A history of Protestant missions in the near East

Front matter

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Preface

To the Boards of the great Congregational and Presbyterian Churches of America I dedicate this volume with an expression of the deep gratitude which Protestant Christendom owes to them for their comprehensive and thorough work in the Near East. They have worked during the nineteenth century quietly, with little recognition from outside, for the uplifting and spiritual vitalizing of the venerable remnants of the Oriental Churches. !N"ow after the sudden changes of the last year, those missions stand out as the well founded corner-stones of great and promising mission churches, as the pillars of hope in the midst of the turmoil of the Near East.

I have had the privilege during the last month to be for the first time in the United States, at the fountainhead of those beneficent streams which are fertilizing the dry fields of the Levant. What I have experienced during this time has filled my heart with great hopes for the future of the missionary movement. When at the International Convention at Eochester I looked into the bright faces of about four thousand students, kindled with enthusiasm for missions, I realized that the central question of the labourers in the great harvest here finds an ideal solution. When I came in close touch with The Laymen's Missionary Movement, I ventured to hope that by reclaiming the wealth of the Union for the service of the Kingdom that other perplexing problem, the money question, would be dealt with satisfactorily. And when in constant intercourse with the leaders interested in missionary movements I saw of what high type these men really are, my confidence increased that the leadership, too, is in good hands and that by such men God has a great work waiting for America.

This book in English is not a mere translation of the German edition. Whole chapters have been rewritten, others

6 Preface

more or less altered. English and American views on missionary questions differ greatly from the German. The writer of history has a task like that of an oculist who adapts the spectacles exactly to the eye so that men may see matters clearly and distinctly in their right proportions. A historian tries to do the same for his readers ; to present the facts in just that form which enables them to be seen in their true perspective and significance. In translating this book into English I had the joy of a man privileged to show to the members of his household a hidden treasure belonging to them, the great value and beauty of which they had not hitherto known.

I am deeply indebted to the Kev. John Elliot of Priors Marston, England, and to the Kev. Murray Scott Frame of Union Theological Seminary, !N"ew York, for their untiring zeal in revising the book. I gratefully acknowledge the help of both, for they spared no pains in bringing out the book in as correct a form as possible.

We are on the eve of great events in the Near East. The problem gains in importance and urgency year by year. Those facts become suggestive which show that the American missions have been more effective in their Muhammadan work than generally known. I have just received a letter from the Rev. C. R. Watson, D. D., Foreign Secretary of the United Presbyterian Church in America, proving convincingly to what extent the American Mission in Egypt has worked among the Muhammadans. There are 3,945 pupils in its schools, more than 10,000 patients treated every year in its hospitals and 139 con- Verts have been gathered in, an earnest of a greater future harvest. May this book, too, increase the Christian and missionary interest in the Muhammadan world and may it, by giving an accurate record of what has been done up to the present time, make many Christians willing to enlarge these missions for greater work in the future.

Julius Richter.

New York, On the day of departure from the United States,