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 https://archive.org/details/memoirofrevhenry00tyle_1 
 

MEMOIR 
 
 O F 
 
 KEY. HENRY LOBDELL, M.D., 
 
 LATE 
 
 MISSIONARY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD 
 
 AT MOSUL: 
 
 INCLUDING THE 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF THE ASSYRIAN MISSION. 
 
 BY REV. AY. S. TYLER, D. D., 
 
 GRAVES PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 “ Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid 
 thee.” — Jonaii ill: 2. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 No. 28 Corn h ill, Boston. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 
 THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts 
 
 Geo. C. Hand & Avery, Printers, 3 Cornhill, Boston. 
 
d 
 
 I7 9tt 
 
 coy, & REMOTE STORAGE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 k. 
 
 I 
 
 tSakrgrairattUs anir ^larntti of ^mljerst College ; 
 
 J 
 
 AND ESPECIALLY TO THE NUMEROUS MISSIONARIES WHO 
 
 $ 
 
 Y~ 
 
 HAVE MADE THEIR ALMA MATER KNOWN AS A 
 
 BENEFACTRESS OF THE BENIGHTED NATIONS 
 
 IN EVERY QUARTER OF THE GLOBE, 
 
 Hlfmarials of a $*prtor 
 
 ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR, 
 
 701747 
 
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, u 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 Bev. Professor Seelye, of Amherst 
 College, and Bev. D. W Marsh, of Mosul, — the former the bosom 
 friend of Dr. Lobdell’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 
 Bev. Dr. Perkins, of the Nestorian Mission, and Bev. 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 
 
 CHATTER I 
 
 Introductory — Missionaries the Heroes and Martyrs of Modem 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 
 
 Farentage — 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- 
 crest 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 Week3 
 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 — W oman — The 
 Dragoman Zenope — Desert Plain — Abraham — Dipper — Orion — Iv han 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 — Ilis Brother — Dr. Anderson 
 
 — Mr. Scofield — Dr. Hitchcock 169 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IX 
 
 CHATTER XI. 
 
 Excursion to Sheikli 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 Ivawa — 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 — 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 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 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 EfTendi 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 — Healt^ 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 Ivazmain — Jewish 
 Hospital — Visit to the Pasha — Arrival of Mr. Murray — The Steamer — Sun- 
 day Levee — Interview with the Ambassador — Return by post to Mosul 36T 
 
 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 1 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 W est 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 New 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 ” 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 Avas 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. 
 
 liis 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 
 sympathize 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. 
 
 Henry 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 
 five 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 aw^ay, 
 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 sujDport 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 <fn 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. 
 W e often touch unconsciously springs in the souls of men, 
 which put them in motion forever. Mr. II. 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. 
 
 in g 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 Hineveli. How delighted I was to walk 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 : “ W ell done,” 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 Dr. II. N. Bennett, who lived in Bethel, about 
 
STUDY OF MEDICINE. 
 
 TO 
 
 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 
 lie 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 4 Sons of Tenyperance,’ 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 
 
 fiw* 
 
 * Kev. J. II. Seelye, late of Schenectady, now Professor Seclye, of Amherst 
 College, to whom the author is chiefly indebted for these notices of Dr. Lob- 
 dell’s early life. 
 
20 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 the woods to exercise his voice in reading and declama- 
 tion. His taste for mathematics was already marked. 
 Without 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 principal. 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 Term 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 Sej^tember 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 friend 
 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 lie had 
 no distinct, conscious hope that he was a Christian. 
 
 His diary, which lie began on his eighteenth birth-day, 
 presents 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 , vidi , vici ” to the Homan 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 Avas 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 Avhich he “ preserved a copy,” — 
 in all Avhich, coming events are only casting their shadoAvs 
 before. To-day, he rolls a AvheelbarroAV-load of Avood, a 
 long and weary mile or more, from his home on Grassy 
 Plain to his select school in Bethel. To-morroAV, as he 
 Ausits his sylvan study in the early morning, and makes 
 the rocks and woods resound Avith his impassioned decla- 
 mation, he is mistaken for a crazy man Avho had Avan- 
 dered aAvay 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, Avith the significant addition, which the reader 
 
22 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 will please to remember is in the indicative, and not in 
 the imperative, mood : 44 Improve every moment.” At 
 another, he says : 44 The desire that burns 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, 44 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. 
 
 44 1 never knew a man,” says the experienced teacher 
 with whom he taught and at the same time pursued his 
 preparatory studies at Danbury Academy, 44 who was so 
 little disturbed by finding obstacles in his way ; he ad- 
 vanced so fearlessly upon them, and grappled 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 copy 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 exj^ected 
 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 skej^tical 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 skej)- 
 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. I 
 went home shedding tears and crying to God.” “ J. IX. 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 eve 
 of parting with his friend for some months, and going to 
 
A TRUE FRIEND. 
 
 25 
 
 Hartford, lie says: “How often has my dear friend, ,T. IT. 
 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 Lobdcll 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 
 8 
 
MEMOlli OF LOJ3DELL. 
 
 20 
 
 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 in 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 j)resent 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.” 
 lie 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 Sjoirit 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 Seely e, 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 experience 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 
 doeth his vrill shall know of the doctrine , whether it be 
 of God.” And so in all his future life, when these doubts 
 and difficulties would return upon 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 CONVERSION. 
 
 29 
 
 Ilis 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 knowl- 
 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 ? Y es, 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 
 8 * 
 
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 jweached 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 acce]3ted 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, perhaps, 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 to repentance and eternal life. It was 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.” 
 
82 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 The sincerity of these prayers was evinced in imme- 
 diate and constant efforts, by private conversation, by 
 public 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 down 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 Avorld 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 
 
84 
 
 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 j^ublic. 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, lie 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 his 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 with wind and tide. He had not been in college a 
 week, before his bank — his “ Danbury JBcmk ,” 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 what 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 
 
MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 30 
 
 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 we 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 dark 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 was 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 iiurchased, 
 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 lie was 
 graduated with a very high rank in a class distinguished 
 for talents and scholarship ; and his oration at the Com- 
 mencement of 1849 was not only received with marked 
 
ECONOMY. 
 
 37 
 
 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. lie 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 
 Hew 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 
 
O' 
 
 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. Next 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 
 
 lions 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 
 upon 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, Sept. 3d, 
 1848. “ There it is we look into the seeds of things.” 
 
40 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 There was then no such tiling 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 New 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-medical 
 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. No 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 iEscliines, 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 Joufiroy, 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 Ilickok’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 tiling 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 part 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 spirits, wine, opium and 
 tobacco during connection with college — of which, from 
 its first establishment in 1829, nearly all 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 seasons 
 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.” 
 
 Nor 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, lie 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, lie felt the elfect 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. lie thus sums up his convictions and conclusions 
 near the close of his Senior year : 
 
 44 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 : 44 1 have little time 
 for reading, this term, — hardly have time to meditate. 
 Y et 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.” 44 1 must pray more, and meditate. 
 Three quarters of an hour a day is not enough.” 
 
 He 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 jmrple 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 bis 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 series 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 sjoirit a severe and pro- 
 tracted struggle. More than once he fell beneath the 
 strong temptation to this easily besetting sin of college 
 life. But lie 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 ! 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 
 
CIUUSTIAN 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 approves, and that is enough.” “ To-day I 
 c 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 ])eople, 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 
 
KEVIVAL IN 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: U 0ur 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. V ery 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 suffers ! 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 deepest 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 
 
FJKUITS. 
 
 53 
 
 that runs through the community, when they see and 
 hear what he has done for their souls ! And when the 
 blind that now sec, 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 deep and desperate depravity — when, after 
 a season, all these come before the priest in the temple, 
 and present 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 arc 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 
 roil 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 * 
 
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 Leyden 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 for 
 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 in 
 cheerful conversations and visits with his friends, which he 
 enjoyed greatly. His affections were lively. His tem- 
 perament was cheerful, almost buoyant. He rarely suf- 
 fered from low spirits. There was in him nothing of the 
 ascetic. He enjoyed , with a keen relish, study, work, 
 prayer, and efforts to do good. These were the pastime 
 and pleasure of his college vacations. 
 
 It was a joyful meeting, when he met his mother for the 
 first time, a member of college, a member of the church, 
 and, as he hoped, a member of the family of God. Her 
 last words at parting, when he left for Hartford, were : 
 “ The next time I hear from you, Henry, I hope to hear 
 that you are converted.” The very first letter she 
 received from him at college, began with the joyful 
 announcement : “ Mother, I hope I am converted.” And 
 
 *J. D. Foland, of North Brookfield, who died shortly after leaving the 
 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 sympathy 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. lie 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 almost 
 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. 
 
 67 
 
 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 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 Would to God I could make them all realize that I wish 
 their immortal good, when I am compelled to punish 
 them. There is one way in which I frequently try to 
 bring home religion to their hearts. If I am compelled 
 to inflict punishment on a boy, I often keep him after 
 school, and then tell him of my firm belief in the Bible — 
 that God will* bring me to an account for all that I do 
 here, for the very act of punishing him — that he will then 
 cause the motives I had in punishing him to appear dis- 
 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. “ Oh! 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 lips 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 down, 
 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 ‘ 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 
 c on another man’s foundation.’ ” 
 
 Some of his best friends thought that “the West” was 
 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. 
 
 01 
 
 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, 4 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 his 
 room-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 response 
 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 — 4 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. 
 
 44 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. 
 
 44 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, especially our relatives and friends, of their 
 danger. 
 
 44 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. 
 
 44 To these resolutions, in humble dependence on God 
 for support 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 I1JLS MOTHER. 
 
 G3 
 
 never regretted liis 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 OF LOBDELL. 
 
 I am not one of this character ; and my 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 employment for all the 
 mere gold of a world. It seems evident to me, that I am 
 training up my sjnrit 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 noio. IIow 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 rnore, 
 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. 
 
 G5 
 
 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 IIAVEN. 
 
 G7 
 
 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, lie felt no disposition to turn aside from 
 the great work to which he had devoted his life. lie 
 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. lie 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 wdiich 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 eyyoyed, 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. 1349.) 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 OP 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 hope 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 wars 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 
 affection. 
 
 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 AUBUIIN. 
 
 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 under Dr. Hickok. 
 
 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 urcred 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 lie 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- 
 dell’s history in the Theological Seminary at Auburn. 
 Ilis doubts, however, concerned not so much the evidences 
 of Christianity and the divine authority of the Scriptures, 
 for 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 
 nature of the atonement, and the eternity of future pun- 
 ishment. His diary tells the whole 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 Rush. 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 the 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 icill 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 ho jwofesses to be open to conviction.” 
 
MNNTAL CONFLICT. 
 
 71 
 
 23. “Last night, as I heard of my brother’s conversion, 
 
 I could but praise 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 c 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. He is now mani- 
 festly working his way out.) “ This is a good work for 
 the soul. Would that Christians generally were 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 
 
TIIE VICTORY. 
 
 73 
 
 straitest sect ? And when such a mind docs 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 jwofessional 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 his 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. He 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 
 ways, 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. 
 W e 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, 44 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 44 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 44 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 them — 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 
 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 extend 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 Avhat- 
 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 — Ilistoire des Pro- 
 testants of 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. lie stereotypes the book, and gives 
 me so much a copy. 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, 
 
 II. 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 DANBURY. 
 
 70 
 
 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 our 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 ow vi character is yours — 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 
 
LETTER. 
 
 81 
 
 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 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 xi.,) 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 
 Danbury. And shall it not he 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 fail to pros- 
 per, in which all the members toil earnestly for God. 
 How much depends upon the hearty cooperation of pastor 
 
OFFERS IIIMSELF 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 vi$\v 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 
 Full 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 Full 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 
 regard 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. 
 
 “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. 
 
ANDOVER. 
 
 85 
 
 “I prefer Full Chau to any other field, because my heart 
 lias 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 
 pleasantly 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. lie 
 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 j^referred 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 
 
86 
 
 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 ever before fell to my lot — probably in conse- 
 quence of the circulation of the report that I am 4 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 love 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’ Homiletics 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 — 
 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 preacli 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 Avith Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, 
 and Miss Harris. He Avas examined and approved on 
 Saturday ; but Avhen the Sabbath came, he was so sick as 
 to be unable to receive ordination. He Avas 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 FelloAVship. “It Avas 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 scries of events 
 and dates): “God grant I maybe 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 work 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 we 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. 
 W e 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 
 ‘ 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 ‘ 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 power 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 appear 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. W e 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 j^erfect 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 ‘too numerous to mention.’ So you 
 see I am not alone. 
 
 “The incidents of shipboard thus far (Dec. 17) have 
 been 4 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. Yincent came in sight, 
 and forty ships were 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, 44 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 : 44 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 wishes to man- 
 kind. But how different the criterion of the world ! 
 
 “Oh for a purification! But 4 who can bring a clean 
 thing out of an unclean ? 5 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, 4 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, 44 thick 
 as the rocky hills in Connecticut,” passing 44 not far from 
 Lemnos, where Yulcan dropped,” “sailing between Negro- 
 
SCIO. 
 
 97 
 
 pout 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 dowfi 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. W ork 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, plane 
 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 
 9 
 
98 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 they pass through the thronged streets of a city of 100,000 
 inhabitants, and “ 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 
 the only common habit. They have now gone through 
 the most busy part of the city on the plain, and come uj) 
 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. None 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. Riggs, 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. F ull-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 pleased 
 to see the deep interest manifested by the native hearers 
 
SMYRNA. 
 
 09 
 
 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 ncno 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 Homer,* 
 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 have derived 
 the epithet of Melesigenes, or Meles-born. 
 
100 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 while the tyrant, who burnt him, has fulfilled the predic- 
 tion, ‘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 with the Greek classics, and the names 
 of Homer, Pythagoras, and Hippocrates 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. 
 
 Nor was it Paul only, whose missionary visits had given 
 to these islands and the cities on the adjacent continent, 
 
PATMOS 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 interest 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, 
 lie, 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 far 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 I)r. 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. Yandyck and Mr. Thomp- 
 son of Sidon and Ilasbeiya, 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 sice]}. 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 superintendent 
 and printer. All are very 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 Danbury appreciate the value of 
 the gospel 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. W oe 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 — Latakiy a —Detention of two 
 Weeks— Appeal for Missionaries at Latakiy a —Manner of Traveling — 
 Hardships and Dangers of the Way — Valley of the Orontes — Sabbath at 
 Killis — l’iety 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. Lobdell was still so unwell that it was 
 with difficulty she reached the wharf, yet they resolved to 
 accompany Mr. F ord 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 Jessup, 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 “the upper story of the Danbury 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, in 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 4 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 taht-tra-wan, 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 c 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 
 born in a stable, and afterwards had not where to lay his 
 head. “ The people were the most WTetched 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 u 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.” 
 
JlSIi THE OUONTES. 
 
 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. Holyoke.” 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 superbly 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 
 
 MEMOIR 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, 4 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. 
 
 44 We set out. While on the great bridge, two ruffians 
 seized the bridle of my mule and cried out, 4 buckshish,’ 
 4 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.” 
 
 44 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 happy 
 unconsciousness and quiet smile soon gave her thoughts 
 another direction.” 
 
 Towards night of the same day, they found themselves 
 sinking in marshy ground ; the takht 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 
 44 all came safe to land.” ... 44 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. W e 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 U nited 
 States. God grant that our countrymen may never forget 
 the source of their prosperity — the religion of the Puri- 
 tans — the gosjiel 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 pleasant 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 f 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, t 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. Lobdell received his first package of 
 letters from “home,” and among the rest one from the 
 pastor of his beloved church in Danbury. 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, who realizes 
 that humanity has a common interest in a common des- 
 tiny. Let us be neither Greek, Jew, Turk, English, or 
 American, if we 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 will 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 Avere 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 hosjfitalities of his house, which 
 he insisted on almost vacating for our accommodation ; 
 of the contrast between its whitewashed Avails and its cur- 
 tained, carpeted, and every Avay comfortable apartments 
 Avith the hovel in which Ave had passed the previous night, 
 and Avith the ordinary houses of the unenlightened masses 
 of the people ; of the A r oices of prayer and hymns of praise 
 from the native brethren Avhich Avere the last sounds 
 I heard on Saturday evening, and the first I heard on 
 Sunday morning \ and of the unity, faith, and love, Avliich 
 
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 m 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 
 understand it, and their anxiety to have a preacher sent 
 them from America, prove that they are looking to Jesus, 
 and wish their fellow citizens to know the gospel in its 
 purity. They said it could not be jileasant 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 passage 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 dear 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 people 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 arc 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 CHRISTIANS. 
 
 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 LOBBELL. 
 
 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 alihost 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 thjm 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. W e all there- 
 fore, being anxious to get relief, would request Dr. Lob- 
 
 I 
 
PETITIONED 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.” W ell 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 w~as 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 
 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 ArOSTOLIC CIIURCII. 
 
 123 
 
 hundred. And in the five years that have since elapsed, 
 it lias 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 the 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 office, 
 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 preaching 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 prosper eth? 
 
 “ If I have spoken of trials, you must not think that 
 either Lucy or myself would be willing to return to Amer- 
 ica. We love the missionary Avork 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 hea\ r cnly Father our souls and our 
 lives. Whatever be our lot, avc 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 — W oman — 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. 
 
 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. lienee 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 - 
 trci-wan , 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 takht-tra-wan 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 
 
DEPARTURE FROM A IN TAB. 
 
 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. 
 W e busied ourselves in examining the geological character 
 of the region, and in enjoying 4 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. Ave crossed a large river by a roof-like 
 bridge — a work indicative of ancient enterprise. A wo- 
 man was carring 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.” 
 
TIIE EUPHRATES. 
 
 m 
 
 “ 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. Nisib 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 preferring 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. Their 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 c 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 
 ujion 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 SABBATII IN 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-tra-wan , and was glad to 
 sec 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. 
 
 “ AV e 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 . Ko human being lives there. It is simply a place 
 to accommodate mules and muleteers on their way across 
 the country. W e could not endure the dust and noise and 
 filth of the building, and, having ascertained that there 
 was no alternative, we iJitched 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. Kear 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 holloio 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 fails 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 Edessa .* 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 jflain 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 heen 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 4 California ’ 
 and put on a tarboosh, as Jdie 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. W e 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 went 
 
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 me 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 vpry 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 4 eyes unused to weep,’ 
 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 44 an American Mission- 
 ary,” who is not only the spiritual guide of the Protestant 
 
SEVERER. 
 
 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 Avail near the castle-crowned hill, Avhen 
 Ave Avere credibly informed, that in a certain garden of 
 the city, were to be seen some memorials of Judas 
 Iscariot , that SeA r erek Avas his birth-place, that he Avent 
 to Jerusalem, learned something about Christ and his 
 neAV doctrines, returned, and by mistake married his 
 mother in the place iioav occupied by this garden, dis- 
 covered his error, Avent 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 Avretched ap- 
 pearance of the toAvn might perhaps lend some plausibility 
 12 * 
 
188 
 
 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 Karccjah 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. W e 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. , W e 
 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 Avith 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- 
 
KARAJAII DAG II. 
 
 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 journey. 
 
 “ 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. W e 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 jDarty 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 tv-o 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 OE 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 c Prote ! Prote /’ 
 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 m 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 cjpud- 
 less and dazzling sunshine of the Orient. But as he re- 
 
DIARBEKR. 
 
 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 6 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. 
 Dunmore’s house. We were thankful for deliverance 
 
RAPT OF SKINS. 
 
 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 left 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 
 
146 
 
 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 in 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 forward, 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 heleh , and they pay a small 
 part of the expense. 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 
 
VOYAGE DOWN TIIE TIGKIS. 
 
 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 tezkereh — 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. 
 W e 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 Avonderful. 
 
 “ 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 hy which the river is known in the sev- 
 eral languages of the East. 
 
ARRIVAL AT MOSUL. 
 
 149 
 
 find 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- 
 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. 
 
 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 NINEVEH. 
 
 151 
 
 its banks, and inundating more or less of the surrounding 
 country. It is ordinarily crossed by a bridge of boats, 
 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 j^art, 
 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 “ Nineveh 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 
 ground 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 up “ the burden of Nineveh” 
 denounced upon the bloody city the opening of her gates 
 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 — Jehovah 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 jdeasant palaces.” The ruined site of 
 
 * Nahum, i., 1 ; iii. , 7, 8, 13. 
 
SHUSH AN 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 Keffil, 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.”* 
 
 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 marble ; 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 5 Travels in Chaldea and Susiana. 
 
 t Esther, i , 5, 6. 
 
156 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 with mounds and “ heaps,” Avhich 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 
 23alaces 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 OrientaT 
 Society, and other scholars in his own country. 
 
 But Mesopotamia has seen a sadder fall than that of 
 Babylon and 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 
 
 Yudi, a spur of the mountains of Koordistan, according to 
 the more common tradition of Mohammedans, Jews, 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 two 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 clear 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. W e see 
 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 hTestorians 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 Nisibis 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 ISTestorians 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. 
 435-557 : 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 a 
 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 j^ower, when once it 
 
NESTORIANS. 
 
 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. ‘ On the side of 
 their oppressors there was power,’ 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 Pome.” 
 
 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 hTestorians in the 
 mountains of Koordistan. 
 
 The missionaries seemed to have come too late ; they 
 found “the whole region abandoned to Paj)al 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 Jacobite pa- 
 triarch in Mardin. “ In the spring, Priest Matthew re- 
 turned to Mosul as Mutran * Athanasius, his zeal no whit 
 
 Bishop. With this new office, he took also a new name. 
 
164 
 
 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. 
 
 W e must now revert to the sad history 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 Nestorian 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. 
 
 1G5 
 
 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. 
 “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 L013DELL. 
 
 him. Exhausted by incessant ministries to the bodies 
 and the souls of the poor Nestorian 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 were 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. “ F orty 
 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 OE 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, 1ST. Y., 
 
168 
 
 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 — 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. 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 LOBDELL. 
 
 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 
 palaces under ground. The rich men of Mosul, and all 
 who can afford the luxury, “ have serdaubs 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 
 leewan — 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 leewan 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 it, 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 day ; 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 leewcm 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. 
 
 When 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, coflee 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, 
 lie 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 borne 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 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 gospel. He soon trained an assistant also in the admin- 
 istration of medicines, though Ablahad’s office was 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, ophthalmia, — 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 
 were, rotten, and the whole blood cancerous — these were 
 among the most common types of disease, with which he 
 was every day familiar. But the most frequent distemper 
 with which he met, and which tried his patience most, 
 was fear , 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 assuring those who were near their end, that 
 they would recover. He made it a rule to deal in perfect 
 honesty and truthfulness, as witli 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 
 iron. 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 amputation, 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. lie 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 souls may be touched and 
 healed ! ” And on seeing or hearing of a death among 
 
 o o o 
 
 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 days, when he was not 
 too sick, and sometimes when lie 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 
 among the mounds of ancient Nineveh ; 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. Ilodder, 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 jDreach 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 ! M Meanwhile he insisted that they should 
 hear the gospel from the lips of others ; that none, whether 
 Christian or Mohammedan, should go from the dispen- 
 sary 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 
 missionary physicians had labored, especially in the early 
 stages of a mission, he thought he had seen the good 
 
178 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 effects, and lie 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 Oroomiali. 
 
NATIVE PREACHERS. 
 
 179 
 
 Deacon Jeremiali was also a papist and a monk from 
 the monastery at Al-Kosh. Dr. Perkins saw him when 
 lie visited Mosul, and speaks of him as follows : * “ Early 
 this morning, one of the evangelical 4 brethren ’ called to 
 see us. He was formerly a monk, in the papal monastery 
 of Rabban Ilermas, near Al-Kosh, where he spent nine 
 years. He escaped from the monastery, after many pre- 
 vious attempts, more than a year ago. lie 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 Jacobite 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 lie 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, 1850, 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 
 
DISC O U 11 AG E M ENTS. 
 
 181 
 
 preached his first sermon through Micha as interpreter. 
 A week or two after, lie 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 bowlings 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 
 
 MEMOIR 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 medical 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 30. 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 : c 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. 
 J3utrus 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. 4 Thy will be done.’ 
 
 44 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 broad 
 road. Oh, turn them to Christ, Divine Spirit, and let us 
 all meet in heaven ! 
 
 44 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. 
 
 44 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. 
 
 44 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 ? W ell, 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 ! 
 
 44 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 Nmevites 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, c 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 we 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 : — Y our 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 qf 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 yon say, to 
 create in us u 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 tliee 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 IIIS BROTHER. 
 
 189 
 
 say, that the brethren appear to be getting awake. The 
 people on the Boohtan are needing attention. 
 
 You will remember me, if yon 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 IIIS BROTHER. 
 
 Mosul, June 16tli, 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 peojile 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 j30wer. 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 that. 
 If I had known that I should come to Mosul, I never 
 should ha ve 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. 
 Your 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. lie has one of the 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 191 
 
 keenest and most logical minds I ever met. How I wish 
 lie 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 lias, till I came to 
 Mosul. 
 
 TO REV. G. W. COAN, GAWAR. 
 
 Mosul, Aug. 4th, 1852. 
 
 Dear Brother Co an : — 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 trials, and pray that you may soon get a 
 strong foothold in that realm of Satan and his vicegerent 
 the Pope. 
 
 W ould 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. W e 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 all 
 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 Avell 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. u 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 living unto ourselves 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 proves 
 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 REV. J. II. SEELYE, SCHENECTADY, N. Y. 
 
 Mosul, Sept. 10, 1852. 
 
 My ever dear Ciium and 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 despise 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. lie has raised me 
 up ; I hope it is for some good purpose I have been 
 
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN NINEVEH. 
 
 105 
 
 afflicted. Severe exertion brought me down. 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. B}" 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 
 ]3ay a visit with Mr. Bass am 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 ar 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- 
 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 Koyunjik. 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 wails of Nineveh 
 on the river side, a short distance north of Nebbi 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 digginginto the sacred 
 jirecincts. 
 
 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) 
 arc 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 pot- 
 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, upon which the dignitary 
 struck him over the head. I was informed of this, and at 
 once sent for Mr. Rassam to attend 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 pleasure. 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 Nebbi 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 Nim- 
 ' roud. Shenunas 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 lioj^e to make another attempt, as soon 
 
 * While recovering from the sickness of which he speaks in the former part 
 of the letter. 
 
BUYING CONVERTS. 
 
 199 
 
 ns the weather becomes cool enough to allow of comfort- 
 able travel. 
 
 Much lias 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, wherever 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 Aowse-tax of fifty piastres annually. 
 
200 
 
 MEMOIR 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 OF TIIE CHRISTIAN IIOFE. 
 
 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, DANBURY, 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 Jesus 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 comqDtible ; 
 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- 
 sonal 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. ISTo American is jioor 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 j^ollution. 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 REV. 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. N. 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 peculiar; 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, Nov. 3d, 1852. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Perkins. 
 
 Dear Brother : — After returning from Sheikh-Adi, 
 I was attacked by a severe cold, and am still suffering 
 someyvhat 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 profit 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 Nimroud. It seems pretty evident, that the 
 dam, the remains of which are still magnificent, must 
 
 * The mounds are now at some distance from the hank of the river. 
 
CAPTAIN LOFTTJS. 
 
 205 
 
 have been made in order to turn the water near Selamiych 
 over the plain. It would have given great facilities for 
 irrigation. You arc 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’ 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 Nimroud. 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. lie 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. Ilormuzd Rassam has just returned from 
 England with instructions to pursue 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 heav- 
 enly places in Christ J esus. 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. 
 
 TO RET. J. W. SEELYE. 
 
 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,l>oth 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 all, 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 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 was here some two years ago, did all he could, as he 
 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 Nestorians more susceptible to religious emo- 
 tions than many other communities. 
 
 I am getting more and more in love with these j^eople. 
 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 1854, 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 
 t Mr. Stoddard found the air so clear, that he could seethe satellites of Jupitef 
 with the naked eye, and communicated the fact to Sir J. Herschel. 
 
 18 * 
 
210 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 very interesting. I shall he trying my eyes here. What 
 philosophical difficulty is there in our low position ? Your 
 letter to Sir J. Herschel, 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 warmth 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 VirgirHs 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.” u I?i 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 Ida- 
 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 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. 
 
 D* October, 1852, Dr. Lobclell 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. 20tli, 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. 
 
 W e 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. l,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. 
 
TIIE CONVENT AT AL-KOSII. 
 
 215 
 
 peculiar cut of tlicir 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 villages 
 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 LOBDELL. 
 
 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 j> e °pl e ’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 when 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 dee}) 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 
 
SPIRIT-11 A PriJN O s. 
 
 217 
 
 fooling 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. 
 Ivos 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 Ilormuzd to Baadri, we 
 were 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 jieople. 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 with their prophets, were distinguished by 
 conical piles of burnt gyj)sum, 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-worshipers 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 ! W omen 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. 
 
 W e 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 worship 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 shufiled 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 tcihlehl 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 Jca- 
 wahls receive a fee for this service. The offerings made at 
 the shrines of Sheikh Adi 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, aj>parently hieroglyphical, the 
 import of which not even the priests understand. Ser- 
 pents, shepherds’ crooks, sharp-beaked birds, coarse combs, 
 and various other objects were represented — 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 Kasir, 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 omnipresence, om- 
 nipotence, and the other attributes of Deity ; but are gen- 
 erally willing to admit his inferiority to the one eternal 
 Being. In this respect Sheikh Adi bears some analogy 
 to the Christ of Christianity, but more with the Good 
 Principle of the Manichees. Their doctrines are a motley 
 mixture of Mohammedanism and Christianity with the 
 philosojihy of the older Persians. Ever suspicious of 
 inquirers, they try to answer them in the way that will 
 least offend. They are all things to all men, that they 
 
Til E SACKED FIRE. 
 
 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 pilgrims lie in the open 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 Ivoordish, 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 ! Not 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 howto 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 Nasir candidly admitted that, according to their 
 theology, none have a certainty of salvation but the disci- 
 ples of Sheikh Adi and Melek Taoos — all others are left 
 to the uncovenanted mercies of God ! They traditionally 
 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 . 
 
WORSHIP OP SATAN. 
 
 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 lie 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 
 (i 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 dove 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 Layard and Badger, he 
 had previously supposed. “ Sheikh Adi,” he was after- 
 wards told, “ is always symbolized by a white dove / and 
 the sinjaks (signs, banners) carried about by the kawahls, 
 are symbols of tli z faith — banners of Sheikh Adi, and not 
 of Melek Taoos.” 
 
 The Druzes of Lebanon, the Yezidees say, were for- 
 merly Yezidees. When the Jews were brought to Gozan, 
 in the captivity, they were earned off to Lebanon, but 
 soon became corrupted, and refused to receive the kaw- 
 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 noAV, 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 TIIE 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. 
 
 W e 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-lieaded 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 
 ivill 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 mind 
 that when the Armenians and Jacobites and Nestorians 
 are all brought to the truth, they have still other work 
 to do. 
 
 A few words about matters here must close this pro- 
 tracted letter. Salome, who left us with Shemmas Elias 
 Fuez, of Beyroot, Oct. 29th, has written us that they 
 were twenty -one days in reaching Diarbekr. Improve- 
 ments in traveling here are few and far between. The 
 only important difference in the mode of Salome’s de- 
 parture and that of Rebekah from Mesopotamia to the 
 land of Canaan, was, that she rode a mule, and her proto- 
 type a camel. 
 
 There is considerable agitation in the waters at Mosul. 
 Our attempt to do the people good in spirit as well as 
 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. 
 W e 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. 
 
 I 
 
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 W estern 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- 
 
FIRST WINTER IN MOSUL. 
 
 229 
 
 stitutc 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 icmter , 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 jjeriod 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 ’’ctins, the 
 ghains , the kofs, and the khas ” 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 
 Kestorians, — 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 liakeem 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 open 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 Avere 
 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. 
 
 281 
 
 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, c meleecih 
 — 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 lYiy 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 
 
 MEMOIR 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, what 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 leeioan . 
 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 was well filled. Jere- 
 miah preached on the topic, 1 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 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 label's, 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 seats 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 law, — 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. W ould 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. nor 
 myself could do any thing with them. One Moslem 
 woman declared, she was not a sinner. Indeed, very 
 many of the Moslems think they are pure before God, 
 some even who are impure in the eyes of men. - 
 
 “ 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 Moslem 
 women to-day. What beastly specimens of humanity ! 
 My work is too hard ; my tongue too little loosed ; I 
 must alter my practice of medicine, and refuse to see so 
 many. My head is full of plans, but how to modify the 
 present course, and secure all its advantages, it is difficult 
 to see. 
 
 “ 24th, Thursday. To-day was the Jacobite feast of St. 
 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. 
 
PREACHING TO MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 235 
 
 I took my scat 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 ’ cisr . 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. Lobdell’s 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 the native 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 %>resence 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 com- 
 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 Avith 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 were 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 visiis 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 
 Sliemmas 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 
 >vho 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 Propaganda 
 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 live 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 Avay, 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 4 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 , or 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 proceeded 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. Ivos 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 protect 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 bouyou - 
 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 sympathy 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- 
 £0<me, and discuss the matter of the Messiah. Last week 
 a hundred and twenty were present. To-day a rabbi 
 called and said, the people 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. Lobdell’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 Hasir 
 with them from Ain Sifneh-tQ Mosul. But a party of five 
 21 
 
242 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBIXELL. 
 
 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’s 
 leg and a sherbeh of water enabled them ‘ 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 lions, 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 : c Thine ears shall 
 hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye 
 in it.’ No un traveled 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 , f 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., &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 arroiv- 
 Tieaded 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 lie 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 jmayers 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 unclea*iness,” 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 J esus, 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 danger 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 was 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 storm of Moslem indignation had passed away. 
 
IGNORANCE OF TIIE CHIEF MEN. 
 
 240 
 
 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. IIow 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 Nimrod 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, “ W allah, 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 
 
 MEMOIIl OF LOBDELL. 
 
 lions. “ 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 which 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 
 B’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 all 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, 4 This is Elias, which was for to 
 come ; ’ 4 This cup is the new testament in my blood ; ’ 
 4 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. 
 44 Suppose,” said he, 44 a Catholic priest baptizes a Moslem 
 child. According to your doctrine, the Holy Spirit also 
 regenerates him ; and according to 1 John, 3 : 9, 4 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 44 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. Yot 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. SEE LYE. 253 
 
 history. This topic needs attention — not the history of 
 the church so much, since Neander has given his life to 
 it, — but history in general, embracing ethnology and the 
 relations of languages . 4 Some one is wanted in America, 
 who will write for infidels a book proving that the Bible 
 is the icord 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 God, 
 &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 Kant, 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 Shushan 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 Nimrood 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. Lobdell’s 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 5 asr, 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 I landed in Mosul . 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.” W e 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 icalyoon , , 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 office 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. W e 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 fie the hope of Turkey and the world Now, 
 
 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 five as to secure a seat near Paul and Luther. 
 
TI1E HOOK OF JON AU. 
 
 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 “ Nineveh, that great city, and cry 
 against it ” 
 
 “ The east wind, (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 
 
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-Jceroa ,) 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-hera ) 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 kera or pumpkin-squash, to run over 
 structures of mud and brush to form 4 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 leer a, of which there are 
 numerous species, the fruit of which varies from one to 
 fifty pounds. One species, growing in Kurdistan, 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 44 exceeding great city of 
 three days' journey ,” though not fully established in his 
 own opinion, he seems to have inclined to the view of 
 Loftus, Kitto, and others, that the 44 three days’ journey,” 
 is to be understood of the circuit . of the city, which, if it 
 embraced the four mounds, as suggested in aformer 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 bo 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 Nestorian 
 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 Nestorians 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 Manicliean 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 LOHDELL. 
 
 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. lie 
 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 
 jiost 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 Avar, I shall not dare to go, as the Koords 
 would, doubtless, in that case, rise against the Porte, and 
 make sad havoc Avith 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 Iioav 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 OROOMIAII. 
 
 201 
 
 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 jiut his house, papers, &c., in order, 
 as if lie 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 
 which 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 fast 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 Avith us ; and yet Ave 
 have frequent calls from some of them, and from Syrians 
 of Kara Kosh, a village betAveen Bartulli and Kimrood. 
 Our late temporary reverses at Tel Keif have led the vil- 
 lagers of the plain generally to suppose that persecution 
 Avill be an inevitable attendant of their studying the Bible 
 under our direction. 
 
 “As it Avas impossible for us to travel during the heat 
 of the day, AA r hich in the shade Avas aboAm 100°, and in the 
 sun about 140°, Ave did not start from Bartulli until 
 about tAvo hours before sunset. Meamvhile, I visited both 
 the Papal and Jacobite churches, — a thing not alloAved 
 us in Mosul. The Avails of both these buildings Avere 
 hung Avitli cotton handkerchiefs of Mosul manufacture 
 bearing the portraits of numerous saints ; and those of 
 the neAV Syrian edifice, Avhose basalt pillars at the narrow 
 door Avere brought from the ruins of Khorsabad, Avere, of 
 course, ornamented, in addition, Avith tAvo-penny pictures 
 of various Italian martyrs, Avith rude daubs of the sun- 
 crowned St. George killing the dragon, Avith Mary and 
 her infant Son, and a small brazen cross AA 7 itli a highly 
 muscular Saviour upon it. 
 
 ■“The Jacobites had removed all the pictures from their 
 
TREES. AND CHURCHES. 
 
 203 
 
 clmrch, 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, J eremiah 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. 
 W e rode up to the house of Yassein Agha, whose name the 
 
 * See p 243. 
 
TIIE ZAB. 
 
 2G5 
 
 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, I)r. 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 Koords 
 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, 
 J eremiali 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 flip pawass, (Mr. Rassam’s 
 23 
 
266 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 cawass accompanied them,) each seized a pistol and fired 
 at the marauders. They instantly scampered away, and 
 we loaded our animals and took our course, not without 
 some fears, through the desert in a line towards Ain Kawa, 
 a Chaldean village, where most of Jeremiah’s relations 
 reside. We stopped a few hours before sunrise, near a 
 collection of black tents, from sheer fatigue ; and when I 
 awoke, I found a man holding an umbrella over me to 
 shield me from the burning beams of the sun, which was 
 nearly two hours high. An Arab politely treated us to 
 some sheep’s milk and lebn , and soon we were on our way 
 again, rambling over the battle-field of Darius and Alex- 
 ander, and perhaps crossing the track of the retreating 
 Xenophon, when Mithri dates was driving the ten thou- 
 sand back towards their father-land. Jeremiah trusting 
 to his familiarity with the path, (there are no roads in 
 Turkey and no fences,) made a sad mistake, and took us 
 about two hours out of our course. The heat was intense, 
 but after various evolutions, we at length got to the 
 village of Ain Kawa, and shaded our hot heads under the 
 coarse roof of a respectable mud hovel. 
 
 44 At evening we rode directly south about three miles 
 to Erweel , or, as the Koords say, Arbeel (Arbela,) for the 
 double purpose of seeing that ancient and celebrated city, 
 and of obtaining a guard to accompany us to a village in the 
 mountains. Arbeel is built, for the most part, on a very 
 high and large circular mound, resembling Ivoyunjik, and 
 bears marks of very high antiquity, though no sculptures 
 have as yet been found in it. Indeed, every part of it is 
 closely covered with houses, and excavations are impracti- 
 cable. The place is notorious for its Moslem bigotry. Not 
 a Christian family resides there. A few Jews are found. 
 But nearly all the people arc Koords, of whom there must 
 be from ten to fifteen thousand, over whom a strict guard 
 has to be kept by the governor.” 
 
 Having obtained of the governor the promise of a guard 
 
ABBE LA. 
 
 267 
 
 for the next day, 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 
 down 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 f) — here where 
 Mithridates chased Xenophon — here where the Saracens 
 
268 
 
 MEMOIR 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 where 
 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 Turkish 
 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 the 
 open court. The door to the church was, as is usual 
 among all Christian sects near the mountains, very low, 
 for which various reasons are given. One is, c 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 likely 
 drive their horses and cattle into the church, if the door 
 was of sufficient size.” At Ain Kawa, as at other villages 
 on the route, there was an ample supply of priests, there 
 being one to every twelve or fifteen families. Children 
 Avere numerous, and parents Avcre anxious the missionaries 
 should establish schools for them ; but the patriarch 
 
SIIEIKII LAUA. 
 
 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 bouyouroulder of the Pasha of 
 Mosul, or the letter of Ali 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, at 
 the risk of their rage. One red-turbaned man wanted me 
 to see his son. I replied, “ It is the Sabbath.” “ But,” said 
 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 quite 
 as holy a day as Friday is to them. I find that sincerity 
 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 rob 
 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 more 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 wc 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 Fellalii, 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, 4 Remember the Sabbath and the Feast-days? 
 
272 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 c 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 
 Mutsellim 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 pistols, 
 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 
 
SOURCES OF TIIE ZAB. 
 
 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 ‘friend,’ and slept 
 soundly till daybreak. I blessed God for even Turkish 
 protection in these wilds of Ivoordistan.” 
 
 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 within the country, a moon passport is suffi- 
 cient, and very much cheaper. We were obliged to have 
 both kinds 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 
 Sedckan, 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 
 jDillar 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. R., 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 
 is, ‘ there is nothing new under the sun.’ ' 5 
 
ATTACKED BY K00RDS. 
 
 275 
 
 “ Wc 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 Ivoords. 
 
 “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 encounterwith 
 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. He 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 Mo3ul 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. J)r. 
 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 F ather, all called by the name 
 of the same Lord and Master, all engaged in the same self- 
 denying yet halloAved 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 
 
278 
 
 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 a 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 sj)oken 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 recollections, 
 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 our national 
 birthday ; and I preached it even on a communion Sab- 
 bath, as it so happened ; for we do not hold that our dying 
 and risen Saviour, like the gods of the Brahmins, brooks 
 wickedness under the name of religion. With no thought 
 
ouit country’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 port 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 OF LOBDELL. 
 
 at home, scarcely less among missionaries abroad, and not 
 a little even among its own members. No separate Prot- 
 estant community has been formed, no distinct church has 
 been organized, though the missionaries have a communion 
 by themselves, 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 history 
 and present state. He studied this problem on the spot 
 with intense interest, and brought to bear upon it all his 
 powers of observation and reflection. He heard from the 
 lips of his brethren, and especially from that brother who 
 was the pioneer, and whose life, more than any other, is 
 the history of the mission, the remarkable providences by 
 which they were led, and the wonderful blessings by which 
 their labors were crowned — the circumstances by which 
 they were almost precluded from the possibility of a sep- 
 arate organization, and the influences of the Spirit, by 
 which they were encouraged, from time to time, and 
 almost commanded to continue their labors icithin the 
 Nestorian church, for the purification of its members. He 
 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 sanc- 
 tioning their discourses by their presence, but enforcing 
 the truth with heart-felt and eloquent exhortations. He 
 saw not only the Male Seminary at Seir and the Female 
 Seminary at Oroomiah, under the direct instruction of the 
 missionaries, but scores of common schools in the city and 
 villages placed under their siq3ervision. Last, not least, 
 he heard the history of those wonderful revivals of 
 religion — so like those in our own churches and colleges, 
 and without a parallel in other missions, except the mis- 
 sions among the Armenians and in the Sandwich Islands 
 — which have so often visited the schools, seminaries, and 
 churches of the Nestorians, which seem to have set the 
 
THE NESTORIAN 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. lie 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 with the mis- 
 sionaries and their families. But this is becoming one of 
 the best known 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 
 Nestorian 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 were spending a few days, enjoying 
 its fine lake breezes and salt-water 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 Salmas, 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. II. 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 Ivhanikoff, 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 Lahend, 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 appeared 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 Mar Agha, on the eastern shore of the lake 
 opposite Oroomiah. Though westward from the boun- 
 dary of Ivoordistan, 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 
 Malek Kassim 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 Ayer’s 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. c 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 prince, 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, avc 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 into the briny, pitchy 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 KOORDISII 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, creeping 
 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 Noorullah 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 noio 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 preached. 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 reestablishment of a station 
 in that part of the field, either at Asheeta or at Amadieli, 
 which is the point where the Nestorian 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 XI Y. 
 
 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. 
 
 The visit to Oroomiah 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. Nor 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. 
 
 201 
 
 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 J30ssessed 
 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 4 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 4 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 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 May that brother “better reck the rede, than did the 
 adviser.” It was not in the nature of Dr. Lobdell to hold 
 up 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. Ilodder, of whom we have already spoken 
 as the accomplished draftsman of Col. Rawlinson, fell sick 
 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 a 
 brother, kept his father in England advised of his situation, 
 and at length had the happiness of believing that he had 
 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 of 
 his skill, his gratitude, and his benevolence. 
 
 As the Protestant community at Mosul grew by a slow 
 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 Papal 
 baptism, the right of the native helpers, who had been 
 either deacons or priests in their old churches, to adminis- 
 ter the ordinances in the new organization, the relation of 
 the missionaries to the church and the community, and 
 the relation of the whole to the Board, its officers, and its 
 patrons at home. On all these questions, Dr. Lobdell was 
 
TIIE 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 substantial 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 44 swear in the words 4 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, 44 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. W e 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 c 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. 4 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. Lobdell found that in 
 Mosul, in October , the mercury rose 18° higher than the 
 highest point it reached at Mt. Seir in July and August . 
 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 always 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 44 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 : 
 44 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: ‘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 God.’ 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 power 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, anti 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 cf 
 the deacons and priests. Its religious character is lost 
 sight of ; if not absolutely a disgusting scene, it is at best 
 but 4 sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.’ 
 
 44 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 in differ- 
 
LIGHT SPREADING. 
 
 297 
 
 cnee 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 over 
 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 4 dip his hand in the 
 same dish ’ with heretics, whom he had refused to see at 
 his own house. 
 
 44 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 appointed for the 
 Christians. 
 
 44 The average attendance on our Sabbath services is now 
 twenty-five. It is still considered a great shame for a 
 papist or a J acobite 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 
 and moral honesty, which, the people will not long fail to 
 see, is the characteristic and the proof of orthodoxy rather 
 than heresy. 
 
 44 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 falls. 
 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. W e 
 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 TJlema (wise mooliahs), 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. Cap- 
 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. Ilis case, with other 
 illustrations of Moslem Ainaticism, may serve to awaken 
 more j>rayer 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 YOOSUF. 
 
 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 abajidon his sect entirely. He 
 was even excommunicated, with dreadful anathemas, 
 lie 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 salicin 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 
 
 Dr. 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 day. This made us doubly 
 thankful. You will infer that we celebrated the day a la 
 4 auld lang syne.’ So we did, — all but the turkey, sub- 
 stituting for that a gazelle from the desert. As Mr. 
 Hodder said, 4 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 a23ropos 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. 44 W e 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. 
 
 44 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. 
 
 44 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.’ 
 
 44 Dec. 18th. Seized with fever about noon, and obliged 
 to go to bed. 
 
 44 27th. Was born Julius Henry Lobdell. I was unable 
 to be in the room. 
 
 44 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-renew'ed 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 F ather, the Son, and 
 the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.” 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 Second Winter in Mosul — Ice — Health — Resolutions — Growth in Grace 
 — The Bible — The Dispensary — Spread of the Truth — Nimrood and Koyun- 
 jik — Sliiloam — 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 living entirely to him ; let mine be no half- 
 way service. I believe I begin the year with stronger 
 resolutions than ever before, to live 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 ATs, — 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 
 
FEE ACHING AT TIIE DISPENSARY. 
 
 305 
 
 precious to him ; and lie would exclaim : “I enjoyed read- 
 ing the Bible more than ever before ; oh ! this is the word 
 of lifer “ llow 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 full 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 
 4 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 Jesus 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 44 the law and the testimony.” 
 
 26 * 
 
306 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 Even the native Christians, who two years ago never 
 dared to speak to a Moslem on any point of religious 
 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 souls’ 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 people 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 was 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 wages for a 
 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 at 
 Mosul, than to send young men to Abeih. The gospel, 
 when once it is fairly introduced, works like leaven — 
 
NATIVE ASSYRIAN MISSIONAKIES. 
 
 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. W e 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 imj)or- 
 tant than any hitherto found at Nimrood. 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 W ord ! 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 RABBI. 
 
 309 
 
 Sabbath only, but throughout the week it is ‘warning 
 every one night and day.’ 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, c 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. 5 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 hit 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, spotless 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.” “ Y es, but who is she ? ” “I 
 d o n’t know.” “ Who is Christ ? ” “I do n’t know.” u 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 
 
312 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 them, did not appear to him to he a very encouraging 
 example. 
 
 The Jacobites 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 all 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 
 preach 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- 
 munion, 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 candles 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 25tli 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 Avithout 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 
 
814 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 on one deloul , (dromedary,) and commended tliem to the 
 good will of their brethren ; and they were further pro- 
 tected, in the most dangerous part of their journey, by a 
 guard of horsemen from the city. 
 
 On the fourth day, they passed Xisibin, (the ancient 
 Hisibis,) now a mud town, with a solitary minaret, and a 
 few moldering columns and arches scattered among its 
 miserable hovels or in the plowed fields around, to tell of 
 better days ; but interesting in its situation, near the 
 sources of the Chabour, (the river Chebar of Ezekiel,) and 
 once famous as the site of that truly “ noble ” theological 
 school of the Xestorians, of which a Xorth African bishop 
 of the sixth century speaks with wonder, because “the 
 Holy Scriptures were expounded by teachers publicly 
 appointed, in the same manner as grammar and rhetoric 
 were among the Romans.” * The fourth night, they 
 pitched their tents amid the melancholy ruins of Dara — 
 fragments of walls, and gates, and arches, and temples — 
 immense reservoirs, with remains of the aqueducts that 
 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 Avith 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 Nean&er’s Church History, vol. II. p. 150. Torrey’s Ed. 
 
MARDIN. 
 
 315 
 
 Dara is live 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 6 set on a 
 hill,’ gives not even 4 a dim religious light.’ W e 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 
 
816 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 Diarbekr rose before them with a splendor 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 in the hands 
 of native helpers. They deplored the necessity. They 
 felt deeply the want of reinforcements. Dr. Lobdell was 
 agitating the question of going with 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 MR. CRANE. 
 
 317 
 
 in three days 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 we 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 with 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 whose 
 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 paternal 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 prayers. 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- 
 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. 
 
 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 which 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 Jews 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 with a dagger, entered private houses for plunder 
 
K00RDISII 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 bring 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 aft intended 
 insurrection among the Moslems. “The Christians — 
 women especially — are in great terror. F ew 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 Cube. 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 characters 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 TIIE 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 him 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 went 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 13 th of June, crossed the Tigris on the high-pro wed 
 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 LOEDELL. 
 
 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 jDlain 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 
 sujDply 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 suj)erstitious 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 clone 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 your 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 defileth 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 ideas 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 Aglia, 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 Avith bread, honey, 
 cake, rice, tea, cobdb , 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 Ivoords 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 slejDt on our quilts sjwead upon the 
 ground under the clear sky. The next morning, we came 
 to Kapusa, a dirty village of Koorcls, 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 J une, 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 carried 
 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 writes on the subject to his 
 
REPEATED 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, ‘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. Lie 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 Nineveh, 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 coipore 
 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: “Peek, my dear 
 brother, classmate, chum, is dead. Oh, what a blow! 
 Blessed be God, that I may hojDe 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 PURITY OF HEAUEN. 
 
 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, 4 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. 
 
 “ Haying letters from Jezireh, requesting one of us to 
 go there and organize a Protestant community, and hay- 
 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 Jere- 
 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 
 
 wliilo 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 Beder Khan 
 Bey. It is a matter for devout thanksgiving to God, that 
 
836 
 
 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. 
 
 837 
 
 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 
 pres'ent time “ every able-bodied, energetic, devoted, hope- 
 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. 
 W e 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 Ne.^torian 
 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 the 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- 
 jfiion, 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 XENOTIION’s ANABASIS. 
 
 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 ! 4 Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness, some 
 
 boundless contiguity of shade] in these tremendous heats ! 
 The mercury rises daily to 110° or more, and at night 
 only gets down to 85° or 90 Q . At sunset it is generally 
 about 100°.” 
 
 4 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 
 Charlestown ; 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 Cyropa 3 dia, 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. Lobdeli’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 Nahum’s tomb, in Hebrew, &c. 
 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO TIIE ORIENTAL 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 for 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 Ivoordistan 
 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 instrucions,” 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 X Y 1 1 . 
 
 
 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, 
 4 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 
 
 MEMOIK 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. Lobdell 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 let 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 will of the Lord.” 
 
 This question recurs frequently in Dr. LobdelFs 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, 
 rea & fewer papers, and devote himself more assiduously to 
 the perfect mastery of the Arabic, and to direct efforts 
 
 * Yol. 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 people around me. 
 They are, they are rushing on to destruction ! Oh ! let 
 me lay aside all letter writing, all journalizing, all studies, 
 all pajiers, 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 Judson ; by an Eli 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 worse — 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- 
 jDel 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 wages. 
 
348 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 “22d. My mussulman 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 book, 
 as soon as he becomes a Moslem, to be set at liberty. 
 
 “ Mr. Williams and I called on Daoud ibn Antone, the 
 builder. W e 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 4 Give us 
 this day our daily bread.’ The ecclesiastics never ex- 
 pound the Liturgy, and the Lord’s Prayer is a part of it. 
 W e 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. 
 
 44 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 Kasir 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 Kestorian village of Bebada. The 8th 
 
HEALTH STATION AT DEIRA. 
 
 340 
 
 (Sabbath) they spent at Sim, attending the church ser- 
 vice, and having their attention particularly attracted to 
 the Icera or mountain variety of Jonah’s gourd.* October 
 9th brought them to the mutsellim’s at Amadieh, and 
 thence to the Nestorian 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. 
 
 f 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 days. 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-Nestorians under the iron heel of the Pope. 
 
 “ W e 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 poor 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 ojien 
 a seminary for higher instruction. The strong ground 
 taken by Dr. Judson 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 corresponded 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 fill 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 Nahrwan, 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 Mardin, gathered a large force of mounted 
 Arabs and Albanians, and a few hundred Kizam 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. II. 
 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 what 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. W e 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 and 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. 
 
 “ F or 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 
 1 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 surjDrised to learn, soon after the 
 last mail for Stamboul was closed, that the pasha had 
 seized the innocent Syrian who j^rocured 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. 
 
 357 
 
 of the Board on that subject would greatly injure its 
 efficiency.” 
 
 Every day developed new evidence of a continued and 
 desperate elfort 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 ]3romises, 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 wakeel 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. 
 
358 
 
 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 W ord 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 priests ; 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 w T ith all 
 a boy’s fondness, and expressing his desire with all a boy’s 
 frankness, for those luxuries of his own New England — 
 ice cream and maple sugar. We now find him rejoicing 
 
LETTER FROM NIMROOD. 
 
 350 
 
 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 Loft us 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 spiritual 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 Nineveh 
 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 firejolace 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, with 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. 
 
860 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 the free circulation of air; a window frame is covered 
 with 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 v r ith 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 4 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 
 Athenasum, 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 
 Aramaean 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 TIIE 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 Avar. 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 Avith 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 tweRe 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, IlebreAV, 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, Avith 
 very many other miscellaneous articles. 
 
 IY. Modern miscellaneous articles. Of these there are 
 more than a hundred, consisting of bracelets, shoes, lamps, 
 spoons, pipes, escritoires, &c., all of which are noAV in use 
 in Mesopotamia. 
 
 V. Coins. There are fifteen Greek silver coins, tAvelve of 
 Avliich (nine tetraclrachms and three drachms) Avere coined 
 by Alexander the Great ; thirty-one silver drachms of the 
 Seleucidae ; thirteen Greek copper coins ; eighteen silver 
 coins of the Arsacidas ; three of the Sassanidae, the succes- 
 sors of the Arsacidae in Persia ; sixty-three Roman silver 
 coins, from Vespasian to Alexander Se\ T erus; 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 olcl 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 Nineveh 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 Nineveh 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. Nor 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 
 
INTERPRETATION 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- 
 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 
 31 * 
 
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 Tasha — Babel — Birs Ximrood — 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. 
 
 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 all 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, as a raft 
 
368 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 could be prepared, the Doctor set out for Baghdad, fur- 
 nished with letters of introduction, and charged with 
 commissions from Mr. Loftus 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 wine, 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 ; Kaaman, 
 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 Nim- 
 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 TIIE TIGRIS. 
 
 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 pours 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 ‘ Kalah Sherghat ! 5 
 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 otvners 
 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 North 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 ! ‘ God is merciful, and pities us ’ — this was 
 
 their creed ; and they cared little for the words, ‘ 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 pulled 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 , ‘ 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 TIIE TIGRIS. 
 
 371 
 
 below, on the left bank, is Dor, by some thought to stand 
 in the plain 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 caliph, 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 plaster 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 IToio- 
 eish, where the palms are thick, and pomegranate bushes 
 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 warping 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. Ilyslop, 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. Ilyslop, 
 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. lie 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 OF 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 
 ISTeander, 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 
 
TIIE BELGIAN COLONEL. 
 
 375 
 
 instructive. lie 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 American 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 lines 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-diluvian s 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 f — tha 
 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 Chaldzea 
 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. Lobdelfs 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 rode slowly back 
 to Hillah, stammering out French ejaculations to my 
 compcignon cle 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 Graeco-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 cutoff 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. Briihl 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 impeded 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 Ali 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 kajavcts , 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 J erusalem, 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. Briihl’s 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 ho 
 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 (s« 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. 
 “]STo 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 
 
KAZMA1JX. 
 
 381 
 
 and hanging down 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. Briihl 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 J ewish 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 4 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.” 
 
 44 1 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. 
 
 44 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 TIIE PASIIA. 
 
 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 ^ mn’pt. 
 
384 
 
 MEMOIR OF LOBDELL. 
 
 “To Prof. Petermann he gave a ‘Life of Alexander 5 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 Orientate, 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 Avas quite regal. He bowed us 
 out with Turkish reserve and French politeness. He is 
 called by the people, “ Guzhulc ,” because he wears spec- 
 tacles. He is evidently the most learned man I have yet 
 seen belonging to Turkey. He 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 MR. 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. Petersburg!), 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. 
 
 ct 9th, I have, this morning, called, with Mr. Briihl 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 was 
 38 
 
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, Hindos- 
 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 TOST. 
 
 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 bouyouroulder 
 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 sernjjee 
 accompanies the post from one station to another, attends 
 to the saddles and extra clothing or baggage ; and the 
 next day takes the animals back to their station. Our 
 serujjee 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 two 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 defbardar 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. 
 “ 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. 17 th, 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— Recollections and Impressions of his Friends — Mr. 
 Lothrop — Mr. Seelye — Dr. Perkins — Mr. Marsh. 
 
 For 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 Nestorian mission, in revising and correcting his 
 notes on the Anabasis, in repacking in a safer and more 
 portable form 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 administerring 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 to her 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 liis 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 ckurcli 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 5 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 upon 
 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 relies. 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 ketcheh 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 up tlic journal of her husband’s sick- 
 ness where lie 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 
 mokaab 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 willing 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. 
 Lobdeil 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 w^as dying 
 were kept open, and the native brethren came in and 
 looked at him as often as they pleased. They w^ould 
 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, “ There 
 lived and died a Christian.” The sympathy and regret 
 were the more lively because he died so young ; and tins 
 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 26tli, 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 3 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 will 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. Lobdell’s 
 death. And we repeat the question, 44 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. W alker, 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, 
 4 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 lias 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 instrumentality. 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. Lobdell’s 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- 
 
CHARACTER. 
 
 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 — areal 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 
 
 34* 
 
 See page 337. 
 
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 away — 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 : — ‘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 ‘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. SEEL YE. 
 
 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. lie 
 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 one 
 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. Lobdell’s 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 lie 
 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 Master’s 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- 
 
PR. PERKINS. 
 
 407 
 
 self, with all the ardor and enthusiasm that character- 
 ized his subsequent carder, 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 — 
 4 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. 
 
 44 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. Lobdell’s 
 sickness in his house at Oroomiah, which has been inserted 
 in a former chapter, thus proceeds : 44 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. 
 
 44 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 magnify 
 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. 
 
 “ Ilis 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 clear 
 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, 1858. 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. MARSII. 
 
 409 
 
 going from his study to the dispensary, which was in my 
 outer court, lie 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?’ 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 Koords. 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 v r as 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 w r as 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, ‘ Ought we, in the pres- 
 
TRE ACHING CHRIST TO MOSLEMS. 
 
 411 
 
 ence of Moslems, to risk declaring the entire plan of 
 salvation ? 5 It is a question that might well lead to dif- 
 ferent views. When lie 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 LORDELL. 
 
 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 r 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 slipj^ed, 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 
 
IIIS MONUMENT. 
 
 413 
 
 necessitated our learning the Syriac language. lie 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 disciple 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. 5 
 When shall we be with him ? 55 
 
4 
 
 

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