The Tennesseean in Persia and Koordistan. Being scenes and incidents in the life of S. A. Rhea

Front matter

THE TENNESSEEAN IN PERSIA AND KOORDISTAN BEING SCENES AND INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OP SAMUEL AUDLEY RHEA. El Rev. DWIGHT W. MARSH, FOR TEN YEARS MISSIONARY IN MOSUL. PHILADELPHIA : PRESBYTERIAN PUBLICATION COMMITTEE, 1334 CHESTNUT STREET. NEW YORK : A. D. F. RANDOLPH, 770 BROADWAY. In Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by WM. L. HILDEBURN, Treasurer, in trust for tfie PRESBYTERIAN PUBLICATION COMMITTEE, the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Westcott & Thomson, _T__KOTYP__S, 1'niI.AI'A. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. NO. PAGE 1.—MAP OF TURKEY AND PERSIA Frontispiece. 2.— MAP OF THE NESTORIAN COUNTRY DO. 3.— ARAB ENCAMPMENT IN MESOPOTAMIA 11 4.— LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, TENNESSEE '. 16 0.— TREBIZOND 40 6.— ARMENIAN PATRIARCH 44 7.— ARMENIAN PRIEST 45 8.— ARMENIAN BISHOP „ 47 9— PLAIN OF OROOMIAH FROM MOUNT SEIR 53 10.— SEIR GATE OF OROOMIAH 56 11.— VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS OF KOORDISTAN 81 12.— NESTORIANS 109 13.— KOORDS OF TnE MOUNTAINS Ill 14.— KOYUNJIK— NINEVEH 147 15.— STATUE OF A KING, FROM TEMPLE AT NIMROOD 149 16.— THE TAKTEREWAN IN THE MOUNTAINS 166 17.— AN ARAB SHEIK 172 18.— KOORDISH WOMEN AT THE SPRING 202 19.— TENTS FOR THE TOUR IN KOORDISTAN 215 20.— MISSIONARY LADY AND MOUNTAIN NESTORIAN WOMEN 218 21.— KOORDISn SHEPHERD OF THE MOUNTAINS, IN FELT COAT 224 22.— KELEK, OR RAFT OF GOAT-SKINS, ON THE TIGRIS 237 23.— KOORDISH CASTLE OF KOSH-AB, MAHMOODIYAH... 241 24.— BEDOUIN SHEIK AND WIFE ON DROMEDARY 254 25.— ERZEROOM 273 26— ARARAT 275 27.— TRAVELING IN PERSIA IN THE CAJAVAH 279 28.— MOUNT SEIR, MISSION PREMISES 309 29.— A PERSIAN JOURNEY: CHILDREN IN BASKETS CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE L— A GLIMPSE, GEOGRAPHICAL AND BIRD'S-EYE, OF MR.' RHEA'S FUTURE HOME 9 H.— HIGHLAND TENNESSEE 16 m.— IN NEW YORK AND ON THE WING 22 TV.— OCEAN LIFE AND LETTERS 30 V.— ARRIVAL IN PERSIA— FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE VIL- LAGES, PEOPLE AND CITY OF OROOMIAH 50 VI.— RENEWED CONSECRATION. HE THAT IS HOLY LET HIM BE HOLY STILL 62 VTI.— FIRST MOUNTAIN TOUR - 66 Vin.— AMERICANS AT HOME IN KOORDISTAN 74 IX.— FIRST WINTER IN GAWAR _ 87 X.— THE STORM BURSTS 112 XI.— VISITS MOSUL— EXPLORES THE MOUNTAINS 141 XIX— MOUNTAIN LIFE WITH MR. CRANE 156 Dll- MARRIAGE— THE SACRED UNION 175 XIV.— DURING THE CRIMEAN AND PERSIAN WARS— DRIVEN FROM THE MOUNTAINS 196 XV.— UP AGAIN TO THE MOUNTAIN POST— AMERICAN LADIES EXPLORE THE WILDEST RECESSES OF KOORDISTAN 209 XVI.— AT THE GATE OF HEAVEN 225 XVTL— ALONG THE TIGRIS— OVER TO PERSIA— BACK TO AMI- DIAH— AGAIN TO PERSIA 242 1 * CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE XVIII— VISIT TO AMERICA 255 XIX.— RETURN TO PERSIA : 267 XX.— A NEW FIELD AND NEW LABORS 279 XXI.— HELP FOR THE OPPRESSED 291 XXII.— HOME INFLUENCES .' 306 XXIII.— EVENING LABORS : 321 XXIV.— ALI SHAH 336 XXV— CLOSING SCENES 350 XXVI.— HIS CHARACTER 353 XXVU.— VOICES OF THE NESTORIANS

Preface

. Tennessee gave us a President— Andrew Jackson — who said, "The Union must and shall be preserved." Many have sealed those words with blood. Tennessee has given to Persia a life and death which say, " The knowledge of Christ must and shall be given to every creature." Many will die to make these words good. Various persons in Asia and America, noting an example so worthy of grateful remembrance, have for two years past given much time to provide materials for this work. The reader may now follow this young Tennesseean to the inner fastnesses of almost pathless mountains. Adventures among robber chiefs in border wars will attract the young. The more thoughtful will ponder the fate of empires and vanity of life, as they follow the track of Xenophon, Alexander and Cyrus, or muse in the hollow tomb of Nineveh.

Christians, it is believed, will catch fresh inspiration from a soul so capable of responding to the call, "Come up higher." They will never weary of looking into the struggles, pangs, joys, agonizing wrestlings and glorious victories of this fellow-soul. The name Khea is already written upon the map of East Tennessee. It is written on hearts in Persia, and shall yet be written on the banners of many of God's embattled hosts. These pages, as the reader will readily see, have caught in tense interest from friends in Tennessee and Persia, and especially PKEFACE. from Dr. Justin Perkins, of Oroomiah, and from the one who was nearest Mr. Rhea in life and in the thrilling scenes of his death. The omission of a profusion of valuable matter has been the most difficult and trying part of their preparation.

Only in this sentence can the author disclose how very much the work owes for delicate revision and unwearied care in its em bellishment to Rev. J. W. Dulles, of Philadelphia. That Jesus may own it in the progress of his cause is our prayer. How can we forget the blessed foreign work ! In this far land, our dear native land, we sometimes feel as the exiles felt at Babylon. D. W. M. Rochester, February 22, 1869. THE TENNESSEEAN IN PERSIA.

Chapter I

A GLIMPSE, GEOGRAPHICAL AND BIRD'S-EYE, OF MR. RHEA'S FUTURE HOME. COME with the swift-winged ships out of New York harbor, past Gulf Stream and Azores, between Europe and Africa, through the Gates of Hercules. Linger not along vineclad shores of Spain and Southern France ; tarry not for Italy or Barbary States ; forget Carthage and Rome. Come past Etna and Malta and classic Greece, and from the eastern end of the Mediterranean, look up at goodly Lebanon, more grand with every mile of approach. How its snowy peaks catch roseate tints from the flush of morning ! Take wings and fly right up to its cool summit, ten thousand feet high, and look eastward. At your right, beyond Hermon, lies Palestine; but across the Baalbec valley, over Anti-Lebanon, beyond Palmyra and Damas cus, for centuries Arabia has pressed its entering wedge into Turkey, and, notwithstanding the Turkish shadow on our maps, Arabia holds possession of all Central Mesopota mia.

Wandering Bedouins threaten alternately the gates of the bordering cities ; i. e., Jerusalem, Damascus and Aleppo on the West ; Orfa and Mardin on the North ; Mosul and Bagdad on the East. You cannot leave the TENNESSEEAN IN PERSIA. gates of one of these cities on the Arab side without, as Layard wrote of Bagdad, running some " risk of making a triumphal re-entry in your shirt." Look across this North ern Arabia, and then at one flight pass over Euphrates and Arab tribes, and come four hundred miles to the Tigris, lighting on the towers of Mosul at the very gates of old Nineveh. On Lebanon you were ten thousand feet above the level of the sea ; at Nineveh, only three hundred feet. On Leb anon you were by. the "Great Sea;" at Nineveh, at the central point, far inland, equidistant from the Black Sea and Persian Gulf, the Caspian and Mediterranean, four hundred miles from the two latter, and almost on the level of their waters.

All Arab Mesopotamia south of Mardin, except the sharp mountain-ridge Sinjar and the mountain-peak Koukab (Star), is hardly higher than Nineveh ; indeed, the Bed ouins never live, and rarely go, where they cannot sweep at a gallop over the plains on their fleet mares. The broad basin has hardly a tree, and consequently, in its removal from any large body of water, during the rainless months of summer becomes intensely heated and parched. But there is no sandy desert, for, in winter and spring, grass is knee-deep, and nomad Koords (called Cochers,) and Arabs with countless flocks, roam over the wide expanse, whilst their sheep and dogs stain their feet and sides with the dyes of myriad flowers. No fairer pastoral scene can be conceived than an Arab encampment in spring east of Sinjar. No house or tree is there for miles and miles, but scattered tents on every side.

A hundred miles away east and north, the snowy mountain ranges form a rim of silver to the scene, and on the swelling slopes at hand, are flocks of sheep, camels wander ing at will, Arab mares tethered to the long spears thrust ARAB ENCAMPMENT. THE FUTURE HOME. 13 into the ground at the tent doors. Patriarchal forms like Abraham or Job, in brilliant costumes and snowy beards, sit in the tent shade, while, with pitchers to the spring like Rachel and Rebecca, gentle forms glide here and there, from tent to tent, or among the lambs of the flock. Would that I could make you see it ! Once seen, these Oriental views remain a joy for ever. The West has noth ing just like it, although the visions of Pike's Peak, from the plains of Colorado, have some of its features. Stand, then, on the north-west angle of the wall of Mosul, where the tower is more than a hundred feet high, and look eastward.

If it is late winter or early spring, you have behind you four hundred miles of Arab verdure on the great plain stretching to Hermon and Lebanon. At your right the Tigris stretches south to what was the garden of Eden, thence flowing among palms and groves of orange to the Persian Gulf, seven hundred miles away. Just across the Tigris, not a mile distant, lies Nineveh and Nebby Yonas, like a chain of mounds and hills, sleeping for ever. Beyond, at eighteen miles' distance, towers Jebal Makloub (Overturned Mountain) ; and still beyond rise mountain ranges forty, fifty, seventy, and even one hundred miles, tier above tier, yet still in sight. Winter and summer here ever strive, summer never yielding the plains, and winter ever holding the hills. So it was when Cyrus issued from these mountain-gates of Persia to drop down a conqueror on Babylon.

So the Tigris flowed when Alexander, a few miles at your left, bade his soldiers strip on the bank, bear their bundles of clothing aloft on their spears, grasp each two the same spear, and wade in rank by rank, some to perish, but most to reach the eastern shore. Alexander passed right by Nineveh, and there, just back of Makloub, fell upon Darius and his million. The Tigris flows on just as when Xenophon passed, right TENNESSEEAN IN PERSIA. here, with his ten thousand. Here Jonah came when the glory of Nineveh was at its height. Take the wings of morning once more and fly up from Nineveh to the eastern hills. Strike out north-east across the Tigris and Zab rivers and nearer ranges, and finally pass the deep gorges and precipices and passes of the high est mountains, and there, high above the highest peak, you can look off to the Oroomiah lake in Persia, seventy or eighty miles away.

But only a hundred miles from Mosul, just over the Jeloo crest, and seven or eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, lies the valley of Gawar, the future home of Mr. Rhea. From your high post let your eye now take a circuit of forty miles north and south, and fifteen or twenty east and west, and you look down upon the Gawar mountain plain. The stream that gathers the icy waters flows north through the valley, then turns west and joins the Zab, and finally, through gorges aud chasms, flows down to the Nineveh plain, into the Tigris, and on to the Persian Gulf. Here, at the top of the world, the snows often linger in the Gawar valley till late in April, and, in midwinter, mercury some times congeals. Snow sometimes falls two-and-a-half feet in a single storm, and collects during the long winter to almost incredible depths.

Jonah, even when the fierce sun of Nineveh "smote upon his head so that he fainted and wished in himself to die," could look eastward and see the peaks where snow still lingered. The writer left Mosul for Persia in July, and after a few days, within a hundred miles of Nineveh, passed over acres of snow. It never leaves the higher peaks of the Koordish mountains, although at times it becomes almost black. The highest peak, that of Jeloo, is within a hundred miles, and sometimes discernible from Mosul. Take your position under the great Jeloo peak (the high- THE FUTURE HOME. est), on a mountain spur jutting from the west on to this Gawar plain, just over the village of Memikan. You are in the wild heart of Koordistan. Fierce Koords, and Nes torians hardly less fierce, occupy the villages in sight from your mountain-top, and Koordish chiefs look down, ready to swoop from their robber eyries on the traveler.

In 1850, Dr. Perkins, of Oroomiah, led a large party — among them the writer — out from Persia into this upper cre ation. There was Rev. Mr. Bowen of the English Church, afterward Bishop Bowen, now in heaven; there was Judith, the " Persian Flower ;" there was Rev. Mr. Stocking, as cended now to the mount of God, and Miss Fiske the heav enly-minded, also worshiping above ; Miss Rice was there, still in charge of that blessed Oroomiah Female Seminary, and Mr. Sandretzki, serving still the Church Missionary Society in Jerusalem. There also were Rev. Geo. W. Coan and Mrs. Coan, the latter (with her husband and Mr. Rhea) to be the first Frank lady to brave a winter in Gawar. The singers of the party ascended the crag overhanging the village and overlooking the plain, and with full hearts sung out heartily in God's name : " On the mountain-top appearing, Lo, the sacred herald stands !

Welcome news to Zion bearing — Zion long in captive bands." And thus over Mr. Rhea's future home, one year before he saw it, the gospel banner was unfurled, and we took posses sion in the name of the Lord. Let us from this eastern height turn back to America, and look into the home ill Tennessee which he left for his solitary and dangerous post in Koordistan.

Chapter II. Highland Tennessee

LOOKOUT HOTOTEAIH, EVST r_—B__. OF the many beautiful regions from which the waters of the Mississippi flow, none is more beautiful than the great valley of East Tennessee, in the heart of the Allegha- HIGHLAND TENNESSEE. nies. There you may find Blountville, halfway between the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky and the Blue Ridge in North Carolina, where Virginia and Tennessee overlap each other, thrust in between Kentucky and Carolina. Bald Mountain, the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains, is not fifty miles away. Chestnut Ridge and Blue Ridge, Cumberland Range and Cumberland Gap, are close by, in a region, since the war, for ever memorable. Waters pure as crystal flow from hill-top and mountain, fed by a thousand springs in groves of oak, chestnut, pine, maple and beech. The beautiful rivers Clinch and Hol ston, each longer than the Thames, yet mere twigs on the vast trunk of the Mississippi, unite not far from Knoxville and form the Tennessee, flowing on by Chattanooga and the bold, picturesque and historic Lookout Mountain.

After gathering its waters from Virginia and North Carolina, the Tennessee flows on through Alabama and Mississippi, and then north, through West Tennessee and Kentucky, into the Ohio, through which it reaches the Father of Waters. The beautiful highlands along the great valley of East Tennessee, already the home of thousands, will soon become the resort of poets and artists, and a health-retreat for Sa vannas inhabited by millions of men. There, in 1826, the daughter of a general of the Army of the Revolution was received as a bride by a successful young merchant. Happy hours passed on golden wings. But, one month after she saw her first-born, whose adven tures in distant lands we shall now trace, they followed the beautiful mother, early dead, to the village graveyard. God supplied a gentle friend, who writes : " I can look back on the dear little motherless babe whom I so tenderly loved and carried around the town to be nursed by different persons, more especially by a dear aunt, a sister of his 2* B mother, who always seemed to feel it a privilege to give to the little helpless one."

The pastor's wife next gives us a mere passing glimpse of a little boy of five, at the hour of family worship, with his little chair always near his father, his little hand loving best that manly clasp as they two walked to the evening meeting for prayer, sometimes sadly to the dear grave, and regularly to Sabbath-school and village worship. So far as pure air, clear waters to swim or fish in, beautiful groves for nutting and climbing, and grand mountains around can elevate, he had from mother earth the high privilege of being well born. A classmate of academy days has told us how they sported and studied together, of noble oaks on Blountville Academy Hill, not only for sharp knives to carve immortal names, but where they constructed rude seats among the strong boughs screened by canopy of oak leaves — very kings.

While yet in the academy at Blountville, seated in the academy attic, he one day laid down his Euclid, turned to one of two friends seated by him, and told him that he had been deeply pondering questions of duty that extend over all this life and into eternity. He asked and received the revelation of the other's soul. Shortly after, aged fif teen, he united with the Presbyterian Church, of which his father had long been ruling elder. Newly consecrated to the service of the Captain of Sal vation, when he passed thoughtfully into the yard where he expected some day to lie by his mother's side, and read the maiden and married name of the one who loved him on earth for one month as no other in all the earth could love, he received a life-long impression. Ever after, by sea and land, in the Old World as the "New, he cherished his mother's memory.

Her maiden name was Anna Rutledo-e. Close by her grave he read the following inscription : HIGHLAND TENNESSEE. SACKED TO THE MEMORY OF GEN. GEORGE RUTLEDGE, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE 1ST OF JULY, 1815, AGED 53 YEARS. Gen. Rutledge, the grandfather of Mr. Rhea, served with honor to himself and usefulness to his country in the Army of the Revolution, was member of the convention that formed the Constitution of Tennessee in 1796, and for many years thereafter was a representative from Sullivan county, Tennessee, in the State Legislature. The married name of Anna Rutledge was Anna Rutledge Rhea. She married Samuel Rhea, Esq., and the name given to their soon motherless boy was Samuel Audley. The father, Samuel Rhea, was a merchant of sterling integ rity and eminent piety. He was for more than forty years a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church of Blountville, and indeed may be called its fouuder.

He gave liberally of his time, money and influence for its support through life, and took an abiding interest in all the churches of the Synod of Tennessee. He often attended the meetings of his Presbytery and of the Synod, and occasionally of the General Assembly. By his wise counsels and liberal heart he did much for the prosperity of all the churches of East Tennessee. No layman in that region took a deeper inter est in the welfare of the Presbyterian Church than did this good man. The general operations of benevolence had his hearty co operation and support. Early did he enter into the Tem perance Reform, and he did good service in helping it for ward. His annual contributions to the cause of Foreign and Home Missions were generous, and at one time he gave to the American Bible Society one thousand dollars.

He died peacefully in 1863, in the midst of our civil war. Mr. Rhea was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His great-grand father, Rev. Joseph Rhea, a Presbyterian minister of the parish of Langhorn, Ireland, married Elizabeth Mcllwaine, of county Donegal, near Londonderry. He came to Amer ica in 1770, lived in Philadelphia, Octorara, and then near Taneytown, Maryland. In 1776 he accompanied a military expedition to Tennessee, and decided to settle in the region afterward the home of his descendants. He returned to Maryland and sold his property, but, while preparing to move, died in 1777. The widow and family reached their home in Sullivan county, East Tennessee, in February, 1779, and here their descendants still dwell. As Mrs. Rhea died shortly after the birth of her son, he was deprived of the affectionate care of a mother's love ; but that want was supplied by the nurture and tender train ing of a most estimable aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Fain, whose lovely Christian character was duly appreciated by her foster-son.

After a widowhood of five years, his father was married a second time, to Miss Martha Lynn, a lady of mature Christian character, and well qualified to assume the delicate responsibilities of a step-mother. She discharged these duties with great fidelity, and secured the affection as well as respect of her step-son. The house in which the boyhood of Mr. Rhea was passed was most comfortable. It was of brick, two full stories, with a front of forty feet, and an L back. It was situated on a slight eminence rising from a small stream which flows through the town. The view was beautiful up and down the valley, and the majestic hills, which shut in the view in other directions, were covered with large forest trees. HIGHLAND TENNESSEE. In September, 1863, amid the horrors of war, about half the town of Blountville was destroyed by fire ; this cheerful homestead among the rest, with all its contents.

His college days were spent in the University of Tennes see, at Knoxville. Here he took a high stand as a student, and gained the love as well as the esteem of his companions and of his instructors.

Chapter III. In New York And On The Wing

FOR the following brief and interesting sketch the reader is indebted to Rev. R. P. Wells, well known as a cler gyman in Jonesboro', East Tennessee, and more recently at Gilbertville, Massachusetts : There lies before me a letter from Samuel Rhea, Esq., the father of the missionary, making inquiries relative to Union Theological Seminary, New York, with a view of sending his son Samuel thither to pursue a course of study. After having written full answers to each inquiry, I gave him to understand that sending his son to that school of the prophets involved the question of his sacrifice to the cause of foreign missions ; that a missionary spirit was quite prevalent among the students, and that many of them were consecrating themselves to the foreign field ; that this spirit was contagious, and his son might yield to its influence.

Thank God! the father did not falter. I knew well under what influences the son had been reared, and that the good seed sown so diligently and prayerfully would bear fruit in toils and sacrifices for the world's salvation. No stranger could pass the night in that home of genuine hospitality and not be charmed with the spirit that there prevailed. Esquire Rhea was a rare man. He had an excellent heart ; and the goodness of his nature, vastly enriched by the grace of God, shone in his genial face, gleamed in his eye and spoke in the tones of his voice. Gifted with a large share of good sense and native sagacity, and familiar with human nature in business relations, he could read men. Scrupulously exact and just in all worldly transactions, he had great weight of character in the community. Being known as a public-spirited,, energetic, Chris tian man, his personal influence was by no means confined to his own county, but his name was quite familiar through out the Presbyterian churches in East Tennessee.

He loved the Bible and the duty of prayer; and morning and evening he called around the family altar his large household, not excusing the clerks in his store, even when business was pressing, nor the servants in the kitchen. On all occasions his systematic, clockwork plans gave time for family devotion. A short portion of the Scriptures was read in an easy, spirited manner, a hymn was sung by the whole family, and all knelt around the throne of grace, uniting in a brief, fervent, earnest prayer. These devotions were not tedious, lifeless nor commonplace, but the youngest of the flock seemed to take an interest in them. And so, on the night of the weekly prayer-meeting, nearly every member of that circle was sure to be in the place of prayer. Often might you have heard this good man remark that prayers on such occasions should be short and to the point.

Pre-eminently did a spirit of love reign in that family group, and the smile of heaven rest upon that home. The roar of thundering artillery has since broken its quiet, and the fiery wave of war has swept over it ; and when I last looked upon it, the blackened, crumbling walls stood in the midst of surrounding desolations ; but the memory of its inmates — their words, their kindness of manner — will not soon pass out of mind. To a young man going forth from such home influences, I felt that the question of personal duty as to the last com mand of the Redeemer would come with emphasis. His course of study in the seminary was completed in June, 1850. By his classmates and friends he is remembered as a modest, diligent, thorough student, as a genial, warm-hearted friend, and as a living, working, zealous Christian.

Under the influence of Drs. White, Robinson and Skinner, a foundation was laid for his subsequent high attainments in the ancient and modern Syriac, the Koord ish and the dialects of the Tartar Turkish. Having been accepted as a missionary of the American Board, and designated to the Nestorians of Persia, it was decided that he should spend the autumn and winter in extending his acquaintance and awakening an interest among the churches of East Tennessee and the South-west, and be ready to sail as early in the spring as the snows on the mountains near Ararat would admit of a passage over from the Black Sea into Persia. These visits to the churches made him many warm friends, and the pleasant impressions left behind are by no means effaced. His sermons were well written, and, delivered in his mod est, unassuming manner, commanded the undivided atten tion of his audiences.

Long will he be remeino. red as an agreeable, impressive, faithful preacher. It was a rare privilege to enjoy his friendship and share his confidence. The sunshine of his countenance, the tones of his voice, the urbanity of his manners, will dwell long in the memory. Especially was he beloved and trusted by the young. We wonder not that the simple Nestorians loved him, confided in him and wept over his grave. His ordination as an evangelist was by Holston Presby tery, in the old church on the hill, by the graveyard of his native town (Blountville), Rev. Frederick A. Ross preaching the sermon, and the writer giving the charge. But a short time before this, having fallen in with Rev. D. T. Stoddard, with whom he subsequently traveled to Persia and was pleasantly associated in missionary labor, his views were somewhat modified as to going out unmar ried.

It had seemed to him that he could serve Christ more efficiently to be unencumbered with family cares, and such a life appeared to be more apostolic and more in the spirit of primitive consecration to Christ. These views he had adopted deliberately and prayerfully, and nothing but the decided opinion of an experienced Christian brother, who had been on the ground before him, could have shaken his purpose in the least. His choice had been made from pure love to Christ and an ardent desire to advance his cause, and at that late hour he did not think it wise to change his plan, but he went to his distant field remaining even as Paul. As fellow-student at Union for two years, the Author ventures to add the following recollections of Mr. Rhea. When he entered Union Theological Seminary, in New York city, in 1847, he joined a band of young men consecrated to the noblest work that can summon the energies of the human heart.

White and Robinson and Skinner — names that live on earth and in heaven — and the devoted Halsey, were in structors. At that date those consecrated walls were like cedar and spice and sandalwood, redolent with the blessed graces of living saints just gone in Christ's name to Christ's work. Of these, one (who was never seen by Mr. Rhea nor the writer, who first met there) had left a most precious fra grance. He had given a new impulse to the love of souls. Up to manhood an infidel, a wonderful conversion had made of him another Paul. Like Paul, he cared not to marry. Like Paul, he sought to labor in regions beyond, where Christ had not been named. Like Paul, sometimes he would be at no man's charges, but in India, independent of missionary aid, wrought with his own hand to give his life as a more personal gift.

Like Paul, he sent his epistles to all parts of the world, urging his brethren to higher life. This one young man wrought a great work in Union The ological Seminary. I need not mention his name — better known in heaven than on earth, better loved of saints and angels than of men— as he still lives to seek the honor that cometh from God only. I allude to him because, during the days in which Mr. Rhea was in New York, his memory was more potent than that of any other student, and he made upon Mr. Rhea his mark ; an influence doubtless swerving a little in the direc tion of asceticism, and therefore to decrease as the presence and power of Christ increased. Even on the other shore, for ever memorable is Union Seminary to Mr. Rhea, because there he learned so much of Christ and of God's word and doctrine.