“We had a short visit last week from our brother S., who was on his way to the interior, to make a visit to the brethren at Deir Mimas. He had recently been on a tour in the direction of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, finding, here and there, some souls glad to get a book, or a tract, and to hear some words about the Lord. He has been greatly delighted with the translation of Mr. Belief’s ‘Son of God,’ and has taken three hundred copies of it to distribute. It is a book that brings the Person of the Lord before the soul with peculiar power, and I believe it will be a blessing to many. The Syrian Bishop of Jerusalem, with whom our brother is personally acquainted, was very glad to receive a copy of it, and some other books, I believe. I may remark, that it is often refreshing to us to meet persons in these old churches who really have faith in the Lord Jesus as the eternal Son of God, who suffered, and died, and rose again, and sat down on the right hand of God. Five or six years ago, a bishop in Damascus read something I had published, and requested copies of all the rest; with which he was at once furnished. There have been (and may yet be found) persons, even among these hierarchical officials of these Eastern churches, so hoary and burdened with superstition, who really loved the Lord Jesus; and, as proof of it, some of them have laid down their lives for His name. Only twenty-four years ago, at the time of the massacre of the Christians in this country, there was a godly Greek priest in Damascus, who accepted a horrible death, rather than deny Christ. His tormentors urged him to do so, and, having called in a butcher, told him to choose between death and giving up Christ. He remained firm. One eye was torn out, and held up before him, with the threat that a like fate was for the other, unless he denied Christ. He said, ‘You may cut me to pieces, and I will not deny my Lord and Savior.’ And they did cut him to pieces, as a slaughtered sheep!”
“While our brother S. was with us last week, we were cheered by the return of our brother A. K. from Upper Egypt, whither he had gone, more than three months ago, to labor, and found open doors in many places, and hundreds of souls anxious to hear the glad tidings of God’s grace. This is a brother from Northern Syria, who has been in fellowship a good while, and has a good deal of ability in bringing a clear, touching gospel to the hearts and consciences of those who bear the name of Christ, and, while confessing the great facts of redemption, know but little of them in their application. He had gone to Alexandria on business, and while there felt constrained of the Lord to go to Upper Egypt, to labor in the word. He was much surprised, on reaching there, to find such a desire to hear the word of God. In every town and village he visited, many would crowd together, and listen to the word of God with breathless stillness, eager to catch every word that fell from his lips. It was an altogether new and happy experience for him; for, although he had for years preached a good deal in this country, he had never seen an awakening, and never addressed such crowds, pressing to hear. He felt much interest in the Copts, who are deeply affected when they hear the simple gospel of God’s grace, proclaimed in lowliness and love, without any desire to draw them after man. These poor Copts have been sorely worried and harassed by the severe denunciations of the Protestant preachers, who, instead of preaching Christ to them, denounce the errors of their old church, and make their salvation depend on their leaving it at once, and joining what is held up as the only true and pure church. And, alas! in most places, it is the Protestants, not the Copts, who bitterly oppose, not church truth only, but the simple gospel also. I do not doubt that God has a people among the Copts, and that He is working to bring them to a knowledge of salvation; and that there will yet be much fruit, if those who labor will only have patience, and go on in grace—the only hope of us all. How much need there is for Paul’s directions to Timothy? that there must be patient labor before enjoying the fruits of it. The masses there, to whom the gospel now comes, are a good way off from understanding church truth, as yet; for they are only awakening, as it were, from the deep slumber of ages; but the same grace that took us up, and led us on, can do the same for them also. The truth received will eventually deliver from the vain traditions of Coptism, as well as from the vain confidence in man, and the well-known errors which characterize Protestantism. However, there are some souls more advanced than those to whom I have alluded, who are now breaking bread on the ground of the one body. May the Lord sustain them!”
“J. N. D., a year before his death, made an important remark to me about the state of souls in Upper Egypt. He said, souls in their state need to be formed; and the important question was, who were to be used as instruments in forming them; and this is, and has been, a most weighty question with us; for the field there is wide, and the mere physical difficulties are great in the way of laborers from elsewhere going thither. One there remarked to me last winter, that it would require at least two years for me to visit all the places now open to the gospel. Thus far the Lord has raised up persons there, who proclaim the gospel, and help believers, to some extent; but, as you are well aware, when the sifting time comes, there is always a good deal to fear from such; for when the more advanced souls are led to take the ground of the church of God, the instruments used in an awakening are tested, and many break down. Such may have preached the truth with blessing, and withal borne much reproach for the truth. But all this may take place, and man still retain his importance; nay, the very blessing God has given to souls, through the preaching, may have served to give the poor human vessels undue importance in their own eyes, and, it may be, in the eyes of others also. Hence, the sight of greater faithfulness in others is a bitter test to many; for it seems to make nothing of man, and so it does, but magnifies the Lord, who is alone worthy to be exalted and obeyed.”
“We are, therefore, especially thankful that; the Lord led this brother, to whom I have referred, to make a visit to those parts. He seems to have been used, both in proclaiming the gospel, and in strengthening those who had got on to the point of breaking bread. At one place he found eighteen or twenty meeting; they spent their time, when met together, in singing and praying. He told them that the work of the Holy Spirit, in building up our souls, is not confined to praise and prayer; and if the word of God has not its place, and the breaking of bread also, the worst consequences are to be feared. The better-minded ones were at once convinced, and confessed that they had been feeling how hollow and unedifying their meetings had been. A few opposed, but afterward yielded; and, after due time, all began to break bread. But how skillful the enemy is; for there had been great awakenings in that place, and much preaching; but the enemy was working to keep them in that state; out of the false, in a sense, but not into the true. He was willing, for them to sing and pray, and then go out and preach in the streets and fields, or engage in any other religious activity, but not to remember the Lord’s death on the ground of the one body. They all knew the doctrine of breaking of bread before, and quite admitted it; but those taking the lead had kept saying the time had not come for it.”
August 11Th. Dear Brother,— “Thus far I wrote nearly a month ago. We are now in Midsummer, and I can assure you, it is no easy matter to get through a Syrian summer, especially in the cities on the coast. Many go to the mountains for the summer, and I had thought, last spring, that I should do so; but time has passed, and I had not seen my way clear to do so. Especially the printing work has pressed on me, and I feel the time is getting short for work and testimony. In the meantime our brother S. has returned from the interior, and, after a short visit, went on to his home at Ramleh. I have also had recent letters, both from Upper Egypt and Mesopotamia. We had had a good deal of anxiety about those in Egypt who had recently commenced breaking bread; but the word last week was encouraging, and I trust they will be sustained of the Lord. One brother writes, July 30th, and says:— “The state of things with us is now very much better. May the Lord watch over us, and preserve us from the attacks of the enemy, who neither slumbers nor sleeps. We ask your prayers for the children of God in these parts. Some of those who fell back, during the sifting times, now feel their condition, and are sorry; but we shall not be in haste to receive them to the Lord’s table. Also some who had left now wish to be with us, but the brethren think it not best to receive them. At N., where eighteen began breaking bread, there are now twenty-four, and some others desiring fellowship; but the brethren delayed receiving them. Those in H. expect to break bread next Lord’s day. One of them was here, and broke bread with us last Lord’s day. It will be good, if our brother S., can visit the brethren here, for all desire him to do so.”
“My correspondents from Mesopotamia write, acknowledging the receipt of some books I sent them, and tell of their distribution, and request more. One of them, evidently a godly man, seems anxious to get clear of his trammels, and is naturally a good deal occupied with the evil; but at the same time he seems to be bright in his soul. After giving an account of the distribution of some copies of “Son of God” and other books, I recently sent to him, he says, ‘I desire that these books distributed may be the means of blessing to those who read them, that they may flee from the thick darkness to the light of God’s beloved Son, and be ready to meet the Lord, without, any luke-warmness; yea, that we may all be looking for, and hasting unto, His near coming, for He is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. It is a faithful saying, that if we suffer, we shall also reign, with Him. Let us thank Him for His sure and faithful promises, that will be fulfilled in their time. In fact, the more I study the word, the more I see of its preciousness, and find in it what rejoices the heart; and I say, Oh, the exceeding grace! And these precious things are hid from the wise and prudent of this world, and revealed unto babes.”
“This is a sample of his somewhat lengthy letter. I thought I would give you a little bit, for it refreshes us to meet souls in the fervor of first love, when the precious light of God has but recently dawned in them, and filled them to the utmost of their present capacity to receive. I suppose that our joy, or peace rather, is no less real as we advance, but it is less demonstrative. Alas! that an advance in knowledge should ever be attended with luke-warmness. I am getting a good supply of books ready to send them soon. I have been a little delayed, on account of having to reprint a gospel volume that has been much blessed there and elsewhere, and I am just now finishing a second edition of it.”
“As an illustration of the way in which light and blessing are scattered, even when we know nothing about it, a man, from Mesopotamia, called on me a short time since. He had got this book in his own country, and read it with blessing. Last winter he started with a drove of horses for the Egyptian market—a long distance by land. He brought with him half a-dozen copies of his favorite book, to distribute by the way. He had given all away before reaching Damascus, and expected that he might find more there; but was surprised, when reaching there, to find that the Christians, whom he asked, knew nothing about it. And thus it is, brother, everywhere. Books and tracts you may have written may carry joy and blessing to souls in India, or in Western America, and your neighbors who live within a stone’s throw, may never have seen them, or cared aught for the blessed messages of grace contained in them.”
“When speaking of books, there is one book I ought to mention, and that is the word of God, of which we have a good translation in the Arabic—on the whole, it is the finest one I know. The British and American Bible Societies have printed Bibles and Testaments, and scattered them in all directions, almost as abundant as the leaves of the forest. How thankful we should be that God, in His providence, has multiplied the copies of His word in so many languages. But, at the same time, there is a very solemn thought that comes to the mind in connection with this fact. The darkness of the middle ages was dense indeed; but there were no Bibles! The darkness of Christendom in our day is increasing and deepening on every hand, while Bibles, in abundance, are on people’s tables, and in their hands. Colporteurs, actuated, ήο doubt, by various motives, have gone everywhere, and if people will go on in darkness, it is because they love it. Hence they have no excuse. Before Luther’s day it might have been said, ‘True, the darkness is great, but men have no means of light.’ And, as matter of fact, when the word of God was given, thousands accepted it, and got light. But what shall we say of the state of things now? Men translate and publish the word of God, and scatter it broadcast in the earth, while they themselves are in darkness. Nay, more, they say, ‘We see.’ What new remedy can we devise? We can devise no other. As J. N. D. remarks somewhere, ‘For a gospel definitely revealed, and rejected, there is no gospel.’”
Your brother in Christ, “B. F. PINKERTON.”