THE CALL TO PERSIA

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God. It was nothing that he greatly needed rest; it was nothing that he had set himself an immense task-no less than the collection of at least £4,000 for his cathedralduring the brief months of his leave in England. A call to follow in the steps of Henry Martyn had irresistible attractions; and, as the task had not been a self-chosen one, in spite of his distrust of his unworthiness, he felt he could obey the summons without fear. On December 22, 1882,

he wrote to Mrs. French, who had returned to England the preceding year :

'The eve of the 21st' (the eve, that is, of his own consecration day) brought me a formal commission from the Bishop of London, at the request of the Church Missionary Society, to visit their missions in Persia; so I seem to be shut up to that course, and I really have no liberty to decline it. It is a great privilege in one way, yet must involve many heavy crosses and sufferings, perhaps in excess of what I have known hitherto. I dare not hope to reach you before July, I fear, as it is no use rushing through places of such unusual importance, and reached with such difficulty.'

The intervening months were very fully occupied with the Calcutta synod and varied visitations, including two of his old missionary posts. At Dera Ismail Khan his life was really in some danger from the violence excited by his preaching to the Afghans in the bazaar; and at Lahore, towards the close of February, he had the pleasure of consecrating the new chapel of the Divinity School, and next day held an ordination in it for three native deacons.

At length, on March 15, being en route for the coast, he wrote of the departure from Lahore in words which plainly show how greatly he was valued in his diocese :—

The missionaries, gathered for the Church Conference, rallied round me at the station, and the college students, scarcely anybody else; indeed I had kept my time of departure pretty secret. What was far better than crowding to the station was that on the Tuesday evening (the eve of my departure) the congregation, gathered for the confirmation of twenty-eight young people, was nearly as large as an Easter Sunday congregation. No doubt Mr. Furneaux's valued ministry had much to do with this, and, perhaps, a little also the knowledge it was my farewell address to them. I was helped and strengthened for the effort beyond hope.

To see the galleries filled on a week-day was passing strange, and Mr. F. seemed full of joy and thankfulness.

'I know not how to praise God enough that these last weeks exceeded, I think, in interest all other weeks of my episcopate. I dare not therefore call myself a broken-down man, but I feel I could not have held out much longer.'

'Karachi, March 16. Karachi reached at 8.30 this morning. I love to think of Jacob's journeying, and God's fatherly guidance of him all the way; and the angelic visits, though I fear I may be almost presumptuous in asking to have Bethels and Peniels even a little like his. So ends, for the present at least, our correspondence from India.'

The origin and special difficulties of the Persian mission, which Bishop French was now about to visit, here call for some remark, for all the details will be read with a more vivid interest when we remember the great thoughts and aims that gave a sacred unity of purpose to the laborious course of daily marching. Here was no idle globe-trotter upon a holiday excursion, but in every step of the way he was sustained and carried forward by one lofty inspiration, the longing for God's glory and the weal of men.

It is remarkable that mission work amongst the native Persians has not at any time been due to the initiation of the great societies. Henry Martyn only lingered in the country on his homeward journey, burning himself out for God, that he might perfect his translation of the Persian Scriptures. Ten months in 1811-12 he passed at Shiraz, disputing with the men of learning, then died at Tocat, near the Black Sea littoral. The work appeared to die with him, so far as Persia was concerned. The Americans established a mission amongst the ancient Eastern Churches at Oroomiah, but the Mohammedans of the great cities remained untouched till Mr. Bruce, French's old colleague in the Derajat, entered the land again in 1869; next year the Americans also began to labour among Moslems, but to the English Church belongs the credit of first attempting to renew, however tardily, the efforts of the sainted Martyn.

The story of Mr. Bruce's visit is full of interest. When French was stricken down by sunstroke in the Derajat,

BRUCE'S VISIT.

FAMINE

39

for eight years Bruce continued in the forefront, and then, returning for a brief and well-deserved furlough, he heard some officer speak of the great facilities for travelling in Persia. The Persian language is of use throughout all Northern India. On reaching England, Bruce chanced to mention this in conversation with Mr. Venn, the secretary of the C. M. Society. He himself had not attached importance to it, but to his great surprise Mr. Venn's eyes filled with tears, and he said, 'Oh, do go to Persia! I am so thankful for this opening; it is one of those things we looked in vain for in times past, but which God is giving us now.' Accordingly, though still attached to the Indian mission, Bruce stopped in Persia on his way, nominally to perfect himself in the Persian language. He found openings for preaching beyond his hopes, and that the Persians would visit him at his house for religious conversations. When he was preparing to go back to his Indian station, another letter came from Mr. Venn: 'If you can see your way to improving Martyn's version of the New Testament, then stay in Persia; if not, go to your post in India.'

It was a momentous question to be called upon to settle, and the communications with England were so slow that Mr. Bruce had only his own judgement to depend upon. He sought a sign from God, and at that very time nine Moslems came to him and asked for baptism. This was the turning-point that brought him to remain. Then followed the great famine, in which, assisted by George Maxwell Gordon, he was the means of dispensing relief to the amount of over £16,000, and saving thousands of lives. He began by asking for £200 in England, and more and more kept pouring in, in answer to his prayers and in accordance with his dire necessities. The most extraordinary incident was the provision of some £6,000, gathered in pennies and sixpences from the poor Germans of Wurtemberg by the indefatigable efforts of Pastor Haas, and sent out in successive instalments of £1,000, with this most Christian message: The Moslems hate the Christians, but Christ has told us, "Love your enemies."

This money is collected from poor Germans, and we wish it to be distributed, without the least distinction of creed and race, to Moslem, Jew, and Christian.' When the stress of the visitation was over, enough remained of this subscription to form an orphanage as a more permanent memorial.

Though Mr. Venn personally always supported Mr. Bruce in remaining in Persia, the difficulties of occupying it as a permanent station were very great, and it was not till 1876 that the Society was willing to number it among their authorized endeavours.

The Mohammedan lands of the East, although they are the Bible lands, the very cradle of our Christianity, have hitherto at all times proved the least assailable by any mission force. At no spot probably throughout these regions have as many as ten Moslem converts been brought together and formed into a native congregation. Religious bigotry and political oppression have practically closed the door. Except in India, under the protection of our British Government, for any Moslem to become a Christian is, as it were, to yield himself to death. Persia is no exception to this common rule. The missionary, under consular protection, may be comparatively safe; but what about his converts? It is indeed hard at times to advise them what course to follow. At the time that Bishop French went to Persia, Dr. Bruce had been a good deal blamed for baptizing some thirty of them secretly. Some of those who were baptized went to India, where they could believe without the loss of life; others believed in secret, and were not baptized. This is one difficulty of the mission. Dr. Bruce says, 'One can but set before them Christ's own command about confessing Him, and His command," If they persecute you in one city, flee to another," and leave them to judge for themselves.'

Another special difficulty of the Persian mission is its relation to the old Armenian Church. For some three hundred years a body of oppressed and drown-trodden Christians, deeply sunk in superstition, have been settled

THE C. M. S. MISSION

4I at Julfa, a suburb of Ispahan, and in some of the villages of the surrounding districts. The successive bishops have been men of some education but no spiritual power, who never visited the villages, and only viewed them as a source of revenue. The priests have been almost illiterate, and taken straight from the plough; and both priests and people have been too often sunk in debt, and in bondage to drink, which they secretly supply to the more wealthy Moslems, for whom it is strictly forbidden by the Koran. Still some sort of witness for Christ these feeble Christians bore, and many delicate and critical questions inevitably arose in dealing with them. The ecclesiastical position was further complicated by the fact that a small mission of the Romish Propaganda had settled in the land.

Dr. Bruce has never sought directly to proselytize among the Armenian Christians; he has always been ready to cultivate friendly relations with them, and to encourage reforms within their own body, but he could not refuse to attach to himself a little congregation of those who sought his counsel, and, at the urgent and repeated request of a body of Armenian gentlemen, he undertook to superintend their school, if they would place it close to his own compound. For some time the Armenian priests continued to instruct the children, then they opposed the school and sought to turn away the Moslem pupils. Now they have opened a very fair school of their own, but still some even of the priests' own children continue to attend the mission school.

Face to face with the heads of the Romish and Armenian Churches, his little body of adherents obtained for Dr. Bruce a recognized position in dealing with the native rulers, and formed a nucleus of worshippers amongst whom Moslem inquirers could mingle in small numbers to obtain instruction without attracting notice.

These remarks suffice to indicate the difficulties of the Persian mission, and may elucidate allusions in the bishop's journals. Dr. Bruce's own chief work has been the revision of Henry Martyn's New Testament, and the still older and