour- 
nal will best illustrate the kind and degree of interest 
which was thus excited. "Jan. 19th. Before I had fin- 
ished my Arabic lesson, as it was a feast day, a crowd were 
hanging round my study door, — some Moslems, some of 
each of the Christian sects, and a number from several vil- 
lages." After specifying the villages, — Tel Keif, Bartulli, 



INQUIRERS. 



231 



Kara-Kosh, Karamles, etc., — with their situation and popu- 
lation of various sects, as he had learned it from his visitors, 
he proceeds : " This afternoon, fourteen Christians were in 
my study to investigate the truth. One Butrus es-Sibogh, 
the dyer, took the lead of them, and Jeremiah replied, 
when my Arabic was cloudy. A good impression was 
produced ; we began and ended with the two modes of 
salvation (by faith, and by works, or, rather, forms). It 
was a very interesting time for me. All who could read 
wanted some tracts, and were furnished gratis, though we 
are beginning to doubt the expediency of giving too freely. 
I have been thronged all day, and have done nothing but 
preach in broken Arabic, and write prescriptions in broken 
English for Ablahad. The leewan was filled with Moslems 
and Christians at the 'asr. Butrus kept them still. 

" Jan. 20th. Eighteen men and seven women crowded 
into my study about 10, A. M. I never before knew a band 
of women here to sit down with men to listen to the 
truth." After removing their prejudices against "Bible 
readers," and showing them the advantages, temporal 
and spiritual, of being able to read, as well as the self- 
ishness of their priests in keeping them in ignorance, 
he says : " I then told them what is our object, and our 
only object, to teach the people the true way of salvation 
from the word of God. They all responded, 'meleeah, 
— excellent ; and then Kos Michael spoke to them of his 
reasons for becoming a Protestant. The effect was evi- 

| dently good, — all were solemn. Some begged for books, 
and all went away sober. While I was at dinner, six 
more Christians and three Moslems came in, with whom 
I talked about their souls. When they had left, twelve 
more full grown men seated themselves in the study, and 

; for two hours, with the aid of my assistant, Ablahad, I 
expounded to them the way of salvation by grace. Their 
earnestness and evident honesty interested me more than 
any interview I have yet had with a mingled party of 



232 



MEMOIK OF LOBDELL. 



Chaldeans, Syrians, and Jacobites. I class them all to- 
gether, and even tell them they are little better than Mos- 
lems, for they all labor to get into heaven by their heart- 
less formalities and supposed good works. I think two of 
the men were deeply affected. Oh, wdiat a blessed work ! 
I envy no man in America his post, and no man in the 
world. My field is full of interest ; may God strengthen 
his laborers here for its due cultivation. 

"Jan. 27th. All classes crowd around us — all sects 
— to know our arguments. May God save the multi- 
tudes to whom we declare the truth. Oh, it is a glorious 
work ! Do not the angels desire to engage in it ? 

" Jan. 29th. A crowd of Christians came as usual, and 
listened attentively. A Chaldean, a week ago bigoted 
enough, preached to them earnestly in favor of our doc- 
trines. The light spreads. May the truth be glorified. 
Butrus read from one of John's epistles, and prayed earn- 
estly before a hundred Moslems. They made so much 
noise that I refused to prescribe, and left the leewan. 
The man who yesterday listened to the truth so earnest- 
ly, said he wished to put his name down as a Protestant.- 
I referred him to Jeremiah, the head of the community. 

"Feb. 1st. The day has brought forth much good. 
The city is agog. May we be wise. One man gives good 
evidence that he loves the truth. What joy I had in 
thinking I had been somewhat instrumental in leading 
him to Jesus. Evening meeting at the house of Ablahad. 
A little, square, windowless room w^as well filled. Jere- 
miah preached on the topic, 4 Whatsoever is not of faith 
is sin.' Sat on his knees. Bible on a bundle of cotton 
yarn, — an earthen cup, having a wick dipped in the oil, 
stood on a stand a foot high before him. What a place 
for serving the Infinite ! But each Christian's body is a 
temple of the Holy Ghost." 

At length the crowd became so great at the '«sr, that 
it was difficult to maintain order, and it was quite impos- 



CROWDS AT THE STUDY. 



233 



sible for Dr. Lobdell, with all his helpers, to attend prop- 
erly either to their bodily or their spiritual wants. An 
arrangement was therefore made, early in February, to 
receive Christian patients the first three days of each 
week, — Moslem women on Thursdays and Saturdays, 
and Moslem men on Fridays, which, being the Mohamme- 
dan Sabbath, would release them in some measure from 
their secular labors, and yet was not held so sacred as to 
occasion any scruples as to the lawfulness of visiting the 
dispensary. 

Still the crowd was scarcely diminished. "Monday, 
Feb. 14th. This afternoon has been memorable. Over 
a hundred Christians have called for conversation to-day, 
and at one time seventy were present crowding the study. 
Shemmas Georghius was on hand with his proof-texts to 
substantiate the supremacy of Peter. The Jacobites, of 
course, were on my side, and all were deeply interested 
in the discussion. Some of the Chaldeans grew indig- 
nant at my irreverence for the omnipotent saints, and left ; 
but their sea"ts were speedily filled. What a tumult we 
are creating. The whole town is on fire. Mind is awak- 
ing. May God descend with his Spirit. Oh, what a priv- 
ilege is granted to us ! May we work and prove success- 
ful in drawing multitudes to the knowledge of God our 
Saviour. Salvation by grace, good works as the fruit of 
faith, the one Mediator the Man Christ Jesus, the Mys- 
tery of God manifest in the flesh, the idolatry of picture- 
worship, the relation of the Jewish to the Christian 
scheme, Christ the fulfilling of the laio, — all these and 
many other topics have passed under our review to-day, 
so that I am very much fatigued. May my weakness lead 
me to my strength. While seventy were at my room, thirty 
were at brother Williams's. This feast day of St. Peter will 
be long remembered by many in Mosul. Would that many 
might date their conversion from it. As I told a Chal- 
dean this evening, if I shall know before my death that a 
20* 



234 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



single soul has been turned to God by my efforts, I shall 
never cease to rejoice, that my life was devoted to the 
welfare of the people of Mosul. 

" 17th, Thursday. I had about a hundred and twenty- 
five Moslem women at the dispensary this afternoon. 
The noise was so great, that neither Brother W. no 
myself could do any thing with them. One Mosle 
woman declared, she was not a sinner. Indeed, ver 
many of the Moslems think they are pure before Go 
some even who are impure in the eyes of men. 

64 18th, Friday. Some Moslems were pleased with my 
exposition of our doctrine of the sonship of Christ. A 
hundred Moslem men after medicine. Brother W.'s lec- 
ture was short, but he did not hesitate to call Christ our 
Saviour before them. 

"19th, Saturday. A great crowd of noisy Mosle 
women to-day. What beastly specimens of humanity 
My work is too hard ; my tongue too little loosed ; 
must alter my practice of medicine, and refuse to see s 
many. My head is full of plans, but how to modify th 
present course, and secure all its advantages, it is difficu" 
to see. 

" 24th, Thursday. To-day was the Jacobite feast of S 
Elias. It is observed to-morrow by the Moslems. Mon- 
day, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were observed 
in honor of the prophet Jonah, as days of fasting. I 
suppose more than two hundred and fifty persons have 
visited my house to-day. Kos Michael assisted me in 
talking with a room-full of Jacobites for two hours this 
forenoon. We discussed the doctrine, that all which "is 
not of faith is sin, thus demolishing some of the objections 
of our friends who adhere to their church, though they see 
its errors— prayers for the dead, salvation by faith and 
works, the worship of the mass and the saints, &c. Nearly 
seventy were present at one time, and before they left, 
quite a battle occurred between the Jacobites and Papists. 



PEE ACHING TO MOHAMMEDANS. 



235 



I took my seat on a ladder-round in the court, and 
tried to argue with the multitude. Oh, how much we 
need assistance from above ! We had over a hundred 
Moslem women and a crowd of Christians at the 'asr. A 
policeman came, and succeeded in keeping the people 
pretty quiet. But I was very tired at the close of the 
day. I do believe, much good has been done in the name 
of the Redeemer. My medicine has brought scores to- 
day within the sound of the gospel, that would not have 
heard it otherwise. But we must alter our plan of opera- 
tions. I shall kill myself talking of salvation, if we do not. 
Will this be justifiable suicide? I sometimes think it will. 
" That life is long, which answers life's great end." 

Dr. LobdelPs inability to bear the labor and the excite- 
ment was not the only difficulty, which the missionaries 
encountered in their plan of operations. The English 
consul soon began to throw out hints, that it was not 
safe, nor expedient, to preach the truth with so much 
^plainness to Mohammedans. The Jacobites, who never 
dared to give utterance to a religious sentiment in the 
presence of Moslems, which they did not hold in common, 
were astonished to see the missionaries preaching the gos- 
pel with equal frankness to all. The Papists declared that 
this course would surely rouse the wrath of the Mussulmans, 
and all the Christian sects would suffer the consequences. 
Even the Protestants and thg^iative helpers were fright- 
ened at the boldness of the missionaries, and remonstrated, 
and even entreated them not to bring down the ven- 
geance of their Moslem oppressors upon their little com- 
munity. The Mohammedans themselves, strange to say, 
were the last to make objection. They generally ac- 
quiesced in the reasonableness of the rule, that medicine 
and the gospel must go together ; and though they loved 
not the truths of the gospel, they were willing to listen 
to them as the indispensable condition of receiving medi- 
cal treatment and advice. Some of them openly declared 



236 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



that the missionaries and their converts were Christians, 
and the only ones in Mosul. But there were enough, 
especially of the higher classes, whose pride had been 
humbled by being placed on the same level with "the 
poor," both in the administering of medicines and in having 
"the gospel preached to them;" there were enough of 
these to make complaint to the authorities. Indeed, the 
excitement throughout the city was such, that it could 
not but come to the knowledge of the government. 

Dr. Lobdell was not therefore surprised, when, about 
the middle of March, he was waited on by the gray- 
headed servant of the cadi, or judge, and politely in- 
formed that his master wished to see him. "I rode 
immediately to his house, and went up a dirty pair of 
stairs amid a crowd of idlers and courtiers, and, having 
raised the padded cotton door, seated myself among the 
smoking dignitaries. Some of them wore very white tur- 
bans and red ziboons (long robes) ; and the finjens of coffee 
were handed them by trained cup-bearers, on their thumb 
nails, with a grace that brought to mind the manners of 
the old Persians. Having finished the case he was then 
trying, the cadi turned to me, and asked if I understood 
Turkish, that being the court language. I replied, of 
course, in the negative, and then was informed in Arabic 
that, as a number of Moslems had made complaints to him, 
that I was in the habit of reading from the Bible, preach- 
ing, and conversing on religious subjects in the presence of 
and with the crowds of their sect that daily assembled at 
my dispensary, he had deemed it his duty to direct me to 
cease that kind of work. I asked him if this was a torn- 
mand or a request, and whether it came from him or the 
pasha. My boldness astonished the crowd, and they 
thought I had misunderstood the cadi's order." 

To prevent misunderstanding, Mr. Williams was sent 
for ; and then, in reply to the cadi, the missionaries said 
that they supposed the Moslems accepted the teachings 



SUMMONED BEFORE THE CADI. 237 

of our Lord Jesus (so Christ is called among them), and 
that they had always been careful in their discourses to 
the Moslems, to say nothing contrary to his doctrines — 
that they had made it a rule to talk about the sayings of 
Peter and Paul and the other apostles to Christians only, 
that Christ commands his disciples to go into all the 
world healing the sick and preaching the gospel, thus 
virtually linking the two commands together, and vir- 
tually saying, If you do the one, do the other also — and 
that, therefore, if forbidden to preach the truth, we shall 
refuse to give medicine to all Moslems, whether it be a 
poor man, the cadi, or the pasha. " But we do not for- 
bid you to give medicine." " Yes, you do, if you forbid 
us to preach ; for the two things are inseparable." " But 
we only say, you must not speak of religion? " True, 
you wish to receive what agrees with your wishes ; that 
you can not. If you will come to our country, you may 
build a mosk, preach at the corners of the streets, say 
what you please in favor of your religion, and no one will 
be allowed to disturb you." " You have freedom ; we 
have not." "Yes, yes," said we, "that's it;" and smiling, 
we rose, made our salaams, and withdrew, well pleased 
that we had thus got free of the laborious duty of giving 
medicines to such crowds of Moslems as have lately 
pressed in upon us. 

The next day, Dr. Lobdell refused to give medicine to 
a dignitary from the palace, till he should bring a written 
permission from the cadi that he might preach to him. 
And this, for the present, became the established rule, till 
they could find a better — till, at least, they could see 
how it would work. Mohammedans came every day for 
medicine, and whether rich or poor, high or low, received 
the same answer, that the cadi had forbidden them to 
converse with Mohammedans on religious topics, and 
they did not feel at liberty to administer medicines to 
those to whom they were not permitted to preach the 



238 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



gospel ; if they wanted medicines they must go to the cadi 
for permission, also, to hear the truths of the gospel. 
They scolded and stormed at the cadi ; they begged and 
entreated of the missionaries ; they were willing to hear 
the preaching, if they might only receive the medicines. 
But the missionaries w^ere inexorable. They wished it to 
be seen distinctly, that Moslems were afraid to have the 
truth preached to the people. And the cadi refusing to 
give the required permission, the intercourse between the 
missionaries and the Moslems was, for the time, nearly 
broken off. 

About the same time, the priests and emissaries of the 
pope stirred up the spirit of opposition and of persecution 
among the Chaldeans at Tel Keif, which increased the 
ferment at Mosul, and deterred the papists, to some ex- 
tent, from their visits for inquiry and discussion with the 
missionaries. " Tel Keif," we quote from a letter to Dr. 
Anderson, " is occupied entirely by Chaldeans, who have 
sworn, like the conspirators against Paul, to root out all 
heretical tendencies, even at the price of blood. While 
Mr. Marsh was here, an attempt was made by the priests 
there to destroy the Bibles, which our brother put into 
the hands of the people ; they seized them, and nothing 
but an order from the government prevented their de- 
struction. 

"About two months since, a few persons from that 
place came to ask us to send them a preacher ; they were 
urgent for an American. After repeated applications, we 
deemed it best to send every Saturday Kos Michael, or 
Shemmas Jeremiah. The former owns a house in the 
village, it being his native place; and they were accus- 
tomed to sit upon the floor on Sundays and instruct those 
who called upon them. This roused the vengeance of the 
priesthood ; and they sent for the Chaldean patriarch and 
Kos Butrus, a papal emissary, educated in the Proj^aganda 
at Rome, to put a stop to the business. Two weeks ago, 



PERSECUTION AT TEL KEIF. 



239 



Jeremiah was horribly anathematized by the patriarch, 
and a public discourse was given by his attendant against 
the American Methodists. When they came out of the 
church, about five hundred seized stones, and with a tre- 
mendous hooting, proceeded towards the rude house of 
our brother. They did not kill him, but threatened to do 
so, if he did not leave the place. He ran to the house of 
the Kiayah,* or mayor of the village, for protection ; but he 
was out collecting taxes, and his son ordered him to leave 
the house and the village immediately — he was too vile a 
heretic to live ! Thus much for civil protection. Jere- 
miah's brother escaped from the mob by a secret way, and 
ran to Mosul, arriving about the time that our afternoon 
chapel service was closing. It was evident, that Jeremiah's 
life was in danger ; but reflecting, that ' the blood of the 
martyrs is the seed of the church,' and seeing no way to 
relieve him till the next day, we simply asked the English 
consul to get us a policeman from the pasha, with an 
order to bring the offenders to Mosul. Thus furnished, on 
Monday morning we galloped to the village, and found 
our brother alive, but all who sympathized with him, did 
it with fear and trembling. The Kiayah refused to point 
out the offenders ; so we took him and brought him to 
the city. All the men, women, and children of the village 
collected around us as we were trying to force some wit- 
nesses to accompany us, and declared that they would kill 
every one who testified against them; and further, that if 
ever the apostate Jeremiah should set his foot in Tel Keif 
again, they would sacrifice him, at the same time coolly 
drawing their forefingers across their throats. They had 
agreed to divide the price of his blood among the houses, 
not doubting that this would be a cheap way of deliver- 
ing themselves from the heretic. Nearly two thousand 
persons followed the Kiayah, determined to stand by him 
and their church, 

* This dignitary was under some obligations to Dr. Lobdell. See p. 210. 



240 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



" The next morning — the prominent members of the 
medglis, oy common council, having been previously con- 
sulted by the priests, and the pasha having been invited 
to a breakfast with the French consul — the Jesuits and 
Tel Keifites jDroceeded to the palace, as the rude barracks 
of the pasha are designated ; and Jeremiah answered for 
himself before them with a calmness and dignity, which 
awakened considerable sympathy among the Moslems. 
The case, however, was decided against our brother; he 
was ordered to keep away from that village, and his 
brother, who married his wife there, was directed to leave 
the place also. Kos Butrus then undertook to get an 
order preventing Kos Michael from going there to talk in 
his own house, but the pasha replied that neither the 
council nor himself had power to give it. 

" Jeremiah was requested by the pasha to call on him 
the next day. He did so, and was told that when there 
were ten or fifteen houses there that wished to become 
Protestants, he would j>rotect them and give him permis- 
sion to preach to them ! 

" The people of Tel Keif returned to their village, and 
reported that Jeremiah had been bastinadoed and banished 
from the country, and the heretics were put to flight ! 
Kos Michael went up the next Saturday, taking a bony on- 
roulder from the pasha for himself and those who wished 
to call on him ; but nearly all of his old friends were so 
afraid for their lives that they staid away, waiting for the 
rage of their enemies to cool. Two young men and some 
women came and conversed with him, but chiefly by 
night. 

" The Jacobites of Mosul were full of synrpathy for us. 
But we told them, we were sure the triumphing of the 
enemy would be short. Probably not a person in the city 
was ignorant of the affair, and thus the gospel has been 
preached, though through envy and strife ; and even in 
this we will rejoice. We intend, if our appropriation will 



LABORS AMONG THE JEWS. 



241 



allow, to build a room in Tel Keif soon, that we may give 
the enemy no rest." 

The Jews were not neglected in the labors of the mis- 
sionaries. "Every Saturday we go to the Jewish syna- 
ffosrue, and discuss the matter of the Messiah. Last week 
a hundred and twenty were present. To-day a rabbi 
called and said, the j)eople did not wish us to come again. 
But on investigation, it appeared that it was he and his 
fellow-rabbies who wished us to stay away, for fear that 
their ignorance would be exposed, and they should lose 
their influence among their people. Mr. Stern, a missionary 
of the London Society to the Jews at Baghdad, now on 
his way to Constantinople, where he expects to reside in 
future, deals some hard blows at the band of Israelites 
with whom we have to do. He speaks favorably of the 
good will of the Jews in Baghdad towards true Christian- 
ity, and says, they are mostly infidel in respect to their 
old religion. And yet they cling to the carcass, after the 
life has gone out of it. There are about eighteen thou- 
sand there, and they form the controling element in the 
population." 

The reader will be interested to hear again from the 
Yezidees. The fact stated in the following extract from 
Dr. Lob dell's journal, will also illustrate the nature of the 
government and the state of the country : " It seems, the 
political chief of the devil-worshipers brought Sheikh 
Nasir's fine horse to the palace of the pasha a few days 
ago, and as he refused to give it to him at his request, the 
pasha made his bastard brother chief in his stead, and 
sent a company of soldiers to Sheikh Adi to enforce his 
authority. Hussein Bey was urged by the Yezidees not 
to give up his premiership ; and in the presence of the 
soldiers, his friends plunged their daggers into the heart 
of the newly-appointed chief on the holy ground. The 
soldiers retreated, and undertook to carry Sheikh Nasir 
with them from Ain Sifneh to Mosul. But a party of five 
21 



242 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



hundred Yezidees came out and rescued their spiritual 
head from the hands of the soldiers, and carried him back 
to the mountains. The Yezidees have sent off their wives 
and children to the Sinjar hills, west of the Tigris, and 
are now all in the saddle. The pasha may have work 
enough to pay him for his infamous act." 

In his rides around the city, Dr. Lobdell sometimes fell 
in with troops of armed and mounted Arabs, and some- 
times narrowly escaped being captured and carried off to 
their encampments. He sought every opportunity to 
acquaint himself with their manners and character, and 
was invited by a Christian deacon, who had traded among 
them and secured their good-will, to go out with him and 
spend a month in the tents of the Shammar tribe. He 
would have been glad to do so, partly for a health excur- 
sion, as the hot season was now coming on, and partly as 
a preparatory step towards missionary labors among them. 
Had he been without a wife and child dependent upon 
him, he would perhaps have made the experiment. But 
he did not deem it quite safe, and for the present declined 
the invitation. " The Shammar tribe," he puts on record 
in this connection, " numbers perhaps fifteen thousand ; 
that of the Aneezeys some twenty-five or thirty thousand. 
The latter are near Oorfa and Aleppo. The former range 
old Chaldea, from the Persian Gulf to Baghdad, and the 
entire western and southern parts of Mesopotamia. The 
Arabs have the plain pretty much to their pleasure. The 
other day they took twelve hundred sheep from the shep- 
herds under the walls of Mosul. Five hundred cavalry 
and two cannon chased them, but as soon as they came in 
sight of 'the shaking of their spears,' retreated hastily 
back to the city ! " 

Through fear of the Arabs, (whose hand, in fulfillment 
of prophecy, is still against every man,) and in fear of 
each other also, (for every man seems to deem every other 
man his enemy,) it becomes necessary for all classes of the 



VISIT TO NIMROOD. 



243 



people, when they go into the country, to go armed. The 
gentleman who rides out from the city, the muleteer who 
brings in fuel and produce from the country, the shepherd 
who watches his flocks, and the peasant who follows the 
plow — all go armed with war-club, spear, sword, or gun, 
as may best suit their means or convenience ; and all, at 
night, seek protection within the walls. Dr. Lobdell did 
not arm himself with carnal weapons, even when he rode 
into the plains, though he was often reminded of " the old 
Puritans, and the rebuilders of the walls of Jerusalem;" 
and after one or two rather narrow escapes, he deemed it 
prudent to leave his money and his watch at home, when 
he went on such excursions. 

In March, the missionaries with their families took an 
excursion to Nimrood, partly to give the women and chil- 
dren a sight of green grass and a snuff of country air, and 
partly to direct the operations of their man Yoosuf in 
excavating slabs for the American colleges. They passed 
two nights and one day at the mound. " Our tents were 
not pitched on the Tel (mound) for fear of the Arabs, but 
near the village of Nimrood, which is half a mile distant. 
The children were greatly delighted with the beautiful 
grass, as fine to them as any Persian carpet. They were 
too tired and thirsty to pick the flowers, but a chicken r s 
leg and a sherbeh of water enabled them i to possess their 
souls ' in patience, until Hormuzd Rassam, the agent of 
the British Museum, arrived and invited them and us to a 
Turkish supper. We gazed long upon the star-lighted 
sky and the dusty pyramid, and then laid us down to sleep 
upon our blankets." 

The next day they examined the slabs, which Yoosuf 
had uncovered ; explored and measured the great tunnel 
and canal, hewn out of the solid conglomerate, which 
once carried the waters of the Zab all over the plain 
between the Zab and the Tigris, but which is now filled 
with the alluvial deposits of three thousand years ; visited 



244 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



the great pyramid of sun-burnt brick, faced with beveled 
blocks of stone, which Xenophon describes at " Larissa ; " 
saw the bitumen springs, just outside the old walls, which 
furnished the material in which the walls of the old palace 
were laid, and which, being set on fire, burned, and bub- 
bled, and smoked, like lava in the crater of a volcano ; 
then " galloped to the tents, helped Mr. R. arrange the 
pieces of an obelisk, broken by envious hands at the 
destruction of the city, witnessed the frolics of the chil- 
dren among the flowers, took a good dinner, or tea, with 
Mr. Rassam, looked at the fine sculptures in Layard's old 
mud-house, the bricks, horses' heads, copper mirrors, 
ivories, alabaster urns, and other articles recently found 
at the mound, and with a guard to keep watch, again lay 
down to sleep." 

The third day, after having selected their slabs, and 
given directions for their removal, they returned to 
Mosul. 

Before the close of the month, Dr. and Mrs. Lobdell 
were invited by Mr. Rassam to see the palace of Sen- 
nacherib at Koyunjik, as he was about to send off all the 
valuable sculptures to London. " Lucy's appearance, with 
her parasol and basket bonnet, attracted much attention. 
We were shown the Hons, bulls, giant men, one hug- 
ging a lion under his arm, a veritable Nimrod, — lion- 
headed, horned, winged men guarding the harem, — 
castles, warriors, horses, and trappings, — rivers and fish 
in stone, — fig and pomegranate trees, grape-vines and 
clusters, — slaves, and officers, arrows, daggers, sledges, 
chariots, arrow-headed inscriptions, &c, &c. — all in ruins. 
The fire destroyed the palace ere it was completed, as is 
evident from some unfinished sculptures. This is espe- 
cially true of the gigantic bulls and winged human figures 
in the small mound at the north side of the city. The 
bulls there stand at the gate, and are solid blocks, some 
twelve feet square, and very thick. What giants there 



BIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



245 



were in those days! What symbols of God — -those 
wings, and legs, and that human face ! 

" The most interesting relic in Koyunjik, was the stone 
containing the image of Sennacherib himself, seated on a 
splendid chair, in the midst of prisoners and dignitaries. 
His face was cut off by some foe, and his wrists were also 
mangled. The whole room contains a representation, as 
Layard thinks, of the siege of Lachish.* The counte- 
nances of the captives are decidedly Jewish. 

" On our way back to the city, Lucy's saddle turned, 
and she fell from her donkey. A second time she fell 
from fainting, and it was with much difficulty she reached 
home. She was very, very weak. I thought of the pos- 
sibility of her dying there, on the very sands of Nineveh, 
but she revived. On crossing the bridge of boats, I 
noticed a servant, behind his master, holding an umbrella 
over him, just as is seen on the stones of Koyunjik. A 
servant in the East, even though he goes as a guide, goes 
behind his master. This fact explains the apparent 
anomaly in that beautiful promise : ' Thine ears shall 
hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye 
in it.' No untraveled American has any idea of the 
commonness of illustrations of Scripture here. The 
Patriarchs were the prototypes of the present Sheikhs of 
the Arabs ; only their fear and love of God made them 
more regardful of cleanliness and justice. Christ was 
doubtless dressed in ziboon, | turban, and sandals, very 
nearly such as the Christians use throughout the East at 
the present day. He spoke of the women grinding at the 
mill ; the vine, and its branches ; the olive, and its fruits ; 
the new and old bottles (of skin) ; the seats at feasts ; 
greetings in the markets ; the robe of the prodigal ; Phar- 
isees and publicans, &c., v &c. We feel that this is the 
home of the whole Bible. That, my brother, is a true 



* See 2 Kings, 18, 14; also Is. 36, 2. 

21* 



t A long, loose robe. 



246 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



book, — it is our only chart. Study it daily, that you 
may grow in the knowledge of God and your own heart." 

Busy as he was in his great work, Dr. Lobdell was 
already deeply interested in speculations touching not 
only the antiquities, but the languages of that ancient 
world. He seized with especial eagerness on every thing 
he could see or learn, which could shed any light on the 
connection between those ancient families of languages, 
the Aramaean and the Sanscrit, and on the question, 
whether Egypt, Assyria, and India were, or were not, 
independent centers of civilization. As bearing on these 
questions, he mentions, on the one hand, "the cylinder 
lately found at Kalah Sherghat " (the Calah of Genesis, 
and the ancient capital of Assyria), which "proves that 
the farther we go back in the history of Assyria, the 
more evidence we have of the perfection of its art ; " and 
on the other, " the Bohistun inscription, which Col. Raw- 
linson first deciphered, and pronounced to be arrow- 
headed Sanscrit? 

He found little leisure for reading at this time. 
Among the books from America, which he read with 
great interest, was " Uncle Tom's Cabin." " Read aloud 
Uncle Tom. Eva drew tears from our eyes, and I could 
not go on. What a wonderful work ! What truthful- 
ness ! How it touches the heart ! Little Eva has done 
my soul good ; let me keep in mind that perfect ideal of 
Christianity, and bless God for Mrs. Stowe. She has 
preached with power to my heart. I must write her a 
letter acknowledging my gratitude." 

The days when the post arrives and departs, are, of 
course, days of great interest in that far-off land, the 
former bringing letters from home and friends, " across 
the sea and across the mountains," the latter imposing 
the necessity of answering them, often on short notice, 
and with great despatch. And it illustrates, as scarcely 
any other fact could, the absorption of Dr. Lobdell in his 



MOSLEMS LIKE CHIEF PRIESTS AND PHARISEES. 247 

work at this time, that often he could not find time to 
read his letters till bed-time ; and very often he was 
obliged to leave letters unanswered by the proper post. 
And it fared still worse with the newspapers which he 
received from Europe and America, though at this time 
every post brought startling intelligence of the incipient 
movements of the great powers in the Turkish war, which 

* could not but deeply interest him, not only in its political 
aspects, but also in its bearings on the missionary enter- 
prise in the Turkish Empire. It was Dr. Lobdell's 
expectation, that Russia would wait till England and 
France got into difficulty with each other, and thus, 
sooner or later, obtain possession of Constantinople. 
"Oh, what torrents of Christian blood are to be spilt 
within these few years ! God, the God of all wisdom and 
goodness, will make the ambition of kings subserve his 
kingdom, as well as the humble labors and prayers of 
the meanest saint." 

It gave a peculiar zest to the discussions, in which he 
engaged with the Mohammedans and the nominal Chris- 
tians, when he saw and reflected how exactly he was 
called to repeat with the former the experience of Christ 
and the apostles in ancient Syria and Judea, and to fight 
over again with the latter the battles of the Reformation 
in Germany, France, and Great Britain. All his famil- 
iarity with every fact and feature of the Bible, and all his 

• acquaintance with the history of the Reformation, which 
he had gained not only by his general reading, but by his 
special study and translation of the work of M. De Felice, 
were now taxed to the utmost, partly as furnishing matter 
for each particular argument, and partly as general guides 
to the best method of carrying on discussion and gaining 
influence. 

The Mohammedans, often grossly intemperate, generally 
debauched with sensual gratification, almost without ex- 
ception " full of extortion and all uncleanness," trampling 



248 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 

under foot the Sabbath, and profaning the name of God 
thoughtlessly in every breath, yet proud, bigoted, profess- 
ing great reverence for the law and the gospel as well as 
for the Koran, garnishing the sepulchres of the patriarchs 
and the prophets, bowing at the name, not of Mohammed 
only, but also of Moses and Jesus, boasting that they are 
the people, the peculiar people of God, despising the na- 
tive Christians as infidel dogs, and manifesting their ha- 
tred for European and American Christians just as much 
as they dare to manifest it in their present state of sub- 
jection and dependence on the great powers of Europe* — 
the Mohammedans constantly reminded him of the Scribes 
and Pharisees in the days of our Lord; and he reasoned 
with them, reproved them, silenced them by similar argu- 
ments drawn from the Scriptures, in which they " think " 
they "have eternal life." Sadducees, however, — infidels 
— there are none among the Moslems ; and for a very 
good reason — none are tolerated. Indeed, few are any 
longer capable of thinking or believing otherwise than as 
their fathers have done before them. Men who have worn 
fetters and manacles till they have lost the use of their 
limbs, are in little clanger of stretching forth their hands 
to pluck forbidden fruit. Christianity alone gives the lib- 
erty and the capacity for free thinking, free speaking and 
free printing ; Christianity alone invites investigation, and 
says, " Come, let us reason together." Infidels are in- 
debted to Christianity for the very freedom and power, 
which they turn against it. Dr. Lobdell records a little 
incident, which illustrates well both the prejudices and 

* Another point of resemblance might be added, viz. : a truly Jewish abhor- 
rence of swine's flesh. No Christian, even, is allowed — no man would dare, 
to offer pork for sale in the market. Dr. Lobdell tells an amusing story of a 
poor fellow who had killed a pig, and w r as carrying it concealed with the ut- 
most care under his cloak, into the city, when he was unfortunately detected at 
the gate by a revenue officer. The Moslems stood aghast at the sight ; they 
could scarcely have been more appalled if a torpedo had suddenly explode 
before them; and the poor Christian dropped his pig, ran for his life, and hid 
himself in the mountains, till the sttfrni of Moslem indignation had passed away. 



IGNORANCE OF THE CHIEF MEN". 



249 



the implicit faith of the Moslems. " A Moslem said, the 
Koran asserts that Esau (Jesus) was not crucified, but 
was taken to heaven by the angels, and the Injeel (Gos- 
pel) says, he suffered crucifixion. How can we reconcile 
the statements ? I told him, that one or the other was 
false. He thought not. God, he said, was the author 
of both, and perhaps he knows how to reconcile the diffi- 
culty!" 

The ignorance, even of the beys and effendis, not only 
on sacred history but on common subjects, was astonish- 
ing. "A bey wanted to know, if Mmrod did not live in 
the time of the Father of the Faithful. I astonished him 
by telling him, that Nimrod lived some two hundred and 
fifty years before Abraham. He then wanted to know 
which was born first, Isaiah or Moses. History these 
people know nothing about. Their dates are always 
from some remarkable occurrence. Few know their ages. 
Indeed, I never asked a person here his age, who did not 
say, " Perhaps — years." " Perhaps ! Do n't you know ? " 
" How can I ? " "I was reading the London and New 
York papers, when four Moslems came in. They wanted 
to know if these were written with a reed (pen.) They 
opened their eyes wide, when I told them of the thousands 
of copies newly printed at a single press daily. They 
could not understand how the printing was performed. 
So I tried to enlighten them upon Hoe's press. I might 
as well have tried to show a donkey the process. But 
they saw enough to exclaim, " Wallah, Wallah ! "* The 
common people charged Dr. Lobdell with worshiping the 
skeleton that hung in his study, and the Christians of 
France and England with carrying off the gods of the old 
Assyrians to worship them as idols ! 

The papists excited many prejudices against the mis- 
sionaries and Protestants by their lies and misrepresenta- 

t The Mussulman's exclamation of surprise or indignation. It contains the 
name of God, (Allah.) 



250 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



tions. " Kos Butrus, who was for twelve years in the 
Propaganda at Rome, and who is the great reliance of the 
Chaldeans at Mosul, told his people that Luther was the 
king of England, and trusting to get rid of the self- 
denying duties of the Catholic religion, invented a scheme 
which would allow the full indulgence of the appetites 
and passions. In one of the books studied at Rabban 
Hormuzd, Luther is declared to have hurled the inkstand 
at the devil's head in a public assembly, while he was 
preaching, because his conscience told him he was utter- 
ing a lie, and the devil (for a wonder) seconded his con- 
science. At another time, as he was engaged in his 
religious work of translating the Bible into the vulgar 
tongue, the image of Christ which stood before him, 
frowned on him, and he took it down and smashed it 
with a stone." 

Dr. Lobdell's discussions with the Chaldeans, Syrians, 
and Jacobites, were on the same subjects w^hich the early 
Reformers discussed with the Catholics of their day — 
justification by faith or works, venial sins, baptismal re- 
generation, transubstantiation, fasts and feasts, worship 
of the saints and the Virgin Mary, and the mutilation of 
the Ten Commandments. And the arguments which he 
has recorded, so fully as to fill scores of pages in his jour- 
nal, only need a little expansion and dramatizing by some 
D'Aubigne, and scarcely need that, to give them all the 
excitement and fascination of a second History of the 
Reformation. A single passage of Scripture, or a single 
appeal to common sense, would often flash conviction on 
their understandings and consciences, if not on their 
hearts. "Four Syrians from Kara Kosh denied that Mary 
was a sinner. 'Why, she was the mother of God!' 
The passage in Luke, ' My spirit hath rejoiced in God, 
my Saviour] was a poser to them." 

"'Are ail sins alike ? ' said the chief speaker. 'Is there 
a great and a small God ? ' said I. This seemed to put 
matters in a new light to him." 



DISCUSSIONS. 



251 



"In proof of the doctrine of transubstantiation, some 
Chaldeans cited the declaration, 4 This is my body.' I 
replied by quoting, ' This is Elias, which was for to 
come ; ' 4 This cup is the new testament in my blood ; ' 
j It is the Lord's passover,' " &c. 

The doctrine of baptismal regeneration, Dr. Lobdell 
would sometimes meet by a supposition, which set the sub- 
ject before them in the light of their own sad experience. 
" Suppose," said he, " a Catholic priest baptizes a Moslem 
child. According to your doctrine, the Holy Spirit also 
regenerates him ; and according to 1 John, 3 : 9, c He that 
is born of God, cannot sin , ' that is, never is willing to 
sin. But this boy grows up, and becomes a bigoted Mos- 
lem ; obeys the letter and spirit of the Koran by killing 
those who refuse Mohammed's alternatives — himself, trib- 
ute, or the sword. Is this the baptism — this the regenera- 
tion required for an entrance into the kingdom of God ? " 

These discussions did much to enlighten, as well as to 
awaken, the minds of the people. The medical practice 
was perhaps the colter that cut the surface and opened 
the way for the truth, but these discussions were the 
plowshare that tore up the roots of old errors, of which 
the soil was full, and prepared it to receive the good seed, 
which the missionaries did not fail, at the same time, to 
scatter in the fresh and open furrows. 

The following extracts from a letter to his friend Seelye 
— the only one of his letters written during this period 
for which we have space — will show that his missionary 
work, exciting and engrossing as it was, did not narrow 
his sympathies — did not diminish his interest in his 
friends, his country, or mankind. 

Mosul, Feb. 10th, 1853. 
Mr ever Dear J. : — My joy was great on the arrival 
of our last mail, bringing as it did yours from Rome, and 
a second from Halle. Those sheets were full of interest 
to me. Then you have visited " the Eternal City." I 



252 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 

have seen the grave of Polycarp, the Rhodes of classic and 
knightly memory, and the battle-grounds of the Crusad- 
ers, and of Alexander. Did we dream of such visits when 
at Amherst ? How has God led us ! Yes, brother, I do 
fully believe with you, that he who commits himself en- 
tirely to God, will make no great mistakes in life. And is 
it possible that our paths which have diverged so widely, 
" may yet meet and flow on together again in this life ? " 
This is " a consummation devoutly to be wished," but 
hardly to be anticipated. Your course seems plain ; and 
as for myself, I know of no post in any country, for which 
I wish to exchange my humble one here. Not a day 
passes that I do not see visible fruit from my labors. The 
seed I sow not only has the promise of God in its behalf, 
but the early fulfillment of that promise. I have learned to 
look upon the distinctions of this life with perfect indiffer- 
ence ; and I think if I should ever return to America, my 
old ambition to be something and to do something, would 
give way entirely to the simple desire to elevate the spirit- 
ual condition of my countrymen. And I rejoice to know, 
that your visit to Europe has led you to resolve on the same 
thing. As it is a settled question that you labor in Amer- 
ica, I am exceedingly glad to learn that your life there 
will be an earnest testimony to the personal, social, and 
national benefits of spiritual Christianity. I can but hope 
that your labors in the pulpit will be so blessed of God, 
that you will be loth to confine yourself to a student's 
closet. If you will be a student, make your labors bear 
upon the people, not remotely, but as immediately as pos- 
sible. I almost worship Luther, in spite of his despicable 
treatment of Zwingle, and chiefly because his efforts had 
an immediate reference to the wants of the people. And 
so Calvin, in spite of his treatment of Servetus, deserves 
immortal honor, because his labors, profound as they were, 
all had a practical bearing. 

If you take either department at , I hope it will be 



LETTER TO MR. SEEL YE. 



253 



history. This topic needs attention — not the history of 
the church so much, since Meander has given his life to 
it, — but history in general, embracing ethnology and the 
relations of languages. Some one is wanted in America, 
who will write for infidels a book proving that the Bible 
is the word of God. And if I mistake not, inquiries di- 
rected to Egypt, Assyria, Jewish antiquities, the different 
early versions of the Scriptures, the relations of Abra- 
ham's descendants to the progress of true ideas of Gocl, 
&c, will prove eminently useful. • 

All my unasked-for advice is summed up in the sole 
idea, that whatever gives a present healthful impulse to 
society, is far better than that which is confined to pon- 
derous tomes of unavailable thought. Compare Chalmers 
with Kantf Pascal with Cousin, and Washington with 
Aristotle, or even Bacon. All that America wants is a 
live gospel. 

I agree with you that human freedom has a most im- 
portant part to play in human history. Indeed, the great 
battle of this world is freedom versus slavery, — slavery 
in its broadest sense, and freedom as involving the liberty 
with which Christ makes his children free. As civil lib- 
erty is impossible without the gospel, so spiritual tyranny 
is impossible where the gospel is a living power. My ar- 
gument for missions has reference to the perpetuity of 
American institutions. Is there one thing more prophetic 
of good to our country than the benevolent enterprises of 
the land ? Tariff and free trade, rum, negro slavery, and 
Northern conscience about it, are small matters in com- 
parison with the genuine benevolence of the age. Indeed, 
free trade and a full play for conscience are to be speedy 
fruits of a general self-forgetfulness in the church. 

Our work is very promising now. My hands are full. 
Patients are thick as grasshoppers, and from morning till 
night my study is crowded with Christians and Moslems 
to discuss the question of salvation by grace. My soul is 
22 



254 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



fed by communion with Bible truth. What a mine ! How 
little it is searched even in the States. One has no doubt 
here of the antiquity and veracity of the Bible. Have 
you seen that at Susa, the Shush an of Daniel, a stone was 
recently found in the palace of Darius bearing the figures 
of lions and a man ? Excavations are still prosecuted 
vigorously in the Tigris valley. The large mound called 
Kalah Sherghat, four days down the river, promises some 
wonders, and daily a plenty of arrow-headed inscriptions 
turn up at Mmrood and Koyunjik. 

Have you read "Uncle Tom?" I have a copy en route 
from Aleppo. Twenty-one translations in Germany ! 
Well, let our kinswoman preach to the thinkers of Ger- 
many and the dancers of France. By the way, this book 
illustrates what I mean by affecting the masses. Has not 
Mrs. Stowe preached better than Bellamy or Hopkins ? 

The last entry in that volume of Dr. LobdelPs journal, 
which ends with this chapter, closes as follows (it is for 
May 7th, 1853) : " From five to forty have been in my 
study all the afternoon. Our disputes and appeals were 
earnest. At the Jeremiah showed much keenness in 
managing the argument with the papists. The mass is to 
them the sure means of salvation. The heat is great. 
The sky is very red. Summer has indeed come. Ther- 
mometer 93°. Evening meeting interesting. 

One year ago Handed in Mosid. This last day of that 
year has been profitably spent. I have declared the truth 
to these people to the best of my ability. Shall I record 
the close of another year in Mosul ? If not, may God fit 
me speedily for the passage through the valley of the 
shadow of death. Whatever be his will, I pray that it 
may be done." 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Second Summer in Mosul — The Heat — Insects — Missionary Labors and Joys 

— Arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Marsh — Commentary on the Book of Jonah — 
The Hot Sun — The East Wind — The Gourd — The " Exceeding Great City " 

— Articles on Mosul — Nestorian and Jacobite Liturgies — Prophecy — Tour 
to Oroomiah — Bartulli — Churches — Trees — Threshing — Karamels — An- 
cient Bumadus — The Zab — An Old Friend — Nocturnal Adventures — - 
Arbeel — Ain Kawa — Preaching till Midnight — Sheikh Laua — Exciting 
Scenes — Koords — Night Ride — Ravendouz —Basalt Pillars — An Encounter 

— Oroomiah — A Paradise — Sickness — Letter of Dr. Perkins — " Our Coun- 
try's Sin "— Anti-Slavery Circular — Peculiar Policy of the Nestorian Mis- 
sion — Life in and around Oroomiah — Visit to Tabreez with Mr. Cochran — 
Narrow Escape on the Lake of Oroomiah — Return with Messrs. Rhea and 
Coan to Mosul — Gawar — Deacon Tamo — Mountains of Jeloo — Valleys — 
Love of Home — Erwintoos-Too — Bass — Tekhoina— Scene of the Massacre 

— Dr. Grant. 

The second season is usually the most trying to a for- 
eigner in the process of acclimation, whether it be in a 
warm or cold climate. As the heat of summer began to 
return, at the beginning of his second year in Mosul, we 
find Dr. Lobdell shrinking from it, as a Southerner does 
from the cold of a second winter at the North, and feeling 
its power more than he had done the previous year. He 
thus writes, May 9th, 1853, to his brother, who was now 
a member of Phillips Academy at Andover. " Andover 
is a beautiful place in summer, whatever it be in winter. 
It is just the opposite of Mosul in this respect. Here the 
winter is very agreeable ; but the summer is a sort of pur- 
gatory, — it has already begun. The mercury is in the 
daily habit even now of getting up to 90°, or more. The 
fields are " dry as summer's dust." We get into the cool- 
est places we can find, taking great care to have the rooms 
opened at night and closely shut in the morning. Large, 



256 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 

thick curtains, some fifteen feet square, hang over our two 
leewans / and in the one, where I am now hastily writing 
this note, are three Jacobites and a big-turbaned Moslem, 
— -the last, of course, puffing away at his Jcalyoon, or 
yard-long pipe. The Christians are investigating the gos- 
pels. From morning to night, especially on feast-days, 
of which there are some fifty a year in each Christian 
sect, I am engaged in expounding the Scriptures, or press- 
ing them on the hearts of my visitors. It is delightful 
work. True, they are bigoted, obstinate, " dead in tres- 
passes and sins ; " but this is only another reason why, 
with all my might, I should try to show them the true 
way to heaven. When Mr. Marsh arrives, as he knows 
the colloquial Arabic better than any of us, he will greatly 
relieve me at the dispensary. I have a study full of in- 
vestigators every day, and often my brain whirls at the 
close of the discussions. . . . Fleas are one of the chief 
sources of our discomfort in the spring. There are some 
gnawing, or boring, or sucking my poor body constantly. 
I have to scratch at every line ? When the mercury gets 
up to 100°, they will begin to retreat. Flies, too, are 
pretty much burned out after July. A sort of lice abound 
when fleas do not, and a sand-fly also. Ants are in the 
food at all seasons. Mosquitoes are not wanting, though 
less numerous, for a wonder, than with you. . . . Still 
Mosul is a desirable place for a missionary. We feel that 
we are not laboring in vain. If I should die this very 
summer, I do not think I should have occasion to regret 
having come here to spend my days. You can not tell 
with what intensity of conviction the truth of the gospel 
scheme of salvation presses the heart here. The gospel, 
— the doctrines of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, — in 

these he the hope of Turkey and the world Xow, 

my dear brother, I must close. May the God of all grace 
be with you. Heaven is a gift^ not a matter of debt; 
but we can so live as to secure a seat near Paul and Luther. 



THE BOOK OF JO^AH. 



257 



Love to Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us, — 
this should be the prime motive of action. May no vain 
ambition lead you astray ; but may you have the noble 
ambition to do in all things the will of God." 

In the afternoon of the very day on which the above 
letter was written, the families of the missionaries and the 
whole Protestant community were thrown into a state of 
pleasing excitement by the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Marsh. 
Mr. Marsh was no stranger at Mosul ; he was well known 
and greatly beloved ; and being already acquainted with 
the language, was able at once greatly to lighten the 
labors of his brethren and add to the strength of the 
mission. 

Thus, relieved somewhat of the extreme pressure which 
had been upon him day and night, during the winter and 
spring, Dr. Lobdell no sooner found a moment's leisure, 
than his active mind began to form projects of literary 
labor, which, however, would partake largely of the nature 
of recreation. He conceived the idea of a brief com- 
mentary on the Book of Jonah, in which he could avail 
himself of advantages for local illustration which others 
had not possessed. His own experience enabled him to 
conceive, as he never could have done in his native land, 
how, " when the sun did arise " and " beat upon the head 
of Jonah," " he fainted and wished in himself to die, and 
said, It is better for me to die, than to live." If he had 
heard beforehand of the heat of the climate, as well as the 
wickedness of the inhabitants, the Doctor scarcely won- 
dered that the prophet " fled to Tarshish," when he was 
commanded to go to " Mneveh, that great city, and cry 
against it." 

" The east icind, (south, south-east,) is not to be mis- 
taken ; it withers and prostrates all before it. Clouds of 
dust and stubble are borne before it, and the hot air almost 
suffocates one. In the margin, vehement is rendered silent. 
The latter is the most correct rendering philologically and 
22* 



258 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



in fact, for this simoon is perfectly silent, yet it bears 
down all opposition. It does not occur in the winter 
months, but from spring till autumn." 

In identifying " the gourd" he hesitated for a time 
between the castor-oil plant, (el-keroa,) which in the lan- 
guage of Egypt, bears a name having the same root as 
the Hebrew word rendered gourd, and which many of the 
early fathers and most modern scholars have supposed to 
be the gourd of Jonah ; and a species of pumpkin-squash 
(el-kera) peculiar to the East, which grows with aston- 
ishing rapidity, and has very large leaves and very large 
fruit, and which is pronounced to be Jonah's gourd by the 
unanimous verdict of Moslems, Jews, and Christians at 
Mosul. On more mature reflection, he seems to have 
settled down rather upon the latter opinion. " The castor- 
oil plant is cultivated to some extent here, but is never 
trained, like the Jcera or pumpkin-squash, to run over 
structures of mud and brush to form ' booths ,' in which the 
gardeners may protect themselves from the terrible beams 
of the Asiatic sun. I have seen, at a single glance, dozens 
of these booths — these lodges in the fields of melons and 
cucumbers around the old walls of Nineveh, (Is. 1 : 8,) — 
covered with the vines of the Jcera, of which there are 
numerous species, the fruit of which varies from one to 
fifty pounds. One species, growing in Koordistan, a few 
days distant from Mosul, is a genuine gourd, but there is 
no probability that it ever flourished on the hot plains of 
Mosul." * 

In regard to the extent of that " exceeding great city of 
three days' journey" though not fully established in his 
own opinion, he seems tt> have inclined to the view of 
Loftus, Kitto, and others, that the "three days' journey," 
is to be understood of the circuit of the city, which, if it 
embraced the four mounds, as suggested in a former chapter, 

* See an interesting correspondence on this subject in the Bibliotheca Sacra 
for April, 1855, between Dr. Lobdell and Prof. Stowe, of Andover. 



ANCIENT LITURGIES 



259 



would be just about three days' journey, or sixty miles, 
and would, moreover, like Babylon and other old cities of 
Mesopotamia, present, not its sides, but its angles, towards 
the cardinal points. 

While correcting the errors of the Article on Mosul, in 
McCulloch's Geographical Dictionary, the idea occurred 
to him of preparing a series of articles, or a small treatise 
on the present condition of Mosul and vicinity, its phys- 
ical features, its vegetable and animal productions, its 
social and political relations, and its moral and religious 
state, thinking that he might thus do a service, at least, 
to some future McCulloch ; and with his usual prompt- 
ness, he immediately laid out his plan and began to collect 
his materials. 

He was also much interested, at this time, in investi- 
gating the composition and significance of the names of 
Assyrians and Babylonians which we find in the Scrip- 
tures, and the relations of the liturgies of the ISTestorian 
and Jacobite churches to that of the ancient and venerable 
church of Syria, or Antioch. He discovered, to his sur- 
prise, that the Jacobites and ISTestorians had essentially 
the same liturgy, and that they held it so sacred that even 
papal power and cunning had not been able to induce 
converts from those churches to relinquish it. Yet on 
looking into this liturgy, which these sects thus hold in 
common, he found passages which savored more of papal 
corruption than of extreme antiquity, to say nothing of 
apostolic simplicity and purity. 

He also set down at this time, as a subject of future 
research, the connection of the Manichean philosophy with 
Oriental Christianity, of which, he was persuaded, the 
religion of the Yezidees was a palpable relic. He did not 
live to finish any of these researches. 

In common with other missionaries in the East, Dr. 
Lobdell watched with intense interest and anxiety the 
cloud of war that was now hanging over Constantinople, 



260 



MEMOIR OF JiOBJXKLL. 



looked at it in its relation to prophecy, as well as to the 
progress of the missionary work, and expected great 
changes that would shed light on the Scriptures, as well 
as open the way for the advancement of the Redeemer's 
kingdom. He was far, however, from being one of those 
sanguine and positive interpreters of prophecy, who can 
read the roll before the seals are opened, and who, though 
always disappointed in their calculations, can always 
rectify their figures so as to save their confidence, if not 
their credit, as sons of the prophets. Still less did he, like 
some missionaries of other boards and from other countries, 
expect that the Turkish war was to be the immediate 
forerunner of Christ's personal reign on earth. "I am sure 
that the earthly Jerusalem is not again to be rebuilt with 
a more than Solomonic temple. I am no millenarian." 

Shortly after the arrival of Mr. Marsh, the mission 
voted that Dr. Lobdell have permission to go to 
Oroomiah for the sake of recruiting his health, and at 
the same time promoting the objects of the mission. He 
felt the necessity of such an excursion, and cherished also 
a strong desire to traverse more or less of the field of Dr. 
Grant's heroic labors, and to see the beloved missionary 
brethren, with whom he had carried on so delightful a 
correspondence, beyond the mountains. Rumors of war 
delayed for a time the execution of the plan. On the 
fifth of June, he writes : " I am awaiting the arrival of the 
post on Thursday, to see whether it will be advisable for 
me to take a tour into the Koordish mountains. If there 
comes a rumor of war, I shall not dare to go, as the Koords 
would, doubtless, in that case, rise against the Porte, and 
make sad havoc with such Christian bones as mine. 
They paid 4,500 piastres for robbing Dr. Bacon and son, 
and Mr. Marsh, and they will, no doubt, be careful next 
time how their victim escapes to make complaint to the 
government." The post arrived on Friday, the 10th, 
bringing intelligence that the Russian ambassador had 



TOUR TO OROOMIAH. 



261 



left Constantinople, and the double-headed eagle over his 
palace had been taken down ; but still the knowing ones 
said there would be no war. And, after having written 
letters to friends, and put his house, papers, &c., in order, 
as if he might never return, on the 13th he set out on his 
tour, leaving Mrs. Lobdell, who could endure the heat 
better than the journey, to occupy the house, with one 
servant, while he took the other as cook, together with 
the requisite number of muleteers for the baggage. He 
was accompanied by Jeremiah, whose services were inval- 
uable, as he could speak Turkish and Koordish fluently, 
as well as Syriac and Arabic. Some parts of the route 
w^hich he selected, had never before been passed over by 
an American or European. He was assured by persons 
competent to speak on such a subject, that no other road 
to Oroomiah could be regarded as equally safe. Yet, as 
will be seen in the sequel, this was beset with dangers. 
The object of the tour, as it lay in the mind of Dr. Lob- 
dell, was threefold, — to recruit his health, to preach 
Christ crucified, and to explore the mission field. Our 
account of it will be derived chiefly from a letter to the 
Missionary Rooms, and will be given, in a great measure, 
in the language of that letter. 

The first day, they went no farther than the bridge, and 
finding their passports not ready, returned, and spent the 
night at home. It was Ramadan, the Lent of the Mo- 
hammedans, when all the principal Moslems spend the 
day in sleep, and feast and transact business only by 
night. This was the occasion of the delay in the pass- 
ports. The day before he left, Dr. Lobdell had an appli- 
cation from the pasha and his son, for opiates, to enable 
them to endure the fasting, and the fatigue of perfect 
idleness, during this most sacred, yet most dreaded month. 
" I learned to labor" says the Doctor, " in America ; in 
Turkey I am fist learning to wait" The luggage went 
on to Bartulli on the evening of the 13th. Early in the 



262 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



morning of the 14th, Mr. Marsh and Kos Michael accom- 
panied them to Bartulli, where they had parting services 
in an old, black mud house, but in the presence of a num- 
ber of Jacobites. "My two friends soon returned; but, 
as the people there understand Arabic as well as Fellahi, 
I had great pleasure in talking for three hours with a 
large company. The Syrians among them declined all 
controversy, but admitted that my view of Christianity as 
a spiritual religion, for which no number of formal and 
heathen ceremonies can be substituted, commended itself 
to their hearts and consciences. Mar Mattai and the wily 
Archbishop of Mosul, though at swords' points on all 
other matters, unite in trying to persuade the Jacobites 
of Bartulli to avoid all connection with us ; and yet we 
have frequent calls from some of them, and from Syrians 
of Kara Kosh, a village between Bartulli and Nimrood. 
Our late temporary reverses at Tel Keif have led the vil- 
lagers of the plain generally to suppose that persecution 
will be an inevitable attendant of their studying the Bible 
under our direction. 

" As it was impossible for us to travel during the heat 
of the day, which in the shade was above 100°, and in the 
sun about 140°, we did not start from Bartulli until 
about two hours before sunset. Meanwhile, I visited both 
the Papal and J acobite churches, — a thing not allowed 
us in Mosul. The walls of both these buildings were 
hung with cotton handkerchiefs of Mosul manufacture 
bearing the portraits of numerous saints ; and those of 
the new Syrian edifice, whose basalt pillars at the narrow 
door were brought from the ruins of Khorsabad, were, of 
course, ornamented, in addition, with two-penny pictures 
of various Italian martyrs, with rude daubs of the sun- 
crowned St. George killing the dragon, with Mary and 
her infant Son, and a small brazen cross with a highly 
muscular Saviour upon it. 

" The Jacobites had removed all the pictures from their 



TREES AND CHURCHES. 



263 



church, with the exception of a drawing, by the pen, of 
the Saviour crucified, beneath which was an Ethiopic in- 
scription. Estranghelic and more modern Syriac char- 
acters were numerous on the gypsum blocks in various 
parts of the building. The tombs of priests and bishops 
buried there were arranged around the sides of the 
church, and its main floor was nearly covered with stones 
indicating the burial-places of the more common dead." 

In the court of the Jacobite church was a rough palm- 
tree, hanging with green dates, and in that of the Syrian 
church a fine olive-tree. " The extreme scarcity of trees 
in the Tigris valley renders them of great value. I doubt 
not, many persons have lived out their threescore and ten 
years without ever having seen a tree. 

" The books used in the Jacobite church, the Liturgy, 
including forms for the burial of the dead, the Psalms, 
selections from the epistles and works of Mar Gregorius," 
Mar Toma, and several other saints, are, for the most 
part, in use also among papal seceders. But very few 
genuine Roman Catholic books have as yet been intro- 
duced into the Syrian church ; none, in fact, which show 
up the worst features of the papacy, — on the principle, I 
suppose, that milk is better for babes than strong meat. 

" The ruins in the suburbs of Bartulli are quite exten- 
sive. Grievous taxation has scattered the inhabitants. 
Indeed, the Turkish system of raising revenue is utterly 
opposed to the prosperity of the people. Often, instead 
of a tithe, a half of the annual crops is wrenched from 
the poor villagers. 

" I was interested to see the semi-domesticated Arabs, 
whose children spoke Fellahi as well as Arabic, driving 
their squads of donkeys, with their muzzled noses fas- 
tened together, round a stake, to tread out the wheat. I 
was even more interested to see an old man beating out 
the grain with a club, as he sat on the ground, while the 
unveiled women and naked children threw the grain and 



264 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL 



chaff into the air, and sifted it for their mortars, or for the 
mill-stones turned by female hands. 

" Having sent on our baggage, Jeremiah and myself 
galloped to Karamles, the mound forming the southeast 
angle of the trapezium, noted by Layard and others as 
marked by this Tel, and those of Khorsabad, Koyunjik, 
and Nimrood.* The course from Karamles to Nimrood 
is precisely south-southwest, and the opposite side of the 
inclined parallelogram is about parallel with it. Kara 
Kosh is nearly in a line between these two southern 
mounds. The Jacobite convent of Mar Mattai lay to the 
northeast, nest-like, among the rocks, and the Yezidee vil- 
lages of Baazani and Baasheika appeared near the base of 
Jebel Makloub, the course of which range is about south- 
southeast. Mart Barbara, the name of a female saint, 
is given to the church that stands at the eastern base of 
the mound. The village of Karamles is not large, but 
quite respectable. Like all the towns on the plain at that 
season, it was surrounded by large heaps of wheat and 
barley, ready to be trodden under feet of oxen, donkeys, 
or mules, or, perhaps, to be chopped to pieces by the long 
knives, fastened perpendicularly into the horizontal roller, 
which is drawn, with one or two passengers, circularly, by 
horses, blindfold, over the grain. 

" We started up a number of bounding gazelles as we 
moved swiftly over a vast uncultivated plain, and after 
two hours, we came to the Hazir, or ancient Bumadus. 
According to agreement, we waited for our baggage until 
nearly dark on the banks, which were covered with 
wormwood and willows, and then forded the stream, (the 
water coming up to our horses' necks), and pushed on 
rapidly to the Zab. Not a soul appeared, besides us, 
in that desert space, where nomad Arabs often vie with 
the Koords in skillful attempts at robbery and murder. 
We rode up to the house of Yassein Agha, whose name the 

* See p 243. 



THE ZAB. 



265 



village bears, and greatly astonished the crowd upon the 
roof by our solitary appearance. They wondered even 
more than we, that no band of marauders had fallen upon 
us in crossing the plain." 

There they passed the night, sleepless, through dis- 
comforts and fears, " the broad moon revealing distinctly 
about them girdles full of pistols and daggers;" and 
while detained there, partly waiting the arrival of the 
baggage, and partly by the excessive heat, till the next 
evening, Dr. Lobdell had the satisfaction of seeing Hus- 
sein Bey, the late political head of the Yezidees, and his 
pleasant host on his pilgrimage to Sheikh Adi, make his 
escape safely across the Zab, from a large body of Koorcls 
and Turkish soldiers, (who had been sent to the Sinjar 
hills to capture him), and flee to a refuge among the Tye 
Arabs, a large, unsubdued tribe, who at this time held 
possession of the plain between the Upper and the Lower 
Zab. The Doctor and his traveling companion, with 
their baggage, were transported across the river on a raft 
of twenty skins. " Our horses were made to swim across 
by Koords,. who each strided an inflated skin, and pulled 
his animal after him. After we had rode an hour up the 
left" bank of the river, among the bushes of wormwood, 
we stopped to feed our animals, and sleep a few hours, 
near a Yezidee village, on every house of which were 
seated three or four storks. An old castle, built by Mo- 
hammed Pasha, the first Turkish governor of Mosul, 
stands near the village, on the bank of the Zab, which is 
there three or four hundred feet high, and almost perpen- 
dicular. The Zab is the Zabatus of Xenophon's Anabasis. 
Its name in Turkish is Zarb, swift, vehement, wolfish. 

" We were sleeping under the clear sky, the moon and 
stars gazing down mildly upon us, when, at eleven o'clock, 
Jeremiah was awakened by the tramp of horses. On looking 
up, he saw seven mounted spearmen within a few rods of 
us. Creeping up to the side of the caWass, (Mr. Kassam's 
23 



266 



MEMOIK OF LOBDELL. 



cawass accompanied them,) each seized a pistol and fire 
at the marauders. They instantly scampered away, an 
we loaded our animals and took our course, not withou 
some fears, through the desert in a line towards Ain Kaw 
a Chaldean village, where most of Jeremiah's relation 
reside. We stopped a few hours before sunrise, near 
collection of black tents, from sheer fatigue ; and when 
awoke, I found a man holding an umbrella over me t 
shield me from the burning beams of the sun, which wa 
nearly two hours high. An Arab jDolitely treated us t 
some sheep's milk and lebn, and soon we were on our wa 
again, rambling over the battle-field of Darius and Alex 
ander, and perhaps crossing the track of the retreatin 
Xenophon, when Mithri dates was driving the ten thou- 
sand back towards their father-land. Jeremiah trustin 
to his familiarity with the path, (there are no roads i 
Turkey and no fences.) made a sad mistake, and took u 
about two hours out of our course. The heat was intens 
but after various evolutions, we at length got to th 
village of Ain Kawa, and shaded our hot heads under th 
coarse roof of a respectable mud hovel. 

" At evening we rode directly south about three mile 
to Erweel, or, as the Koords say, Arbeel (Arbela,) for th 
double purpose of seeing that ancient and celebrated cit 
and of obtaining a guard to accompany us to a village in th 
mountains. Arbeel is built, for the most part, on a ve 
high and large circular mound, resembling Koyunjik, an 
bears marks of very high antiquity, though no sculptor 
have as yet been found in it. Indeed, every part of it ' 
closely covered with houses, and excavations are impract 
cable. The place is notorious for its Moslem bigotry. W 
a Christian family resides there. A few Jews are foun 
But nearly all the people are Koords, of whom there mus 
be from ten to fifteen thousand, over whom a strict guar 
has to be kept by the governor.' ' 

Having obtained of the governor the promise of a gua 



ARBELA. 



267 



for the next clay, and also of a letter to the Bey of Sheikh 
Laui, a fine village one day within the mountains, and 
having admired the high, octagonal minaret some distance 
west of the city — one of the finest specimens of archi- 
tecture which the Doctor had seen in the East — they 
hurried back "to Ain Kawa, not without fears that they 
might share the fate of a French traveler who was stripped 
to the skin, close by the city, and the outrage was not 
even inquired into, till a special order came from Constan- 
tinople. Arrived at the mud hut again, Dr. Lobdell sat 
clown and wrote to his old classmate and friend Seelye : 
" When we were sitting together in the recitation room 
at Amherst and expounding to the Greek professor the 
geography and history of Arbela, neither you nor I thought 
I was one day to pen a letter on that very spot. But so 
it is. Arbeel lies about three miles south of the mud hut 
in which I am writing, and, from the great elevation of its 
castellated mound, is distinctly visible. The immense 
structure is one of the most interesting objects I have 
seen in the East. . . . How much I should enjoy your 
company. But I am forced to enjoy and suffer alone. I 
crossed the Hazir (Bumadus,) and Great Zab as they were 
crossed three thousand years ago ; I rode over the burning 
plain of Arbela — the very battle-ground of the Greek 
and Persian, and meditated, as it were, alone ; for Jere- 
miah knows nothing of the classics, and my armed cawass 
and bronzed muleteer are ignorant of all that gives these 
mighty fields their everlasting interest. They live in the 
present, I in the past. While they eat their sour milk, push 
their goads into the mules, dress a chicken, fry eggs, boil 
coffee, and prepare my traveling bed, I gaze upon the 
scene of past battles and seem to see again the hosts 
move on with mighty tread to the conflict and the rout. 
Here where- the hero and conqueror of the world wrought 
his most glorious work, {was it glorious ?) — here where 
Mithridates chased Xenophon — here where the Saracens 



268 



ME^IOIXl OF LOBDELL. 



erected the lofty minaret of Arbela when they had con- 
quered the city — here where, eighteen years ago, Ali 
Pasha threw bombs and balls into the brick-built castle, 
while Jeremiah (at my side) and the people of Ain Kawa 
looked on with astonishment — here where the horrid 
butcheries of the Bey of Ravendooz led Turk and Persian 
to unite in repressing his Koordish barbarities — here wher 
there is a continual strife between the government of the 
Sultan and the lawless Koords, who are nominally subjects 
— here where the watch-fires of the Tye Arab and the 
Bilboss Koords are ever blazing in defiance of the Sublime 
Porte — here where for one to step outside a village is to 
risk robbery and death — here, en route through the wild 
mountains of Koordistan, in their wildest part, is your 
old brother meditating on the changes and destinies of 
nations and of individuals — of Persian, Greek and Turkis 
empires, and of you and me ! " 

The next morning, the morning of the 17th June, other 
sights and other thoughts engaged his attention. " This 
morning I visited the principal church in Ain Kawa, its 
confessionals, pictures, and tombs, and came out covered 
with fleas. These creatures actually drive the worshipers 
at this season out of doors ; and services are held in th 
open court. The door to the church was, as is usu~ 
among all Christian sects near the mountains, very low 
for which various reasons are given. One is, 4 that strait 
is the gate, and narrow the way, that leads to life.' Another 
is, that the prophet warns a man not to exalt his 'gate. A 
third and probable one is, that the Moslems may not take 
offence at their want of humility, who would very likel 
drive their horses and cattle into the church, if the doo 
was of sufficient size." At Ain Kawa, as at other village 
on the route, there was an ample supply of priests, ther 
being one to every twelve or fifteen families. Childre 
were numerous, and j>arents were anxious the missionarie 
should establish schools for them \ but the patriarc 



SHEIKH LATJA. 



269 



threatened to excommunicate the whole village, if they 
had any thing to do with the Americans, although he pro- 
vides no school for them himself. " It is better the youth 
should grow up brutes than heretics." 

" The day we arrived, about thirty called on us, to whom 
Jeremiah preached faithfully. In the evening, they gath- 
ered on the roof, where I slept, and listened to a lecture 
till midnight. The next day, they were more afraid of us, 
though my medicines drew a considerable number. The 
priests had warned them against us." 

Accompanied by a horseman as guard, and footman as 
guide, he left Ain Kawa about five o'clock in the afternoon, 
and traveled till after ten in the evening, when he came 
to a castle built by the famous Pasha of Ravendooz, who 
so long resisted the Turks. " Once more," he says, " I 
breathed the mountain air, and felt invigorated." Having 
slept under some large mulberry trees, near a bubbling 
brook, he found when he awoke, that a number of men 
and women had assembled to bathe and pray in close 
proximity to his pillow. Proceeding on his way over high 
hills covered with shrub oaks and thorns, and commanding 
a grand ocean-like view of the Assyrian plain, he arrived 
at Sheikh Laua in the heat of the day, and pitched his 
tent under a sycamore twenty feet in circumference. 
" Bayeez Bey, the chief of the place, said he would receive 
us, not because of the houyouroulder of the Pasha of 
Mosul, or the letter of Aii Bey, but because of my med- 
icines. You would be interested, perhaps, in a detailed 
account of our stay among these wild Koords, who had 
never before looked on the face of a Frank. One wanted 
to kill me simply because I was a foreigner. Several 
others agreed with him ; and one man with a long red 
beard and moustache, freckled face, blood-shot eye, and 
fiendish grin, declared he would butcher me. Jeremiah 
said, all that saved me, was the medicine, which I distrib- 
uted gratis to about fifty patients. Every man of the 
23* 



270 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



village is an agha, or chief; each has his portion of the 
fruits of the valley — apricots, peaches, apples, plums, 
mulberries, grapes, almonds, pears, pomegranates, and figs. 
In summer, all live in booths of shrub oaks under the thick 
shades. Springs are abundant, and irrigation is easily 
effected. I never before saw so rich a spot. The Chris- 
tians of the plain call it "the Paradise of the world;" but 
it is " Paradise lost." How sad to see it cursed by the 
occupation of the lawless Koords ! They wanted to treat 
us as their servants, boldly declaring that they were much 
better than we. They even said on Sunday, " This hakeem 
will give us medicine, for he is afraid of us." But I 
refused to see any but those who were extremely sick, a x 
the risk of their rage. One red-turbaned man wanted me 
to see his son. I replied, " It is the Sabbath." " But," sai 
he to my interpreter, " if he is a doctor, he must see him 
if not, why did he come here." Another said, " perhaps 
he is a doctor, perhaps he is not ; perhaps he has come to 
spy out our country under the cover of physic." I at length 
quieted them by telling them that Sunday is to me quit 
as holy a day as Friday is to them. I find that sincerit 
in religious observances is almost universally respected, 
however erroneous and absurd they may be. 

" There are about fifty Chaldean families here, who are 
bought and sold as slaves. Every Koord, young or old, 
in the village has a certain number of these Christians at 
his disposal. He can take fruit from their trees, milk from 
their goats, sheep, and cows, lebn, butter, eggs, &c, from 
their houses, money from their pockets, and flog them at his 
pleasure. If he choose, he can sell the right thus to ro 1 " 
and beat them to another. It is not only virtually, but in 
reality, slavery — white Christian slavery. But it is hardly 
a matter of wonder that Mohammedans hold slaves, when 
members of Orthodox Christian churches in good and 
regular standing do the same. The Koord is nrore excusa- 
ble than the American. 



THE KOORDS. 



271 



" These Chaldeans were afraid to come near us while 
the Koords were by, for fear they would be beaten by 
them after we left, if not before. Indeed, I saw the flog- 
ging process myself. The Koord called his slave a dog. 
We could not preach to them at my tent, and so Jeremiah 
went to one of their houses. One of the priests was his 
cousin. He informed us that the Koords were talking 
about killing me, not doubting that I had an immense 
amount of money with me, though my style of traveling 
was very simple. 4 His skin is covered with gold,' said 
one of them. The priest advised us to take a strong guard 
to Ravendooz. He admitted that the guard might be 
instructed to murder us, as was the escort, sent by a Koord- 
ish chief to butcher Schultz. Times have changed some- 
what since then, but not at Sheikh Laua. This is a seclu- 
ded place ; few foreign influences or opinions ever enter 
there. Each night that I slept there, I felt it quite uncer- 
tain whether I should awake again. But God kept me 
from their bloody hands. I wrote to my friends in Mosul 
by a mason from that place, but was obliged to be cau- 
tious how I used my pen, for fear of exciting the jealousy 
of the Koords. They suspected that I was reporting their 
treatment of the Christians to the Turkish government. 
The pasha of Ravendooz told me that when he was first 
appointed to that district, three years ago, Jews were 
bought and sold by the Koords as commonly as donkeys. 
He soon stopped the trade. 

" The Christians evidently thought me their friend, for 
they brought me apples, plums, apricots, figs, walnuts, 
almonds, mulberries and eggs, refusing any compensa- 
tion — a thing which a Koord would never do. They use 
the Fellahi, but all understand Koordish. They have no 
school, and but a small part of the Bible. The priest, our 
friend, had never heard of any other Ten Commandments 
than those of the papal church, and of course in these 
were found, 'Remember the Sabbath and the Feast-days? 



272 MEMOIR OF LOBD^LL. 

i v 

' Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any 
likeness — thou shalt not bow down thyself nor serve 
them ; ' this commandment he had never seen ! This peo- 
ple did not dare to come to me for medicine, except in 
private. They were afraid of the blows of their masters 
for presuming to deserve medicine as well as they. The 
Miitsellim of Koy sells their taxes to the highest bidder. 
And while I was with them, a fiendish-looking fellow, who 
told Jeremiah I did not seem to realize that he was a great 
man, was endeavoring to collect treble the sum, he was to 
pay, from the poor Christians. 

" The religion of the Koords is the worst form of Mo- 
hammedanism. They deem every man of a different faith 
their enemy, and never hesitate, but on the ground of 
expediency, to bury a dagger in the bosom of a Yezidee, 
Jew, or Christian. If a man is a great butcher, he is pro- 
moted by the government. There is a man near the place 
where I am writing, who has killed, with his own hand, 
more than twenty men, to rob them, and his great valor 
has secured him a place as governor." 

It was four o'clock on the afternoon of June 20th, when 
Dr. Lobdell left Sheikh Laua. Bayeez Bey, having begged 
his pocket knife, and asked in vain to see his jnstols, 
accompanied him a few rods and then bade him " a grim 
adieu." Climbing over a precipitous range of limestone 
and gray sandstone, the party descended into the large 
plain of Hareer. At the end of a two hours' ride, they 
came to a fortress ; but the chief, to whom they had a 
letter from Bayeez Bey, refused to receive them or to 
allow them to pitch their tent near his village for the night, 
and it was in vain they begged a cup of cold water. They 
succeeded, however, in obtaining a guide to a village about 
ten miles distant, the chief remarking that they would 
there find one of their friends, meaning a Turkish gov- 
ernor. " We had a sober ride, passing half a dozen vil- 
lages between sunset and dark, and not knowing what 



SOURCE'S OF THE SAB. 



273 



would befall us by the way. Our guide, a young man, 
told us some terrific stories by the way about the bloody 
propensities of his people, and warned us to take a strong 
guard till we should reach Persia. The dagger-shaped 
tombstones along our path, and the red flag of independ- 
ence flying from poles over the graves of unconquered 
chieftains, were not suited to repress our fears, as we rode 
slowly forward in a region hitherto untrodden by civilized 
man. We were glad to lie down on a roof offered to us 
at the village of Hareer by our Turkish c friend,' and slept 
soundly till daybreak. I blessed God for even Turkish 
protection in these wilds of Koordistan." 

The next day, the 21st, the route lay at first over a wild 
region, covered with gall-nut bearing oaks, and amid cas- 
tles and plundering bands, (the last too small, however, 
to venture upon an assault,) till snow was seen on the 
surrounding peaks, and a great change was perceptible in 
the atmosphere. " The rest of the day our route lay 
through a wonderful gorge in the high, sulphurous lime- 
stone rocks, between which rippled one of the streamlets 
at the source of the greater Zab. Perpendicular banks, 
from a thousand to fifteen hundred feet high, with cones, 
towers, and battlements, gave the deepest interest to our 
slow and difficult ascent. The gorge afforded a fine place 
for the study of geology ; and the route for many miles 
reminded me of the cliffs along the Tigris, between Has- 
san Keif and Jezireh. 

" The Pasha of Ravendooz, where we arrived just as a 
cannon was booming forth the hour of sunset, received 
me, after reading my firman, with the greatest possible 
civility, making me ride his splendid horse, clad in rich 
crimson trappings, while a huge torch of flaming bitumen 
was carried before me, to his summer house, where a 
squad of ten soldiers attended me, the pasha refusing to 
allow me to pitch my tent near the steep bank of the 
river, opposite the terraced town, declaring that he could 



274 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



not insure my head there one hour after dark, and saying, 
that if I was killed, he should lose his place for not taking 
better care of me. His Honor breakfasted with me the 
next morning, and I dined with him at evening. It 
appeared afterwards, that all his attentions grew out of a 
desire to secure my surgical services, which were cheer- 
fully rendered to him and his retinue during the day. 
He refused to allow me to pay the ordinary fee of forty 
piastres for a passport for each man in my company, 
declaring that he would himself pay it into the public 
treasury. Every traveler, in passing from Turkey into 
Persia, is obliged to procure a sun tezkereh ; to go from 
place to place icithin the country, a moon passport is suffi- 
cient, and very much cheaper. We were obliged to have 
both lands in going from Mosul." 

The next morning, June 23d, the pasha gave them an 
escort to the castle of the famous Abd-el-Kadr Bey at 
Seclekan, who has a Turkish officer of equal rank by his 
side to watch his Koordish tendencies. " It was pleasant 
to get away from that place. About half a mile from 
Sedekan, I discovered in a valley a basalt pillar, four feet 
high, fourteen inches thick, and twenty-eight inches wide, 
carved with small cuneiform characters, but very much 
defaced by the wear of the last two thousand years. I 
suppose no Frank ever saw it before* The pillar was 
half covered up by bushes, but has considerable interest, 
inasmuch as it gives unmistakable evidence of having 
been erected by the same hero that set up the famous 
pillar of Kel-i-Sheen, to which we came on the following 
day, on the boundary line between Turkey and Persia. 

* On his return to Mosul, Dr. L. wrote an account of this pillar to Col Raw- 
linson, at Baghdad. Col.R. replied that he had described it from reports of 
the natives some fifteen years ago, in an article on Ecbatana, together with the 
pillar at Kel-i-Sheen. At a still later date, Oct. 24th, we find this entry in Dr. 
L.'s journal : " Since I wrote Col. E., I find in Dr Grant's journal a few words 
on the pillar of which I thought myself the first Frank discoverer. So true it 
iSj ' there is nothing new under the sun.' ,J 



ATTACKED BY KOORDS. 



275 



" We rode until dusk through a rich vale covered with 
patches of wheat, barley, and rice, while the banks of the 
irrigating streams were lined with the mulberry and 
willow. We passed ledges of slate, porphyry, gray sand- 
stone, and hard limestone, with a few boulders of quartz 
and granite to-day; and when we drew up to a collection 
- of black tents near Berbezeen, we felt much fatigued. A 
cold wind whistled over the snow-capped summits, be- 
neath which we slept in the open air, (no dew falls, even 
at that height), before a broad fire, around which sat a score 
of ghastly and savage Koords. 

" 24th. Wrapping my cloak around me, I was ready to 
start at five A. M. We wound out, ant-like, along the 
side of the mountain, while far below us dashed a silvery 
stream, and far above us hung the peaks covered with 
perpetual snow Our guide relieved the cold and tedium 
by various tales of Koordish valor, for two hours, when we 
came suddenly upon twenty-two Koordish tents pitched 
behind some rocks near our path, from which, as we 
approached, about thirty men, the most of them with 
guns, and the rest bearing heavy-headed crooks, came out 
upon us, grinning horridly, like hyenas about to seize 
their prey. Every man with a gun had his hand on the 
lock, and seemed just ready to pull the trigger. Jeremiah 
and myself drew our horses side by side, and faced them, 
■ — Jeremiah's face as white as the surrounding patches of 
snow, and myself laughing from terror! Our cawass 
stood motionless, his hands on his holsters, and all of us 
expected a battle. The horseman furnished us by the pasha 
of Ravendooz stood still a moment, but seeing our critical 
position, and his own, he spurred his horse towards them, 
and asked them what they had come out in that way for. 
" To take your souls, you sons of dogs," was the instant 
reply, as translated by Jeremiah. The guard then told 
them with what honor his master had received us, and 
that if they touched a hair of our heads, Mohammed 



276 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



Ragoub Pasha would annihilate their whole tribe ! His 
earnestness seemed to terrify them, and as they paused, 
(with what visages!) we put spurs to our horses, and 
were soon on the opposite side of the ledge. 

After an hour's hard ride, we*came to the azure pillar of 
Kel-i-Sheen on the top of the range, as we crossed into 
Persia. Here we halted about two hours expecting our bag- 
gage, which was behind us at the time of our encounter with 
the Koords ; and then, not doubting that the muleteers had 
been robbed, if not killed, as it would have been folly for 
us to turn back, we started rapidly for Ooshnoo. I em- 
braced the opportunity to copy a dozen specimens of the 
arrow-headed characters on the time-worn pillar to deter- 
mine to what class they belong, as this alone, it would 
seem, will settle the question of their age. The stone is a 
very interesting one, and the inscription has lately been 
copied by a Russian gentleman and by Col. Williams. It 
is quite imperfect, though the block is of the hardest kind, 
and was originally polished like glass."* 

That night was spent at Ooshnoo under the hospitable 
roof of the governor, Latif Khan. Having recovered 
their baggage through his intervention, the next morning, 
June 24th, the eleventh morning from that on which they 
had set out from Mosul, they started early for Oroomiah, 
and having rode nearly forty miles, the most of the way 
over the loveliest plain on which his eye ever rested, Dr. 
Lobdell was welcomed to the homes and the hearts of 
his missionary brethren. 

He had seen the faces of but few of them ; but they 
were all acquaintances, friends, brethren beloved. Pie had 
corresponded with nearly all of them by letter. He had 
seen and loved Mr. Stoddard in America. Mr. Crane was 

* An account of this journey from Mosul to Kel-i-Sheen was sent by Dr. Lob- 
dell to the American Oriental Society, and only accidental circumstances have 
prevented its appearing in the journal of the Society. The Corresponding Sec- 
retary, Prof. Whitney, says: "It is an interesting and valuable document, and 
ought not to be withheld from the public." 



SICKNESS AT OROOMIAH. 



277 



with him in the Theological Seminary, in Auburn. Dr. 
Perkins and Mr. Cochrane were sons of the same Alma 
Mater with himself. Dr. Wright was his brother in med- 
ical practice, as well as in the missionary work. Miss Harris 
he had met at Malta on his way out. Misses Fisk and 
Rice were graduates of Mt. Holyoke Seminary, of which 
Mrs. Lobdell also had been a member. They were all 
children of the same heavenly Father, all called by the name 
of the same Lord and Master, all engaged in the same self- 
denying yet hallowed work. And it needed not the con- 
trast of the intolerable heat of Mosul, or the bloody 
Koords of the mountains, to make Oroomiah seem a para- 
dise, and the little circle of missionary brethren and sisters 
there less like earth than heaven. 

But like all our earthly paradises, this was not to be 
without its affliction. Scarcely had he reached Mt. Seir, 
the health station, and the seat of the Male Seminary, when 
he was taken sick and confined to his bed for two weeks. 
Of this sickness, we have some account from the pen of 
Dr. Perkins, in whose family he found the nursing and 
watching, and what was of even greater value to him, the 
sympathy and affection of friends indeed. " He came to 
us," says Dr. P., " in a feeble state, for the benefit of his 
health. Yet he was all buoyant as a lark — being almost 
overjoyed to find himself in our happy circle at Oroomiah, 
after his arduous and perilous journey across the Koordish 
mountains. 

" Two days after his arrival he was seized of a fever, 
which proved severe and obstinate. During his sickness 
he seemed to us remarkably patient, cheerful, hopeful, and 
resigned to the will of God. It was a precious privilege 
to watch by his bedside. He looked up to Mrs. Perkins 
and myself, though previously strangers to him, as a 
docile, grateful child. Our hearts were at that time bleed- 
ing with the fresh wounds caused by the then recent 
death of our dear Judith; and even in his ^sickness, he 
24 



273 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



contributed greatly to soothe those wounds. Indeed, the 
only difficulty I recollect to have found in taking care of 
him, was to prevent his over-taxing his strength, in trying 
to talk too much, to comfort us in our sad bereavement. 

" He greatly enjoyed listening to our prayers at his bed- 
side. And when he became able himself to lead in prayer, 
we, in turn, were no less gratefully affected, while borne 
upward by his fervent strains, as on eagle's wings, to the 
very portals of heaven. He was^ man who evidently 
enjoyed daily and intimate communion with a personal 
Saviour. 

" When our friend became convalescent, he one day rode 
out with Mrs. Perkins and myself, in the easy carriage, 
presented to Mr. Stoddard for the use of the ladies and 
invalids of our mission, by kind ladies in New Haven. 
Nothing could exceed his exhilaration and his artless 
expressions of it during that ride. 4 Oh that my dear wife 
and other friends in Mosul could enjoy this ride with me!' 
was his reiterated exclamation, as we wound our way 
down and up the gentle declivities of Mt. Seir. And as 
he inhaled the cool, invigorating breezes of our health 
retreat, he would often say, c Every breath is worth a shil- 
ling; to one coming from the heats of Mosul.' 

" It was in brief moments snatched from his sick bed, 
that I penned my hasty sermon entitled, ' Our Country's 
Sin,' — so much spoken against in some quarters and so 
warmly commended in others. His generous heart flowed 
out so freely for c the bound as bound with them ' in our 
dear native land, which was then fresh in his recollection 
that it touched a sympathatic chord in my own bosom, 
and prompted me to jot down that discourse for the fol 
lowing Sabbath, which was the day preceding ournationa 
birthday; and I preached it even on a communion Sab 
bath, as it so happened ; for we do not hold that our dyln 
and risen Saviour, like the gods of the Brahmins, brook 
wickedness under the name of religion. With no though 



OTJS COITOTUy's SIN". 



279 



of its publication when prepared, I yielded to his earnestly- 
expressed desire that I should send it to America, when 
he at length listened to it after his recovery. Humble as 
was that effort for the suffering slave and our suffering 
country, I have never regretted yielding to his advice in 
the matter." 

It was during this visit of Dr. Lobdell to Oroomiah that 
the missionary circular on slavery was prepared, which, 
after much consultation and revision, was sent to the other 
missions of the American Board, to be then published in 
America as the united protest of the signers against what 
they unanimously considered to be indeed our country's 
great sin, the one blot on her fair fame, and the grand 
obstacle to her republican and Christian influence. And 
though Dr. Lobdell did not write it, his influence in origi- 
nating it and his zeal and activity in its circulation, were 
not less powerfully instrumental to the existence of the 
circular, than they were to the writing and publishing of 
the sermon. 

Oroomiah is the advance post of American missions, 
pushed into the very heart of Central Asia. The Nes- 
torian mission is a watch-fire set upon the eastern slope 
of those Asiatic highlands, where the human race was first 
planted, from which other such fires are destined to be 
kindled, till, from mountain top to mountain top, the glad 
tidings of Emanuel's kingdom shall have been borne to 
the borders of China, and shall there meet the same good 
news coming up from the shores of the Pacific. Estab- 
lished among a people remarkable for their truly primitive 
simplicity and docility, and engrafted on the only remain- 
ing branch of a church whose boughs once covered the 
continent and which then counted its missionaries and 
martyrs by thousands, it has been conducted on a plan 
and a principle, which differs from any other mission of 
the American Board, and which, therefore, has occasioned 
no small diversity of opinion among the friends of missions 



280 



MEMOIR Or LOBDELL, 



at home, scarcely less among missionaries abroad, and not 
a little even among its own members, Xo separate Prot- 
estant community has been formed, no distinct church has 
been organized, though the missionaries have a communion 
by themselyes, to which they invite only those, whom they 
regard as truly regenerated, not by water only, but by the 
Spirit of God. Dr. Lobdell could not but be deeply inter- 
ested in visiting such a mission, and investigating its histor^ 
and present state. He studied this problem on the spo 
with intense interest, and brought to bear upon it all hi 
powers of observation and reflection. He heard from th 
hps of his brethren, and especially from that brother wh 
was the pioneer, and whose life, more than any other, i 
the history of the mission, the remarkable providences b 
which they were led, and the wonderful blessings by whic 
their labors were crowned — the circumstances by whic" 
they were almost precluded from the possibility of a se _ 
arate organization, and the influences of the Spirit, b 
which they were encouraged, from time to time, an 
almost commanded to continue their labors within th 
Nestorian church, for the purification of its members. H 
saw all the Nestorian churches of the plain and the hill 
sides thrown wide open to the preaching of the mission 
aries, and converted priests and bishops not only san 
tioning their discourses by then- presence, but enforcin 
the truth with heart -felt and eloquent exhortations. H 
saw not only the Male Seminary at Seir and the Femal 
Seminary at Oroomiah, under the direct instruction of th 
missionaries, but scores of common schools in the city an 
villages placed under their supervision. Last, not leas 
he heard the history of those wonderful revivals o 
religion — so like those in our own churches and college 
and without a parallel in other missions, except the mi 
sions among the Armenians and in the Sandwich Island 
— which have so often visited the schools, seminaries, and 
churches of the Xestorians, which seem to have set the 



THE NESTOSIAN MISSION. 



281 



seal of God's own approval on the plans and labors of his 
servants, and as the fruit of which so many Nestorians not 
only lead holy lives, but so many have already died in the 
triumphs of faith.* He gathered up these facts and long 
revolved them in his mind. He continued to meditate on 
them till after he returned to Mosul; and though his 
preconceived opinions had been somewhat adverse to the 
plan of the Nestorian mission, and, though in common 
with his brethren at Mosul, he had been led and con- 
strained to adopt other views and other methods in con- 
ducting their own mission, he then sat down and wrote 
to the Secretaries his deliberate approval of the main 
policy of his brethren across the mountains, as justified by 
their peculiar circumstances and ratified by the blessing 
of Heaven. He fully believed, that a time of conflict 
would come in the Nestorian church, and that sooner or 
later great changes would take place in its organization. 
He specified some few things, in which, he thought, more 
decided measures might at once be taken. But it was his 
opinion — it was his advice and counsel, that the mission- 
aries on the ground should be left to follow the leadings 
of Providence till the crisis shall come, and then to act as 
they shall deem wise and right in the circumstances. 

Dr. Lobdell has left behind him a little manuscript 
volume of " Life in and around Oroomiah " — his observa- 
tions of the country and the people, as well as the mission, 
his visits to the Sunday schools and day schools as well as 
the churches, his delightful intercourse with the native 
Christians as well as his sweet communion w^ith the mis- 
sionaries and their families. But this is becoming one of 
the best knows of all our missions ; and we can not dwell 
upon these scenes, interesting as they are in themselves, 
instructive to the missionary, and highly illustrative of the 

* Witness the little book of Nestorian Biography, lately published by the Mass. 
S. S. Society. 

24* 



282 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



writer's ceaseless activity and lively sympathy, as well as 
of the success of the mission. 

By the advice of his missionary brethren, shortly before 
leaving Persia, he took an excursion to Tabreez, partly 
for the more complete restoration of his health, and partly 
for the further exploration of an interesting province of 
the Persian empire. In the absence of the copious jour- 
nals which Dr. Lobdell usually took of his travels,* we are 
happy to avail ourselves of a narrative of the tour fur- 
nished by his companion in travel, Rev. Mr. Cochrane of the 
]STestorian mission. After some general remarks upon the 
character of Dr. Lobdell, especially upon the rare combi- 
nation of modesty with decision, and of progressive ideas 
with scholarly attainments, which he found in his com- 
panion, Mr. Cochrane proceeds : " It was my privilege to 
accompany him on an excursion of nearly three weeks in 
the Province of Azerbijan. Starting from Gavalan, where 
several of our families w^ere spending a few days, enjoying 
its fine lake breezes and salt-w^ater baths, a few hours' ride 
by post around the surpassingly beautiful shore of the 
lake (Oroomiah) brought us to Tabreez, the commercial 
metropolis of the kingdom. A slight deviation from our 
route, through S almas, enabled our brother to visit the 
sculptured rocks near the boundary, commemorating, as 
is supposed, some ancient conquest of Persia over her 
subtile and often formidable enemy, the Koord. At 
Tabreez, we were hospitably entertained by that intelli- 
gent and efficient friend of missions, the English consul, 
R. H. Stevens, Esq., of whose familiar acquaintance with 
Persian politics and manners our brother availed himself 
in soliciting information with characteristic eagerness. 
By the politeness of the consul, we were also introduced 

* The Doctor took copious notes of this tour, and was so interested in it that 
he intended to prepare an article on it for the Bibliotheca Sacra. But incessant 
occupation and poor health prevented the early accomplishment of his purpose, 
and ere long death put an end to this, with other plans of literary labor. Even 
the notes have not come into the hands of the writer of these memoirs. 



VISIT TO TABREEZ. 



283 



to the prince governor of Azerhijan, and a few of the 
distinguished citizens, and were shown some of the gar- 
dens and public edifices, and other objects of interest, 
ancient and modern. The Doctor considered himself 
most fortunate, also, in making the acquaintance of the 
late Russian consul at Tabreez, Chevalier Khanikoff, a gen- 
tleman of eminent literary and scientific attainments, who 
happened to pass through the city on a scientific explora- 
tion of the province, under the patronage of the Czar. 

" From Tabreez, we made an excursion of four or five 
hours to a beautiful valley, walled in by the snow-capped 
mountains of S alien d, where the consul had a suite of 
tents pitched for a family summer retreat. It was a 
charming spot, enclosing within a single landscape all the 
varieties of the four seasons. A considerable stream, 
issuing from the adjoining heights, flowed rapidly past the 
encampment, on its eastward course to the Caspian. To 
us it ajDpeared particularly American, as it was filled with 
nice trout, the first we had seen in the East. They were 
caught in abundance by the natives with baskets. 

" From the mountain heights, we descended over the 
grassy plateaus and down the rapidly descending slopes 
to the plain of Maragha, on the eastern shore of the lake 
opposite Oroomiah. Though westward from the boun- 
dary of Koordistan, we passed the tents of several wild 
and predatory Koordish tribes, who, doubtless with many 
regrets, were restrained from indulging their national pro- 
pensity, through fear of the popular and influential consul 
under whose protection we were traversing these wild 
and unfrequented regions. The Doctor was allured to 
this out-of-the-way district by the prospect of finding in 
the monumental inscriptions, which occur at Mar Agha, 
something of historical or antiquarian interest 

"From that pleasant plain, abounding in vineyards, 
orchards, and cultivated trees, giving it almost a forest-like 
appearance, our return route brought us to Shishawan, a 



284 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



beautiful village on the lake shore, where we were the 
guests, by previous invitation, in a magnificent palace of 
Matek Kassini Mirza, uncle of the late Mohammed Shah, 
and one of the most intelligent and scientific Persians 
living. In prescribing for the prince's harem, the doctor 
was shown his dispensary, which, to his surprise, he found 
filled with almost every article of modern medical prac- 
tice, not excepting Avers Cherry Pectoral. 

" The remainder of our trip opened a new chapter in our 
experience, the events of which, judging from our broth- 
er's frequent allusions to them, exerted a most salutary 
influence preparatory to the great change that awaited 
him. ' That was a good ride for my soul,' was his char- 
acteristic reflection in allusion to it. 

"We embarked in a neatly fitted up private sail of 
the jninee, having a cabin quite sumptuously furnished, 
for Persia, in which we proposed to cross to the Oroomiah 
shore, a distance of about thirty miles. But from the 
ark-like structure of the boat, and the want of experience 
in the sailors, the third day found us becalmed and at 
anchor on a small uninhabited and uninhabitable island 
about mid-way between the shores. This was annoying* 
both on account of the loss of time and the prospect of 
a failure in our scanty store of provisions. In the uncer- 
tainty of soon leaving, a resort to a boat with oars readily 
occurred to us as an expedient, the safety of which we 
hardly doubted, at that quiet season, especially as one of 
our missionary number had previously navigated the 
entire lake in such a boat. 

" With two oarsmen besides our own servants, we were 
soon plying the nimble oars in hopes of speedily reaching 
the land, one of us acting as helmsman, and the other 
working the small sail, which we were enabled to raise 
before a gentle breeze. After an hour's sail or more, our 
slender mast snapped before the increasing wind, and we 
put ashore on a small island for repairs. After detention 



GALE ON THE LAKE. 



285 



till near sunset, we again hoisted sail before a quite full 
breeze ; but a sudden shift gave us a strong head wind, 
which diverted our course and lashed the smooth surface 
into a most spiteful dashing sea. Neither sail nor oar 
longer availed us ; .and we were sent adrift before a violent 
gale. Nearly every sea broke over the boat; and we 
were compelled to resort to bailing to avoid being instantly 
submerged. For three long hours we remained with 
boots drawn off and divested of all cumbersome clothing, 
and without oar or other buoy within reach, expecting 
momentarily to be cast jnto the briny, {)itchy waters. It 
was a time of solicitude and prayer, not unlike, as we 
fancied, that which the disciples experienced on the simi- 
lar lake of Galilee ; and the tardy appearance of a light 
as we approached the southern shore, was probably hailed 
by us with scarcely less joy and thanksgiving, than was 
the appearance of our Lord, walking on the sea, by his 
frightened disciples. The chance of escape seemed to our 
brother wholly lost. But grace enabled him to await the 
result without solicitude or perturbation. He seemed 
unusually cheerful, almost gleeful, unaccountable as such 
a state might appear. He doubtless knew well in whom 
he trusted, and his hope was anchored within the vail, 
beyond the reach of winds and waves. 

" The marshy soil where we came to land, forbade our 
going ashore, and we were obliged to spend the night in 
our half-filled boat, our clothing drenched with the filthy 
waters that washed the pitchy shore. The morning's light 
showed our locality to be some twenty miles south of the 
intended-landing place, and some five or six miles distant 
from any village. Dr. Lobdell took full notes of this 
journey, designing them, as I suppose, for future use ; but 
he probably never found time to write them out, and they 
could hardly be intelligible to another person." 

The time had now come when Dr. Lobdell was to take 
reluctant leave of the brethren and sisters, from whom he 



286 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



had received so much kindness, and set out on his return 
over the mountains. 

" On the last day of August, at a meeting of all the 
members of the mission, Dr. Wright commended those who 
were about to leave them for Gawar and Mosul, to the 
care of our covenant-keeping God ; and I bade a solemn 
adieu to the friends who had shown me so much kindness 
in sickness and health, while I was among them. Most 
of the gentlemen accompanied us some distance out of 
the city, and we parted, not doubting that we shall meet 
again in God's good time, where partings never pain." 

On the third day, they reached the home of their Gawar 
brethren among the mountain Nestorians. " And such a 
home ! " Unpleasantly situated, as well as small and 
wretchedly built, they were forbidden to rebuild it by the 
same political and religious jealousies which frowned upon 
and finally destroyed Dr. Grant's " castle " among the 
mountains. 

While Dr. Lobdell tarried a few days at Gawar, Deacon 
Tamo obtained his full release from his long and unjust 
imprisonment, the causes of which are so well known to 
readers of the "Herald." "Deacon Tamo is free! And 
could you have seen the joy of all his fellow- villagers, as 
he came home from his prison-house, and the kind saluta- 
tions even of the Koords of the mountains — could you have 
witnessed the meek bearing of the man himself, and heard 
the eloquence with which the next day he spoke to his 
attentive audience of salvation by the Redeemer's blood, 
I think, you would have felt, that the truth is speedily to 
triumph even in those regions, where now are wandering, 
among the ignorant and superstitious Nestorians, men of 
villainy and blood." 

Messrs. Rhea and Coan, of the Nestorian Mission, ac- 
companied the Doctor on his return to Mosul. They set 
out from Gawar on the 13th of September. The first 
night they spent without sleep at Ishtahzin, at the foot 



THE KOORDISH MOUNTAINS. 287 

of a frightful staircase, down which the mules, loaded with 
their bedding, had rolled into the river. The next day, 
they wound among the gorges of Little Jeloo, cree|3ing 
now along the face of almost perpendicular rocks by pas- 
sages cut in the time of the Assyrian kings, and now 
reaching an elevation from which they could look around 
on an ocean of mountains, rising wave beyond wave, 
"sometimes eight parallel ridges at once," and with 
the storm-clouds ever and anon gathering and burst- 
ing over them, reminding one strongly of a storm at 
sea. " The two giant summits of Jeloo, (Dawell and Da- 
rik,) with their precipitous sides robed in white, were on 
our right. These two peaks are said to be fifteen thousand 
feet high. They are the highest in Koordistan, and are dis- 
tinctly visible from Mosul." Sometimes they came to low 
circular depressions, in which were terraced grounds cov- 
ered with millet, tobacco and vines, with here and there 
a green tree, while the houses are built on the mountain 
sides above the arable ground, in tiers, perhaps a dozen or 
twenty rising one above another, and every roof being a 
sort of door-yard for the house on the next terrace. Ev- 
ery foot of ground is occupied, and is as valuable to the 
inhabitants as the ground along the wharves to the people 
of a great city. " I have heard of the attachment of the 
Laplander to his snows, the Scotch Highlander to his 
mountains, the Swiss to his Alpine glaciers ; but I can not 
conceive of a stronger love of country than these Nestori- 
ans cherish for their little plots of ground far down 
amid the volcanic peaks, among which their fathers were 
driven to find a refuge from the fierce hordes of Tam- 
erlane." 

But we can not follow our travelers from day to day 
through the Nestorian village of Ermintoos, where they saw 
the commencement of a great shara, or Hindooized Chris- 
tian festival — "a sacred feast, a sacred dance, and a sacred 



288 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



row " — through the Koordish village of Too, where the 
Doctor was suddenly arrested and forced to dismount as 
he was riding past a mosk — and from the district of 
Bass, (whose inhabitants, by their treachery, escaped the 
furious massacres of Beder Khan Bey and Nborullah Bey) 
over into Tekhoma, where at every turn Mr. Rassam's ser- 
vant pointed out the scenes of cruel murder to his coun- 
trymen — " where the stream was choked with human 
bodies, and the water was not fit for use till after several 
months." Every step here reminded them of Dr. Grant, 
and " I got a higher idea of his devotion, courage, and 
energy," says Dr. Lob dell, " by following his now beaten 
track, than I had ever had before. The consciousness that 
my own heart would have fainted under such trials and 
toils as he gladly endured, made me feel, that God raised 
him up for this express mission. Such a faith in Jehovah 
and his promises, and such a love of souls, as his, pre- 
vading every Christian bosom, would, under God, secure 
the speedy conversion, not only of these miserable moun- 
taineers, but of the whole benighted world." 

Those who would know more of the romantic valley 
of Tekhoma, with its terraces of rice and millet, and its 
little plantations of mulberries, grapes, and walnuts, must 
consult Mr. Laurie's Life of Dr. Grant. The poor remnant 
of the people, of whom there are only about five thousand, 
rendered more poor, dwarfish, and timid by their late per- 
secutions, flocked to hear the gospel j^reached. The chief 
obstacle now to their thorough evangelization is the miasm 
from their fields of rice. Dr. Lobdell found himself suf- 
fering from the effects of it, when he reached Mosul. He 
urges, however, the immediate re establishment of a station 
in that part of the field, either at Asheeta or at Amadieh, 
which is the jDoint where the Xestorian and Assyrian 
missions seem to meet. 

From this point, two days and a half brought them by 
the fortress of Daoudieh, near the village of Al-Kosh 



ARRIVAL AT MOSUL. 



289 



and through that of Tel Keif to Mosul. They passed 
Koyunjik and crossed the Tigris by its bridge of boats, 
as the tide of fruit-bearing mountaineers was pouring 
into the city on the morning of the 22d of September, 
having been ten days on the road from Gawar, and a 
hundred days from the commencement of Dr. Lobdell's 
tour. 

25 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Fellowship of Assyrian and Nestorian Missions — Imperfect Health of Dr. 
Lobdell — English Patients — Practical Questions — The largest Liberty — 
Languages — Gift of Tongues — Climate — Examination of Church Mem- 
bers — A Marriage — A Hospital — Preaching at the Dispensary — Obstacles 
—Effect of the War — Rabbi Shiloam — Moollah Yoosuf — Annual Report of 
the Mission— Persecution — Papists — Progress — Honesty — Thanksgiving at 
Mosul — Private and Inward Life. 

v 

The visit to Orooiniah long remained, like a fragrant 
odor, in the memory and in the heart of Dr. Lobdell. 
His letters, of which he wrote many at this time, make 
frequent allusions to it, and with every mention, his heart 
overflows with gratitude to God, as well as grateful and 
affectionate remembrances of those beloved brethren. 
These pleasant memories were prolonged by the presence 
of the two representatives of the Nestorian mission, who 
returned with him, and enjoyed for a season the hospitali- 
ties and the Christian communion of the little circle at 
Mosul. Xor was the pleasure and the benefit of this 
mutual interchange of visits confined to the missionaries. 
It became a bond of mutual confidence and affection be- 
tween the churches and Christian communities which 
they represented. They saw and felt, as they had never 
done before, how sweet is the fellowship of real spiritual 
Christians. Though the churches were organized under 
different forms, and the missions were conducted on dif- 
ferent plans, they were manifestly one in spirit. Though 
separated by lofty mountains, they belonged to the same 
fold and were under the care of the same Shepherd. 

When Mr. Rhea and Mr. Coan had finished their visit 
at Mosul — a missionary visit made useful and delightful, 



BROKEN CONSTITUTION. 



291 



like those of the apostles, by frequent seasons of social 
and public worship, — Mr. Marsh and Mr. Williams went 
with them on a preaching and exploring tour in the 
Bootan, intending to return by Asheeta and Amadieh. 
Meanwhile, Dr. Lobdell did what he could, in medical 
practice and in missionary labor, though, during the 
greater part of their absence, he was " lying on his back, 
trying to shake off the intermittent fever, which clung to 
him for some weeks after his return from Oroomiah." 
Fortunately he had native helpers in both parts of his 
work, on whom he could rely ; not only could Jeremiah 
and Michael preach, but Ablahad had now acquired such 
a knowledge of medicine, that he could visit patients in 
the less critical cases. On the 13th of October, he writes 
to Mr. Stoddard, "My fever and ague has vanished before 
large doses of quinine, and I almost fancy myself possessed 
of my former vigor. Still I notice, that a little extra ex- 
ertion recalls to mind my real condition — which is that 
of a man worn out in his youth. I do appreciate, my dear 
brother, your good advice in reference to the necessity of 
making my moderation known to all men — of ' living 
long, as well as usefully.' " In November, he says in a 
letter to Dr. Wright : " I am warned, it seems, by you, as 
well as my other friends, that I am not so c able-bodied ' 
as I have been inclined to suppose myself. I must confess, 
that when a doctor expresses this opinion, I ought to give 
some heed to my ways. I am glad to report myself, well. 
Still a very little extra exertion prostrates me ; and I have 
concluded, if possible, henceforth to avoid fatigue." It 
was on his next birthday, a month or two later, that he 
wrote the letter inserted in a former part of this memoir,* 
in which he says, that he is twenty-seven years old, but 
feels as if he were forty; and after confessing his sins 
against the laws of health, in the hurry and over-exertion 
of all his past life, warns his brother not to do likewise. 



* See p. 88. 



292 



ME3I0IE OF LOBDELL. 



May that brother " better reck the rede, than did the 
adviser." It was not in the nature of Dr. Lobdell to hold 
np long. He did seem, at this time, to have learned the 
lesson ; but it did not " stay learned." 

In the autumn and winter of 1853, in addition to his 
usual practice at the dispensary and at the houses of the 
natives, a young Englishman came under his care, whose 
case excited not a little interest and required not a little 
attention. Mr. Hodder, of Avhom we have already spoken 
as the accomplished draftsman of Col. Rawlinson, fell siok 
of a lingering and dangerous sickness ; and, as he could not 
otherwise be properly cared for, Mr. Marsh received him 
into his house, and Dr. Lobdell watched over him like 
brother, kept his father in England advised of his situation 
and at length had the happiness of believing that he hac 
been the instrument of saving his life. American mission- 
aries in the East are in the almost constant receipt of so 
many acts of kindness and protection from Englishmen 
that they feel it to be a great privilege, when they are able 
to make anything like a commensurate return. There were 
few of the English functionaries in the valley of the Tigris 
whether officers of government, or agents of the British 
Museum, or noblemen and gentlemen visiting the antiqui 
ties in the vicinity of Mosul, that did not, at some time 
afford Dr. Lobdell an opportunity for the exhibition oi 
his skill, his gratitude, and his benevolence. 

As the Protestant community at Mosul grew by a sIot 
but a steady growth, there arose not a few practical ques 
tions touching the constitution and government of the 
church, the validity of Nestorian, Jacobite, and Papa 
baptism, the right of the native helpers, who had beer 
either deacons or priests in their old churches, to adminis 
ter the ordinances in the new organization, the relation oi 
the missionaries to the church and the community, anc 
the relation of the whole to the Board, its officers, and its 
patrons at home. On all these questions, Dr. Lobdell wa 



THE LARGEST LIBERTY. 



293 



the advocate of the largest liberty compatible with law 
and order. He abhorred despotism, wherever and under 
whatever aspect it showed itself; he abhorred the des- 
potism of forms, not less than the despotism of men ; 
the despotism of synods and councils, not less than that 
of popes and prelates ; despotism in the church and in 
society, not less than in the state. He was a consistent 
and thorough republican, not in the partisan sense, but 
according to the spirit of the New Testament, which dis- 
cards "burdensome forms and dispenses with cumbrous 
machinery ; which magnifies the essential and overlooks 
the non-essential ; and which places all mankind on the 
same level before a common Father and a common Re- 
deemer. 

Theological questions also sometimes led to animated 
discussions among the missionaries, who, though agreed 
on all the substantiate of Christian doctrine, differed, as 
men of different mental constitutions and habits will dif- 
fer, in regard to non-essentials. Dr. Lobdell bowed with 
profound reverence to the divine authority of the Scrip- 
tures. He clung with every fibre of his heart to the great 
truths of the evangelical system. But he did not feel 
bound to " swear in the words c of any merely human ' 
master." An independent thinker, and quite incapable of 
any disguise in his sentiments, he asserted for himself, and 
conceded to others, the same entire freedom of opinion 
and freedom of speech in theological inquiries as in literary 
and scientific investigations. At the same time, he was 
sensible both of danger to himself and of a liability to 
injure the feelings of others, in the unrestrained exercise 
of this right, and there was scarcely any particular in 
which he more frequently and more severely condemned 
himself at this very period, than for what he afterwards 
regarded as undue license in discussions with his brethren. 
He was naturally fond of argument, a lover of debate, 
perhaps even disputatious, or, as he calls it, " combative." 
25* 



294 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



So was Paul ; so was Luther. It is well that they were ; 
else they would never have combated error in its various 
forms with so much power. But it had its evils and dan- 
gers. It widened, if it did not open, the breach between 
Luther and Zuinglius. ' Perhaps it had something to do 
with the separation of Paul and Mark. It led to no seri- 
ous evils in the little circle at Mosul. But it caused Dr. 
Lobdell many a severe struggle, while he held in with bit 
and bridle this constitutional tendency, and many a pang 
of grief, when he felt that he had not succeeded, after all, 
in the proper government of the tongue. We should not 
do justice to his frank and fearless, but impulsive and im- 
perfect nature — we should not magnify sufficiently the 
power of divine grace — we should not be true to the 
portraiture of himself which he has drawn in his journal, 
without exhibiting, in their true light, these traits in his 
character as a man and as a Christian. 

With a view to more extended operations in the villages 
of the plain and through Jebel Tour, if not in the Bootan, 
the missionaries undertook to learn each of them an addi- 
tional language. The Koordish fell to Mr. Williams, the 
Turkish to Mr. Marsh, and the Fellahi to Dr. Lobdell. 
At the same time they all made the Arabic their chief 
study. " Fellahi is a dialect of the ancient Syriac, spoken 
by the Chaldeans of the plain, not differing materially 
from that of the Nestorians in Persia. Syriac and Koord- 
ish can be used among the Jacobites between Jezireh and 
Mardin. Turkish is the medium of communication gen- 
erally, more especially with officers of government. It is 
the French language of the Orient. It is not seldom that 
we should find a knowledge of all these languages useful, 
even in the city. So common is it for individuals to use 
a variety of tongues, that many intelligent natives can 
not see that it was any matter of astonishment that the 
apostles ' spoke with other tongues ' on the day of Pen- 
tecost. They think the miracle lay in the fact that while 



CLIMATE. 



295 



the apostles spoke in their own language, every man heard 
them speak in his own tongue. 'And how hear we every 
man in our own tongue, wherein we were born.' The 
astonishment arose not from the speaking, but from the 
hearing." 

In comparing his observations upon the climate on 
opposite sides of the mountains, Dr. Lob dell found that in 
Mosul, in October, the mercury rose 18° higher than the 
highest point it reached at Mt. Seir in July and Augicst. 
The average heat of the summer of 1853 was greater than 
that of 1852, the thermometer at two o'clock in the after- 
noon standing alio ays as high as 98° for a hundred days, 
and for eighty days ranging as high as from 100° to 114°. 
It is not surprising, in view of such facts, that " winter 
there is the seed-time for the truth not less than for wheat 
and barley. In summer, the earth and the intellect are 
barren." 

The following items, gathered from the Doctor's journal 
and letters, will show the state of the missionary work at 
the beginning of the winter, (December, 1853.) At the 
same time, some of them will not be uninteresting as illus- 
trations of the manners and character of the people: 
" Three men have recently been examined for admission 
to the church. Only one of them was admitted ; the other 
two were advised to reexamine themselves. Their intellec- 
tual views were thoroughly orthodox, but their spiritual 
perceptions were less clear. We are not anxious to swell 
our number at the expense of purity. It is well under- 
stood in the city, that the Protestants will not make use 
of bribes »and falsehoods for the enlargement of their civil 
community. It is getting to be remarked, also, that even 
members of our community, or parish, are not all entitled 
to the privileges of the church. The Moslems often say 
of us : 6 They are not Nesrani (Christians) ; they are 
vastly better ; there are none like them ; they treat the 
rich and the poor just alike; they love their enemies just 



296 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



like Gocl.' Some of the Jacobites confess that they are 
not good enough to be of us. One of them told me a 
few days since that Protestantism advances by day and 
by night, and expressed the conviction that Archbishop 
Behnam "was sorry that his past course towards the Amer- 
icans precluded the possibility of any union with them. 

"Last week the teacher of our boys' school was making 
a bargain with a Jacobite for one of his daughters, in mar- 
riage, when it came to the ears of the archbishop, and he 
used all his powder with the cadi to prevent the " sale," 
and even threatened the whole family with the extreme 
penalty of the church. But Butrus succeeded in obtain- 
ing the girl, the archbishop having been led to withdraw 
his threat by the intimation that if he did not, the father 
and all his house would join the Protestants. The civil 
marriage was performed at the time the forty-five dollars 
were paid down, neither bridegroom nor bride being 
present ! The money, in such cases, generally goes to the 
bride, and not to the father. The bridegroom's agent 
joined hands with the bride's father; a mysterious ques- 
tion was asked in English, to which they assented in the 
presence of three Moslem witnesses, as Christian testimony 
is not yet admissible in Turkish courts ; a prayer in Arabic 
was then offered, and the ceremony ended. The religious 
service was performed in so quiet and solemn a manner, 
as to impress the assembly, gathered in the court of the 
bridegroom's house, with a good degree of respect for our 
mode of marrying. When a marriage occurs in a native 
church, the noise of the multitude drowns the voices of 
the deacons and priests. Its religious character is lost 
sight of ; if not absolutely a disgusting scene, it is at best 
but ' sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.' 

" The missionaries were also invited, together with the 
ecclesiastics of his own church, to visit a Jacobite friend 
the day after his marriage, much to the mortification of 
the archbishop, who, after so many professions of indiffer- 



LIGHT SPREADING. 



297 



ence to forms and attachment to evangelical religion which 
he had made, in the ears of the Americans, was ashamed 
to bless, in their presence, the handkerchiefs and ribbons 
of the married pair, and to make the sign of the cross oyer 
a gaudy rag, a stuffed onion, or some other article of equal 
importance among the guests. Nor was he exactly pleased 
to be seated at the same table and £ dip his hand in the 
same dish ' with heretics, whom he had refused to see at 
his own house. 

" Light is gradually making its way without the walls 
of the city. Very many sick persons are brought to us 
from the villages ; and we have thought of providing a 
sort of hospital for such diseased strangers. The gospel 
is daily preached to the patients at the dispensary, even 
when the majority of them are Moslems. Few listen more 
calmly and attentively to our doctrines than the followers 
of Mohammed, though our service is aj>pointed for the 
Christians. 

" The average attendance on our Sabbath services is now 
twenty-five. It is still considered a great shame for a 
papist or a Jacobite to be seen going to our chapel. Per- 
secution by threats and stones is not so powerful as the 
finger of scorn or the chuckling laugh. I was told by a 
Jacobite last week, that he and ten of his associates were 
deterred from joining us in our Sabbath services, only by 
the contemptuous tones of their less enlightened relatives. 
The Jacobites are the most hopeful class in Mosul. They 
are constantly battling among themselves. By their own 
confession, their priests are ignorant and avaricious. And 
it is not without its effect, that a peaceful band of Prot- 
estants are preaching by their daily lives that financial 
?nd moral honesty, which, the people will not long fail to 
see, is the characteristic and the proof of orthodoxy rather 
than heresy. 

a The rumors of war which reach the people are very 
exciting; and, to some extent, they interfere with our 



298 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



work. Many of the Christians are thinking of self- 
defense, instead of making God their refuge. In some 
respects, the present is a good time to preach Christ, the 
stone which shall grind to powder all on whom it fails. 
A few months since, the Christians were in great dread 
of an outburst of Moslem fanaticism. The chief Moham- 
medans all carried huge dirks in their bosoms, and it was 
only after an order sent from Constantinople to the 
pasha, enjoining that foreigners and Christians be well 
treated, that the proud Moslems laid aside their daggers, 
and the trembling Christians regained their courage. We 
pray that the Turk may triumph, feeling sure that this 
will secure to the Christians in the empire greater immu- 
nities than they have ever enjoyed since the Crescent rose 
over the land. 

" Just before the arrival of the order from the Porte, of 
which I have been speaking, a Jewish rabbi, with whom 
we have often had discussions, had been seized by the 
order of the Ulema (wise moollahs), and brought before 
the cadi, on a charge of having, four years previous, reviled 
the Prophet ! The cadi declared that he found nothing 
worthy of death in the man ; but when the Ulema threat- 
ened to kill the cadi himself, if he did not sign a paper 
for the execution of the Jew, and actually seized the 
judge, he consented, Pilate-like, to the rabbi's death. 
The man was put in prison, and the Ulema are now 
expecting an order for his execution by every post. Caj> 
ital punishments must have the previous sanction of the 
sultan. Unless Sir Stratford Canning uses his powerful 
influence, the rabbi will soon be beheaded. I visited this 
poor Shiloam, loaded with chains, in his prison ; and his 
haggard look went to my heart. His case, with other 
illustrations of Moslem fanaticism, may serve to awaken 
more prayer to God, that He will so overrule the present 
war, that freedom of speech, and freedom for the Bible, 
may be enjoyed throughout the Orient. 



MOOLLAH YOOSUP. 



299 



"I have frequent visits from Moollah Yoosuf, a fine 
looking man, about fifty years of age, who was formerly a 
Syrian priest. All priests in the Jacobite and papalized 
eastern churches are forbidden to marry after they are 
ordained, and as this man, some time subsequent to the 
loss of his wife, wished to marry again, he was persecuted, 
so that he was obliged to abandon his sect entirely. He 
was even excommunicated, with dreadful anathemas. 
He wanted to join the Jacobites, but they refused him. 
Meanwhile an order, secured through French influence, 
came from Constantinople, for his forcible removal from 
the city. The cawass, that was conducting him to Bagh- 
dad, beat him so cruelly on the way, that when they 
arrived at Arbeel, the priest exclaimed, " There is no God 
but God, and Mohammed is his prophet." Whereupon 
the cawass confessed that he had been hired to kill him 
before they arrived at Baghdad, but now he declared that 
he was his best friend. He was received with the greatest 
kindness by the governor of Arbeel, and conducted back 
to Mosul with great honor, to the chagrin of his Syrian 
oppressors. He now receives an annual stipend from 
the government, and bears the title of Moollah. He tells 
me that he knows Jesus is the only redeemer, and longs 
to confess him before men ; but he thinks God will accept 
his silent, heartfelt service, since an open confession of his 
regard for Christianity, in spite of all the rights guaran- 
teed by the tunzimat, would cause his head to drop 
instantly in the street. 

" A Moslem is now under sentence of death for reviling 
Mohammed ; to blaspheme the name of God is no sin. 

" American Christians should pray much for the triumph 
of righteousness in Turkey, and rejoice, with their mis- 
sionaries, that God reigns." 

In the annual report of the station for 1853, the mis- 
sionaries say : " There is no doubt that our dispensary is 
an important means of advancing our work. Our doc- 



300 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



trines are learned there by many whom we should never 
meet elsewhere. Prejudices are smoothed away, and 
confidence is established in our honesty and good will. 

" We have endeavored in vain to procure a firman from 
the Porte, fixing the salian at fifty piastres a house, the 
sum at which other sects are rated. Consequently our 
enemies have a financial hold upon those who desire to 
join us. They can and do increase their tax at pleasure. 

" The papists are the most wealthy of the Christian 
sects ; and consequently they have the most influence 
with the government. They have tried to wrest from us 
a plot of ground, which we have purchased for a grave- 
yard, endeavoring to induce the Moslems, from whom we 
obtained it, to use their influence with the government to 
this end ; and all this, though one of our deeds is one 
hundred and twenty years old, and ten years, according to 
Turkish law, gives legality to the possession of real estate. 
They would, if it were possible, give our bones no rest, 
any more than did the Roman Catholics of France the 
ashes of the Protestants two centuries ago. 

" The attendance at our Sabbath services has increased, 
this year, twenty per cent. The male members of the 
church are seldom absent, even from our evening services ; 
but the female members are unable to attend the latter, 
on account of the shame attached to a woman's being 
seen in the streets at night. They are evidently growing 
in knowledge and in grace, and have established a repu- 
tation for strict honesty, temperance, and good-will to 
man." 

Those who are in the habit of observing the annual 
Thanksgiving, will be pleased to know that that model 
festival, at once secular and sacred, national and domestic, 
has traveled as far East as Mosul. The sons of the Puri- 
tans observe it on the banks of the Tigris, in sight of 
ancient Nineveh, and they will doubtless carry it with 
them round the globe. Says Dr. Lobdell, in a letter to 



THANKSGIVING IN TURKEY. 



301 



Pr. Perkins, bearing date Nov. 25, 1853 : " It was a 
matter of great rejoicing yesterday morning, that your 
messenger handed us the full packet from Oroomiah and 
Gawar on Thanksgiving clay. This made us doubly 
thankful. You will infer that we celebrated the day a la 
c auld lang syne. 5 So we did, — all but the turkey, sub- 
stituting for that a gazelle from the desert. As Mr. 
Hodder said, 6 Seeing we are in Turkey, it is less neces- 
sary that the turkey be in us.' Brother "Williams 
preached a sermon, showing the new to be better than 
the old, and altogether we had quite a social time of it. 
I am not aware whether you good people in Oroomiah 
are accustomed to observe such occasions, but it really 
seems to me quite apropos that we, poor missionaries as 
we are, should join in the thanksgivings of our countrvmen 
at home ." 

A few selections, taken at random from his journal, will 
afford some glimpses of his private and inward life at this 
time. "We need much direct conversation with each other 
on the subject of growth in grace. It is hard to be Christ- 
like even here. The old man sometimes almost subdues 
the new ; but we know that He who hath begun a good 
work in us, will carry it forward even unto perfection. 

" When I do God's will, I always have peace ; when 
I oppose, I am always disquieted. It requires a hard 
struggle for me to conquer my old nature. There is a 
constant war in my members. My tongue and my 
thoughts struggle. I need grace from God. 

" Too unmindful of my great mercies. Oh for a better 
heart! Solemn thoughts of loneliness if Lucy should die, 
or Mary. 4 Be careful for nothing.' 

"Dec. 18th. Seized with fever about noon, and obliged 
to go to bed. 

" 27th. Was born Julius Henry Lobdell. I was unable 
to be in the room. 

" 29th. All are attentive and kind to Lucy and me. I 
26 



302 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



think our brethren pray for me much. I believe I am 
beloved in Mosul ; and I trust I shall preach even by my 
illness. 

"31st. I have had two very severe attacks of illness, 
this year, besides some others less dangerous. Twice 
have I been in actual danger of death from the Koords ; 
once I was almost shipwrecked. What occasion have I 
for thanksgiving to God that I live ! 

" I lay myself on the altar of the Lord anew. I promise 
to be a more faithful servant ; to live with a more con- 
stant sense of God's presence and providence ; and, as 
much as in me lies, to live peaceably with all men. Oh 
for divine guidance this coming year! I have many 
apprehensions that I may not live to see its close. But I 
am immortal till my work is done. May I be baptized 
with a fresh baptism ; be re-renewed with the renewal of 
the Holy Ghost, and desire to know nothing but Jesus 
Christ and him crucified. To thee, O God, I devote all 
my powers; I give thee my possessions, my wife, my 
children! Wilt thou accept the offering ! It is all I have : 
but it is thine, and may it be acceptable to thee. And 
the praise and glory shall be unto the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen " 



CHAPTER XV. 



Second "Winter in Mosul — Ice — Health — Resolutions — Growth in Grace 
— The Bible — The Dispensary — Spread of the Truth — Nimrood and Koyun- 
jik — Shiloam — Illustrations of Life in Mosul — Oriental Theology — Prot- 
estant Community at Diarbekr — General Meeting of the Assyrian Misson — 
Journey of Dr. Lobdell and Mr Marsh to Diarbekr — Changes and Progress 
there — Letters to Mr. Crane and Dr. Perkins. 

The second winter of Dr. Lobdell's residence at Mosul 
was colder, or, to use language more in accordance with 
our ideas of winter in America, not so warm as the first. 
Dews were more frequent, though still far from being 
common or copious. There was also occasionally some 
appearance of frost; and on the 26th of January, the 
thermometer was down to 27°, and there was ice in the 
gardens — the first which the Doctor had seen in Mosul. 
Still .it was not too cool for health, strength, or comfort. 
It imparted a temporary vigor even to Dr. Lobdell's shat- 
tered frame, and he sometimes writes as if he were well 
and strong again ; though over-exertion soon brought on 
a relapse, and convinced others, and himself too for the 
time, that his constitution was prematurely worn out, and 
would not probably last long. 

He begins the year 1854, as he closed the previous 
year, with a recorded consecration to his work — with 
returning health, (as he flattered himself, though still un- 
able to go to the chapel on Sunday morning, the first 
morning of the new year) and with new faith, hope, and 
joy : "My health is fast improving, and I hope to give all 
my strength, this year, to the service of the Lord. May it 



304 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



be a consecration of the whole heart. There is no satis- 
faction but in hying entirely to him ; let mine be no half- 
way service. 1^ believe I begin the year with stronger 
resolutions than ever before, to hve for eternity and the 
salvation of souls. I am happy, very happy, and trust I 
shall be till I am called up higher, where my happiness 
shall have no alloy." Strange as it may seem to men of 
the world, who find their happiness in wealth and fashion, 
and rank, and standing, missionaries are uniformly found 
to be the happiest of men. They differ in their tempera- 
ments and modes of manifesting their happiness. But 
they are all happy in their work, and in the approval of 
their Master. Seldom have we seen a missionary (and 
we have seen many of them both in this country and at 
their stations), who did not feel that he had the most 
desirable situation, and the most profitable business, the 
highest office, and the largest salary, of any in the wide 
world. The truth is, we are happy just about in the 
same proportion as we deny ourselves to do the will of 
God and benefit our fellow-men. Indeed, this is just what 
the Master promises those who forsake earthly possessions 
and earthly friends for his sake — an hundred fold more 
than they forsake, in this present time, and in the world 
.to come, life everlasting. 

As he advanced in the divine life, Dr. Lobdell had a 
growing conviction of the reality and importance of those 
fundamental truths of revelation, which Rowland Hill 
somewhat quaintly denominated the three IPs, — Ruin by 
Sin, Redemption by Jesus Christ, and Regeneration by the 
Holy Spirit. As he was more deeply and experimentally 
convinced of the depravity of his heart and the corrup- 
tion of his nature, so, as both cause and effect of this con- 
viction, he prized more highly the unspeakable gift of 
salvation by the blood of Christ, and experienced more 
fully the power of the truth and the Spirit of God. The 
Bible, long prized above all price, became more and more 



PREACHING AT THE DISPENSARY. 305 

precious to him ; and he would exclaim : "I enjoyed read- 
ing the Bible more than ever before ; oh ! this is the word 
of lifer " How interesting is the Old Testament ! Even 
the minutest statements of Moses, Ezekiel, and Daniel, are 
full of meaning. Judges, Ecclesiastes, Solomon's Song, 
and the minor prophets are fraught with instruction. 
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and David are angel-seers — divine 
prophets, whose words are pull of life and glory." 

There was not usually so great a rush, either of patients, 
or of disputers and inquirers, at this time, as there had 
been the previous year ; nor was there so much excite- 
ment. Still there were at times a hundred at the dispen- 
sary. Often the Moslems outnumbered the Christians. 
But this was not deemed a sufficient reason for withhold- 
ing the truth of the gospel. The preaching was addressed 
particularly to Christians ; but Christ crucified was boldly 
proclaimed as the only way of salvation for sinful men of 
whatever name or nation. "We yet preach the whole 
counsel of God," says Dr. Lobdell in a letter to Mr. Stod- 
dard, " to Moslems as well as Christians, desiring to be 
f pure from the blood of all men,' as I told the crowd the 
last day I was at the dispensary. Moslems listen with 
great interest, and applaud Protestant Christianity. It 
will not be long before Moslems can turn Christians in 
Turkey ; and we are doing John the Baptist's work for 
them here — a work as necessary as Paul's. How much 
we need the reviving influences of the Holy Ghost ! " The 
dispensary was now the chief field of missionary labor. Yet 
the missionaries had frequent calls at their houses ; and 
there was scarcely a day in which Dr. Lobdell did not 
converse with many of all sects at his study, and always 
more or less directly upon the way of salvation by repen- 
tance towards God and faith in the Lord J esus Christ. 
Often one sect was made the means of exposing the errors 
of another ; and then all alike were arraigned before the 
bar of God, and convicted by " the law and the testimony." 
26* 



306 



MEMOLR OF LOBDELL. 



Even the native Christians, who two years ago never 
dared to speak to a Moslem on any point of religions 
difference, and who a year ago begged the missionaries 
to desist from preaching to the followers of Mohammed, 
now gathering Christian manliness from the example of 
their teachers, conversed with all on their sonls' salvation. 
" We have daily new evidence that the truths of the 
Bible are making a wide and deep impression. A score 
of Christians are now (March 10th, 1854,) sitting in my 
court, waiting for me to expound to them our doctrines. 
They are thowing off their fears of the priesthood ; and 
I am told that even the Chaldeans have stopped kissing 
pictures. The Jacobite clergy have all ceased to preach, 
except the archbishop, as many of their ]3eople know more 
about the Bible than they do; and they are ashamed, 
either to preach from the Fathers, as they have been 
accustomed to do, or publicly to disown their authority. 
They simply attend to the rites of the church. It is about 
thirty years since, Joseph Wolf gave a Bible to a Jacobite 
deacon of Mosul. Before that time, there w^as not a com- 
plete copy in the city. Now multitudes have the Word 
in their hands, and not a few in their hearts. 

" Thirty adults are now taught at their homes by an 
itinerant teacher in our employ ; and thirty more attend 
the male school regularly, or spend some hours there 
every day. One hundred piastres were recently contrib- 
uted in private by a day laborer not yet of our community, 
for the spread of the gospel. This sum is his w^ages for 
month. Are there many Christians in America who con 
tribute a twelfth part of their income for the evangeliza- 
tion of the world ? " The sons of poor parents gave them- 
selves to be educated for the service of the church ; and 
the missionaries began already to agitate the question, 
whether it would not be better to establish a seminary a 
Mosul, than to send young men to Abeih. The gospel 
when once it is fairly introduced, works like leaven 



NATIVE ASSYRIAN MISSIONARIES. 



307 



when it once begins to spread, it spreads often in a myste- 
rious way and with rapidly accelerating velocity. The 
missionaries at Mosul were one day surprised to hear that 
at /Sat, a village in the mountains, which they had never 
visited, and of which they had scarcely heard, a Protest- 
ant community had been spontaneously organized, and 
its representatives had come to Mosul with the first tax 
already collected, to lay it at the pasha's feet. Of course 
he was not slow to accept it, and they went away rejoicing. 

As the influence of Protestant Christianity extended, 
calls for instruction came from greater distances ; and the 
native helpers were sent out as missionaries, not only into 
the villages of the plain, but to the larger towns and cities 
up and down the Tigris. " Kos Michael has returned from 
a tour to Jezireh, where he spent a few weeks preaching 
to the Jacobites. The way is fast opening there for steady 
missionary labor. We have recently made arrangements 
for a school in that city, and another at Nahrwan. 

" Jeremiah and Micha are now absent on a missionary 
tour to Baghdad. They went down the Tigris by raft, 
and having scattered some seeds of Protestantism there, 
are expected to return by the way of Tekrit and Arbeel, 
preaching to the villages along their route. We shall be 
disappointed, if great good is not accomplished by these 
native Assyrian missionaries. 

" Mr. Marsh and myself accompanied them as far as 
Mmrood, where we examined some sculptured gods in 
human form, which have been recently exhumed.* The 
inscription on the largest statue is said to be more impor- 
tant than any hitherto found at Mmrood. The excava- 
tions at Koyunjik are still vigorously prosecuted, and 
several finely panelled rooms have just been laid open. 
The sculptures are the most finished and interesting of 
any yet discovered in Assyria. Yet scarcely half a dozen 

*Dr. L. sent an account of this day's adventures and observations to the 
"Independent." 



308 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



of the people of Mosul have felt interest enough in them 
to visit the ruins, though but a mile distant. Many Mos- 
lems go to Nebbi Yunus weekly, to pray in the mosk 
of Jonah ; but the disentombed idols of the heathen are 
to them objects of disgust. What a flood of light these 
discoveries are pouring upon the sacred Word ! The end 
is not yet." 

Dr. Lobdell's journals and letters, at this as at every other 
period of his life, attest his great love of literature, science, 
and antiquities, and his earnest desire to contribute to 
their advancement, yet his determination to subordinate 
these and every other object of interest to the salvation 
of man and the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom. 
In a letter to Mr. Stoddard, dated Jan. 3, 1854, he says : " I 
was greatly interested in your last letter to Bro. Williams, 
in which you speak of the variation of the magnetic me- 
ridian and other scientific topics. I should be strongly 
tempted to go into certain literary and scientific investiga- 
tions, which might be prosecuted here to advantage, were 
it not that higher employments demand almost all my 
strength. I have a great taste for natural history and 
antiquities. But the missionary can only sip at these 
fountains, and leave the full draught to the professed 
devotees of science." 

So in regard to epistolary correspondence, which he 
greatly enjoyed, he did not suffer it to interfere with his 
work, and he did not wish his friends, much as he rejoiced 
in their letters, to write him when they had more impor- 
tant duties : " Never let your correspondence with me (so 
he writes his former pastor, Rev. W. C. Scofield) inter- 
fere with your public duties, as I never mean to allow it 
to interfere with mine. All my letters are written in 
great haste, at odd intervals, and when no one is present 
with whom I may talk about the things of salvation, for 
you must know that missionary preaching is not on the 



THE JEWISH KABBI. 



309 



Sabbath only, but throughout the week it is c warning 
every one night and clay.' I seldom allow a man to leave 
my house without speaking to him of Christ. At present, 
March, 1854, I have a hundred patients daily — all sorts 
of diseases being represented, from leprosy down to scald- 
head. We preach salvation by Christ crucified {the doc- 
trine most of all hated by Moslems) without reserve, and 
the truth daily triumphs. Our boldness may be danger- 
ous ; but we can not do otherwise than recommend Jesus 
to all? 

Shiloam, the Jewish rabbi, whose imprisonment was 
mentioned in the last chapter, and in whose behalf the 
American missionaries, as well as the English consul at 
Mosul, interposed their best offices, was rescued from death 
through the influence of Sir Stratford Canning. The 
Sheikh el Islam at Constantinople reversed his sentence, 
and administered a severe rebuke to the Ulema for their 
blind fanaticism. The rabbi, however, purchased his life 
somewhat dearly, as he was ordered to report himself 
forthwith at Constantinople ; he was acquitted and saved, 
but he was indirectly robbed of his property and sent 
into exile. 

About the same time, the bigotry and persecuting zeal 
of the papalized Nestorians and Jacobites received a 
check. "Last Sabbath evening, a Jacobite fled to my 
house in great terror. It seems that he and his brother 
were declaring to a crowd of Chaldeans and Jacobites, 
that Christ is the onlv Mediator, and that the Virgin 
Mary does not desire or approve of prayers offered to her- 
self ; when, in lieu of other arguments, they were attacked 
by the worshipers of the Virgin, with threats of personal 
injury and even of imprisonment. The brothers took to 
flight, but one of them was soon seized by a cawass 
sent by the English consul on complaint of the Chal- 
deans through his papal brother, and the parties met face 
to face before the Protestant judge. Mr. Rassam did not 



310 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



fail to administer to the crowd a stern rebuke, and even 
to preach to them an expository sermon, closing with the 
remark that, 'the Americans are preaching Protestant 
doctrines every day at their dispensary to scores and hun- 
dreds of Moslems, as well as Christians, and no one ever 
troubles them.' The Jacobite was discharged, and he 
and his brother, and a multitude of others, are allowed free 
speech among the Christian sects ; and even the Moslems 
listen with interest to their harangues." 

The children of Mr. Williams and of Dr. Lobdell were 
in the habit of riding out for their health under the care 
of a servant, in wicker baskets of suitable dimensions, 
properly fitted, furnished, and protected from the sun, 
which were slung across the back of a donkey, one on 
either side, like the old-fashioned saddle-bags. It was a 
very convenient and not unpleasant fashion, imported from 
Oroomiah, and it attracted not a little attention from the 
boys and even " children of a larger growth," who some- 
times took the liberty to annoy them and to throw stones 
at them as they threaded the narrow streets. It became 
necessary to put a stop to this rude sport. Mr. Rassam 
was attentive and efficient in such matters. Several 
policemen were sent to hunt up the guilty parties. " Three 
were imprisoned. One large boy, who had struck the ser- 
vant, was seized only by the police taking the chief 
man in his quarter as security, till he was delivered up ! 
This is a phase of Turkish law — making a town or quar- 
ter responsible for the evil done in it." 

Dr. Lobdell makes frequent mention in his journal, of 
such primitive usages of society, and also of still more 
primitive processes in labor, which were constantly attract- 
ing his observation. As examples of the latter may be 
instanced the use of the hands for a trowel, by masons ; 
the use of the great toes as a vice, by carpenters and 
other mechanics ; the employment of a spade held by one 
man and drawn with a rope by another, as a scraper in 



ORIENTAL THEOLOGY. 



311 



digging trenches in the fields and gardens ; and the sons of 
the desert riding their fiery steeds with a mere halter, 
without bit or bridle. 

But nothing in all the Orient struck him so strangely as 
some of their crude and contradictory notions in theology, 
and the more crude and contradictory arguments by 
which they supported them. Sometimes in their idola- 
trous attachment to Mary, the so-called Christians would 
argue that Mary, Christ, and God were all the same, thus 
justifying and explaining the misapprehension which Dr. 
Lobdell found to be the prevailing idea of the Trinity 
among the Mohammedans, viz. : that it consists of the 
Father, the Son, and the Virgin Mary. At other times 
they would endeavor to explain away their Mariolatry, and 
would declare that they did not worship the Virgin, or 
pray to her. And then he would read to them from one 
of the prayers in their liturgy : " Oh, Virgin Mary, pray 
for us ; oh, door of heaven ; oh, mother of divine grace ; 
oh, sjDotless mother ; oh, mother of the Creator ; oh, ref- 
uge of sinners ; oh, defence of Christians ; oh, queen of 
angels ! " and a whole page of epithets equally extrava- 
gant and idolatrous. 

Even the Moslem women caught the language of their 
Christian sisters, and begged of the Doctor that he would 
heal them for the sake of the Virgin Mary. " Who is 
she ? " asked the Doctor of such a woman. " They (i. e. 
the Christian women) say so." " Yes, but who is she ? " "I 
do n't know." " Who is Christ ? " "I do n't know." " Do 
you know who Allah is ? " She looked up and smote her 
breast. " Where is he ? " "I do n't know." " What is 
he ? " " Allah — I only know that." 

The only passage of Scripture by which those who 
prayed to the saints, attempted to justify the practice, was 
the prayer of the rich man to father Abraham in the 
parable of Dives and Lazarus, which, the Doctor told 



812 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



them, did not appear to him to he a very encouraging 

example. 

The Jacohites advanced very inconsistent doctrines and 
arguments touching the character and condition of infants. 
In the course of the same discussion, the same men argued, 
1st, that all unbaptized infants are lost ; 2d, that ail chil- 
dren are sinless, since Christ came and took away the 
effects of original sin ; and 3d, all children are saved, if 
they die before they sin ; for Christ said, " Of such is the 
kingdom of heaven." " Admirable consistency ! These 
people see but a short distance into logic." 

The Protestant community at Diarbekr was not a little 
agitated at this time by the working of more or less of 
the old leaven of baptismal regeneration. " Christ," they 
argued, " commanded his disciples to baptize as well as to 
23reach the gospel ;" and they wished baptism for all, and 
that all moral Protestants, at least, should be admitted to 
the church. The truth was spreading, and there were 
doubtless true Christians among them. But two out of 
the three original members of the church (or rather com- 
muni o?i, for Dr. Smith had not organized it formally or 
fully as a church) gave no suitable evidence of personal 
piety ; the man whom they had chosen for their civil head 
proved also to be a bad man ; and to complete the 
catalogue of their trials, the pasha, whom they had been 
so anxious to get rid of, was succeeded by a fresh and 
more hungry blood-sucker, who preyed upon all sects and 
all classes without mercy, though not without partiality, 
for he was particularly hostile to the Protestants. For 
example, he demanded of the candle-makers that they 
should sell him candies at thirty per cent, less than the cost, 
that he might speculate on them by sending them to Con- 
stantinople, and when they refused, he arrested them and 
made them sweep the streets in chains.* 

* One of them, who was a Protestant, made his escape, fled to Mardin, and 
there preached the gospel, like the persecuted disciples in the apostolic age. 



FIRST GENERAL MEETING. 



313 



These difficulties seemed to demand consultation. Ac- 
cordingly a meeting was held at Mosul — the first general 
meeting of the Assyrian Mission. Mr. Dunmore, and 
Mr. and Mrs. Walker, of Diarbekr, arrived at Mosul on the 
morning of the 6th of March, and the missionaries held 
daily meetings for business and for devotional exercises 
through ten successive days, at the same time enjoying 
such social and Christian intercourse — with psalms and 
hymns and spiritual songs, talking of old times and their 
old home, and of the better time and the better home 
that awaited them — as none can but missionaries, cer- 
tainly none but Christians in a strange land. The subjects 
that were discussed, and the conclusions that were reached, 
need not be specified. They made arrangements for a 
similar meeting the next year, and assigned subjects for 
examination during the interval. The Jews and the Yezi- 
dees were referred to the special consideration of' Dr. 
Lobdell ; but he was never to report on it — never again 
to enjoy such a reunion. 

It was thought advisable that Mr. Marsh and Dr. Lob- 
dell should return with Messrs. Dunmore and Walker, and 
reorganize the church at Diarbekr, and, if possible, estab- 
lish the community there on a better foundation. They 
left Mosul on the 25th of March. Their general course 
was north-west. The first three days, they traveled across 
the desert, a wide plain destitute of trees and running 
water, but at this season covered with grass and flowers, 
once, probably, affording sustenance to a numerous and 
settled population, of which an occasional mound gives 
evidence, but now without a single village or permanent 
habitation, peopled only by wandering Arabs and Koords, 
with their flocks and herds and tents. But our travelers 
were without fear, as they marched in caravan style by 
day, and at night pitched their tents near some nomadic 
camp, or beside some sluggish pool ; for they were guided 
by two sons of the desert, who led the way both mounted 
27 



314 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



on one deloul, (dromedary,) and commended them to th 
good will of their brethren ; and they were further pro- 
tected, in the most dangerous part of their journey, by 
guard of horsemen from the city. 

On the fourth day, they passed Xisibin, (the ancien 
ISTisibis,) now a mud town, with a solitary minaret, and 
few moldering columns and arches scattered among it 
miserable hoyels or in the plowed fields around, to tell o 
better days ; but interesting in its situation, near th 
sources of the Chabour, (the river Chebar of Ezekiel,) an 
once famous as the site of that truly "noble" theologic 
school of the Nestorians, of which a North African bisho 
of the sixth century speaks with wonder, because "th 
Holy Scriptures were expounded by teachers public! 
appointed, in the same manner as grammar and rhetori 
were among the Romans." * The fourth night, the 
pitched their tents amid the melancholy ruins of Dara 
fragments of walls, and gates, and arches, and temples 
immense reseryoirs, with remains of the aqueducts tha 
brought down water from the low ranges of Jebel Tour — 
and splendid tombs, carved out of the solid rock, with 
rich architectural forms and ornaments, attesting at once 
the utility and the grandeur of Roman civilization, and 
bearing witness with equal explicitness to the barbarism 
of the Turk. The imagination of Gibbon was enkindled, 
as he described the former magnificence of this city and 
stronghold of the Romans, in their fierce struggles with 
the Persians on the remotest eastern border of their em- 
pire. Dr. Lobdell, as he gazed on the ruins, especially of 
the aqueducts and roads — those most characteristic signs 
and means of Roman civilization — was struck with won- 
der at the grandeur of that ancient empire, and felt that 
even England must wait long before she would arrive at 
such an elevation, and probably would never reach it. 



*See Keander's Church History, vol. II. p. 150. Torrey's Ed. 



315 



Dara is five hours north-west of Nisibin. After six 
hours' further travel in the same direction the next day, 
they came on Saturday evening to Mardin, where they 
spent the Sabbath, " receiving numerous calls from the 
Jacobites and Syrian Catholics. They looked on us with 
some suspicion; yet they evidently thought it best to 
investigate somewhat the Protestant faith. May the light 
break forth speedily in that city, which, though 4 set on a 
hill,' gives not even c a dim religious light.' We might 
have kept further west, and reached Diarbekr without 
crossing the mountain ridges ; but we thought it desirable 
to see Mardin, the ecclesiastical capital of the Jacobites, 
especially as we are about to apply to the Prudential Com- 
mittee for missionaries to be stationed there. The town 
is built on the summit of a ridge of Jebel Tour, in a semi- 
circle, facing the great Mesopotamian plain on the south ; 
the houses rise in the bee-hive style, one cell above 
another ; and what a humming there is in the hive ! An 
old Saracenic castle rises ruinous yet venerable, like an 
acropolis, above the whole, and, guarded by half a dozen 
cannon and a few soldiers, commands the town. The 
castellated rock and Saracenic walls and mosks con- 
trast strangely with the rude structures now inhabited by 
Turks, Koords, Jacobites; Syrian Catholics, Armenian 
Catholics, and Chaldeans. Poverty and decay are written 
all over the city." 

There was nothing particularly worthy of note on the 
remainder of their journey. The country — the Mesopota- 
mia of the Scriptures — was New-England-like in surface, 
though of course without New England villages or for- 
ests. They suffered much from the rain and cold. Two 
days from Mardin, brought them to feel the chilling blasts 
from Kara Dagh, of which they had so distinct a recollec- 
tion on the journey from Aleppo to Diarbekr ; and on the 
third day, about noon, the minarets, domes, and walls of 



316 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



Diarbekr rose before them with a sj)lendor which, at every 
new view, only excited increased admiration. 

During the stay of the brethren from Mosul, the church 
at Diarbekr was organized anew. Out of twenty candi- 
dates, whom they examined, eleven were accepted, who 
were constituted into a church, with a creed and cove- 
nant, in the presence of three hundred persons. Mean- 
while Dr. Lobdell was almost constantly employed in 
medical practice also, having a hundred Christian patients 
daily. The missionaries were still stoned and hooted at, 
every time they went into the streets ; but the gospel had 
already taken such a hold on the city, as in their view to 
insure its triumph. The infant church was subject to a 
severe trial at the commencement of its existence. Mrs. 
Dunmore could not live in the city in the summer. She 
was already at Arabkir, and it now became necessary for 
her husband to join her. It was not safe to leave Mr. and 
Mrs. Walker alone. The brethren from Mosul were so 
situated that neither of them could be away from their 
own station. In fine, it was reluctantly decided that Mr. 
and Mrs. Walker should go to Aintab ; and thus the little 
church would be left for the summer entirely hi the hands 
of native helpers. They deplored the necessity. They 
felt deeply the want of reinforcements. Dr. Lobdell was 
agitating the question of going w r ith Mr. Dunmore to 
Arabkir, to advise in reference to Mrs. Dunmore's further 
continuance in the missionary field, when he was sum- 
moned to return to Mosul, by the increasing illness of 
Mrs. Williams. He returned by raft down the Tigris. 
And while he floated down the river, just as he had done 
two years before, he wrote an indefinite number of letters 
to his friends, corrected several mistakes in the map of 
Mr. Wyld, "geographer to her Majesty, Queen Victoria," 
enjoyed again the beautiful and the grand features of the 
more familiar but not less interesting landscape, and 
arrived in Mosul on the 21st of April, having performed, 



LETTER TO ME. CRANE. 



317 



in three clays and a half, the distance which had taken 
nine days in the journey up by land, and having been 
absent from home about a month. 

Of the friendly and familiar letters which he wrote at 
this time, portions of two are subjoined. They illustrate 
his friendly and affectionate nature, his sympathy with the 
trials and afflictions of others, and his desire to comfort 
them with the consolation wherewith he himself was com- 
forted, even the peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing. The first is to his Auburn friend and brother, 
Mr. Crane, stationed at Gawar. It is dated at Mosul, 
Jan. 4, 1854 : 

Dear Brother Crane : — It pained me much to hear 
of the illness of our dear brother Rhea ; but w^e get some 
relief in the hope that he is now well again and about his 
customary labors. What a place is Gawar for a sick 
American in mid winter ! But I am glad you both have 
some knowledge of medicine. You see, your practice 
upon natives has a reflex benefit, as well as the sending 
forth of missionaries. 

I should judge that brother Rhea's attack was very 
much like the one I had about the same time. When 
Kallash (the messenger) arrived, I was just getting out 
of my bed, where I had been for nearly a fortnight; and 
I think the pleasant notes from my dear brethren over the 
mountains had much to do towards my restoration. It is 
almost half in the practice of medicine to keep the spirits 
up — to make the course of thought flow smoothly on. 
And I have no doubt, that the consoling influences of our 
Christian faith are often better for a diseased body, than 
all the calomel and opium in the world. 

It is ours to cherish this faith and hope, to be sup- 
ported by them in our hours of trial. I doubt not you 
endure your separation from your "wife, in these times of 
peril, far more easily from your trust in God, and from a 
27* 



318 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



conviction that it is his will. Oh, what a peace of mind 
— a peace passing the limits of the understanding — does 
a true faith in an omnipresent and loving God afford those 
who are in danger and doubt ! Give me this peace, and 
the world may have its gold and its baubles. I want it 
when I am lying on a sick-bed here among the ashes of 
Nineveh, not knowing what is to become of wife and 
babes — I want it when fierce Koords point their guns at 
my bosom and seize their daggers w r ith murder in their 
eyes — I want it in perils by sea and by land — and at all 
times I want it — God's best gift to man. 

The other letter is to Dr. Perkins, the memory of w^hose 
more than brotherly kindness was still fresh and fragrant 
in his heart. It is dated, Mosul, Feb. 6, 1854 : 

Dear Brother : — Your full letter of Jan. 14th con- 
tained many interesting thoughts, and I regret that I have 
too little time to give it such a reply as it deserves. But 
you will " take the will for the deed," and allow me to 
hurry through my note, that I may this evening answer 
the letters of my other correspondents in your quarter. 
Somehow, I feel a sort of filial obligation to give my first 
attention to your letters ; I can not drive from my mind, 
if I would, the thought of your j^aternal care of me, while 
lodging under your roof. And when I speak of filial obli- 
gations, I want your good wife to understand, that she 
comes in for a share. The Lord bless and comfort you 
both, as you go on your pilgrimage. Your allusion to the 
probability of Henry's having a feeble hold on life, makes 
me deeply interested in him, and I shall not forget him in 
my poor j^rayers. Should he also lead your way to heaven, 
what could make you wish to linger longer here ? Surely 
if one's treasures are all in heaven, his heart will be there 
also. 

I thank you for sending me that pleasant note of Mrs. 



LETTER TO DR. PERKINS. 



319 



Sigourney's, with her beautiful lines — " Judith Grant 
Perkins." How delightful for you to think of her, as 

" Where by the River of the Blest, 
Your 'Persian Flower' will fade no more.' 7 

My little ones are both now suffering with severe colds, 
and the thought of the possibility of either of them being 
taken away, chastens the joys which I feel in their presence 
and smiles. But here too we may profitably trust. I 
believe I have a great affection for children, and it often 
cheers me to think of the little ones in your circle. I 
wonder if some of them can not be induced to pray daily 
for our little Mary, if I will promise them that Mary shall 
pray for them ? Suppose I make such an arrangement 
with Henry, and begin before his assent comes! I think 
it does children good to think of others whom they have 
never seen even, as interested in them. Mr. Stern's Kitty, 
who was in Mosul a few days last winter, has not yet 
passed from Mary's mind ; and I suppose Katy Cochran 
still remembers the burial of her dear Judith. 

Our readers will not ask any apology for this beautiful 
picture of domestic tenderness, with its mingled sorrows 
and joys, in the life of earnest and whole-souled mission- 
aries. Parents and children both, we are sure, will admire 
it ; we trust they will also learn from it some valuable 
lessons of parental duty and early piety. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Riots at Mosul — Intercourse with Mosul Dignitaries — The Cadi — The Kai- 
niakam — Yiehye Effendi — The Prince of the Scholars — The Prince of the 
Merchants — The Pasha — Death of Yiehye Effendi and Moollah Yussuf 

— Burial Rites — Moslem Bigotry — Journey with Mrs. Williams for her 
Health — Akra — Paradise — Morality no part of Religion — Dr. Bacon 

— Rural Scene — Increased Illness of Mrs. Williams — Death — Return to 
Mosul — Sickness of Mr. Williams — Death again in the Missionary Circle 

— Death of Friends in America — Of Mr. Crane — Missionary Work — 
Plot for an Insurrection — Letter to the Tribune in Defence of Missions — 
To the Society of Inquiry at Andover — Anti-Slavery Circular — Notes on 
Xenophon's Anabasis — Contributions to the American Oriental Society — 
Letters of Professors Salisbury and Whitney — Theology. 

In the summer of 1854, Mosul was disturbed by more 
than one attempt at riot and insurrection, proceeding 
partly from political and partly from religious motives. 
The war which involved the fate not of the empire only, 
but perhaps of Islam itself, excited the fanatical passions 
of the people ; and troops w T hich were enlisted for the 
service of the Sultan, in the remotest provinces of his 
dominions, seized on every opportunity for plunder and 
acts of violence. Some two thousand Koords from Akra 
and its vicinity, finding themselves together in Mosul, with 
arms in their hands, and further incited by Moslems in the 
city, began to insult the Christians, wherever they met 
them in the streets. They tore off the white kerchiefs of 
the J ews and native Christians. They met Dr. Lobdell, 
and cried, " Ho, Franjee, (Frank,) let us kill him." The 
Greeks, whom they called Russians, were especially obnox- 
ious to their ferocious assaults. Even Moslems were not 
exempt from their insults. They shot at one, pierced 
another w^ith a dagger, entered private houses for plunder 



KOORDISH SOLDIERS. 



321* 



and for worse purposes, till there was no safety either in 
going abroad or staying at home. At length the English 
Consul, followed by nearly a hundred Christians, went to 
the palace, (the Koords firing over their heads as they 
went,) and told the pasha that unless he ordered the 
Koords out of town at once, he, the consul, would start 
forthwith for Constantinople ; that then, in two hours, the 
Christians would be massacred, and their blood would be 
on the pasha's head ; whereas, if he would act energet- 
ically, he would put a tall feather in his cap at the capital. 
Moved by mingled threats and flatteries, the pasha sent 
for Ressoul Pasha, (commander of these Koordish recruits,) 
and ordered him to have some forty-five of his men bas- 
tinadoed. The order was executed, the blows being laid 
upon the backs and not upon the feet of the victims ; and 
then the whole body were marched out of the city with 
their guns and jugs and plunder, and soon sent on their 
way to the seat of the war. Some days elapsed before 
the city was quieted, and the Christians relieved of their 
apprehensions. There were still rumors of an intended 
insurrection among the Moslems. "The Christians — 
women especially — are in great terror. Few go into the 
streets. The pasha peregrinates the city in a mask. Spies 
are out. Squads of soldiers are on the watch. The sol- 
diers themselves are not to be trusted, as they belong to 
the town. Rassam's horse fell with him to-day, to the 
great joy of the Moslems standing around; they deem it 
an omen." Before the close of the summer, we shall see 
how they further plotted for the fulfillment of the omen 
in the death of the consul, and the massacre of the entire 
Christian population. 

After this riot, Dr. Lobdell saw more than usual of the 
Turkish dignitaries. Among others, he called on his old 
acquaintance, the Cadi. " He showed me a fine Persian 
manuscript, ornamented with gilt and Cufic. Tea was 
passed. He gave me a long history of his sickness, and 



322 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



his refusal to take medicines prescribed by his physicians ; 
and was horrified at my proposal that he should take a 
little wine in his weakness. I told him that if the greatest 
man in our country refused to take the medicine ordered 
by a physician, the doctor would have nothing to do with 
him, and that this was my rule in Mosul ! He thanked 
me for my advice, and I left. Met Koords and Aghas of 
the town on my way home — all sullen. Still the aristoc- 
racy affect to oppose the fanatics. Sheriff Bey and the 
Cadi himself are thought to be favorable to the rioters." 

The next day, May 6th, he received a call from the 
commander of the troops, the Kaimakam or Colonel, and 
his doctor. " Prescribed for him, and then talked of the 
state of the town. The Colonel admitted that he and the 
other officials were greatly afraid of the insurgents ; but 
he thinks the danger is over. I do not. Ramadan is just 

at hand Visited Yiehye Effendi, one of the fallen 

aristocracy, now sick — my warm friend, and one of whom 
I am not ashamed. May I strive more and more for his 
salvation. He is intelligent, honest, and inquiring. Met 
Abd Allah Effendi, the most learned man of the town. 
Refused to prescribe for a man brought near to death 
under the care of the phlebotomizing padres. The prac- 
tice of bleeding every body was introduced here by the 
Italian quacks, and now it is the great specific. I seldom 
bleed, even in this hot climate." 

" Seyid Shahab asks me if Latin is my vernacular, and 
if the characte rs are the same as the English. He was 
greatly indignant when I read from Ockley's History 
of the Saracens, on native authority, that Mohammed 
acknowledged his inferiority to Christ by praying to 
him, whereas the other prophets prayed to Mohammed 
himself." 

" May 12th. Hussein Chelebi ibn Haj Murad, the prince 
of the merchants of Mosul, called. One of his attendants 
told me that his horse was the best one this side of heaven ! 



VISIT TO THE PASHA. 



323 



Neither lie nor his companions could get much idea of my 
big maps. A Yankee boy of six years knows more about 
the world, than the most learned man in Mosul. It is 
interesting to see the great men here display what knowl- 
edge they have to one another, and yet all 'cave in ' to us : 
'they are Franjee — they know every thing.' This Hus- 
sein has never seen the Koyunjik excavations — a very 
learned man ! 

" May 25. Accompanied Jeremiah to the pasha's palace. 
At first, went to the vice-pasha's. His barber was trim- 
ming him down. He is a proud, fine-looking fellow ; was 
dressed in gay colors, having on a green toga, lined with 
light-colored fur. The chief scribe forgot his anger at me 
for not seeing him when sick a year and a half ago. Coffee 
without sugar. Talk. 

" Thence went to the reception room of the pasha. The 
deftardar (treasurer) was in. Both received us pleasantly, 
and I had a very interesting conversation with the pasha 
respecting our work here, our motives, and our general 
arrangements, and the state of Tel Keif. He says, that 
if a few men will come to him from that place, and say 
they want a teacher from us, they shall be protected ; but 
Kos Michael can not go, as the Sultan forbids it. I was 
surprised at the cordiality of the pasha, and was glad to 
make Mm acquainted with our faith. Next went to the 
Kaimakam's (Colonel's). Sherbet and coffee. Pleasant 
chat ; saw sick men ; examined Jewish doctor's medi- 
cines — left, glad I had gone to see the dignitaries, as they 
had sent for me. The pasha evidently has a desire to cul- 
tivate our friendship. I think it is well to be on good 
terms with him." 

Dr. Lobdell was soon called to mourn the death of his 
Mussulman " friend," Yiehye Effendi, without any satisfac- 
tory hope that he was a believer in Jesus. The Koran 
was read through, or rather rehearsed entire, every day 
for three days, at the mosk nearest his house, by four or 



324 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



five blind men, the Oriental representatives of the blind 
rhapsodists of ancient Greece. The body was wrapped 
from head to foot in wide sheeting, laid in the shallow 
grave on the right side, with the face looking towards 
Mecca, and then, without any coffin, covered with flat 
stones ; and the Moslems thought little more of the 
matter, but Dr. Lobdell could not help asking, with deep 
solicitude, Where is his soul ? 

A few days after, Moollah Yusuf, the once Christian 
priest, whose conversion by violence has been narrated in 
a former chapter, sent for the doctor to come and see him ; 
but he was prevented from going. The next day, he 
heard that the poor Moollah was dead. 

The following incident illustrates the bigotry of the 
Moslems : " Yezdinshir Bey, nephew of Beder Khan Bey, 
called. I showed him a printed copy of the Koran. He 
said I must not read it ! This was a Moslem book. It 
did not belong to a Christian. I was reminded of the 
man who snatched a copy from my hand while at a book- 
stall in Tabreez. This bey w^ent on to say how united 
the Moslems are, and always have been, and how the 
Christians are split into sects. I spoke of the Persian 
Shiihs ; but he said, we do not recognize them as Mos- 
lems ; they do not receive the Koran as it is. I told him, 
they pretend to, which is the case with many who call 
themselves Christians ; but they only are true Christians, 
who receive the Bible as it is. This argument he could 
appreciate." 

Ever since Dr. Lobdell's recall from Diarbekr on her 
account, Mrs. Williams had been oscillating between the 
hope of recovery and the fear of a decline. But as the 
summer advanced, the symptoms grew more unfavorable, 
and it became apparent that she could not long endure 
the excessive heat of Mosul. Neither did there seem to 
be any considerable prospect of her safe removal to a 
cooler climate. Still she was very anxious to try the 



JOURNEY TO MOUNTAINS WITH MRS. WILLIAMS. 325 

experiment, and the Doctor, though with great misgivings, 
yielded to her request, and accompanied his patient, with 
her husband and children, on a journey to the mountains, 
with the expectation, if she should be found to endure the 
journey, that Dr. Wright would meet the party there, 
and, taking Dr. Lobdell's place, conduct them to Oroo- 
miah. Mrs. Williams, the nurse, and baby, were put into 
covered frames with seats, which being bound to the sides 
of a mule, furnished a tolerably comfortable carriage, as 
well as protection from the morning and evening sun. 
The two eldest children, (a little boy and girl), rode in a 
pair of baskets, pannier-like, on a mule's back. The fam- 
ily, the physician, the interpreter, and the baggage, made 
up a train of a dozen animals, besides the guards, that 
accompanied them. They left Mosul on the evening of 
the 13th of June, crossed the Tigris on the high-prowed 
ferry boats, whose form has come down unchanged from 
the days of Sennacherib, and at the request of Capt. Lof- 
tus, who was now excavating there, in the employ of 
the Assyrian Society, passed the first night on the mound 
of Koyunjik. The next morning they started across the 
ruins of Nineveh, while the sun was yet hid behind the 
peaks of Koordistan. It was the same month, and the 
same day of the month, on which Dr. Lobdell had 
set out, the year before, on his tour to Oroomiah. 
And they traveled amid the same rustic scenes which 
he then described, — peasants reaping and threshing 
their grain, women winnowing and grinding it, shep- 
herds watching their flocks of sheep and goats, — with 
now and then a mound marking the site of an ancient 
town, perchance, also, of a modern village. They passed 
on, as rapidly as the invalid could bear, for three days, or 
rather three nights, for they could not travel at all in the 
heat of the day, till they came to Akra, a Koordish town, 
about sixty miles from Mosul, and in a direction a little 
north of east, where the cool air of the mountains strives 
28 



326 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



almost in vain to neutralize the heat of the plain. There, 
on the borders of the territory of the ancient Carduchi, 
they were detained ten days, Mrs. Williams not being in 
a condition to travel. " The town is built on the south 
side of a cliff belonging to the Koordish range forming the 
eastern boundary of the plain of Navkoor, through which 
pass the Gomel (Gaugamela) and Khazir rivers, the two 
uniting at a point visible from the town, to form the 
Bumadus. By means of the small streams gushing out 
of the mountain, the vales between the ridges are thor- 
oughly irrigated, and the gardens are pictures of loveli- 
ness, — the Oriental paradises are always gardens filled 
with fruit-bearing trees. I noticed at Akra the mulberry, 
plum, olive, pear, apple, English walnut, apricot, pome- 
granate, and fig ; grapes also are produced in abundance." 
It is from this very region, — ancient Persia, — that we 
derive the word paradise, and it is from such scenes of 
almost unearthly beauty and loveliness, where, under the 
combined influence of a tropical sun and an abundant 
supply of water, flowers bloom and fruits ripen perpetu- 
ally, amid rugged mountains and barren deserts, — it is 
from such scenes that the sacred writers have borrowed 
the imagery by which they would fain give us some faint 
conception of the Paradise of God, as contrasted with the 
roughness and barrenness of the present life. 

But like Sheikh Laui, which he visited the previous 
year, this was " Paradise Lost." The Koords are bigoted 
^Mohammedans, and ferocious tyrants. The Jews and 
Christians are ignorant and superstitious slaves, and 
afforded ample room for philanthropic and missionary 
labor, whenever the Doctor could be spared from attend- 
ance on the suffering invalid. They were frightened 
beyond measure, when he asked to see an amulet which 
was worn on the neck of a young Koord, and finding it to 
be a neat little volume of extracts from the Koran, pre- 
sumed to read aloud from the book in the presence of the 



CORRUPT CHRISTIANITY. 



327 



Koords. Had a native Christian done the same, his head 
would have paid the penalty. Their religion, consisting 
almost exclusively of a few external rites and ceremonies, 
is at an equal remove from evangelical faith and from 
genuine good works. Morality has nothing to do with it, 
and the virtues that should adorn the Christian character, 
are deemed quite impracticable. " Do you love that man 
by ^our side ? " said Dr. Lobdell, one day, to a Jacobite. 
" I love him with my face," he replied, " not with my 
heart." When asked if they ever lied, they invariably 
answered by asking, " Is there a man living who does not 
lie ? " A Syrian proved that he was not destitute of 
faith, by relating a preposterous popish miracle of recent 
occurrence, and declaring that he believed it. Another 
was sure he was not a drunkard, for, " not that which 
goeth into the mouth deflleth a man, but that which Com- 
eth out of the mouth, this defileth a man ; " and he did 
not drink enough for that, — he did not drink more than 
ten cups of arrack a day ! Strong drink is distilled from 
raisins, by a rude and simple domestic process ; so that 
almost every house is a distillery. And drunkenness is so 
common among the poor Christians of Akra, that the 
Moslems define a Christian to be, " one who drinks rum, 
and calls Esa (Jesus) the Son of God." The fact that 
the Protestants in Turkey are temperance men, Dr. Lob- 
dell remarks in this connection, does as much to conciliate 
the Moslems, as the fact that they do not bow to pictures 
and worship more than one God. The Jacobite priest 
apologized for the vices of the people by their poverty, 
and for their ignorance by the fact that he was poor, and 
had no time to instruct them. The church is a cavern 
high up among the rocks above the town, unlighted by 
the sun, and constantly damp by the dripping of the 
water. Its chief treasures are a few Syriac and Carshuni * 



* Arabic in Syriac characters. 



328 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



manuscripts, containing the church service, and the sacred 
dust of unknown generations of their fathers, whose 
bodies the Koords will not allow them to bury any where 
outside the walls of the churchyard. 

Dr. Lobdell's compassion was much excited in behalf 
of these poor and oppressed Christians, and he did 
what he could, in frequent interviews with the priests and 
the people, to give them clearer and more correct idea^ of 
the religion of the Bible. 

" There are six hundred houses in the place. Sixteen 
are Jacobite, sixteen Chaldean, forty Jewish, the remain- 
der Koordish. The governor is a Koord, — the rival of 
Mustapha Agha, of Zibar, who wrote the letter to Khan 
Afdal, to procure the murder of Dr. Bacon and his com- 
panions, three years ago. The moollah, who saved their 
lives, is still regarded with great veneration, for his sanc- 
tity, which is said to be unequalled by any of the moun^ 
taineers. Their escape seems to me almost miraculous." 

But we must return to the tent, which our travelers, 
after having slept the first night in the street, pitched the 
next day (Saturday) among the rocks and trees by a 
running brook, near the town, expecting to spend the 
Sabbath only, and then to continue their journey. But 
Mrs. Williams was taken worse, and brought nigh unto 
death ; the children also were afflicted with ophthalmia 
in a severe form. There was a sunny as well as a shady 
side to the picture of their situation, as Dr. Lobdell 
sketched it to his mother, when Mrs. W. was some better. 
Had he been alone — could he have forgotten his almost 
dying sister, his afflicted brother, and their suffering chil- 
dren — he would greatly have enjoyed the place. "The 
air is so balmy at night, that I sleep under a spreading 
mulberry, which occasionally drops its white fruit upon 
my bed, and sometimes into my mouth. Three times a 
day I have access to a table spread with bread, honey, 
cake, rice, tea, cobab^ smead^ lebn, mulberries, apricots, 



DEATH OF MRS. WILLIAMS. 



329 



and a kind of plum. At evening, numerous Christians 
come for conversation on Protestantism, and European 
art and science. The seeds of truth are sown, and prom- 
ise, even on this hard soil, to bear fruit. Daily I prescribe 
for sick Koords and Christians, and receive their benedic- 
tions. While not asleep, I can gaze upon the pomegran- 
ate bushes, hung with scarlet flowers and green fruit; 
upon the spreading fig-trees, whose light-colored branches 
remind one of a fat baby's arms, the green fruit sucking 
up the milky sap, and the great leaves recalling the aprons 
of Adam and Eve in the garden of God ; upon the vines 
that run luxuriantly from tree to tree, and their pendent 
clusters ; upon the large fresh walnut-trees, with their 
round balls of fruit ; deep green olives ; bushy plums ; 
apple-like apricot trees, and small apple orchards — a 
paradise like those you fancy to exist in the tropics, 
where birds sing, human voices echo, brooks murmur, and 
every man sits under his own vine and fig-tree." 

But in the tent near by, was the sick mother, stretched 
upon a bed on the ground, not knowing but it was to be 
her dying bed, the anxious husband hanging over her 
and ministering to her, and the distressed children 'gath- 
ering around her — the thermometer, hanging from a 
pomegranate branch in the tent, indicates, at two in the 
afternoon, a temperature of from 87° to 93°, and the 
patient's pulse, as the doctor anxiously feels it, counts 
from a hundred to a hundred and twenty. It was 
not till Tuesday, the 27th of June, that they moved 
onward, and that with little or no hope that Mrs. W. 
would ever reach Oroomiah. The rest is briefly told in 
the words of Dr. Lobdell : " We went eastward a 
few hours, and all slept on our quilts spread upon the 
ground under the clear sky. The next morning, we came 
to Kapusa, a dirty village of Koords, which had been 
deserted by the people on account of the fleas. We spent 
the heat of the day under a mulberry tree, and left at 
28* 



330 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



evening, while the mercury in the shade stood at 102°. 
On over a rolling country, amid shrubs and rocks, we 
rode an hour and a half, arriving at a miserable village, 
(Kallate), where the invalid thought she was to die. We 
slept upon a roof, and the next day welcomed Dr. Wright 
from Persia. We could go no farther, and on the 29th, 
at sunset, were on our way back towards Mosul, our sick 
friend being anxious to go there to die, but most of the 
time unconscious of the incidents and fatigues of the way. 
On the last day of June, we reached Akra again ; a litter 
was made, twelve Christians bore it, and the next morn- 
ing at six o'clock, while moving on the road, that litter 
became a bier ! An hour farther, and a rough box was 
made ready for her we had loved. The children knew 
not what had happened. At evening, the box was bound 
upon a mule ; we rode silently without stopping for four- 
teen hours, and recrossed the city of Nineveh shortly 
after sunrise. The flag of the English consul was thrown 
over the body as we crossed the Tigris. A narrow house 
had already been prepared for it outside the walls, (not 
even the dead body of a Moslem could have been earned 
within the gates) ; Mr. Marsh had a short service ; and 
there we laid the wife, the mother, down to her last sleep. 
The Lord watch over that dust, and bring it again to life. 
Such is our pilgrimage ; but we journey home to God." 

Worn out with watching and sorrow, Mr. Williams 
was soon laid upon a bed of severe sickness, and the care 
of him and his motherless children devolved on the other 
two missionary families. Meanwhile, the first-born child 
of Mr. and Mrs. Marsh, a few days after it had seen the 
light, was committed to the earth by the side of Mrs. 
Williams. None but a missionary physician can fully 
understand the weight of care and anxiety which thus 
fell upon Dr. Lobdell, who, from the very nature of his 
united professions, always bore a double load of duties 
and responsibilities. He thus mites on the subject to his 



EEPEATED AFFLICTIONS. 



331 



brother physician at Oroomiah, in a letter dated Mosul, 
Aug. 1st, .1854: 

"Again I must write the word death! An hour 
since, the breath of mortal life heaved for the last 
time the little lungs of the sweet babe that God gave 
our brother and sister Marsh twelve days ago ; now he 
rejoiceth in the freedom and the glory of immortality. 
Again let us say, 4 The Lord gave and the Lord hath 
taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.' You 
will be glad to know that the afflicted parents feel a 
sweet and peaceful resignation under this blow — I may 
almost say they rejoice under it, for the little one had 
suffered so much for three days, that it was a relief to 
their minds to know that his spirit had passed gently 
away, as my wife was bending over his little pillow. 
Thus it is, our merciful Father prepares us for afflictions. 
He gives us strength sufficient for our day. With the 
announcement of this sad event, which, however, produces 
joy among the ministering angels, I can say a word of 
encouragement in regard to Mr. Williams. He is quite 
relieved from pain, is sitting up, and, I think, is likely to 
conquer the fever that has been upon him in an inter- 
mittent form, every day for ten days. The seat of his 
trouble was his head; and the paroxysms were so 
violent at times as to excite fears of the brain becoming 
seriously affected. What a weight of responsibility is 
thrown on one who has to direct in these cases of serious 
sickness ! Who is sufficient for these things, as well as 
for preaching the gospel ? During the sickness of Mr. Wil- 
liams, I have had four, instead of two, preaching services 
during the week, besides the writing of from forty to 
eighty prescriptions daily ; and all this in a semi-under- 
ground room, where the air gets quite polluted during the 
examination of so many dirty patients, having every 
variety of disease. I have never had better health, how- 
ever than now. Of course, the want of invigorating 



332 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



exercise is felt ; but by sleeping in mid-heaven, so to call 
the pinnacle of my palace, which overlooks nearly the 
whole city, the Tigris, the ruins of ISTineveh, and the wide 
sweeping plain to the west, I feel every morning quite 
strengthened for the day's labors. How much I have 
said about our bodies ! Well, without bodies, what are 
we good for in this fleshly world ? Mens sana in corpore 
sano — this we must have, if we shall do any thing for 
our Master. We are warned, too, that what we do must 
be done quickly, with our might. But how little might 
we have! We will trust that in our weakness is our 
strength. It is only when we feel how weak we are, that 
we go to him who is omnipotent, and pray for power." 

It was not long before, that he had heard of the death 
of a college classmate and intimate friend. Of this and 
previous bereavements, the sorrow of which was renewed 
by this, he thus writes in his journal: "Peck, my dear 
brother, classmate, chum, is dead. Oh, what a blow! 
Blessed be God, that I may hope to meet him in heaven, 
and again rejoice with him. He seems to have made a 
strong impression wherever he preached. I do not 
believe he now regrets not having studied law, He, his 
wife, and Poland gone from the little circle of united 
hearts ! Well, I am glad for the sake of the cause of 
missions, that it is not L. and I that have gone so soon ; 
for then all would have said, it was because they were 
missionaries. They forget that others die at home ! " 

And it was but a little while after the afflictions at 
Mosul, that he heard of the death of his seminary friend 
and missionary brother, Mr. Crane of Gawar. " What an 
affliction," he writes Dr. Perkins under date of Sept. 7th, 
"has come upon our dear Mrs. Crane, and upon your 
mission ! Her husband, it seemed to me, both in Auburn 
and Gawar, was a most lovely Christian. His self-denial 
has met its reward; he has gone before to glory. Oh 
that we may profit by this chastisement from the Lord! 



THE PUBITY OF HEAUEX 



333 



Will not the Lord draw us to himself by our great 
afflictions ? When I think of the purity of heaven, I feel 
that I must make great advances in spirituality before I 
shall be ready to enter it. Blessed be God for his grace 
in Christ, for a robe not tattered and soiled, but white and 
whole, the robe of the Lamb, ready-made and waiting to 
cover the nakedness of the poor saint. I thank God I am 
not to wear the rags of my own righteousness to heaven. 
I am constantly patching them up here — may I soon be 
able to lay them aside altogether and for ever." This 
strong desire of his heart grew stronger daily; and it 
was not long to remain unaccomplished. These trials 
and labors were, by the grace of God, fast ripening him 
for heaven. 

Of the missionary work at this time, he speaks as fol- 
lows, in a letter to Dr. Anderson, written on the last day 
of July : " Our work in the city is as prosperous as we 
could expect it to be. I often feel that if we should 
simply sit here, doing very little actual labor, we should 
accomplish as much for Christ as we could by our utmost 
exertions in America. But we are not obliged to be idle. 
Our ordinary religious services are maintained at the 
chapel and the dispensary. The arrival of some chain 
pumps from the United States has excited much inquiry 
about American ingenuity ; and some have even said, * If 
these missionaries can draw up water with a chain, their 
religion must be true.' The machines bid fair to revolu- 
tionize the old mode of irrigation. 

" Kos Michael has been sent to Mardin for a few months 
to preach the gospel. What success he has had thus far, 
we do not yet know ; but we have reason to hope that his 
tour will not be fruitless. The pasha promises me that 
if he shall receive an order from the Porte, revoking the 
prohibition of his going to Tel Keif, he will cheerfully 
protect him. But while the French are in such favor with 
the sultan, we can hardly expect to see full justice done 



334 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



when the interests of the papal church are at stake. The 
persecution of this man has been, from the beginning, a 
most outrageous affair. 

" Having letters from Jezireh, requesting one of us to 
go there and organize a Protestant community, and hav- 
ing applications to open schools in several villages of Jebel 
Tour, and it being impossible for one of our number to 
leave, Jeremiah has been sent to investigate the facts. It 
is very desirable that we get the start of the papists in 
opening schools in Jebel Tour, and we hope that J ere- 
miah's visit will be of much service in making known 
more generally the nature of the Protestant faith. There 
is the stronghold of the Jacobites. 

" The increased interest in education at Mosul is of the 
most cheering character. At the beginning of the year, 
we had but twenty scholars ; now we have more than a 
hundred. It is getting to be understood that all who 
become Protestants, ground their faith on evidence ; and 
it is exceedingly gratifying to us that our brethren are 
almost invariably able to give the reason for the hope that 
is in them, and also that they do it with a good conscience, 
in meekness and fear." 

In the same letter, Dr. Lobdell relates the further devel- 
opment of the plot for insurrection, which was checked 
by the bastinado and the removal of the Koords, but, 
because vengeance against an evil work was not executed 
speedily on the instigators, and owing also to the inca- 
pacity of the pasha, broke out again, and threatened most 
disastrous consequences. " The plan was to murder the 
dragoman of the English consul; and while attending his 
funeral, professing to mourn his death, the conspirators — 
all belonging to that part of the aristocracy of the town 
who had some pique against the government — were to 
rise upon the Franks and wealthy native Christians, and 
then proceed to plunder. At midnight, just as the fast of 
Ramadan gave way to the fanatical feasting of Byram, 



INSURRECTION AT MOSUL. 



335 



while the dragoman of Mr. Rassam was returning home 
from a visit to the pasha, two men in masks sprung out 
from a lane between him and his attendants. One stopped 
the horse ; the other fired a pistol at the rider. Both then 
fled. A servant chased them, when one of the culprits 
turned and fired a ball at him, but without effect. The 
dragoman, who is the most influential native Christian of 
the place, fell from his horse wounded ; but the ball had 
only passed through the forearm. Hundreds flocked 
daily to his house to offer him their sympathy ; and none 
were so attentive as the chief conspirators, who, no doubt, 
all the time regretted that the ball had not passed through 
a more vital part. Two young Moslems were seized by 
the pasha as the assassins, and though there was a strong 
attempt to throw the blame on the Christians, one of the 
men turned state's evidence, and revealed the fact that he 
had been offered a thousand piastres to kill Joma, (the 
dragoman,) and that he had induced the other to assist 
him.. The persons who offered the bribe, were found to 
be two of the most influential men of the town ; and they 
were sent under a strong escort to Baghdad to await the 
orders of the Porte. A third dignitary, the chief instiga- 
tor of the plot, has since been seized and confined, and 
the names of a dozen others are recorded, and their move- 
ments are closely watched by the police. 

" Both the English and the French consuls think that 
we Americans have had as narrow an escape as they them- 
selves ; and though they have no special fear that any 
further attempt will be made to produce a riot, they have 
deemed it best to use their influence at Constantinople to 
secure the removal of the inefficient pasha, who, but a 
short time since, received from the Sultan the title of Beglar 
Bey, or Lord of Lords. There is little doubt that the dig- 
nitaries, who have thus twice set the city in an uproar, will 
find honorable exile with such worthies as Becler Khan 
Bey. It is a matter for devout thanksgiving to God, that 



336 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



he has permitted us to pursue our labors unmolested in 
the midst of these late excitements." 

Two letters on missions, which were written by Dr. 
Lobdell in the summer of 1854, well deserve a place in 
this memoir, and would be inserted entire, but for the 
press of other matter. The first is addressed to the editor 
of the New York Tribune, and was designed as a defence 
of Christian missions against an unfavorable, though not 
intentionally unfriendly remark of Bayard Taylor in refer- 
ence to missions in India, who, while " testifying to the 
zeal and faithfulness of those who labor in the cause," still 
had " not witnessed any results which satisfied him that 
the vast expenditure of money, talent, and life, in mission- 
ary enterprises, had ever been repaid." Waiving the con- 
sideration of spiritual and religious results in a secular 
journal, Dr. Lobdell examines the subject in a purely 
social, political, and economical light, and comparing the 
expenditures and results of the Sandwich Islands mission 
with those of the United States exploring expedition, and 
the outlays and achievements of the missions to Turkey, 
India, and China, with those of European governments in 
the same countries, he shows that the former have been 
incomparably more economical than the latter; that, in 
fact, no other expenditures of money, and talent, and life, 
whether in the improvement of government and society 
at home, or in extending knowledge and civilization in 
foreign lands, have been so fruitful of beneficent results — 
results to commerce and civilization, to geography and 
history, to literature and science, to humanity and philan- 
thropy, to say nothing of religion, as those of Christian 
missions. " If any body needs instruction," he argues in 
conclusion, " it is surely the pagan ; and few indeed are 
the men who have engaged in the work, that have not 
found it full of promise for the life that now is, as well as 
for that which is to come. They have seen their people 
put whitewash on their mud houses, clean their floors. 



LETTERS ON MISSIONS. 



337 



observe order and neatness at home and abroad, practice 
temperance and all the Christian virtues themselves, and 
teach them to their children. They have seen a taste for 
knowledge spread all around them ; they have seen idols 
and superstitious rites give place to Christ, and have almost 
invariably found it good to be a missionary." 

The other letter is addressed to the Society of Inquiry 
in the Theological Seminary at Andover, in which he says 
that he considers the doctrine as established, that at the 
present time " every able-bodied, energetic, devoted, hojDe- 
ful foreign missionary accomplishes more good than he 
possibly could in America. The good he secures, is not 
confined to the number of converts under his ministry ; 
but he lays the foundation of a glorious temple, destined 
to embrace the entire population among whom he dwells." 
After adverting to facts in the history of missions in Tur- 
key, Persia, India, China, and the islands of the sea, which 
illustrate and establish this proposition, he says, " J ust as 
soon as the church began to obey the Saviour's command 
to go and preach the gospel to every creature, God opened 
the way ; and the false systems of ages are disappearing. 
It remains for the church to say, whether the work shall 
be completed soon, or after some ages." He then goes on 
to speak of the happiness of the missionary life, the high 
preference which every missionary entertains for his own 
field over the most exalted post of usefulness in America, 
the great demand for more laborers, especially in western 
Asia, and the crushing weight of duties and responsibili- 
ties which are devolved upon those who are in the field, 
because the harvest is so great and so ripe, and the labor- 
ers are so few. " I have just written to Dr. Anderson," 
he says, " proposing next summer to go temporarily to 
Asheta, if the committee will send out a family to accom- 
pany me thither, and meet Mr. Rhea, who is anxious to 
come from Gawar. If I leave to spend my summers there, 
Mosul will be left weak. Indeed, I may say almost every 
29 



338 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



station of our Board is suffering from debility — : a debility 
which implies guilt somewhere. Here is found the secret 
of the shortness of missionary life ! I am often exhorted 
by friends in America not to commit suicide by over-work. 
But one must be an extreme conservative, if he would 
keep quiet when there is such a call for labor — such a 
scarcity of the word of life. 

" Come, then, brethren, to our aid, three of you at least. 
We will give you a warm welcome, and assure you, that 
however hard the field, if you have the true missionary 
spirit, you will bless God for the privilege of cultivating 
it. The best gift which Andover can this year make to 
the church, is a large majority of her graduating class to 
the service of the American Board " 

Dr. Lobdell's letters to the members of the Nestonan 
mission at this time, show his deep interest in the mission- 
ary circular protesting against American slavery. He 
thought that Christian consistency demanded of the mis- 
sionary who testified against oppression and heathenism 
abroad, that he should testify against oppression and 
heathenism at home ; that Christian patriotism required 
him, to the extent of his influence, to wipe away the one 
foul blot that sullied his country's good name in the eyes 
of foreign nations ; and that Christian manliness forbade 
his submission to the silence which some would enforce 
upon him because he was a missionary. " I can not get 
over the impression," he says, " that the missionary is a 
man, and that, while among men, he ought to speak like 
a man" 

The leisure hours, or rather fche spare moments of the 
summer, his least busy season, Dr. Lobdell improved, as 
usual, and made them tributary to the cause of letters. 
He wrote at this time the notes on the Anabasis of Xeno- 
phon, which appeared as an article in the Bibliotheca 
Sacra for April, 1857. Beginning at the site of ancient 
Nineveh, he traverses the whole field of the exploits of 



NOTES on xenophon's anaeasis. 339 

the Ten Thousand Greeks, describes the ruined cities, 
explores the antiquities, elucidates the geography and 
topography, illustrates the arms, costumes, customs, and 
manners of the people, which, like the face of the country 
and the mounds, have remained almost without change 
since the days of Xenophon, and explains the modes of 
travel, measures of distance, and ways of crossing streams, 
which are the same now as they were in the time of the As- 
syrian kings — in short, explains local allusions and illus- 
trates whatever admits of illustration by personal knowl- 
edge of that great Mesopotamian valley and those lofty 
Koordish mountains, which were the principal theater of 
the events recorded in the Anabasis. The notes were the 
result of his own observations and reflections on the ground; 
and they are, if not a new, yet an original and valuable 
contribution to the right understanding and appreciation 
of that favorite classic. The reader will get some idea of 
the circumstances under which this article was written, and 
also of the freshness, playfulness, and versatility of the 
writer, by putting together two paragraphs of a letter to 
his brother, which was written at the same time with the 
article. " Oh for a piece of maple sugar ! Oh for an ice 
cream ! c Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness, some 
boundless contiguity of shade J in these tremendous heats ! 
The mercury rises daily to 110° or more, and at night 
only gets down to 85° or 90°. At sunset it is generally 
about 100°." 

£ There is no difference between the ancient parasang 
and the modern fursakh. Both are measures of time, 
and are equal to an hour, which, though differing with the 
animal, is usually about three miles. I am writing some 
notes on Xenophon — perhaps for my friend Gay, of 
Chaiiestown ; he is getting out an edition of the Anabasis." 

In a note which accompanied the manuscript, and which 
was dated at Mosul, Aug. 14th, 1854, he says : "While I 
was getting up from my attack of fever and ague last 



340 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



winter, I amused myself with running through the Anaba- 
sis of our favorite Xenophon. You see I have taken the 
liberty to send you some notes on that part of the book 
referring to this section. I place the MS. at your dispo- 
sal, only wishing it were more worthy of the attention of 
a professor of Greek. I do not feel sure that it is worth 
publication in full, but if it will benefit any one, you will, 
perhaps, be able to place it within his reach. Pray, at 
least, allow it to be a feeble expression of my personal 
regard, and an apology for a brief reply to your last letter. 
If my missionary duties allowed of my perusing with 
care the Cyropaedia, I might find some passages, perhaps, 
easily illuminated ; but it is only an occasional moment 
that can be spared for such a diversion." 

In his journey over that oldest portion of the old world, 
Dr. Lobdell could not but gather up facts and thoughts 
touching language and races, as well as geography and 
antiquities, which were worthy of preservation. These, 
for the most part, he transmitted to the American Orien- 
tal Society, of which he was chosen a corresponding mem- 
ber in May, 1854 ; and the results of his observations have 
appeared from time to time in the columns of the Society's 
published journal. Besides these more solid matters, he 
sent to the Society some curiosities in literature;* also 
coins, cylinders, and other relics of antiquity, which he had 
collected. Of the estimation in which his correspondence 
was held, and the hopes that were excited of valuable 
contributions in future, the following extracts of letters 
from Professors Salisbury and Whitney will furnish the 
best evidence. Writing to Dr. Lobdell's father soon 
after the death of his son, Prof. Salisbury says : " In reply 
to yours of the 2d, I send you now, three manuscript let- 
ters of the late Dr. Lobdell, and a copy of one in print, 

*Among the rest, a specimen of Moslem genealogy, in which are enrolled 
several sons of Adam not found in the Bible ; a list of pashas of Mosul for 
two centuries past ; a pilgrim's prayer at N ahum's tomb, in Hebrew, &c. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE OEIENTAE SOCIETY. 341 

included in volume 4, No. 2, of the Journal of the Ameri- 
can Oriental Society. There are other and later letters 
from your much lamented son in my hands ; but which I 
retain, having need of them, in order to make extracts 
from them f<5r the next number of the Journal. I shall be 
happy to send these, also, to you hereafter 

" The Journal of Observations on a tour in Koordistan 
has been received, and will be published, in part, in a 
future number of our Journal. I can not now let the MS. 
go out of my hands. 

" This opportunity must not pass without my express- 
ing to you the deep regret which I felt at the death of 
your son. An interesting correspondence with him, in 
behalf of the Oriental Society, had been established, which 
gave promise of being increasingly valuable ; and in my 
last letter to him, which he did not live to receive, I had 
authorized him to purchase for me some relics of antiquity, 
which I hoped would prove a valuable accession to our 
materials of knowledge. But he fell in the best cause, 
and his acquisitions and abilities are not lost — only trans- 
ferred to a higher sphere of action." 

After giving a somewhat fuller account of Dr. Lobdell's 
contributions, Prof. Whitney, who writes in 1857, says: 
" The character of the loss sustained by the Society, and 
by the learned world, by the death of Dr. Lobdell, is not 
at all to be measured by what he had done, but by what 
there was reason to expect that he would do. And cer- 
tainly he gave promise of very great efficiency and useful- 
ness in the cause of science as well as missions. The 
Society has hardly had a correspondent among our mis- 
sionaries, who commenced so heartily and actively, and 
from whom it had more reason to expect a series of valu- 
able communications. His interest in behalf of knowl- 
edge, his zeal and energy in promoting it, were quite un- 
usual. With so much ability and devotedness, he could not 
have failed, had his life been spared, to accomplish very 
29* 



342 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



much in every department of his work ; and it was and 
is a matter of deep and sincere regret to the Society, for 
itself and for the world, that he was cut off almost at the 
commencement of a career which promised to be so useful 
and honorable." 

But there was no study to Dr. Lobdell like the study 
of theology ; no profession or practice like the preaching 
of the gospel. "Your theological instructions," he writes 
to Mr. Stoddard, " must be profitable as well to yourself 
as to your pupils. It is above all sciences — this theology. 
I can hardly content myself with my knife and pills, when 
such a theme for thought and discourse is present as 
God. ... I am sure, I never should have practiced medi- 
cine in America. The Bible — God — what subjects for 
study ! Well, the great truths of the Word can be our 
contemplation in eternity. Our labor is here, our rest 
hereafter. Here we get glimpses of the truth ; in heaven 
we shall see its full-orbed glory." 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Extracts from Journal — Contributions by Missionaries to the Advancement 
of Learning — Dr. Judson — Dr. Perkins — Health Station at Deira — Dr. 
Lobdell's Journey thither — Establishment of a Seminary at Mosul — The 
Education Question — Disturbed State of the Country — Yezdinshir Bey — 
Siege of Jezireh — Protestant Cemetery — Demolition of the Wall at the Insti- 
gation of the Papists — Action of the Board on Slavery — Combination to 
drive away the Missionaries — Archbishop Behnam — Scarlet Fever — Pota- 
toes in Mosul — Letter written at Nimrood — Sculptures, Coins, and other 
Relics of Antiquity —The Nineveh Gallery at Amherst — Bible Illustrations. 

As we have now come to the last volume of Dr. Lob- 
dell's journal, the reader will perhaps be pleased to see 
some more consecutive extracts from its pages. It is only 
a small portion of each day's record, that can be copied, 
and the selections of course can have but little connection, 
except that they follow each other in the order of time. 
The passages are chosen partly with reference to the 
intrinsic value of the matter contained in them, and partly 
as peculiarly characteristic of the sentiments and spirit of 
the writer. These, together with portions of letters writ- 
ten within the same period, will bring our narrative down 
to the time of Dr. Lobdell's journey to Baghdad and Bab- 
ylon, which shortly preceded his death. 

"Monday, Aug. 21st, 1854. Began to write out the 
notes of my tour to Tabreez, made more than a year ago ! 
A crowd of Moslems in. We discussed the advantages 
and disadvantages of freedom in religion. They said, 
c We are bound by the Koran to kill a false disciple; free- 
dom is impossible to us. Let every one remain in the 
sect God put him in.' They complained that we seemed 
to be trying to make Christians of Moslems — a thing 
impossible. Then why their fear ? 



344 



MEMOLR OF LOBDELL. 



" 22d. Tues. Out visiting patients till the heat was too 
great for my weak head. What suffering the sick here 
endure for want of care ! 

" 23d. Wrote E. E. Bliss with our circular on slavery to 
get signatures of Armenian and Jewish missions. Also a 
note of condolence to Mr. Nutting of Aintab. Messrs. 
Oakley (the traveler) and Boutcher (who sketches for Mr. 
Loftus) spent most of the afternoon with me. Discussed 
Arabic, antiques, habits of people, state of Nestorians, 
extent of Nineveh, &c. New sculptures turning up at 
Koyunjik. A lion hunt in boats ! 

" 26th. Spent most of the forenoon discussing the ques- 
tion of the credibility of the gospels with a lot of Jews. 
They saw they were unable to demonstrate the credibility 
of Moses, any clearer than I could that of Christ. Their 
only mode of proof was by quoting from the Hebrew 
Scriptures, not dreaming that any body could question 
their authenticity. Credulity is here what skepticism is 
in Germany. The true spirit of religion is lost. When 
shall it be restored ? 

"28th. Wrote Tribune touching matters on the Per- 
sian and Turkish frontier. Drew a map of my route to 
Akra, which is northeast by east from Mosul, and dis- 
tant fifty-eight miles. 

" 29th. An Armenian apothecary called to-day with a 
lot of seals, cylinders, and coins, which he obtained at 
Kerkuk. Some were quite valuable. Some had Semitic 
characters on them, if Layard is right in calling those on 
page 606 of his Nineveh and Babylon such. If I were 
authorized to give a good price for these antiques, I could 
procure a better set than has been published by Layard. 
Rare coins — gold, silver, and copper — are often brought 
me; but I am unable to buy them. They thus go to 
Paris or London* 

*Dr. Lob dell wrote to the Smithsonian Institution, the Boston Athenaeum, 
and several of the professors in American colleges, endeavoring to awaken in 
them something of his own patriotic as well as antiquarian zeal in this matter. 



A QUESTION OF CONSCIENCE. 



345 



"Sept. 2d. Jews in, who declared that as we allow 
women to pray, we are opposed to the Old Testament. 
They never allow a woman to pray. She can go to the 
synagogue, and look at the Scriptures ; and that is all. 

"4th. A passage in Dr. Wayland's Memoir of Dr. 
Judson,* giving it as the opinion of the latter, that a 
missionary should not allow himself to pursue science or 
literature, even as a recreation, troubles me much. Is it, 
or is it not a correct principle ? It seems to me extreme 
ground, but I must try to satisfy my mind on the ques- 
tion. I surely wish to act now for eternity, and to labor 
so as most to glorify God. I do not mean to Jet my 
writing interfere with my regular Arabic and Syriac 
studies, nor ever to prevent my talking to sinners when 
they call. What should I do ? Can I, or can I not serve 
God by writing an occasional article on the topics of 
interest in this quarter, with which I am better acquainted 
than anybody at a distance can be? May I be guided in 
this matter by the w T ill of the Lord." 

This question recurs frequently in Dr. Lobdell's journal 
and letters at this time. He had made it a subject of 
prayerful consideration before; the memoir of Dr. Judson 
brought it up afresh. On a subsequent page of his jour- 
nal, he quotes the authority of Dr. Perkins on the other 
side.f He corresponded on the subject with Dr. Perkins 
and Mr. Stoddard ; also, with friends and acquaintances 
in the United States, in whose judgment he reposed con- 
fidence. He investigated the whole matter anew, with all 
the light he could derive from whatever source, and with 
the most sincere and earnest desire to know and do his 
duty, whatever it might be. And though he greatly 
admired Dr. Judson's singleness of aim, and, under the 
influence of his example, resolved to write fewer letters, 
read fewer papers, and devote himself more assiduously to 
the perfect mastery of the Arabic, and to direct efforts 

♦Vol. I. p. 162. t Residence in Persia, p. 395. 



346 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



for the conversion of men ; still he never could see it to 
be his duty, or the duty of the missionary in general, to 
renounce such incidental services to the cause of literature 
and science, as, in the providence of God, fell in his way, 
and could be performed without interfering with other 
duties. "My present impression is," he says in a letter to 
Mr. Stoddard, dated Sept. 25th, 1854, "that missionaries 
ought to do something for science and literature, and 
every missionary must himself be the judge of the extent 
to which he may rightfully proceed." If Dr. Lobdell 
would or could have rested while he was writing some of 
his letters for the edification of his friends, or for the 
advancement of learning, it might perhaps have been 
better ; but if he had not allowed himself those recrea- 
tions, he would have been engaged in more exhausting 
missionary labors, and would have worn out or burned 
out sooner than he did. At the very time when he seems 
to others to have been only too earnest and incessant in 
his labors, only too like a self-consuming flame of fire in his 
zeal, he complains of himself in such terms as these: "I am 
too insensible of the danger of the peoj)le around me. 
They are, they are rushing on to destruction ! -Oh ! let 
me lay aside all letter writing, all journalizing, all studies, 
all papers, that interfere with my faithfulness to their poor 
souls. May God help me to be more like Christ!" 

Missionaries, like other men, are differently constituted, 
both physically and mentally; and as no one man in other 
walks of life can be made a rule for all other men, so no 
one missionary should be set up as a standard for all other 
missionaries. The cause of missions would have lost 
much in public estimation at home, and in usefulness 
abroad, if it had not been served by a Carey and a Morri- 
son, as well as by a Juclson ; by an Eh Smith, as well as 
by a Pliny Fiske ; by a Lobdell and a Stoddard, who 
could not refrain from studying the earth and the stars 
with the eyes which God had given them — as well as by 



EXTRACTS FROM DIARY. 



347 



the many good missionaries, whose circumstances and gifts 
and graces led them to spend all their time in the preach- 
ing of the gospel. 

"Sept. 8th. I feel very unwell — have a severe pain in 
my right side — pleuritic. Oh, how frail is man! Who can 
tell what will be the result of even so slight an attack as 
mine. But I do not know by what imprudence I brought 
it on, and I am only desirous that the Lord's will be done 
with me. I say this from my very soul. 

"12th. Mary still sick, and icorse — a sort of croup. 
What a blow it would be if she should be taken from us. 
I love her exceedingly. It is, nevertheless, good to be 
afflicted ; and I hope I shall gradually rise above the 
world. I know I shall not without affliction. 

"19th. Hard night — intense pain. Mr. Williams down 
with fever, also. One of his children and both of mine 
ill. Shall I get away to Asheeta the first week of October ? 
This is a sad world ; but I never mean to be melancholy 
in it ; this would be sinful. 

" 20th. The Chaldeans, Jacobites, and Nestorians begin 
the year twelve days later than the Syrians and Franks ; 
that is, they use the old style. The Nestorians generally 
use the Alexandrian era in all their writings, political and 
ecclesiastical. The Jacobites use the Alexandrian era in 
ecclesiastical matters, though in civil affairs they date 
from the Christian era. The Armenians use the Moslem 
era ; and so do some of the other Christian sects in epis- 
tolary correspondence, notes of hand, &c. 

" 21st. At our business meeting to-day, I was appointed 
to write a tract for Moslems. This will be a bold step ; 
but I can not see why I should not preach the whole gos- 
pel to them, and ask liberty of no man. Great crowd at 
my dispensary. A Christian came in sick, having fled 
home from Arbeel, where he had been at work for the 
mutsellim, whose soldiers shook their daggers at him for 
presuming to demand his w^ages. 



348 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



"22d. My mussiilman teacher has great objection to 
interpreting the Koran as I read, as it is God's word, and 
he fears he shall give a wrong meaning to it. Might not 
the ruthless Germans learn a lesson from the reverent 
Moslems ? Might not the southern slaveholder learn 
mercy from the Koran, which requires an enemy captured 
in battle and held as a slave, if he can read, has a bool\ 
as soon as he becomes a Moslem, to be set at liberty. 

" Mr. Williams and I called on Daoud ibn Antone, the 
builder. We found that not one in the family understood 
the meaning of a single sentence in the Lord's Prayer, 
except 4 Our Father, who art in heaven,' and ' Give us 
this day our daily tread.' The ecclesiastics never ex- 
pound the Liturgy, and the Lord's Prayer is a part of it. 
We tried to show them that they might as well nail their 
prayers to a windmill, as some of the heathen do, or fasten 
them behind a mule turning a gristmill, and then sit down 
and smoke, as to repeat words in prayer to which they 
attached no meaning. 

" 28th. Long talks with Loftus and Boutcher at Brother 
Williams's. All of us think Jebel Judi is the Ararat of 
Scripture; so does Rawlinson." 

The Prudential Committee having authorized the estab- 
lishment of a health station in the mountains, Dr. Lob- 
dell left Mosul for this purpose on the 3d of October. 
Mr. and Mrs. Marsh accompanied him as far as Sheikh 
Adi, to witness the annual festival of the Yezidees. Jere- 
miah went with him the whole distance. The first night 
they spent in the mud palace of the French consul at 
Khorsabad. The second night they reached Sheikh Adi, 
where they passed the next day (October 5th) taking 
daguerreotypes of Sheikh Xasir and Hussein Bey, and 
obtaining some more definite ideas of the religion of the 
Yezidees. On the 6th they went on their journey, nine 
hours, to the Koordish town of Spindaro. On the 7th, 
seven hours to the ISTestorian village of Bebada. The 8th 



HEALTH STATION AT DEIEA. 



349 



(Sabbath) they spent at Sim, attending the church ser- 
vice, and haying their attention particularly attracted to 
the Jcera or mountain variety of Jonah's gourd.* October 
9th brought them to the mutsellim's at Amadieh, and 
thence to the JSTestorian village of Mar Odesho (Saint- 
Servant of Christ), or, as the Koords call it, Deira, which 
is two hours beyond Amadieh. Here Dr. Lobdell se- 
lected a site and made arrangements for building ; and, 
leaving Jeremiah to superintend the construction, returned 
by Amadieh, Aithootha, and Al-Kosh (where he paid a 
visit to the tomb of the Prophet Nahum) to Mosul, where 
he arrived on the 13th, having been that day thirteen 
hours and a half in the saddle. 

In a letter addressed to Dr. Pomroy after the arrange- 
ments were completed, he thus speaks of the mission 
premises, of the field for missionary labor, and of the 
reasons for its selection : " Three rooms have been con- 
structed for a summer retreat. They are on ground 
leased by the agents of the saint, who, though in heaven, 
is supposed to be present a good part of the time in the 
church, which bears his name, and which also gives name 
to the village. To these, if the state of the country will 
permit, two of our families intend to resort next summer, 
not expecting, indeed, to find the place as cool as Asheeta, 
but yet much more comfortable than Mosul. It was not 
deemed prudent to attempt a residence at Asheeta. f The 
near proximity of Deira to Amadieh, where resides a 
friendly mutsellim, appointed by the pasha of Mosul, 
promised much greater security from the nomadic Koords. 
It is hoped, that, having gained a foothold at this point, 
it will not be difficult for missionaries to enter Tiyari and 
Tekhoma, the chief centers of the remaining population of 
the mountain Nestorians. The distance of Deira from 

* See p. 258. 

t Asheeta, the reader will remember, was Dr. Grant's station. It is de- 
scribed at p. 258, of his memoir. 

30 



350 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



Mosul is about seventy miles. It can be traveled by- 
mules in four clays. The village is small ; but all the in- 
habitants are anxious that we should go there, as the 
papists are making great exertions to bring them and 
their fellow-Xestorians under the iron heel of the Pope. 

" We hope, that as soon as may be, the Committee will 
designate two missionary families to that neighborhood. 
They might reside at Deira in summer, and at Amadieh 
in winter. There can be no doubt that self-denying labor 
here will accomplish great good for the mountain flock of 
the deluded patriarch. Shall these j>oov Christians stretch 
forth their hands to America in vain ? Too long has the 
church disregarded their entreaties, too long have the 
bones of Dr. Grant lain mouldering, since, from their rug- 
ged mountain tops, he eloquently pleaded their cause." 

Simultaneously with the appropriation for a health 
station, the missionaries of Mosul were authorized to open 
a seminary for higher instruction. The strong ground 
taken by Dr. Juclson and his biographer, against educa- 
tion, and in favor of preaching by missionaries, led Dr. 
Lobdell to a reconsideration of the whole subject. He 
discussed it with his colleagues ; he corres]3onded with his 
missionary brethren at other stations. He studied the 
report of the missions in India, and came to the conclu- 
sion, that there a great amount of money had been 
wasted by some societies, in mere secular education. The 
missionaries at Mosul, who had refused to administer 
medicines to the sick at the dispensary, except in connec- 
tion with the preaching of the way of salvation through 
faith in Christ, would not be very likely to fall into this 
error. They were unanimous in the opinion, that the 
funds of the mission could be properly employed in sus- 
taining such schools only, as could be brought under a 
decidedly Christian influence, by direct religious instruc- 
tion, and in which the Bible was a principal text-book. 
At the same time, they agreed in attaching no small 



THE EDUCATIONAL QUESTION. 



351 



importance to Christian schools and seminaries, as auxil- 
iaries in the work of Christian missions. In the language 
of Dr. Lobdell, they thought "schools and preaching 
better than preaching alone ; " and they were convinced 
that " the amount necessary to sustain a seminary (on a 
small scale at first), at Mosul, would do more service than 
if spread among the people directly." Accordingly, Mr. 
Williams commenced the instruction of four young men, 
who were expected to form the nucleus of a seminary. 

This question, of education as related to missions, 
which has been discussed with so much zeal and ability, 
in the churches at home as well as among the missionaries, 
— like that to which we have before adverted, the duty 
of missionaries in regard to contributions to the advance- 
ment of learning, — does not admit of a universal answer. 
It is chiefly a question of time and circumstances. At the 
proper time and place, Christian schools and colleges are 
quite as essential to the progress and permanence of 
Christianity among Pagans, and Mohammedans, and 
deluded Christians, as in any part of Protestant Christen- 
dom. Of the time and place, the missionaries are, of 
course, the best judges. But that American Christians, 
who have just been awakened to a new conviction of the 
unspeakable value of Christian colleges to all their own 
social, political, and religious institutions, will renounce 
the principle of education in their missions, — that they, 
who have recently begun to open their purses freely for 
the support of Christian colleges and seminaries at home, 
will be unwilling to aid similar institutions abroad, when 
in the opinion of the missionaries, they are needed to 
perpetuate a learned and godly ministry, or an intelligent 
and pious laity, — to believe this were a reflection at 
once upon their consistency, their intelligence, and their 
liberality. 

The members of the Assyrian mission were greatly 
cheered, at this time, by the arrival of an English consul 



352 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



at Diarbekr. But about the same time, they were under 
the reluctant necessity of closing the schools which they 
had opened at Nakrwan, Jezireh. and Azuk, because of 
the disturbed state of the country, which Dr. Lobdell thus 
describes, in his letter of Dec. 15th, to Dr. Pomroy : 
" Yezdinshir Bey, a son of Mir Saif ed Din, the Abasside, 
from whom Beder Khan Bey, his brother, wrested the 
chieftainship of the Koords about Jezireh some years ago, 
is now in rebellion, and it is likely that his example will 
be followed by other chiefs, so that all the forces of Koor- 
distan may soon be organized against the Turks. Since 
the defeat of Beder Khan Bey by Omar Pasha, at Deir 
Guleh, and his banishment by the Porte to Candia, this 
nephew of his, Yezdinshir Bey, has been confined in 
Mosul, though not so confined as to prevent our receiving 
frequent visits from him. His character may be known 
from the remark he once made to me, that he would like 
to drink the blood of every Yezidee, Jew, and Christian, 
excepting his particular friends, such as myself.* A short 
time since, he received permission from the government 
to organize five thousand Koords, and conduct them to 
Anatolia, He arrived at Jezireh with a part of them, 
and there, under pretense of rectifying certain disorders, 
created by the Turkish governor and council, and Sulei- 
man Bey, the chief of the irregular cavalry, he commanded 
three members of the mejlis to be beaten to death with 
clubs, and then proclaimed himself governor. Osman 
Pasha, from Marclin, gathered a large force of mounted 
Arabs and Albanians, and a few hundred Mzam at Zakho, 
on the Assyrian Khabour, preparatory to an attack on 
the Koords. Before leaving Zakho, they were themselves 
attacked by Mansur Bey, a brother of the rebel, but suc- 
ceeded in putting the assailants to flight. After the 
usual Turkish delays, Osman Pasha put his forces in 

* See an illustration of the bigotry of this same Bey at p. 324. 



A TURKISH SIEGE. 



353 



motion, and undertook the siege of Jezireh. Mr. J. H. 
McCoan, a correspondent of the London Daily News, who 
had been robbed while traveling with the post from Mosul 
towards Constantinople,* and who was forced to flee to the 
Turkish camp, gave us, on his return here, a full account 
of the attack and defense. It is evident that the Koords 
were much the braver there, whatever they may have 
been in battle with the Russians at Kars and Bayazid. 
The Turks numbered about five thousand men. It is 
uncertain w T hat number of Koords were in the town. All 
the wealthy Christians fled, as soon as they heard of the 
usurpation. The siege, as narrated to us by our Irish 
friend, was a ludicrous affair. He saw only eight men 
killed, after a fight of three days. The besiegers had 
four cannon, but they could not hit the town, and after 
many ineffectual attempts, were fain to give up the effort. 
Mr. McCoan persuaded them to let him try. Under his 
direction, they succeeded in killing a buffalo inside the 
city, and perhaps two men ! At length he was so success- 
ful as to strike with a ball a minaret, and one of the gates 
in the city wall ; and these were considered such marks 
of valor and skill, that the pasha yielded to his request, 
and furnished him a guard back to Mosul. The town, of 
course, was not taken. Attempts were made, in vain, to 
induce the rebel to return to Mosul, a safe conduct being 
promised him by the authorities. Osman Pasha's forces, 
at length, scattered away, and he himself retreated to 
Mardin. 

"Meanwhile, Yezdinshir Bey, leaving the command of 
Jezireh to his brother, is reported to have taken Sert, 
and to have given Zakho to the son of Said Bey, whom 

* This post went under an escort of a hundred soldiers. Mr. McCoan was 
robbed of all his MSS., pistols, and other baggage. The mail also was robbed. 
The missionaries, — or their friends, — lost many letters. Fortunately, through 
fear, a large amount of money and pearls, which were to have been sent by the 
pasha and the merchants to Constantinople, were detained for a safer oppor- 
tunity. 

30* 



354 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



Beder Khan Bey killed, as a rival, about the time of the 
first Nestorian massacre. Naamet Agha, chief of the 
Zibar Koords, who robbed Dr. Bacon's party in 1851, and 
Alamet Effendi, of Amadieh, are marching their retainers, 
professedly, to the aid of the government ; but lest their 
aid should prove opposition, a detachment of the troops 
in Mosul are now on their way with cannon to the castle 
of Amadieh. We wait with much interest, though with 
no particular anxiety, to see whereunto these things will 
grow. 

" The Arabs are plundering, ad libitum, between Bus- 
rah and Baghdad, coming up even to the gates of the latter 
city. Communication is irregular and insecure in all 
directions. Our last Constantinople post, due here Nov. 
23d, was delayed twenty days. That due on the 7th of 
December will probably be delayed quite as long, as not 
only the Koords are troublesome, but also the Shammar 
Arabs. The last post for Constantinople was obliged to 
pass through the desert, instead of taking the usual route 
on the east bank of the Tigris. Even then it was forced 
to stop at Tel Afr, two days from Mosul, for fear of the 
Arabs. The preceding post, as I have already said, was 
robbed by the Koords. We have advised Ishak and 
Moshiel, the deacons sent to preach in Bootan by our 
Oroomiah brethren, to keep away from that region while 
the country is in so disturbed a state. 

" The dignitaries who plotted a rebellion here last sum- 
mer have, for the most part, been banished to different 
parts of the empire. We pursue our work in the city 
without interruption from the political troubles that 
agitate the land ; and we have so much reason to hope 
that the desert and the mountains will before long be safe 
for travelers and missionaries, that we have no hesitation 
in urging you to send out men as fast as you can, for the 
field is white to the harvest. 

" It becomes our duty to notice a late dastardly act insti- 



BURIAL GROUND WITHOUT THE WALLS. 355 

gated by our papal enemies. It will be remembered that 
we were compelled to lay the remains of Mrs. Williams, 
last July, in the potter's field, as she died outside of the 
city gates, and an ancient superstition forbids the dead to 
be brought into the town. A child of Mr. Marsh was 
soon after laid by her side. We naturally began to feel 
the necessity of providing for ourselves a cemetery. As 
the American friends of those pioneer missionaries, who 
were buried in the Jacobite and Papal churches, had con- 
tributed a considerable sum to purchase an* enclose a 
burial ground for the Protestants, we at first procured a 
piece of ground within the city walls, but it seemed best 
at length to dispose of this and obtain another outside of 
the city, that our dead might lie together. * Hence we 
procured, in the name of a papal Syrian, a plot eighty feet 
square, a mile beyond the city walls, and far beyond all 
the Moslem burial grounds, aiming to avoid every thing 
that could possibly offend the prejudices of any. A slight 
wall was erected around it, and about the first of Novem- 
ber we removed to it, and buried in the following order, 
near the western wall, the remains of Henry Marsh, Mrs. 
Williams, Mr. Hinsdale and child, Mrs. Laurie, Mrs. 
Mitchell, Dr. Grant. 

" For a whole month not a whisper of dissatisfaction 
was heard from any one, though our proceedings were all 
open, and the cemetery was in sight from the barracks and 
parade ground before the pasha's palace. Our first oppo- 
sition came in the shape of a complaint from the pasha 
to the English consul, by whose advice we had built the 
wall and made the interments. We therefore wrote in 
reply to the pasha's complaint, that, if in removing the 

*The native Protestants were averse to burying without the walls, like 
Mohammedans and heathens. The missionaries preferred a cemetery outside. But 
they had yielded their preference. The papists, however, did every thing in 
their power to drive them from the burial ground which they purchased within 
the walls. And when, in the providence of God, their dead could not all be 
laid there, they gave it up, and went outside the city. 



356 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



remains of our friends to the cemetery, we had violated any 
statute of the realm, (for being strangers we could not be 
supposed to be acquainted with the whole Turkish code), 
we desired the assistance of His Excellency so to represent 
our case to the Sublime Porte, that we might obtain, 
through the clemency of His Majesty the Sultan, license to 
retain the piece of ground which we had enclosed. We 
remarked that we are, like others, heirs of death, and that 
since His Majesty the Sultan had graciously given us per- 
mission to reside within his dominions, it followed, as a 
necessity, that we needed a place to bury our dead. 

" The pasha having intimated his intention to refer the 
case to Constantinople, we caused the men who were 
delivering tombstones to suspend their labor. We 
were therefore greatly surprised to learn, soon after the 
last mail for Stamboul was closed, that the pasha had 
seized the innocent Syrian who procured the field for us 
from a prominent member of the Council, imprisoned him, 
and declared the contract null, on the ground that the 
Sultan's land can not be sold, though similar cases of sale 
are continually occurring throughout Turkey. The poor 
man was forced to receive back the price of the field, and 
give orders for the wall around it to be knocked down. 
The deed was done, and the stones at the graves were 
pulled up and scattered ! 

" The report is circulating that we are about to be 
driven out of Mosul. Still we believe that our work was 
never before so prosperous as it is this day. So long as 
we can visit from house to house, enlarge our schools, and 
preach to an audience of eighty persons daily, we surely 
have no reason to murmur at the persecutions of those 
who know not what they do. 

" I can not close my letter without alluding to the great 
joy we all felt on the receipt of your letter, informing us 
of the action of the Board, at Hartford, on the momentous 
subject of slavery. We had many fears that the silence 



PERSECUTION. 



857 



of the Board on that subject would greatly injure its 
efficiency." 

Every day developed new evidence of a continued and 
desperate effort to crush the Protestant cause. At a 
council of the dignitaries of the Chaldean church, it was 
resolved to raise contributions for the express purpose of 
inducing the Protestants, by bribes and j)romises, to return 
to their old communions. A document from the Pope 
was read in the papal churches requiring the faithful to 
pray for the success of their Christian Majesties against the 
Russians, for the speedy establishment of peace, and that 
the American missionaries may be expelled from Turkey. 

The rulers of all the Christian sects united in a renewed 
petition to the Porte to forbid the rating of Protestants, 
like other sects, at fifty piastres a house. The Jacobite, 
who built the house for the missionaries at Deira, before 
he was allowed to take a wife, was obliged to give bonds 
in the sum of five thousand piastres, that he would not 
turn Protestant. And when Jeremiah, as waheel or head 
of the Protestant community, went to the pasha, to enroll, 
as usual, the names of certain persons who were desirous 
of becoming Protestants, instead of receiving him respect- 
fully as aforetime, the pasha began to heap insults upon 
him, charging him with being the cause of continual com- 
plaints from all the Christian sects, a brawler and unclean ; 
and he then ordered him never to come into his presence 
again, under penalty of being banished from Mosul. The 
missionaries, of course, took suitable measures to secure 
their rights by representing their grievances at Constanti- 
nople. But so far from being alarmed or disheartened, 
they thanked God and took courage, seeing in this com- 
bined opposition a proof that the leaven of the gospel was 
working powerfully, and fully believing that it would be 
overruled for good. And, in the face of opposition and 
prohibition, they did, in fact, enjoy more access to the 
people and even to the ecclesiastics, than they had ever 
had before. 



858 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



Having received from the archbishop of the Jacobites a 

semi-official intimation that he desired to contrive some 
" plan of union," they offered to cooperate with him in 
reforming the abuses of his church, provided he would 
discontinue the use of a dead language (Syriac) in the 
church service, preach the pure gospel, cease to counte- 
nance prayers for the dead, prayers to saints and to the 
Virgin, auricular confession, the pretense of the real pres- 
ence in the Eucharist, and, in general, all practices con- 
trary to the Word of God. They offered to open two 
schools for the Jacobites, on condition that only Arabic 
should be taught in them, that the Scriptures should be 
the basis of all the religious instruction given, that the 
text-books of the mission should be used, that they should 
have a voice in the selection of teachers, and have so 
much personal connection with the schools as to be sure 
that the conditions were complied with. These terms 
were considered too hard by the archbishop, and, as the 
mission had no others to offer, the negotiation ceased. 

At the festival of Mar Elias, at an old convent a short 
distance from the city, Dr. Lobdell, being present, was 
obliged to take the highest seat at the services, and to 
dine with the j^riests ; and he was invited to discuss reli- 
gious topics, as he would not have been two years before. 

The scarlet fever raging very violently at Mosul in the 
autumn of 1854, — a new disease there, and exciting for 
that reason no small alarm — gave the Doctor unusual 
access to all sects and all classes of the people. Accom- 
panied often by one of his missionary brethren, he went 
from house to house, and found an open door for the 
preaching of the truth as well as the administering of 
medicines. 

In the last chapter, we saw Dr. Lobdell longing with all 
a boy's fondness, and expressing his desire with all a boy's 
frankness, for those luxuries of his own Kew England — 
ice cream and maple sugar. We now find him rejoicing 



LETTER FROM NIMEOOD. 



359 



over the arrival of an article that smacked scarcely less of 
America — several mule-loads of potatoes, from Oroomiah ; 
and ordering another cargo from the same source for his 
friend Loftus at Koyunjik. 

Passing over the major part, both of the journal and 
letters of this period, in which there is the usual variety 
amid uniformity — the same routine of daily preaching 
and teaching at the dispensary, in the study and from 
house to house, with an endless diversity in the number, 
character, and condition of the bodily and sjmitual patients, 
and an occasional sprinkling of talks with English anti- 
quarians, rides to Koyunjik, study of the geology of the 
country, * examination and purchase of coins, &c, &c. — 
a letter to his brother takes us to, or rather finds us at 
Nimrood, where the letter was written December 29th, 
1854 : . " While I am waiting here for my men to uncover 
the slabs, which I am preparing to send to America, I pro- 
pose to tell you something about my operations. Having 
written so far with my lead pencil, I find it best to make 
use of some ink discovered by the servant of Mr. Loftus 
in the hut, where I write — the same described so elo- 
quently by Mr. Layard in his first work. It has lately been 
floored with bricks from the palace of the son of Sardana- 
palus, and its walls have received a coating of ground 
gypsum, which, you know, is the stone of the Mneveh 
sculptures — but few of them are of limestone or sand- 
stone — and with which this part of the valley of the Tigris 
is bedded. The roof of the establishment is newly cov- 
ered with reeds and mud ; a neat firej^lace offers facilities 
for the consumption of brush from the banks of the Great 
Zab, which is about two hours distant by gallop; the 
rough door, wdth wooden hinges and a gigantic bolt, allows 

* While riding with Capt. Loftus, Dr. Lobdell made the first discovery of the 
quarries from which the limestone blocks at Nimrood were taken. The lime- 
stone underlies the gypsum, which is the prevailing formation, and which is 
the material of the sculptured slabs. 



360 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



the free circulation of air; a window frame is covered 
w^ith copies of Galignani's Messenger ; and heavy benches 
stand on the sides of the room, answering the double 
purpose of seats and beds. My saddle-bags, in which I 
brought my bedding and cloak, with my saddle and sack 
of tin dishes and eatables ; a long spear, four plank chairs, 
a few bricks with arrow-headed letters on the sides and 
ends, and an antique bureau, covered with terra-cotta vases 
and copper Assyrian ornaments, complete the furniture of 
the room. 

"An adjoining room is nearly filled with antiques — 
glass, vases of clay, bricks, pieces of marble, and tablets — 
while great slabs, carved with priestly or divine forms, 
and glorified kings and eunuchs, stand against the outer 
walls of the building. The village of Nimrood lies all 
about it — a dirty, wretched representation of the old 
Nimrood, or the Larissa, which Xenophon so well describes 
in his record of the retreat from Cuanaxa. The pyramid 
he speaks of, occupies the northwest angle of the great 
mound, where Layard uncovered so many interesting me- 
morials. This is my sixth visit to these ruins, which, you 
may remember, are on the eastern side of the Tigris, a 
mile from the river, and about twenty miles, or c six para- 
sangs] from Mosul. If Nebbi Yunus represents Mespila, 
as I believe it does, Xenophon's measurement of the dis- 
tance from Larissa was exact. 

" But you will ask me why and how I got here so late 
in December. Well, you should know that now the whole 
country is becoming green ; that not a flake of snow falls 
here except in the extremest cold weather ; that the farm- 
ers are now plowing with their wooden plows, drawn by 
asses, steers, or steers and asses ; and that I am engaged 
in superintending the sawing, packing, marking, and for- 
warding of forty-seven boxes of sculptures — not forty- 
seven slabs, but twelve, besides a dozen bricks. Six of 
the slabs are for Dr. Wright, of Oroomiah. The other six 



NINEVEH GALLERY AT AMHERST. 



361 



are the property of us missionaries at Mosul — two each. 
Those of Dr. Wright will go to Dartmouth College and 
the University of Virginia, I expect, and the others will 
be kept at Mosul, till we get orders for them from America. 
I believe Dr. Hitchcock requested me to send more to 
Amherst ; but I think the request was made before he 
received the slabs I sent ; and hence I do not feel author- 
ized, exactly, to send them. I intend, however, to send 
to Amherst, by the caravan that takes Dr. Wright's slabs 
to the Mediterranean, a box of geological sj^ecimens and 
articles of oriental apparel. I have quite a collection of 
coins which dervishes brought me, of which I shall some 
time send a lot to Amherst, and the rest to the Boston 
Athenaeum, the Smithsonian Institution, Professor Salis- 
bury, or some body else ! 

"My hands are full — perhaps too full — of missionary 
labor. My antiquarian performances are simply recrea- 
tion. I would rather talk to such a gathering as I have 
daily in my study, than to explore antiquities, write a 
•great book, or preach twice a week to a thousand wealthy 
and fashionable hearers in New York city. This is labor- 
ing for eternity. Oh that it may not be in vain ! This 
life seems more than ever a vapor — a flower — a breath." 

The successive instalments of sculptures, and the greater 
part of the coins, cylinders, and bricks, which Dr. Lobdell 
collected, have reached Amherst, and under the superin- 
tendence of Dr. Hitchcock — who has manifested scarcely 
less interest in these footprints of former generations of 
men than in the ichnolites of the pre-adamite earth in 
his cabinet, — and through the liberality of several friends 
of the college, and especially of Enos Dickinson, Esq., of 
South Amherst, they have found a fit resting place in the 
Nineveh Gallery of Amherst College. This room, con- 
structed after the model of some of the smaller rooms in 
31 



362 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



the exhumed Assyrian palaces* — is sixteen feet long, 
twelve feet wide, lighted from the roof, paved with imita- 
tions of Assyrian bricks, paneled to the height of seven 
or eight feet with slabs from Nimrood, the remainder of 
the walls covered with copies in stucco of some of the 
most remarkable of the kings and gods sketched in La- 
yard's works, (among the rest the representation of Sen- 
nacherib at the siege of Lachish.) There are, besides, two 
or three horizontal cases filled with various relics of As- 
syrian and Babylonian antiquity. The contents of this 
Museum are classified and described as follows by Mr. 
Charles Hitchcock, who has interested himself not a little 
in the arrangement and exhibition, especially of the coins.f 

I. Sculptures. Of these, No. 1 is one of the oldest found 
in the ruins. It is the Nisroch of Scripture, (2d Kings, 
19:37; Isa. 37:38;) the god of Sennacherib and the 
Assyrian kings — a small and richly dressed human figure 
with wings and the head of an eagle, from which, in the 
Araiussan languages, it derives its name. The whole of 
the sacred tree is on this specimen. 

No. 2 is a two-horned divinity. The figure is seven and 
a half feet high, with enormous wings upon his shoulders, 
a basket in his right hand, and in his extended left hand, 
a cone somewhat like a pineapple. Half of the sacred 
tree is upon each side of the figure, forming a border. 
Across the entire breadth of this slab (and also upon the 
others) and forming a strip eighteen inches wide, the 
surface is covered with an inscription in cuneiform char- 
acters. 

No. 3 is a three-horned divinity, which differs from the 
preceding only in the number of horns. These are quite 
short and might easily be mistaken for fillets. 

*The rooms, even in the most magnificent palaces, are narrow — generally 
not wider than the Nineveh Gallery at Amherst. 

t For a very neat and accurate catalogue of the coins, the Museum is indebted 
to the scholarly taste and habits of Prof. Edward Tuckerman, professor of 
history in the college. 



CONTENTS OF THE GALLERY. 



363 



No. 4 represents king Sardanapalus, having a bow in 
one hand and a censer in the other, as if offering incense 
upon his return from war. Dr. Lobdell humorously 
describes this slab as the first king ever sent to the United 
States. 

No. 5 is a filleted divinity. The general appearance of 
this sculpture corresponds with that of the horned divini- 
ties, except that his head is covered with fillets, the left 
hand holds a branch of the sacred tree, and the right hand 
is lifted up as if in the act of speaking or commanding. 

No. 6 is Nisroch — the same as No. 1. 

II. Bricks. There are six large bricks, varying in length 
from twelve to eighteen inches, from the palace of Sar- 
danapalus at Nimrood and from Babylon. 

III. Antiques. These consist of a large number of beau- 
tiful gems (chalcedony and chameleon) from Mecca and 
Greece ; Babylonian, Sassanian, and Assyrian cylinders 
(chiefly serpentine, chalcedony, and chameleon ;) Sassa- 
nian, early Persian, later Persian, Greek, Hebrew, and 
Cufic seals ; alabaster fragments of jars ; fragments of a 
winged bull, one of which contains a fossil shell, the Pte- 
roceras ; and numerous inscriptions from Babylon, with 
very many other miscellaneous articles. 

IV. Modern miscellaneous articles. Of these there are 
more than a hundred, consisting of bracelets, shoes, lamps, 
spoons, pipes, escritoires, &c, all of which are now in use 
in Mesopotamia. 

V. Coins. There are fifteen Greek silver coins, twelve of 
which (nine tetradrachms and three drachms) were coined 
by Alexander the Great ; thirty-one silver drachms of the 
Seleucidse ; thirteen Greek copper coins ; eighteen silver 
coins of the Arsacidse ; three of the Sassanidse, the succes- 
sors of the Arsacidse in Persia ; sixty-three Roman silver 
coins, from Vespasian to Alexander Severus ; forty-eight 
Roman copper coins ; forty-nine copper coins of the East- 
ern Empire; eight silver, and two hundred and sixty 



364 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



copper Cufic coins of the old Mohammedan princes; fifteen 
medallions of brass, having the figures of saints ; and two 
old seal rings : making in all five hundred and twenty-five. 

Besides these contributions for the Xineveh Gallery, 
Dr. Lobdell sent two or three hundred specimens for the 
geological cabinet, illustrating the tertiary deposits around 
Mosul, and the other formations in Mesopotamia and the 
Koordish mountains. 

The name of Dr. Lobdell is inscribed, as well it may 
be, in a conspicuous place in this Museum ; and under it 
might well have been placed the inscription which accom- 
panies the name of Sir Christopher "Wren in St. Paul's 
Church in London : " Si vis monumentum, circumspice." 
Whoever visits the Xineveh Gallery at Amherst, sees all 
about him a monument at once of Dr. Lobdell's filial 
affection for his alma mater, and of his zeal and industry 
in the collection and study of antiquities. Xor was it 
merely as an antiquarian and a scholar, that he felt an 
interest in the colossal and majestic forms which guarded 
the entrances and lined the halls of those old Assyrian 
palaces. He looked on them also with the eye of a 
Christian philosopher and a student of the Bible. He 
beheld them, not with the idolatrous veneration of the 
ancient Assyrians, nor yet with the iconoclastic fanaticism 
of the modern Mohammedans, but with the religious 
awe, mingled with compassion, which an enlightened and 
candid mind can scarcely refrain from feeling in the pres- 
ence of objects that have once stirred the deepest and* 
most sacred emotions of the human heart, even though it 
be a heart that has lost the knowledge of the true God. 
He saw in them the symbols by which one of the oldest 
and greatest nations of the earth represented their ideas of 
religion, of worship, and of God. They reminded him, 
as they must remind any one who has seen them, or only 
copies of them, and who is, at the same time, an intelligent 
and thoughtful reader of the Scriptures, of the cherubim 



IXTEEPKETATIO^" OF THE WINGED FIGURES. 365 

that spread their wings over the mercy seat, of the sera- 
phim of Isaiah, of the living creatures of Ezekiel, and of 
the beasts, as the word is unhappily translated in our 
version of the Apocalypse, in which, as in the winged and 
eagle-headed men, and the winged and human-headed 
lions and bulls of the Assyrian monuments, all that is 
swiftest, and strongest, and wisest, and greatest, and best 
in the creation, is combined to form some imperfect expres- 
sion of the attributes and agency of the Creator, and which, 
like all the other types and shadows of the Old Testament, 
and the " unconscious prophecies " of Christianity, which 
are not wanting in the heathen world, have all been ful- 
filled and superseded by the mystery of the Incarnation. 
When asked to give his interpretation of those majestic 
forms, he replied that he did not feel competent to give 
any authoritative exposition of them; but if any one would 
explain the meaning of the cherubim and the living crea- 
tures, he would then explain the signification of the winged, 
horned, and multiform figures of Assyrian sculpture. He 
was not sure but the figures with the basket and the cone 
or the uplifted hand, in the attitude of prayer, or as if mak- 
ing an offering, (which have commonly been supposed to 
be deities,) were worshipers. The human-headed and 
winged lions and bulls undoubtedly represented gods. 
" The sacred vine would seem to symbolize the producing 
power in nature, and the winged figures in the act of pre- 
senting the cone may represent the devotion of the priest- 
i hood and instrumentally that of the nation to this power, 
which is only another way of rendering homage to the 
Godhead. And perhaps the figures generally symbolize 
the chief ruling powers, by which God carries on the 
operations of his natural and providential government." 

Mesopotamia and Egypt are the two fountains of bibli- 
cal history. The patriarchs went out from the former; 
Moses and the people under him went out from the latter ; 
and the prophets had much to do with both. A full 
81* 



366 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL* 

understanding and appreciation of the Old Testament, 
without an acquaintance with the geography and history 
of these countries, is impossible. How many volumes of 
idle whims and fanciful conjectures in the interpretation 
of prophecy, especially of Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Reve- 
lation, might have been spared, if commentators had only 
been able to see these books in the light of the Assyrian 
and Egyptian monuments. Reading the Scriptures in 
this light, which the providence of God has so remarkably 
shed upon them in our day, we not only see perpetual 
demonstrations of their genuineness and authenticity, but 
in every book we behold with wonder and delight, how it is 
at once the book of man and the book of God — how the 
body is of the earth, but the spirit is from heaven — how 
the Bible has taken a form and coloring from the countries 
where the several books were written, and yet it has never 
in any instance borrowed the errors or imbibed the spirit 
of the idolatrous nations of antiquity. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Tour to Baghdad and Babylon — Voyage down the Tigris— Kalah Sherghat — 
Tekrit — Birth place of Saladin — Samarah — A gorgeous Sunset — Palms and 
Pomegranates — Post — Baghdad — Col. Rawlinson — The Residency — Cli- 
mate — English Hospitality — Mr. Bruhl — Prof. Petermann — M. Fresnel — 
The Belgian Colonel — Aleppo Button — Circular Boats — Ride to Babylon — 
Canals and Khans — The Count — The Pasha — Babel — Birs Nimrood — Cof- 
fins and Tombs — Theory of Babylon — Pilgrimage to Kazmain — Jewish 
Hospital — Visit to the Pasha — Arrival of 31r. Murray — The Steamer — Sun- 
day Levee — Interview with the Ambassador — Return by post to Mosul. 

The Nestorian mission was brought by the war into 
circumstances of trial and danger. Its success had already- 
awakened, in some measure, the fanaticism of the Mos- 
lems and the jealousy of the Persian government. And 
now Russian influence was arrayed against it, with ail its 
hostility to liberty and evangelical Christianity, inflamed 
by hatred to England and to those who enjoyed English 
sympathy and protection. Severe restrictions were accord-' 
ingly laid upon the mission, especially in the educational 
department, which seems to have been the object of 
especial dislike and dread ; and these restrictions, it was 
feared, might be only the commencement of aggressive 
measures, which would end, perhaps, in the destruction of 
the schools and the mission itself. 

Under these circumstances, the missionaries, at the sug- 
gestion of Mr. Stevens, late English consul at Tabreez, 
requested Dr. Lobdell, whose recent visit to Oroomiah 
made him perfectly acquainted with the state of the mis- 
sion, to go to Baghdad and lay their case before the new 
English ambassador to Persia, Mr. Murray, who was ex- 
pected to be there, on his way from Alexandria to Tehran 
about the tenth of January. As soon, therefore, a& a raft 



368 



MEMOIR OF LOBDJELL. 



could be prepared, the Doctor set out for Baghdad, fur- 
nished with letters of introduction, and charged with 
commissions from Mr. Loft us at Koyunjik, and from the 
French consul at Mosul, to the French and English func- 
tionaries and other friends of theirs in the city of the 
caliphs. Three boxes of Trine, two sacks of potatoes, and 
a barrel of pickles, formed part of the cargo thus con- 
signed to his care. His company consisted of " four Arab 
guards, dirty, ragged, and courageous, carrying antique 
muskets and swords ; two oarsmen, from Tekrit ; Xaainan, 
the cook ; Jeremiah, the preacher and interpreter ; and a 
Turk, late from the Crimea, who displayed a Russian 
watch, guns, and other trophies taken at the battle of 
Alma." It was about noon on the tenth of January, 1855, 
when the raft floated from its moorings opposite Mosul. 
The crowd upon the shore, the palace and barracks of the 
pasha, the mound of Koyunjik, and the spires and gaudy 
new minaret of Jonah's tomb, soon faded from the view. 
The Doctor's attention was then divided for a time between 
Galignani, the Independent, and the Journal de Constan- 
tinople on deck, and flocks of black ducks, gray herons, 
and white pelicans, upon the banks of the river. At 
Hamman Ali, the tall minaret of Mosul vanished out of 
sight, and near sunset he passed the gentle rapids of Xirn- 
rood without a sacrifice to the river deity, though not 
without a prayer to God that he would guide the frail 
bark safely to its destination, and keep in perfect peace 
the minds of the loved ones left behind. 

"At dark," (we quote from a journal of the tour, which 
he sent home to his family friends, and which we have 
only to abridge for the materials of this chapter,) " the 
jackals danced along the western bank, making a curious 
noise, half that of the human voice and half that of a 
hyena, reminding one of the satyrs, of whom the school- 
boy reads in Christendom. At times, I could scarcely 
believe the voices were not those of men. Our Arabs 



VOYAGE DOWN THE TIGEIS. 



369 



sung some guttural sonnets, and I thought of the reeds on 
which Virgil's bucolic heroes piped their pastoral lays ; 
the Turk described the charge of the English on the 
heights of Alma ; the rowers plied their clumsy oars, now 
and then warming their hard hands and bare legs by the 
charcoal fire ; domesticated Arabs hailed us from the shore ; 
and two hours below Mmrood, we came to the Great Zab, 
which j)ours its yellow tide into the arrowy Tigris. Tak- 
ing leave of the clear-shining stars, I now buried myself 
for the frosty night under quilts and coats, till midnight, 
when I was awakened by the cry of 4 Kalah Sherghat ! ' 
I stuck my head out of the felt-covered doorway, and 
took a look at the giant mound, which rises grandly on 
the western bank, and was soon after dreaming in my bed 
of the antiquities which fancy pictured in its buried cham- 
bers. Layard did not half explore the mound, and, I doubt 
not, it is yet to yield up treasures as precious as those of 
Khorsabad. 

" 11th. The raft moved quietly on all night, and this 
morning, as 1 awoke, I was greeted by hoar-frost and a 
leopard ! The former lasted some hours ; the latter soon 
disappeared in the brush that lined the river's bank. A 
rough range of rocks stretched out into the river, but the 
stream was high, and we passed it without difficulty. 
Water fowl sat stupid on the shore as we passed an old 
castle on the right bank — the refuge of human robbers 
and of vultures. We were scon at the Lesser Zab, down 
which, from the region of Kerkuk, a raft of wood was 
floating. A vast number of camels now appeared upon 
the left, biting the shrubs and grass, and their owners 
tried to induce us to come ashore and let them ask us 
questions ! As we declined, they cried out that we were 
afraid of them — which was, indeed, the fact. They 
threw off their loose cloaks, called us cowards, and shook 
their swords and canes in the air. 'Time and tide wait 
for no man ; ' neither did our raft wait for them. 



370 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



" The banks were tertiary ; here and there grew a bush; 
impure limestone lay above gypsum, though but for a 
short distance. I passed the day reading the sensible 
work of the envoy, whom I was on my way to visit — 
' Travels in Xorth America.' I was glad to find him so 
well pleased with Americans, and augured a favorable 
reception for myself. A few black tents appeared upon 
our left in the afternoon, but no one tried to molest us. 
'Allah' was on the lips of my Arabs, whenever they spoke; 
but they admitted they never prayed in winter — it was 
too cold ! c God is merciful, and pities us ' — this was 
their creed ; and they cared little for the words, c Moham- 
med is his prophet.' 

" We reached Tekrit at midnight. Here we changed our 
oarsmen, who of course expected a buckshish in addition 
to their wages. Every raft passing this place must pay a 
tax called haj, a sort of black-mail, recognized by govern- 
ment, but additional to the tax on merchandise at the 
custom-house above, from which it starts. This Tekrit is 
famous as the birth place of Saladin, and as being almost 
the only town between Mosul and Baghdad, on the west- 
ern bank of the Tigris. As we arrived, guns were fired 
by our guard, though one musket was so out of repair 
that it was necessary to put a rope around the trigger, 
which was then jDulled by two men, before it would go 
off! The guns brought out the governor and his wife, 
who said she had just laid her child from her bosom on 
the mat, and could only say to us in Arabic, 1 un bon 
voyage,' and then returned to her mud hovel. The haj is 
the chief source of income to this now wretched place ; 
the men are mostly raftsmen. Were they not allowed 
this tax, they would plunder every raft that comes down 
the river. 

" 12th. To-day it grows warmer ; we are fast drawing 
near to the orange and date groves. Below Tekrit, the 
banks show numerous remains of antiquity. Four hours 



VOYAGE DOWN THE TIGRIS. 



371 



below, on the left bank, is Dor, by some thought to stand 
in the jDlain of Dura. Soon appears on the same bank 
the tower of Samarah, looking exactly like the pictures 
of Babel in children's picture-books — a spiral column, 
tapering towards the summit — how like that fabled tower! 
A mosk, with its minarets, and several hundred old 
houses, are near it. Arabs now occupy the site of the 
capital of Mutassem Billah, the Abbasside cahph, of whom 
such wonderful stories are told by the old Arabic writers. 
The Shiites, (Mohammedans of Persia,) make pilgrimages 
to this mosk, where are buried some of the last Imams. 
Six rafts, loaded with brush and ]3laster of Paris, (ground 
gypsum,) from Mosul, lay near the town, on their way to 
Baghdad. 

" Ducks and pelicans abound. Our Turkish warrior fired 
at a fine flock of the latter ; but he was less successful, he 
said, in shooting birds than in shooting Russians! We 
had a gorgeous sunset — the first I have seen in Assyria. 
It quite carried me back to Amherst. At Oroomiah, I 
saw a splendid sky, but seldom was the western horizon 
hung with such gold-fringed clouds as used to hang over 
Northampton. 

" See ! here are two swimmers, paddling along on skins ; 
one has a wife on his back, the other a child! Soon 
we come to Belled, around which appear immense groves 
of palms. What feathery tops ! .How curiously hangs 
the fruit in its season, which is October. The wind 
rises against us ; the current is less rapid ; slowly we go. 

" 13th. We are near Sindiyeh. At ten a. m. at How- 
eish, where the palms are thick, and pomegranate bushe3 
fill the spaces beneath their fringed tops. The trunks of 
the palms are made to grow very long by trimming ; they 
are often a hundred feet high, without a branch. 

" The wind is so high, I must leave the raft. The crew 
are calling on God and the Prophet for protection. 

" I took a post-horse at Jedideh, on the left bank, and, 



372 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



with my Turkish friend, galloped for several hours over a 
level tract of fertile but uncultivated land, to Baghdad, 
arriving before sunset within its gates, and at the residency 
of the East India Company's agent, the famous Col. Raw- 
linson — three days and a few hours from Mosul. This 
was a very quick passage, and was the result of moving 
night and day with a high flood. 

" Col. Rawlinson had just broken his left clavicle by a fall 
from his horse, while hunting a wild boar ; but though 
much bruised, he was not seriously injured. Boars, hyenas, 
jackals, wolves, and a few lions, are found about here. 
Col. Rawlinson has a lion of very great size chained on 
his premises, and it would certainly be an easy matter for 
him to chew a man to shreds. He was taken near Ctesi- 
phon, a few hours below Baghdad, when young; and 
though maneless, as the lions in these parts are, he will be 
sent to England, whither Col. R. expects to go in the 
spring." 

Dr. Lobdell describes the residency as a splendid build- 
ing for that part of the Eastern world, in the richest Per- 
sian style, with two large courts, the inner of which is the 
harem. The chief reception room, which is of glass " above 
and on all sides," commands a fine view of the Tigris and 
the palms beyond. The dining room is richly furnished, 
and looks out on a beautiful garden of oranges and lemons, 
and tall date-trees. The drawing room contains some fine 
engravings, silvered globes, side-tables of a black wood 
from India, some curious books on antiquities, and a very 
fine restoration in black marble of the first obelisk discov- 
ered at Nimrood, covered with a fac-simile of the inscrip- 
tions and figures, an interpretation of which was published 
by Col. Rawlinson. The ceiling of all the rooms is orna- 
mented with curiously arranged pieces of glass. Paint 
can not keep the wood from warpiug and cracking. The 
serdab is nearly under ground, but is less neat than some 
of the serdabs in Mosul, as it is made of brick instead of 



BAGHDAD. 



373 



slabs of gypsum. " Gypsum is expensive here, as it is 
brought from Mosul. It is the only stone seen here. The 
plain for scores of miles does not reveal a single rock or 
pebble. From the meteorological journal kept for several 
years by Dr. Hyslop, the surgeon of the residency, I learn 
that although the heat at Baghdad lasts some two months 
longer than it does at Mosul, it seldom pushes the mercury- 
above 115°, which is about the maximum there. The 
siroccos, however, are terrible here in the autumn. The 
houses are all built of brick. The population is about 
sixty thousand. It was formerly much greater. Plague, 
cholera, and fever, have brought the number low. The 
town lies chiefly on the eastern bank of the Tigris, though 
the old town was on the right bank, where a wall still, in 
part, surrounds the most miserable portion of the city. 
These two parts are connected by a bridge of boats." 

On Saturday, Jan. 13th, the day of his arrival at Bagh- 
dad, Dr. Lobdell dined at Col. Rawlinson's with Dr. Hyslop, 
Mr. Oakley, " a rich young gentleman," and Mr. Seecroft, 
his traveling tutor, Mr. Lynch, the friend of Mr. Loftus, 
to whom the potatoes from beyond the Koordish moun- 
tains were consigned, Mr. Hector, another Baghdad mer- 
chant, and two or three clerks of the residency. He was 
somewhat annoyed at being introduced, on the authority 
of his letter from Mr. Loftus, as " the Rev. Dr. Lobdell," 
which grave and reverend cognomen he thought was little 
in harmony with his short beard and youthful appearance. 
On the part of the company, every thing was agreeable 
except the brandy, port and sherry, at the table, and the 
brandy punch and billiards after dinner, which led him 
" to thank God that he lived for a higher object than these 
kind-hearted Englishmen appeared to live for." He was 
able to contribute at least one welcome element to the 
entertainment of the company. " The circulars of Dr. 
Dwight, our missionary brother at Stamboul, in respect to 
32 



374 



MEMOIR OP LOBDELL. 



the war, were welcomed, as I was in advance of the mail, 
though the post left Mosul before I did." 

At half-past ten, on Sunday, the 14th, the English ser- 
vice was read in the drawing room ; after which Dr. Lob- 
dell was as much disturbed by the Sabbath-breaking of 
his English friends as he had been by their drinking habits 
the day before. 

He found a friend and a brother in Mr. Briihl, a con- 
verted German Jew, who was laboring for the benefit of 
his brethren under the direction of the London Jews' 
Society. At the house of Mr. Briihl, he formed the 
acquaintance of Prof. Petermann, of the University of 
Berlin, and an intimate friend of the learned and excellent 
Neander, of whom, while applying in his behalf for any 
historical, Nestorian, or Armenian MSS., which could be 
procured at Oroomiah, and especially for a Life of Alex- 
ander in the Syriac, of which Dr. Lobdell had told him, 
the Doctor thus writes to Dr. Perkins: "Prof. Peter- 
mann has been in the south of Persia the last summer 
with Mr. Briihl, going from Bushire to Shiraz, Isfahan, 
Hamadan, and Yezd, and has procured some scores of 
MSS., a large lot of Parthian and Sassanian coins, and 
some two hundred cylinders and seals, a part of them 
bearing fine Babylonian inscriptions. He will return to 
Europe via Aleppo in the spring. I have found him one 
of nature's noblemen — a gentleman and scholar. He 
probably knows Armenian as well as any man living. He 
reads Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Sanscrit, and several other 
Oriental languages, and speaks French and English, be- 
sides his native German. 

" The French savant, M. Fresnel, sent out here by the 
French Government to excavate at Babylon, is still 
here — a very odd Frenchman, but a very learned man. 
He takes a good deal of opium, and has made himself, of 
late, a sort of hermit. He speaks English well, and his 
conversation, though somewhat pedantic, is exceedingly 



THE BELGIAN COLONEL, 



375 



instructive. He illustrates the beau ideal of French 
politeness. It is worth half a trip to Baghdad to get a 
sight of the human lions here, to say nothing of the 
beastly one in Col. Rawlinson's outer court." 

Among the " lions " thus alluded to in the above letter, 
was a Belgian, who had the office of Colonel in the Turk- 
ish army. " He has been in New York, Mexico, India, 
and China. He is now suffering from the sad effects of 
fumigation by calomel — the prescription of a quack 
for an ulcer on the nose, the Aleppo button or date-mark 
of Baghdad. Almost every one has this ulcer for about a 
year. It is seen at Mosul often. Julius has one on his left 
cheek now. Mary has thus far escaped. Lucy has had three 
on her wrists. I have had none, but am told that I shall 
have, now I have come to Baghdad. Its cause is mys- 
terious, like that of all endemics. It is generally without 
pain. The Belgian offered Mr. Briihl and myself two of 
his horses to ride to Babylon, and informed us that as 
soon as he gets the rank of pasha in Turkey he will return 
to his native country to enjoy his honors. Before that 
time I sincerely hope the Turkish government will be num- 
bered among the things that are not. It ought to go down. 
It is a disgrace to the age, that such a fine country should 
be ruled by barbarians. It would be very easy for 
the English in India to come up and take this city, and 
indeed all Mesopotamia. There are 20,000 English sol- 
diers, and 400,000 native troops, officered by Englishmen, 
all paid by the East India Company. The pay of the 
officers of that company is enormous. The Colonel, with 
whom I stop here, receives five thousand pounds a year 
for his establishment — that is, as much as our President, 
— though only fifteen thousand dollars of this sum are for 
his personal salary. 

" I crossed the Tigris this afternoon (January 16) in a 
circular boat, with six or eight other persons. These 
boats are a curiosity. They are the same as Herodotus 



376 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



describes, and the same as are portrayed on the walls of 
Koyunjik — mere tubs of twisted reeds and palm splints 
covered with bitumen.* They slide across the river 
about as fast as the Stamboul caiques move on the Bos- 
phorus, paddled by men erect, holding oars loose in their 
hands. 

"January 17th. Having got a letter from Mohammed 
Reshid, Pasha of Baghdad, to Abdallah, Pasha of Hillah 
(the town on the Euphrates marking the site of old Baby- 
lon), and a letter from Dr. Hyslop to an Armenian at 
Meshed Ali, some ten hours beyond — the tomb of Ali to 
which the Persians go on pilgrimage — Mr. Briihl and 
myself bade adieu to Messrs. Seecroft and Oakley, who 
start to-day on camels for a ride through the desert to 
Damascus, and got away about eight A. M., en route for 
a view of the Birs Nimroud and the other remains of the 
city beautified by Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed by the 
Persians, and now the home of the jackal and the vulture. 
The country between the Tigris and the Euphrates, below 
Tekrit, is almost perfectly level, of a clayey consistency, 
and, when irrigated, of astonishing fertility. The whole 
region is traversed by canals, now mostly filled up with 
debris, excepting in the neighborhood of the towns along 
the rivers, and of the khans built by Persian Shiites, who 
have been on pilgrimage to the tombs of Ali and his 
celebrated sons. These caravansaries (palaces of caravans) 
are located on the main roads, about two hours apart, and 
the hues of pilgrims that wind over the desert at this 
season render coffee-selling at the khans quite profitable." 

Two days, or sixteen hours at a caravan pace, brought 
them, about three o'clock in the afternoon, to Hillah, 
which is about fifty miles from Baghdad, in a direction 
nearly south. " We found it the most wretched place 
imaginable. It occupies both banks of the Euphrates. 

* Compare the ark of bulrushes, " daubed " with bitumen, in which the 
infant Moses was placed. Ex. ii. 3. 



BABYLON. 



377 



The inhabitants are chiefly Arabs. Tall palms and a few 
pomegranates and figs alone relieve the barren aspect of 
the desert around. We stopped in the smoky dirty room 
of Count de Clement, a French aristocrat, who fled in the 
revolution of 1848, and who, after traversing Egypt and 
the Holy Land, is now teaching French to Abdallah Pasha, 
a Koordish chief, who is in honorable exile here under the 
title of governor. The Pasha's library consisted of his- 
tories, mathematical and astronomical treatises, grammars, 
lexicons, and fables in French. Think of a Koord studying 
the differential calculus and the analytical theory of the 
system of the world ! 

" Was it not strange that I should have seen Babylon 
without seeing Niagara Falls ? I believe I am the first 
Yankee who has been to Babel. This name is still given 
to a large mound an hour northward of Hillah, on the 
east bank of the Euphrates. 

" 20th. The Count and myself rode over two hours in a 
southerly direction, on the right bank of the river, to the 
Birs Nimroud, which is a gigantic mound, representing the 
ancient city of Borsippa, and, as I believe, the older Tower 
of Belus, and perhaps the very Tower of Babel, for building 
which the post-diluvians were scattered over the earth* 

" What a magnificent prospect spreads out from that 
high ruin ! the tomb of Ezekiel — the burial-place of 
Hussein and his half brother, Abbas — the sepulcher of 
Ali, Mohammed's son-in-law — the lake or marsh formed 
by the Euphrates flooding its western banks t — the 
ranges of palms — the old canals — wandering flocks — 
innumerable signs of desolation amid vestiges of former 
cultivation, wealth, and grandeur — how can I in a hasty 

* A very interesting account of this tower may be found in Loftus's Chaldaea 
and Susiana, chap. ii. 

t Isa. xiv. 23: "I will make it . . . pools of water." "The Euphrates some 
distance above divides into two large streams, owing to the miserable state of 
the embankments, and the whole region is more or less flooded every spring." 
— Dr. Lobdell's letter to Mr. Seelye. 

32* 



378 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



letter describe the scene ? What an idea it gave me of 
Babylon fallen! But I must reserve the description till 
I return to Mosul, and perhaps then send it to the Biblio- 
theca Sacra. 

"Picking up some pieces of bricks and bitumen — 
remains of the Temple of Belus, ornamented by Nebuchad- 
nezzar, before his fall — I thought of great Babylon which 
he did build — of the turning of the flood by Cyrus, and 
the entrance of his troops into Belshazzar's halls — of 
Alexander the Great and the ten thousand men employed 
by him in removing the rubbish — and rocle slowly back 
to Hillah, stammering out French ejaculations to my 
compagnon de voyage, and thankful to God for letting me 
look upon the ruins of earth's most ancient kingdom. I 
regret that I could not afford to purchase a lot of antique 
seals, and Babylonian cylinders, and terra-cotta heads and 
vases brought to me from the ruins. But I shall hope to 
obtain some hereafter, and I enclose now a small Baby- 
lonian or Grasco-Babylonian head, which I wish you to 
preserve, as perhaps the only relic from Babylon that has 
crossed the Atlantic. I shall endeavor before I leave 
Baghdad to obtain some bricks with cuneiform inscriptions, 
and send them via Cape of Good Hope and England, to 
Amherst. 

" Sunday, 21st. We read the English service in He- 
brew, French, and English. Bishop Gobat of Jerusalem 
sometimes administers the communion in seven lan- 
guages at one service. 

" 22d. The Count accompanied us to the ruins east of 
Hillah. I cut off some branches of the only mountain tree 
standing on the ruins, said to be the child of one of the trees 
that Nebuchadnezzar planted to please his Median wife. 
And having taken a last look of the Birs, and the low 
plain around it, from the Mujelibeh,* Mr. Bruhl and my- 
self parted company with our French friend and galloped 

* "So called by Rich, but known to the Arabs as Babel."— Loftus. 



THEORY OF BABYLON. * 



379 



northward to overtake our caravan. The canals often 
stretching across our path impelled our progress, but we 
reached a comfortable khan before sunset, and the next 
day arrived at Baghdad. I can not stop now to tell you 
of the scores of coffins we passed. The Persians often 
carry their dead, even from Central and Eastern Persia to 
Kerbelai and Meshed Ah for their final burial, and for the 
blessed resurrection.* Troops of pilgrims of every color, 
and of every sort of dress, on foot, on donkeys, horses, and 
mules, and their wives and children in kajavas, threaded 
their way by us over the plain — a toilsome road indeed, 
but still allowing more liberties than the narrow way of 
the gospel. We came within sight of the tomb of 
Zobeide, cousin and wife of the celebrated Haroun el 
Raschid ; the tomb of Joshua, the Jewish high priest, who 
went up with the returning captives to Jerusalem, and is 
said to have come back and died at Babylon ; and the 
tomb of Sheikh Shahab-ed-Din ; and soon after two P. M. 
we were quietly resting in Mr. BriihPs house, at Baghdad, 
and enjoying a good dinner." 

For some days after his return to Baghdad, Dr. Lobdell 
was chiefly occupied in reading old books on Babylon, and 
trying to frame an opinion satisfactory to himself of the re- 
mains of the great city. He could not bring himself to adopt 
the opinion of Col. Rawlinson, that the Euphrates has en- 
tirely changed its channel since the destruction of Baby- 
lon, but agreed with M. Fresnel (and Mr. Loftus, as he 
has since published his views) that the river still flows 
very nearly in its ancient bed ; and was inclined to be- 
lieve that the Birs Nimroud marked the southern corner 
of the great square of Babylon, as Nimroud on the Tigris 
does the southern angle of Nineveh in its palmy days. 
So interested did he become in these questions, that he 

* Of the " Campo Santo " at Kerbella (so Mr. Loftus writes the name), see 
Chaldea and Susiana, Chap. vii. 



380 • MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 

was sometimes tempted to wish, for the moment, that 
he was a savant and he could give his time and thoughts 
to their investigation. But it was only for the moment. 
He rejoiced that he had a higher and more important 
work. "It would not be difficult to become an attache 
to some great man in these parts ; but I choose to be for- 
ever an attache of Jesus Christ. I hope I shall never 
long for the leeks, cucumbers, and onions of Egypt, so as 
to give up, as some have done, the blessed work in which 
God has allowed me to engage. Let us have regard to 
the recompense of reward in heaven ; and at the same 
time let us labor for Christ, because this will please him? 

On the 27th we find him poring over Buxtorf 's Lexicon 
and Bochart's works, reading extracts from the Talmud, 
and regretting that Hebrew is not more studied in 
theological seminaries, and that the Jewish Commenta- 
ries are so little known by ministers and missionaries. 
"No Christian can do much with a Jew, till he has shown 
him that the Talmud is not from God — a thing not diffi- 
cult, when one knows what the Talmud really teaches." 

On the 29th, Mr. Briihl and Prof. Petermann accom- 
panied him to Kazmain — the shrine of two Imams held 
in great veneration by the Shiites, about an hour north- 
west of the city. Soon after emerging from the city, 
they found themselves marching in a caravan of pilgrims. 
Some were carrying coffins for burial ; but most were 
going to offer gifts and prayers. The Shiites, being con- 
sidered heretics, are not allowed to pray in the mosks 
of the town, and so they frequent the mosks of Kaz- 
main. Here is a mule carrying a man and his wife, a 
child and a kid, besides food and bedding. There is a 
lady of rank on a white donkey — these white Baghdad 
donkeys are celebrated for their beauty and power of 
endurance — she is robed and veiled in silks of divers 
colors, with a pair of yellow boots reaching to the knees 



KAZMATX. 



381 



and hanging clown nearly to the ground on either side, 
and her infant rides upon the broad saddle before her ; 
while her black female slave trudges along behind her, in 
her yellow boots and blue izar, with her thick lips appear- 
ing through the folds drawn over her face. There, again 
is a company of dervishes, who inhabit the old palace by 
the river-side — and what antics they do exhibit ! Again, 
see that long train of way-worn pilgrims in cages — if so 
the frames may be called in which they ride ; some are 
asleep, some yawning, some gazing on the orange-gardens 
and palms and river with a vague, dreamy air, some cursing 
and some rejoicing. 

Having arrived at the mosk — a gorgeous specimen 
of Oriental architecture — they are not permitted to enter; 
but they " could see the wide, extended court, the lofty 
walls and arches, the corpses borne in and out, the four 
great minarets, the four smaller ones, and the two gilded 
domes. The bones of the pilgrims are left in their graves 
in the court for a few months, and are then gathered to- 
gether in a great pit ! The nearer they are placed to the 
great mosk, the more costly is the burial. Every body 
is taxed, that enters the enclosure. Mr. Bruhl tells me, 
that not long since, to avoid the duty, a Persian wrapped 
the bones of a relative in a bundle, and tried to smuggle 
them within the gate, but he was detected and imprisoned." 
The Belgian Colonel, Mesaud Bey, on whom they called 
on their return to the city, told them large stories of the 
treasure — the cloth of gold and pearls covering the 
tombs of the saints, the ornaments of gold and silver 
hanging from the walls, and all the varied and accumu- 
lated gifts of Persians and Indians, who for ages have made 
pilgrimages to Kazmain. 

On the 30th Dr. Lobdell visited the Jewish Hospital — 
a very different sort of refuge from those of Christian 
lands. " We found a large number of Jews there, all in 
rags, all with venerable earlocks and beards, and all either 



382 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 

studying the Talmud, or listening to tales from the Ash- 
kenaz, (German and Polish Jews,) who have wandered 
hither to escape being drafted into the army. A blind 
man was repeating David's Psalms, which he knew by 
heart. Mr. Briihl had a long discussion in Hebrew with 
some old gray-bearded sons of Abraham ' according to the 
flesh,' and their bitter hate of Christianity exceeded any 
thing I have yet seen of bigotry. Do you know that, in 
the Talmud, a Jew is forbidden to help a Gentile out of 
danger — to save his life. This was doubtless a tradi- 
tionary doctrine in the time of Christ, and hence his 
parable of the good Samaritan to show, who is the Jew's 
neighbor." 

" I am almost afraid, from the news by the last letters 
from Tehran, that political matters may require Mr. 
Murray to go up from Bushire through Shiraz. But I 
wait patiently for his appearance here, or, at least, for the 
appearance of Capt. Jones's steamer. I took a walk to- 
day through the vacant north-east part of the town. The 
eastern gate has long been closed ; indeed, no one has 
entered it, since Murad, the Turkish conqueror of Bagh- 
dad, entered and shut it some hundred and fifty years 
ago. The'walls are very slender ; the bastions show a few 
cannon. Holes in the walls allow of occasional smug- 
gling. Every thing is taxed in Turkey. Direct taxation, 
it is thought, is better than a protective tariff. It is 
certain, that free trade in Turkey is good for England ; 
but it has almost ruined the manufactures of the land. 

" The mosks continue to attract my admiration. The 
blue, white, dark, light shadings on the burnished spires 
and domes are indicative of a glory that has passed away. 
Foreigners are treated well here. Beggars abound. In 
fact, you would think, at first sight, all the people were 
beggars. Almost the whole population are clothed in 
very cheap and generally dirty muslins, brown, red, 
yellow, blue ; and no suit is changed, till it is worn to 



VISIT TO THE PASHA. 



383 



rags. Baths abound ; but they do not keep the people 
clean. And yet Baghdad is one of the first cities of the 
Empire. 

"31st. Prof. Petermann and I have just returned from a 
visit to the Pasha. Last night it rained hard. When it 
does rain here (which is very seldom, and not at all in 
midsummer), it rains ; and the side-walks were very 
muddy. But having reached the loosely covered bazaars, 
we had a comfortable walk through their long avenues to 
the palace, where a brass band was playing very decent 
music. Mesaud Bey (the Belgian), who was a Christian 
once, and is a Moslem now, but tells me he is really a 
believer in materialism, and has no doubt that the soul 
dies with the body, and so is ready for war, vice, virtue, 
death, alike, — this new friend accompanied us from the 
lithographic press-room, in which passports only are 
printed, to the innermost court of the building, where, in 
a room well furnished, with painted walls, a wooden ceil- 
ing, and Persian rugs, we found a king. What else shall 
I call the man who keeps his seat whoever enters ; who 
wears a rich fur robe and an emerald ring, and fondles a 
massive gold snuff-box ; who rules with a rod of iron the 
people from the Persian Gulf to Diarbekr ; who prefers 
his post of marshal here to the office of grand vizier at 
Constantinople ; who studied at Metz, became a captain in 
the French army, was pasha at Jerusalem, captured Beder 
Khan Bey at Jezireh, carried a victorious banner from 
Erzeroom into northern Koordistan, is surrounded by a 
crowd of obsequious slaves, and was once a slave boy in 
the wilds of Circassia? The Pasha expatiated in French 
on the liberty of conscience in Turkey ; said that slavery 
here is a benefit, and not, as in America, a curse, to slaves, 
instancing the fact that those who brought us coffee and 
pipes were already rich, and assured us that Koordistan, 
whither he has just sent a large body of troops to bring 
Yezdinshir Bey to terms, will soon be quiet. 



384 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



"To Prof. Petermaim he gave a 'Life of Alexander' in 
Turkish, and loaned him several other Turkish books, 
among which is a collection of the Letters of the Sultans 
from the time of Mohammed to Suleiman the Great, six- 
teen of the letters being by Mohammed himself. Only 
forty copies of this interesting work were printed, and 
these solely for the marshals of the realm ; quorum pars 
fui. The Pasha's library contained such books as 
D'Herbelot's Bibliotheque Orientale, Boyle's works, Na- 
poleon's writings, treatises in French on engineering, 
fortification, the art of war and chemistry, and manuscripts 
in Persian, Turkish, and Arabic. 

" The air of the man was quite regal. He bowed us 
out with Turkish reserve and French politeness. He is 
called by the people, " Guzhuk " because he wears spec- 
tacles. He is evidently the most learned man I have yet 
seen belonging to Turkey. Lie has a fine head, dark 
skin, a black beard, full face, and large abdomen, — a 
genus of which there are many species in the East. 
Were he not so rapacious, so self-conceited, so distant, he 
would be a respectable man in almost any circle. His 
morals, of course, I can not speak of, except to say that he 
has an extensive harem, and was, I learn, caught yester- 
day reading Luke's gospel. 

" Feb. 8th. I was just on the eve of starting for home 
yesterday, having engaged a muleteer to take my cook 
and baggage, and two horses for myself and Jeremiah to 
go with the post., when lo ! the English vice-consul called 
to tell me that the ambassador was expected in a few 
hours, a note having been received from him, stating that 
he was, at the time of writing, near Ctesiphon, only a few 
miles below Baghdad. He will remain there, looking at 
the famous Parthian Arch, and the other vestiges of Ctes- 
iphon that are still found, and, perhaps, take a view of 
Seleucia, on the other bank of the Tigris, and thus give 
the officials here time to prepare their music and cannon 



CALL ON ME. MURRAY. 



385 



for his reception. Of course I concluded to delay my 
departure. I had prepared, the day previous, a letter for 
His Excellency, and also received the promise of Col. Raw- 
linson that he would present my business favorably to the 
envoy, so that I considered I had by no means failed of 
my great purpose, even though I did not see the man I 
came to see. 

" P.M. Thirteen guns have just been fired by the Turks, 
and as many by the English on board the steamer, in 
honor of the envoy's arrival. 

" I have been very busy to-day making a translation of 
the preface to a work written at St. Petersburgh, on the 
vulgar Arabic. I think I shall add to the article some 
remarks on the peculiarities of the Arabic of Assyria and 
Mesopotamia, and send it to the Oriental Society. 

" 9th, I have, this morning, called, with Mr. Bruhl and 
Prof. Petermann, on Mr. Murray. He is about forty-five 
years of age. I judge from his remark that a man of 
forty-five feels very differently about traveling, from what 
he did at twenty-five. It is about twenty years since he 
was roving among the Indians of our north-west territo- 
ries, and now he is to cross the cold Zagros mountains in 
rain and snow. He will remain here some time, however, 
I understand, to visit Babylon. 

" I was much pleased with the man. He spoke German 
and French as freely as English, and I presume he knows 
some Arabic and Turkish as well as several other Euro- 
pean languages, and, perhaps, has studied the Persian. 
He is my beau-ideal of a first-rate Englishman, though 
I believe he is half French and half Scotch. He has 
none of the grumble of Mr. Bull. To-morrow he is to 
receive calls from native dignatiries, and the next day 
(Sunday ! ) he will return them ; and so I shall have to 
wait till Monday for a private interview. 

" He showed us an earthen bowl (obtained at Busrah, 
I believe, by Capt. Jones), on the inside of which wag 
33 



386 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



written in Syrian characters an inscription of the Sabeans 
of St. John. It much resembled the bowls described by 
Layard near the end of his " Nineveh and Babylon," which 
were internally covered with rough Hebrew characters, 
and so were evidently Jewish. They were probably 
charms, though why the inscription should be inside of 
the bowl, I do not quite understand. Perhaps it is a pre- 
scription to be dissolved and swallowed ! This bowl had 
certainly lost some of its letters, as if by the action of 
some liquid. Prof. Petermann, who has studied the reli- 
gion and language of the Sabeans perhaps more thor- 
oughly than any other man, took the bowl home to ex- 
amine it. He expects to publish an account of this 
curious sect on his return to Berlin. 

" Having taken our leave of the ambassador we called 
on Mr. Holland, an officer of the steamer, who showed us 
his daughters and wife (a native woman), and a beautiful 
roe deer, and then went with us on board the steamer, 
which is armed with several cannon, and a lot of guns, 
pikes, and cutlasses, and is manned by English, Hinclos- 
tanees, and Fellahs from the region of Mosul." 

On Sunday, Dr. Lobdell attended in the morning Mr. 
Bruhl's service in Hebrew; at ten o'clock, English ser- 
vice at the residency; at noon, an Arabic and Hebrew 
service again. Mr. Murray held his levee in full court 
dress; and in the evening Col. Rawlinson gave the 
ambassador a magnificent dinner, — Sunday, among too 
many of the English in the East, as well as among the 
Oriental Christians, being a day for visiting and dining. 
"How little thought is given to the eternal world by 
these devotees of pleasure?" 

On Monday the doctor breakfasted with his Mosul ac- 
quaintance and friend, Capt. Jones, — Capt. Selby, of the 
steamer, also being present, — ■ and was shown the beauti- 
ful maps of Nineveh and Babylon from trigonometrical 
surveys, made by the former. " They are most carefully 



RETURN BY POST. 



387 



and richly drawn ; and the map of Nineveh is to be pub- 
lished in the journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, as soon 
as the engravers can finish it. I trust the map of Babylon 
will also be issued in a few months by the same Society ; 
though it is possible, as the captain is an officer of the 
East India Company, he may be required to submit it to 
them. It has on it a restoration of the Birs Nimroud, 
with a flaming altar at the summit of its seven lofty 
terraces. 

" I have just had a very pleasant interview with the 
ambassador, who promised to do all in his power to aid 
my Oroomiah friends, and will give me a letter to that 
effect. He said that owing to some late mismanagement 
of affairs at Tehran, the English were not on good terms 
with the government. But he hoped by coaxing, instead 
of threatening, to get into the Shah's good graces, and if 
he succeeded, he would be able to show him the absurdity 
of retrenching our operations, and that he ought either to 
stop them entirely as injurious, or leave them alone as 
beneficial. If the Americans could benefit a hundred and 
fifty, why not a thousand and fifty as well ?" 

The object of his journey having been accomplished, 
Dr. Lobdell set out on Tuesday morning, Feb. 13th, by 
post, on his return to Mosul. A strong bony our oulder 
from the pasha secured him a ready change of horses, and 
generally all proper attention and obedience. " The men- 
zils, or post-stations, are from four to nine hours apart by 
caravan. The post generally goes in about half the time, 
on a very fast walk, with an occasional gallop. A serujjee 
accompanies the post from one station to another, attends 
to the saddles and extra clothing or baggage ; and the 
next clay takes the animals back to their station. Our 
serigjee carried behind his saddle two thick quilts, a cloak, 
and a woolen blanket — my bedding — and over his sad- 
dle he laid two pieces of carpet, that I carried, to be 
spread, as mattresses, upon the ground floors where I slept. 



388 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



Jeremiah carried in his saddle-bags a small coffee-pot, 
knife and fork, spoons, salt, pepper, boiled eggs, cooked 
chicken, bread, and dates. I tied t wo over-coats behind 
me, having brought my bridle and saddle from Mosul for 
this journey. My pillow at night was my cushion by day ; 
and I came to Southgate's conclusion, that a single trav- 
eler can move from place to place more conveniently by 
post than by caravan." 

The route was on the east side of the Tigris, for a time 
near the river's bank, because of the flood at this season, 
but afterwards midway between the Tigris and the Dialah, 
often crossing or riding alongside of the beds of canals, 
which once watered the intervening country. The first 
night, having lost their way in the dark, and wandered 
sometime among the marshes, they were glad to draw up 
their horses and spread their blankets on the ground, near 
some Arab tents, not knowing whether the occupants 
were friends or foes. The second night they passed at 
Kifri, " a respectable town lying under the range of moun- 
tains, which runs eastward to Suleimaniyeh, and sur- 
rounded by a turreted mud wall, built by Hakky Bey, 
late deftardar of Mosul, to enable the people to protect 
themselves from the Koords and Arabs — old Kifri lay 
around a fine large mound some miles westward." The 
third night brought them to Kerkhuk, a large place built 
at the base of a high mound, whose Pasha is superior even 
to the Pasha of Arbeel. An hour and half from Kerkhuk, 
the next morning, they came to " the famous bitumen 
springs which are always boiling, the liquid naphtha ris- 
ing to the surface, and offering itself gratis to persons 
who put it into skins and convey it on the backs of don- 
keys, even to Baghdad. I suppose this is the place where 
Alexander the Great was surprised to see the streets of a 
town flashing with bituminous lights the evening of the 
day after the battle at Arbela, though there are no traces 
of the town remaining." The fourth night the Doctor 



HOME. 



389 



came upon the track of his tour to Oroomiah at Arbeel. 
f The road from Baghdad to Mosul makes a long curve 
to the east, to avoid the Arabs of the desert. The near- 
est route would be on the west side of the Tigris." On 
Saturday, Feb. 17th, he rode through familiar scenes, 
crossed the Zab and the Khazir (both now on a raft — on 
his way to Oroomiah he had forded the latter,) passed 
through Bartulli, leaving Karamles an hour on the left, 
and Sheikh Mattai an hour on the right, found the plain 
of Nineveh more generally cultivated than any of equal 
extent he had seen on his journey, hurried past the walls 
and trenches of the ancient city, was ferried across the 
Tigris, and entered his court before his arrival was an- 
nounced " for a wonder, as a boy will almost always run 
before to carry such glad tidings and get his buckshish. All 
were well. My ride of fifty-eight hours by post-horses — 
a hundred by caravan — or some three hundred miles, 
circuitous, dangerous, dull, was ended ; no rain had fallen 
upon me by the way ; no robber had attacked me ; my 
mission was fulfilled, and I was again at home, 'sweet, 
sweet home.' Why should I not thank God and rejoice ?" 
33* 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Occupations after his return from Baghdad — Chills and Fever — Last Letter — 
Last Entry in private Journal — Mrs. Lobdell's Journal of his Sickness — 
Death — Burial by the side of Dr. Grant — Communion of Choice Spirits in 
Heaven — Wife and Children — Age — Brainerd — Martyn — Fruits of his 
Labors— Character— Eecollections and Impressions of his Friends — Mr. 
Lothrop — Mr. Seelye — Dr. Perkins — Mr. Marsh. 

Foe nearly a fortnight after his return from Baghdad, 
Dr. Lobdell enjoyed apparently his usual health, and was 
very busy in writing up his journals, in correspondence 
with the Xestorian mission, in revising and correcting his 
notes on the Anabasis, in repacking in a safer and more 
portable fomi the slabs, bricks and other antiquities for 
the colleges ; in examining the recent discoveries of Mr. 
Loftus, particularly a collection of very beautiful ivories, 
or as the Doctor thought them, clays, exquisitely wrought 
into idols, small bulls, lions, and other religious emblems ; 
and in preaching, talking to great numbers in his study, 
and administening to the bodily and spiritual maladies of 
still greater crowds at the dispensary. Having heard that 
friends in Amherst had made up a box of books, clothing, 
and other comforts for him, he writes on the 22d of 
February, (1855): "The arrival of that box will cause 
me many a tear of joy, I am sure; for the stock of cloth- 
ing I brought with me is quite threadbare, and with all 
my attempts at economy this year, I find my expenses 
exceed my salary. I would present my thanks to Mrs. T. 
and Mrs. M. in advance of its reception. May the • Lord 
reward all who have contributed thus to the comfort of 



LAST LETTER. 



391 



an unworthy missionary. I trust I shall be able to 
acknowledge the arrival of the box in a few months." 
Mrs. Lobdell had the melancholy satisfaction of looking 
over these tokens of friendship and Christian affection 
sent to her husband by those who had known and loved 
him in the place of his education — alone, some weeks 
after he was laid in his grave. 

On Tuesday, Feb. 27th, Mr. Marsh and Mr. Williams 
left to attend the annual meeting of the mission at Diar- 
bekr. Wednesday, the 28th, he was feverish all day, but 
prepared a sermon, talked with a crowd of papists till he 
was tired, prescribed and preached to eighty-five patients, 
delivered his sermon to the church in the evening, and 
went to bed with a chill and fever. On Thursday, March 
1st, he wrote his last letter — to Dr. Wright — and made 
his last entry in his journal. In the letter he says : " Mr. 
Williams and Mr. Marsh left for Diarbekr by post on 
Tuesday evening, going through the desert to Nisibin, the 
same route taken by our party last year. A battle I hear 
has been fought near Chulagha, a village on their road 
about a day west of Jezireh, between the Koords and the 
Turks, the latter being victorious. It is said that a thou- 
sand Koords were killed, and about half that number 
were made prisoners. Yezdinshir Bey and his brother 
fled under cover of the fog. The Turks marched on and 
entered Jezireh. 

" Last evening I had one of my old-fashioned chills, 
with fever; but this morning I feel tolerably comfortable. 
I attribute it to my daily service at the dispensary ; the 
room occupied being somewhat damp, and the sick crowd- 
ing it so that the air became impure. I have had over 
eighty patients there every day of late ; and my attempt 
to prepare a sermon for the church in the evening, in 
addition to talking half an hour to the sick, was a little 
too much for me. I rather hope the fever will not return. 

" To-day I am * loafing ' about the court, superintending 



392 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



the re-sawing and re-packing of some of your sculptures. 
Quite a number of the boxes were so heavy, that Antone, 
my wakeel) was obliged to have them brought up (from 
Nimroud) on mules singly, instead of putting them ujDon 
a camel, two for a load. One of the slabs, being very 
brittle, was badly broken in the transit, but as it is a unique 
figure, I thought it best to send it. In order to get a va- 
riety — no two being alike — I was obliged, in one or two 
cases, to send figures a little less valuable in themselves. 
The whole six form a fine set, and would do well in a 
single gallery. I shall send several large bricks, and were 
it in my power, I would obtain some small relics. Perhaps 
I will put a number of seals from my own collection into 
a little box as private gifts. Some of your friends may 
like a few little stones for rings or breast-pins. 

" Do you know that each large slab was sawn into five or 
six pieces ? Console your Dartmouth friends with this con- 
solation, that they can have the sculptures cemented 
together, if broken into a hundred pieces, so that the frac- 
tures will scarcely be noticeable. 

" In addition to a covering of wool and Jcetcheh within 
each box, I fasten a rope outside to hold the box together, 
and over this sew a thick felt. I ought to feel obliged to 
you for the privilege of packing these slabs, for it is a 
diversion to me such a day as this, when I am a little 
feverish." 

The last entry in his private journal, together with refer- 
ences to the above letter and some of the facts in it, is as 
follows : " Court a scene of labor. The sick press on me. 
Head aches. Fear sickness. Happy in leaving myself 
with God." Thus Dr. Lobdell came near to the end of 
life, as he had lived, working for mankind and trusting in 
God. During the whole period of his sickness, those 
boxes, containing slabs and collections for Dartmouth, 
Amherst, and the Missionary Rooms at Boston, remained 
in his court, fit emblems and touching memorials of his 
busy and self-sacrificing life. 



SICKNESS. 



393 



Mrs. Lobdell takes tip the journal of her husband's sick- 
ness where he leaves it, and carries it on for twenty-five 
days, during most of which she was with him day and 
night, without undressing. The burden of anxiety and 
responsibility which pressed upon her and Mrs. Marsh, 
was greatly increased by the absence of Mr. Marsh and 
Mr. Williams. For several days he was able to be 
dressed, and come out into the parlor, or lounge on the 
moJcaab in the study, and even to receive an occasional 
call. But he grew continually worse, till his wife had 
many fears that his sickness would be unto death. He 
did not as yet apprehend a fatal termination, but he 
remarked that he never before felt so walling to die. On 
the 7th, at the advice of Mr. Loftus, he was bled by a 
Moslem barber, without, however, reducing his pulse, 
which was very high ; and through the night he talked 
more or less incoherently till the morning. 

The next day he was very sick — pulse 120 — talked 
about dying — said, " I do not fear death ; no, I know in 
whom I have believed ; it is a great comfort to have had 
an object in life, an object worth living for, however poorly 
one may have accomplished it. I have been a great sin- 
ner, but I have great confidence in the mercy of God. 
Christ does not look at the stains." When asked if it was 
not a great comfort that he had not his preparation to 
make now, he replied, " Oh ! yes — oh ! yes / I could do 
nothing now ; I have tried to do too much all the time I 
have been in Mosul." When Mrs. L. spoke of being left 
alone, he said, " Trust in the Lord ; don't be afraid." When 
she prayed with him, he said, " You ask that I may get 
well ; you do n't ask that I may have a glorious seat in the 
kingdom of God — that is what I want." 

The next day, (March 9th,) he inquired if the ladies 
prayed for him, and added, " You must continue to pray." 
When asked by Mrs. L. how he felt about leaving her in 



394 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



this cold world, he replied, " Very much as Abraham felt 
when he was called to offer up Isaac." 

On the 12th, a line was received from Mr. Marsh and 
Mr. Williams. They had been stripped by the Arabs, 
and were at Mardin when they wrote. " Oh," said the 
Doctor, " how I do want to see them both ! I love them 
very much." A messenger had been sent for them on the 
ninth day of his sickness, but owing to the disturbed state 
of the country, it did not reach them till eight days later ; 
and it was five days more — the twentieth day of his sick- 
ness — before Mr. Marsh reached Mosul. Meanwhile the 
Doctor's symptoms were sometimes more favorable, so as 
to encourage strong hopes of his recovery, and he even 
enjoyed a call from Mr. Loftus; but as his fever abated, 
his strength failed, and he was frequently delirious. 

On Sunday, March 18th, after an almost sleepless night, 
he thought he could not remain long, and wished to sit 
up in the bed and address some last words of counsel to 
those around him. To his wife, he repeated the charge 
to trust in God and fear nothing ; and after some advice 
in reference to the children, at the same time clasping his 
little Mary to his bosom and kissing her, he said, " Bless 
the Lord for giving us these children." To the English 
consul's wife, who was present, he said, " Do be a good 
woman, Mrs. R. ; be good to the poor. I have thought 
much about your dear husband. I hope you will both be 
heirs of eternal life." To one of the native brethren, 
who stood by, he said, " I am afraid you do not pray enough 
in your family ; be more faithful to your children." To 
the cook, who had just been rubbing his hands to get them 
warm, he said, " Believe in Jesus, and train your children 
in the way they should go." Another native woman, he 
warned to care for her soul, saying, " You have a good 
husband, Sarah, and it is the grace of God that has made 
him what he is." Thus did he continue to preach, even 
on his dying bed. 



SYMPATHY OF NATIVE CHRISTIANS. 395 

The native Christians, on their part, prayed earnestly 
for his recovery, and were eager to render every possible 
service. There was no want of watchers — sometimes 
three or four at night taking turns, and ready to be called 
upon. Jeremiah was at the house every night for a fort- 
night. "We do not want the doctor to die," said he, 
" if the Lord can spare him, we need him." Micha said, 
" The sin of Mosul is very great, that the Lord afflicts us 
by taking away our teachers." 

But prayers and tears, watching and nursing, were 
without avail. He grew continually worse. The nights 
of the 19th and 20th were sad nights to the poor mission- 
ary's wife, who had no medical adviser in whom she could 
repose confidence, and no skillful hand or strong arm on 
which she could lean. It was with the utmost difficulty 
she could control him in his hours of delirium — again 
and again did he leave the bed and wander into the 
room which had been the scene of his chosen labors. On 
the 21st Mr. Marsh arrived. As he entered the sick 
room, the doctor raised his thin arms, saying, " Praise to 
God," " praise to God," and threw them about his neck, 
and wept. It was a great relief to the ladies. Yet Mrs. 
Lobdell felt that it was too late to save him — too late to 
take such sweet couusel with him as they might have 
taken, early in his sickness. " Many precious things " — 
such is the record of her feelings made at the time — 
" many precious things has he said to Julia (Mrs. Marsh) 
and myself. Oh for such an unwavering trust in the 
Saviour as he has! Again and again has he said, "Lucy, 
trust in the Lord, and do not fear." His precious, blessed 
Mary,* as he often calls her, and his darling Julius, he 

* The doctor's tender affection for this child illustrates that " cross play in 
nature " by which the father often has a peculiar love for a daughter, and the 
mother for a son. She could steal into his arms in his busiest hours, and when 
she was sick, he would lay aside everything and attend to her. 



396 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 

cheerfully resigns to the Lord, saying, " He is a father to 
the fatherless, and the widow's God." 

On the 22d the friends gave up all hope of his recovery, 
and began to make arrangements for the sad event. On 
the 23d, after a more comfortable night, the Italian doctor 
assured them that he was better. He had not the full 
command of his mind, but, almost without exception, he 
was rational on religious subjects. "I am weak," he said 
to Mr. Marsh, "but I rejoice in the Almighty." 

" Saturday, 24th. This morning I thought Henry could 
not live till sunset, his face looked so death-like, but he 
still lives. 

"Sunday, 25th. Watched H. all night, expecting to 
see him breathe his last, but he still lingers, almost un- 
conscious. As I was passing his bed he tried to beckon 
me to him. I went to him, but he could not speak to 
me. His lamp is nearly gone out." 

He continued to breathe softly, sweetly, feebly, till, just 
as the Sabbath was closing on earth, he passed to the 
eternal rest of heaven. 

Through all the hours of that Sabbath day the door 
and windows of the room where the good man was dying 
were kept open, and the native brethren came in and 
looked at him as often as they pleased. They would 
stand a few minutes, and then go out into the court and 
sit in silence, and often the big tears would roll down their 
cheeks. Thus did he preach to the last moment of his 
life. His death was a sermon, which was heard and 
understood and felt by Mohammedans, as well as Chris- 
tians, of all ranks throughout Mosul. Every body knew 
him ; every body honored and loved him and said, u There 
lived and died a Christian." The sympathy and regret 
were the more lively because he died so young ; and this 
may be one reason why Providence permits so many of 
his devoted servants to be cut down in the very beginning 
of their usefulness. Brainerd and Martyn would not have 



BURIED. 



397 



excited such universal and peculiar interest, had they lived 
to a good old age, and their memoirs have moved more 
hearts to a holy and heroic life, than they could have 
reached by their direct efforts in thrice threescore years 
and ten. 

The next day, Monday the 26th, a service in English was 
held at the house, Mr. Marsh officiating. A part of the 
fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 
was read, and they sung the hymn : 

" Asleep in Jesus J blessed sleep ! " 

The English Consul was at the service, and went with 
them to the grave. At the request of Messrs. Loftus and 
Boutcher, the French Consul applied to the pasha, and 
permission was given to bury in the new cemetery, with- 
out the walls. Dr. Lobdell's body lies by the side of Dr. 
Grant's; their dust mil mingle till the resurrection; and 
who can tell how sweet is the communion which their 
spirits hold, as they recount their kindred labors, trials 
and experiences, in the paradise of God, where " the sun 
shall not light on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb which 
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead 
them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall 
wipe away all tears from their eyes." 

How many such choice spirits have already been gath- 
ered out of the earth ! How rich and bright is heaven 
already with such jewels ! With what holy interest do 
they look back upon the field of their earthly labors and con- 
flicts to see how the work is going on, and who have risen 
up to fill their places ! And when all the Christian heroes 
who have led the van in the conquest of the world and 
fallen in the very midst of the enemy's country — when the 
whole sacramental host that have fought the battles of the 
Lord are assembled around the throne, how delightful 
will be their fellowship with each other ; what a spectacle 
will they be to principalities and powers in heavenly places, 
34 



398 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



and with what infinite complacency will their great King 
and Captain look upon them ; with what ineffable glory 
will he shine upon them forever ! Will then the ardent 
and aspiring youth — the Christian youth of our country 
— be reluctant to fill their places as fast as they are made 
vacant by death, and even swell the little band of heroes 
into a great army ! " As fast as famine, hardship, sick- 
ness, cannon balls, thin the ranks of the allied armies 
before Sebastopol, others are sent to fill their places, for 
the nations are in earnest. Will the churches show as 
much zeal? Will they show a thousandth part of it? 
Christ died for us, came to 4 this end.' Who for his sake 
is ready to fill the breach ? " Thus wrote Mr. Williams, 
when he communicated the intelligence of Dr. LobdelPs 
death. And we repeat the question, " Who is willing to be 
baptized for the dead ? " Who would not long for the honor 
and the privilege, if he did but understand that great law 
of the spiritual universe, from which even the Master was 
not exempt, " except a corn of wheat fall into the ground 
and die, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth 
much fruit." 

There was preaching in Arabic at sunset for three even- 
ings after the burial, and the house was filled with atten- 
tive and solemn hearers. " I think their hearts are really 
bowed with grief," writes Mrs. Marsh to Mrs. Walker, of 
Diarbekr ; " Oh, may they be led to more diligence and 
faithfulness in prayer! Oh, may the Lord comfort their 
hearts and ours ! The Doctor had endeared himself to me 
during scenes of sickness and trial; but I never loved him 
so much as when watching and attending him during 
those long nights and weary days ; I felt that we could 
not let him go. Hanna (Mrs. Marsh's servant), who was 
with us the night before he died, said to Mrs. Lobdell, 
c If the Lord takes him, it is because he loves him' — so 
it is, and we will not call him back. He sleeps in Jesus ; 
may we be prepared to sleep with him, and rise with him, 



AGE. 



399 



and the other dear ones who now rest in that little 
enclosure — at the*resurrection morning." 

The reader, who has become interested in Dr. Lobdell, 
will be glad to know thus much of those whom he has left 
behind him. The companion of his bosom partook so 
much of his spirit that she stood by him in his last mo- 
ments with perfect calmness, and was wonderfully sus- 
tained through those subsequent days, and weeks, almost 
every hour of which brought with it something to remind 
her of her irreparable loss. Little Mary, too, saw her 
father die with complacency, and thought it was a blessed 
thing to die ; and after his burial she said, " they put his 
body in the ground, but his spirit has gone to the Lord ; 
he is in heaven." " Papa, papa," was on the lips of the 
little boy, as well as of his older sister, for many days, 
though he is too young to retain any permanent remem- 
brance of his father. Mrs. Lobdell still remains a mission- 
ary at Mosul, to labor for her poor sisters there, and to 
" fill up what is behind," so far as possible, of her husband's 
labors and sufferings for Christ's sake, and " for his body's 
sake, which is the church." " I shall never for one mo- 
ment regret," she says in a letter to her husband's friends, 
" having come to this land ; I am happier in the little 
native prayer meeting here than I ever was in America. 
If I could be the means of saving one of these women, I 
would gladly remain three years longer. I have just 
reached the point where I can do them good, and should 
I now go home I should feel that I had not done what I 
could." 

Dr. Lobdell was only a little more than twenty-eight 
years of age when he died. Brainerd was twenty-nine. 
Martyn was thirty-two. It is said, that Martyn knew of 
only one, whom he reckoned as a true convert from 
among the heathen through his instrument ality. How 
many were savingly benefited by Dr. Lobdell during his 



400 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



short missionary life of less than three years, we do not 
know. In the judgment of charity — in his own judg- 
ment, certainly more than one. But had he died, as 
some missionaries have, without seeing a single convert, 
his life and death would not have been in vain. Had 
there been no apparent fruit, it would even then have 
contributed " to fill up what is behind of the afflictions of 
Christ." Did the soldiers who fell at Lexington and 
Bunker Hill, do less for their country's independence, 
than those who lived through the war ? In every war, 
there must be those who fall in the early stages of 
the conflict; and none contribute more than these- — per- 
haps none contribute so much as these — to the final 
result. A great deal of preparatory work must be done 
in almost every mission. And by constitution, by educa- 
tion, by profession — in every way, Dr. Lobdell was ad- 
mirably fitted to do this work. He removed prejudice. 
He commanded respect. He won the admiration and 
affection of those who knew him. His medicine opened 
the ears and the hearts of the people. His logic tore up 
error by the roots. And his preaching of the truth was with 
power. The number of regular hearers was trebled in those 
three years ; and, though there were not those special mani- 
festations of the presence and power of the Spirit, which 
have been experienced in some missionary congregations, 
there was a greater proportional increase of numbers in the 
- church and congregation, more of the manifest fruits of the 
Spirit in the hearts and lives of Christians, and far more 
of the spirit of serious and earnest inquiry in the com- 
munity, than is seen in the average of churches at ordinary 
times in America ; so that, although Mosul is a compara- 
tively hard and barren field, the history of that station, 
even during Dr. LobdelTs brief connection with it in the 
seed-time of its existence, irrespective of a future harvest, 
would perhaps corroborate his apparently extravagant 
proposition, touching the comparative usefulness of min- 



CHAEACTEE. 



401 



isters at home and foreign missionaries, in the letter to 
the Society of Inquiry at Andover* 

Of the character of Dr. Lobdell, it is hoped, little need 
be said at the close of this extended memoir. He has 
spoken it out and acted it out on every page, till it is as 
perspicuous to the reader, as it was transparent in itself. 
Unless we are quite mistaken, the readers of these pages 
have been, all the while, not only observing the conduct, 
but looking into the heart, of a man, a scholar, and a 
Christian — a real and true man without any sham, or 
show, or cant, or false pretence whatsoever — a whole and 
(to use a favorite word of the Doctor himself) live man, 
many-sided and alive on all sides to every thing above, 
beneath and around him — a self-made and self-controlled 
man, (so far as one can be in human society and under 
the divine government,) content, nay, resolved to be 
himself, and not a mere duplicate of somebody else, con- 
scientiously determined to be what God intended him to 
be, ambitiously aspiring to become all that God made 
him capable of becoming, governed by his own reason 
and conscience and will with a sovereignty as absolute in 
himself as it was exclusive of the dictation of others — a 
scholar enthusiastic and comprehensive rather than ac- 
curate or profound, loving knowledge for its own sake 
and at the same time seeking it in the full persuasion that 
all knowledge is useful, fond of philological and anti- 
quarian researches, but exploring the dusty past chiefly 
in search of wisdom for the living present, and rejoicing 
in all the discoveries of science, as not only consistent 
with, but parts of, the science of God — a Christian, not 
by creed and profession only, but in the deepest convic- 
tions of his heart and in the whole spirit and tenor of his 
life, taught not by the schools, or even by the church, but 
by the word and Spirit of God, and making it his daily 



* See page 337. 

34* 



402 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL, 



business to do the will of Christ — a Christian physician, 
liking his profession well enough in itself, and laboring 
in it with much success, but valuing it chiefly as a means 
of alleviating the distresses and saving the souls of men — 
a Christian minister of the Pauline stamp, reasoning with 
Jews and Gentiles, in the synagogues and in the market- 
places, week days as well as Sundays, out of the Scriptures 
and from the light of nature, becoming all things to all 
men, passionately desirous to know every thing, yet in 
every thing knowing nothing but Jesus Christ and him 
crucified — a Christian missionary, who really believed, 
and acted as if he believed, that Pagans and Moham- 
medans and mere nominal Christians were traveling the 
broad road to destruction, and that nothing could save 
them but a living faith in Christ — a Christian patriot, 
glorying in his birthright as an American, and look- 
ing to his country as, under God, the hope of the 
world, and, for that very reason, longing to see his coun- 
try's sin and shame wiped aw^ay — a young American, 
with all the virtues and not altogether free from the 
faults which pertain to that fast age and race — a Chris- 
tian philanthropist, fully convinced that the gospel of 
Christ is the remedy, and the only remedy, for all the ills 
that flesh is heir to, and therefore rallying all his own 
powers and summoning the best energies of the best minds 
in Christendom to determined, unwearied and self-sacri- 
ficing efforts for its universal application. If we have 
succeeded in exhibiting our subject in this character and 
light, our object is accomplished. If we have failed, it 
were useless for us to prolong the effort. We shall, 
therefore, only add a few words from the pens of others, 
which will show the recollections and impressions he has 
left on those who had the best opportunity to know 
him. 

His class-mate and, for a season, room-mate in college, 
who, when they were Sophomores, united with him in 



ESTIMATION BY OTHERS. 



403 



the resolutions recorded in a former chapter, but who 
was providentially prevented from going abroad with 
him, thus writes : " Indomitable energy characterized him 
always and every where : and had it been upheld by a 
physical constitution to match, the world would have 
been proud of his achievements. Many points, which 
others settle by the unquestioned authority of education, 
he held in suspense, till his own judgment gave him a 
decided conviction. His piety, while healthy in its emo* 
tional nature, was especially marked by deep and un- 
yielding Christian principle. Persecution could not move 
him. His constant cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirits, 
made him always a pleasant companion." 

The friend, who knew him more intimately than any 
other, Rev. J. H. Seelye, has sketched as follows the 
prominent traits of his character : " In thinking of Dr. 
Lobdell, I never lose a feeling of astonishment at the 
amount of work he accomplished. If actions are the true 
measure of life, he lived long, though his years were few. 
I think, few men have died so young and yet left behind 
them so long a record of such varied action. He ex- 
emplified whatever of truth there is in that much abused 
expression : — c a self-made man.' His own inner resources 
carried him through difficulties, when every one else 
failed either in the ability or the willingness to assist 
him. His preparation for college was conducted mainly 
by himself with the aid of books alone. While in col- 
lege, many of his expenses were defrayed by his own 
labor. Yet he never allowed the effect of this to be seen 
in his studies. He always maintained a rank in scholar- 
ship among the very first of his class. I do not think, 
he ever failed to be present at a recitation, while in 
college, or to recite finely and promptly, when called 
upon. His punctuality in the performance of any duty 
assigned him was very marked. He was always in his 
seat at prayers, and at class recitations in time. He was 



404 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



faithful in his attendance upon the literary societies, of 
which he was a member, and fulfilled his appointments in 
them with scrupulous exactness. 

" At the same time his reading was very various. I have 
often^been surprised at the number of books, with whose 
contents he had contrived to become acquainted. Though 
with so much else to attend to and nothing neglected, he 
yet found time to pass beyond the topics ordinarily con- 
sidered in college studies. He undertook to settle for 
himself many of the problems, which have always in- 
terested and baffled the maturest minds. The questions 
relating to nature and to God, to sin and the soul, and 
especially the connections of the inner and the outer 
world in our consciousness, were often in his thoughts. 
An essay, which he read before the class in the discussions 
of Senior Year, upon 4 the Relations of Psychology to 
Physiology,' was a singular example of how much he had 
read and thought. 

" His place was always filled at the class and college 
prayer meetings. His religious character and influence 
showed that he could be both diligent in business and 
fervent in spirit. He was evidently a growing Christian 
all through college ; and every student, especially of his 
class, felt increasingly the power of his personal religious 
influence." 

After speaking of the number and variety of his studies 
and labors — literary, scientific, medical, theological, min- 
isterial, missionary, historical, archaeological — with which 
the reader is already sufficiently familiar, in his college 
course, during his professional studies, and in his public 
life, Mr. Seelye says : " Besides all this, I never lose my 
wonder at the number of letters which he wrote — not 
merely in correspondence with his friends, but expressing 
his carefully formed opinions on important questions — 
and the wide variety of topics which he found time to 
investigate and to discuss. 



MR. SEELYE. 



405 



" If what I have written should be told me of almost 
any other man, I should have said that so many efforts in 
so short a time must have been superficially conducted. 
But this was far from being the case with Dr. Lobdell. 
He was in no sense a superficial man. His work was as 
remarkable for its thoroughness as for its variety. He 
knew very well when the bottom of a subject was reached, 
and he was never satisfied to stop short without reach- 
ing it. 

" It is not difficult to detect what was his secret of doing 
so many things and of doing them all so well. He never 
had any idle moments. The time which others would 
have spent in recreation or amusement, he spent in work. 
Added to this, he had a rare faculty of doing with his 
might, what he undertook to do. He could throw his 
whole energy into the work in hand. Moreover, he never 
lost any time in his transitions from one duty to another. 
When he sat down to any work he was not obliged to 
wait any time for his mind to become stimulated and 
aroused. If obliged to leave for an hour an employment 
in which he was all absorbed, he could spend that hour 
engaged in something altogether different, without any 
abatement of interest or any loss of time for the interrup- 
tion. Though he did so many things, it was still but #ne 
thing at a time which thoroughly occupied him, and when 
this was finished, or the time he could devote to it had 
expired, he could at once enter as thoroughly into some- 
thing else. Dr. Lobdell had emphatically that strong will 
which can not only triumph over obstacles, but which can 
change even difficulties into stepping-stones of progress. 

" It might also be supposed that so much energy and 
such constant labor must have been connected with some 
marked deficiencies in Dr. LobdelPs social character. But 
I know of no such deficiencies. He could never have 
been a hermit. Indeed he had an uncommon fondness 
for society. He was affectionate in every social relation. 



406 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



He was a frank, warm-hearted, generous and true friend. 
Those to whom he was bound by the ties of kindred or affec- 
tion, he greatly loved and was greatly beloved by them. 
Society was not only a comfort to him ; it was a necessity. 

" The strong will and prevailing energy, so prominent 
in him in other respects, were equally evident in his reli- 
gious experiences: His purpose to serve God, like every 
other resolution which he made, was strong and unyield- 
ing. Though the effect of the skepticism which poisoned 
his early youth was never lost, it never broke his purpose 
to serve God. I have been often greatly touched as he 
has disclosed to me how sorely he was tempted to doubt 
and deny God and the Bible. Everything was dark to 
him at times, and I believe he would repeatedly have sunk 
in utter despondency, had not his deep, underlying purpose 
to serve God held him up and borne him forward. He 
clung to this like a drowning man to a strong cable. 

" So, also, his resolution to study for the ministry, and 
then to become a missionary, was strong and permanent. 
I do not believe he ever abandoned either of them for a 
moment, after they were once formed. The influence of 
friends, or the hopes held out to him in other directions, 
never swerved him a particle from those resolves, In 
everything it might be said of him : What he willed, he 
strongly willed. 

" The Christian ministry accorded with many of his 
natural tastes and preferences; but he had no natural 
inclination to the life of a missionary. I do not think he 
ever regretted his decision to go abroad ; but he went 
with no romantic expectations. He was not insensible to 
the difficulties and the trials before him ; but he calmly 
resolved to face them all and endure them all. He was 
ready to spend and be spent in his Masters service." 

His pastor at Danbury, while he was principal of the 
Danbury Institute, speaks as follows of the impression left 
by a comparatively short acquaintance : " He threw him- 



DR. PERKINS. 



407 



self, with all the ardor and enthusiasm that character- 
ized his subsequent career, into a home missionary enter- 
prise, with which we were identified in one of the old 
towns of Connecticut. I ardently loved and admired 
him as a man, a Christian, and a missionary of the Cross. 
He attached to himself all that drank in the spirit of his 
Master. He was generous and self-sacrificing to a fault — 
6 counting not his life dear unto him.' Yet he was inde- 
pendent and fearless in the discharge of his duty. His 
life was literally filled up with usefulness. I have been 
amazed to see how much he crowded into the briefest 
interval. 

" To my mind, he was the true missionary. He more 
resembled Ignatius Loyola in the enthusiasm with which 
he prosecuted his work, than any missionary of modern 
times." 

Rev. Dr. Perkins, after the narrative of Dr. Lobclell's 
sickness in his house at Oroomiah, which has been inserted 
in a former chapter, thus proceeds : " His ardent disposi- 
tion and wonderful activity led him to apply himself to 
labor too soon and too vigorously after his confinement 
by sickness. I do not remember ever to have known a 
more inquiring, active mind, one more eager in the pur- 
suit of knowledge on almost every subject. He darted, 
like the airy bee, from flower to flower in the vast and novel 
field opened before him in Persia, culling a thought here, 
and there a fact that might be useful to himself or others 
in future life. His inquiries embraced a very wide range. 
He was at once theologian and antiquarian, philologist 
and naturalist, and, most of all, missionary. Had his life 
been spared, he would have greatly distinguished himself, 
particularly as an Oriental and antiquarian scholar. 

" He was also skillful and indefatigable in his medical 
practice, in which his sympathizing, benevolent nature 
never allowed him to resist or neglect the cries of the 



408 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



suffering, which were almost constantly ringing in his 
ears. 

" The crowning charm of his very estimable character, 
and that which most of all won our affections, was his sim- 
ple, ardent, child-like piety, his overflowing love to the dear 
Saviour, who had purchased him, a lost sinner, with his 
own precious blood, and to whom he felt that he owed 
all things. That dying love he delighted to magnifiy 
and proclaim. A large measure of that love imparted to 
him, made him so lovely in life, so happy in sickness, and 
triumphant in death. 

" His visit to Oroomiah was one of the sunny spots in 
our missionary pilgrimage, on which we shall ever love to 
look back in the lively hope of ere long meeting that dear 
younger missionary brother, and other loved ones gone 
before us, in heaven." 

His much beloved associate in missionary labor, Rev. 
D. W. Marsh, has furnished with his graphic pen a sketch 
of the life and character of Dr. Lobdell, which has just 
come to hand, and which, to avoid repetition, must be 
somewhat abridged. Had it been received at an earlier 
day, it might, perhaps, have been incorporated with the 
narrative ; but the reader will not regret to go rapidly 
over the doctor's missionary life again, under such an 
accomplished guide. 

"My entire acquaintance with Dr. Lobdell was upon 
mission ground. He came out in 1852. At that time, I 
was on my way to America. Between Aleppo and Lataki- 
yeh, Rev. Mr. Ford and I traveled all day in a most violent 
storm to meet Dr. Lobdell ; but we missed him, which 
deferred our acquaintance till May, 1853. Dr. Lobdell 
had then been a year in Mosul. I took a house which so 
joined his, that we could communicate without going into 
the street. Our families were thrown constantly together. 
Often after our meals were cooked, we had the common 
stock brought to one table, and sat down together. In 



MR. MARSH. 



409 



going from his study to the dispensary, which was in my 
outer court, he must pass through the inner court. I can 
see him now, — his hat, his coat, his cane ; the tall form 
and slight stoop as he walked. 

" The sick were always about him, Moslems, Christians, 
and Jews. It is difficult to say whether wealthy howajees 
and powerful aghas, or the very poor, would be most 
assuming and impertinent in their demands, or least 
grateful. There were pleasant exceptions ; but patience 
and kindness were severely taxed, and almost never 
failed. He was very happy in his intercourse with all 
classes. 

"Having abundant opportunities among the sick and 
their friends, to preach the gospel, he was very faithful. 
Few persons came into contact with him without having 
their consciences addressed. This he did in a way that 
won their good will, and left the impression that he was 
their friend. 

" Often have I entered his study and found him sur- 
rounded by a company of ten, twelve, or twenty. His 
mode of argument was peculiar. He had rare power of 
forcing his opponent to hold the laboring oar. He often 
tested logic by asking, 'How do you prove that V This 
simple question often utterly silenced some voluble empty- 
head. It was timed, and put with a good-nature that 
precluded caption. Like the delicate stroke of a rapier, 
it turned aside the enemy's deadliest thrust. 

" Soon after I came to Mosul, Dr. Lobdell, by advice 
of the Mosul station, started for Oroomiah, to spend the 
summer. I saw him well on his way, riding out fifteen 
miles, to Bartulli. He commonly rode at a gallop, either 
sending his baggage before him, or leaving it to follow. 
The sick flocked around him as he dismounted. 

" He proceeded to Oroomiah by Arbeel and Ravendouz. 
During that journey, two things made an indelible im- 
pression. Ever after, he had an aversion to the savage 
35 



410 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



nature of the Koorcls. He would often contrast their 
rugged sullenness with the good-natured treachery of the 
Arabs, Nor did he ever forget the heavenly atmosphere 
of the missionary circle at Oroomiah. He returned from 
Oroomiah to Mosul in September, 1853, through the sub- 
lime mountains of Jeloo and Tekhoma in company with 
Messrs. Coan and Rhea of the Nestorian mission. Dur- 
ing his absence, we kept acquainted with him by a con- 
stant succession of letters. After his return, we were 
once more thrown side by side. He began again very 
actively the practice of medicine. His study was fre- 
quented as before. Crowds of from twenty to seventy 
came to the dispensary. 

" I was impressed with his ceaseless activity. He was 
almost constantly reading, or writing, or studying. He 
took no small interest in literary questions. He traced 
the route of Xenophon, and followed Alexander to the 
great battle-field near Arbela. He procured coins and 
antiques for his Alma Mater. He pondered the questions 
started by Layard's discoveries. He questioned all classes 
upon every topic likely to throw light upon biblical in- 
quiry or Oriental customs. He cross-questioned Jews as 
to their traditions or interpretations, and Moslems who 
came for medicine as to the succession of pashas, the age 
of the city, or their belief and customs. He always had 
large note-books on his desk, and a small one in his pocket. 
He was gathering a large store of facts. 

" He was diligent in his profession. The Moslems said 
that he exhausted good works, and left them nothing to 
do. He frequently visited the sick, rich and poor, in dis- 
tant quarters of the town. 

"Before medicine was prescribed at the dispensary, a 
portion of scripture was read and explained, and a prayer 
offered. As Moslems formed the larger part of his au- 
dience, upon his return from Oroomiah, his mind was 
much exercised upon the question, 4 Ought we, in the pres- 



PREACHING CHRIST TO MOSLEMS. 



411 



ence of Moslems, to risk declaring the entire plan of 
salvation ? ' It is a question that might well lead to dif- 
ferent views. When he found that Mr. Williams and my- 
self were deliberately resolved to follow the dictates of 
our consciences, and not withhold from Moslems the 
counsel of God, he was delighted. We all felt (as we 
were warned), that there might be some danger. We 
knew that there were passions about us sleeping, that 
might become as wild as those which nearly swept the 
English from the Presidency of Bengal. Sometimes, as 
Christ was proclaimed the Son of God, and the only 
Saviour of man, a bigoted Moslem would rise and go out, 
and, as report said, curse us when well out of hearing. 
Often would Moslems listen with riveted attention, assent- 
ing aloud to statements, till their thoughts were irresistibly 
directed to Christ, when, at times, they would manifest 
an instant revulsion, at others, a reluctant fascination. 
The reflex influence upon Christians was very important. 
They felt that we were in earnest. Papists and Jacobites 
often trembled, and begged us not to preach any more 
in the presence of Moslems. During all this time, Dr. 
Lobdell's convictions of duty grew stronger and stronger. 
We took turns in preaching. If ever I presented the 
truth in Jesus with more than usual clearness, he was 
almost sure to express his delight afterwards. Soon the 
change was so great in the city, that all classes began to 
dare to admit to Moslems that Christ is the Son of God. 
Before this time, a Christian had always equivocated or 
denied his Lord. In this matter, Dr. Lobdell, who, as a 
physician, was called peculiarly to meet it, manifested 
truly a martyr spirit. Rather than withhold the gospel, 
he preferred to risk his life. 

" Dr. Lobdell usually enjoyed an overflow of health and 
spirits. He is to our minds indelibly associated with his 
horse and cane. He carried his cane while riding as well 
as walking. He bought, for twenty-six dollars, what 



412 



MEMOIR OF LOJBDELL. 



proved to be a very fine Arab horse. That fleet animal 
and the fresh air outside the city walls, were his refuge 
for health from the close fever-dens of many of his pa- 
tients. The exhilaration of the change was always de- 
lightful. But for it he would probably have been earlier 
in his grave. He was a bold and even a reckless rider. 
We often raced on fleet horses. Neither roughness, or 
rocks, or gullies would deter that horse or his rider. I 
well remember one day when we were racing, and came 
to slippery ground. I drew rein : he plunged on, when 
his horse slipped, and turned a complete somerset. He 
was thrown a rod or more in advance. I came up in 
much anxiety for his neck ; but horse and rider rose from 
the mud without serious harm. From that time, a com- 
* plete change took place. He rode fast still, but always 
with due care. 

"In the spring of 1854, after the first annual meeting 
of the Assyrian mission, Dr. Lobdell and myself were ap- 
pointed to go to Diarbekr, and assist the brethren in 
deciding several important questions. Mr. Dunmore and 
Mr. and Mrs. Walker were returning to that station, and 
we formed a large party through the desert. We had 
two Arab guides. Well do I remember his questioning 
those Arabs as to black-mail, the pedigree of their horses, 
and other matters that would interest the sons of the 
desert. We all, even to the lady, tried once riding upon 
the camel. He was full of inquiry, note-book in hand, at 
Nisibin, and the ruins of Dara, and the Saracenic castle 
which crowns the mountain of Mardin. He hurried back 
to Mosul, to wait upon Mrs. Williams, and attend her 
last hours during that mournful last attempt to save her 
life by a journey to Oroomiah. 

" In the fall of that year, plans ripened, which had been 
gradually forming in his mind, for a summer residence at 
Deira, near Amadieh. It would have thrown our mission 
into constant summer contact with the Nestorians, and 



HIS MONUMENT. 



413 



necessitated our learning the Syriac language. He en- 
tered into it with great zeal ; and although less sanguine 
as to its healthiness, I consented to join him in commenc- 
ing the trial. On our way, accompanied by Mrs. Marsh, 
we visited Sheikh Adi, at the time of the Yezidee festival. 
Dr. Lobdell, as usual, manifested his unbounded spirit of 
intelligent inquiry. On our return, one scene is indelibly 
impressed upon the mind of Mrs. Marsh and my own, 
which occurred at a mountain pass. The Doctor had rid- 
den on. As we followed, creeping along a precipice over- 
hanging a torrent, we caught sight of him down under an 
eternal wall of rock, sitting upon a boulder, and breaking 
up minerals. His favorite horse was standing content in 
mid-stream. That mountain scene is to us his monu- 
ment, 

* We do not deny, nor would we conceal, that Dr. Lob- 
dell had faults. "We love him as a rare man, one of a 
thousand ; but let no young discijDle imagine that in Dr. 
Lobdell was found immaculate and unattainable perfec- 
tion. His faults were nearly, if not quite all, the faults 
of youth." 

After specifying particularly that skeptical tendency 
which regarded almost every point, even of practice, as an 
open question, and that constitutional, and perhaps, more 
or less ambitious, restlessness which made him too careless 
of over- work, — faults which are sufficiently apparent to 
every reader of these pages, — Mr. Marsh proceeds : " I 
mention these blemishes as they seemed to me a part of 
the history of a jewel of the purest water. In the hands 
of the great lapidary, they would have grown constantly 
less. Now that this gem adorns the Saviour's vesture, 
there is no flaw or spot upon it. 

"I have only to allude to his journey to Baghdad and 
Babylon. The Oroomiah mission chose him to represent 
their critical situation with reference to the Persian gov- 
ernment to Mr. Murray, the English ambassador to Persia, 
35* 



414 



MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 



then to arrive at Baghdad, on his way to his post. While 
waiting for Mr. Murray, he visited Babylon, the first 
American missionary to do it, and possibly the first Amer- 
ican. He was received as the guest of the Residency, 
and treated in a very handsome manner. Dr. Lobdell 
was very well adapted for this work. The Nestorian 
mission owed many future favors, and, perhaps, the visit 
of Mr. Murray to Oroomiah, to this labor of love on the 
part of Dr. Lobdell. He always had an affectionate re- 
gard for the members of that mission, and in conducting 
our English prayer-meeting, it was his aim to elevate the 
tone of piety in our circle to the high standard there. 

" Now he has gone to an atmosphere purer, to a society 
holier, to the assembly of the first-born, the goodly com- 
pany of martyrs, apostles, and prophets. He is with 
Stoddard now, not on a favored mountain of earth. He 
mingles with our heavenly friends. That unquenchable 
spirit, year after year, in blessed company soars to loftier 
heights. He is obeying the voice, ' Come up higher.' 



When shall tee be with him ? " 




\ 

\ 

3 



c 




Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Driv» 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



