Jonas king
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| 242 5ONAS KING.
garden and stood by the side of a little mulberry-tree, the only tree in my garden, and thought of the little sprout, now a large elm, by my father's house, near which the light of heaven first broke in upon my soul. Shall I live, thought I, to see this mulberry increase in size as the elm had increased when I last saw it ? Twenty-five years more will bring me near to the term of life allotted to man. How soon will it pass away, even should I live so long ! Am I ready ?" In January, 1833, Dr. Riggs arriving in Athens, brought news that Dr. King's beloved and venerated fa ther was beyond the need of any further care. "He told me he died in a most happy manner. I could not but weep, though I felt assured that my dear father was now in the joy of his Lord. Among the last words my father uttered when I last bade him farewell, and I asked, Have you anything to say to me ?' were, `Nothing but that God may be glorified in you.' I often think of it. What can I desire more or better ? " On arriving at my house I welcomed Mr. and Mrs. Riggs to it, introduced them to my family, and then we united in prayer. Afterwards I retired for a few mo ments to my chamber to weep and pray alone. I blessed the Father of all mercies for having given such grace to my father as to triumph over death, which he had for merly so much feared, and that He had glorified His great name in showing to all who were acquainted with my father that He is a God of mercy and truth, and will never leave the humble and contrite man who trembleth at His word."
Dr. Riggs brought him twenty-eight letters from America, a list of the writers of which appears in the diary. This private express brings vividly to mind the changes made in postal service all over the world, even during the past few years. A monument, yet to be seen by any visitor to Haw ley,Mass., bears the following inscription : " Sacred
TO THE MEMORY OP MR. JONAS KING, THE VENERABLE FATHER OF THE DISTINGUISHED REV. JONAS KING, D. D., MISSIONARY TO PALESTINE AND GREECE.' On being asked by a friend if he felt any regret in parting with his son as a missionary to the heathen, this father in Israel replied, " ` God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,' and shall I withhold my only son from obeying the com mandment of our ascending Saviour, who said, Go ye 244 .ONAS KING. into all the world and preach the gospel to every crea ture' ?" Mr. King was one of the first settlers in Hawley. He lived, in example and precept, a life of holiness. He died September 20, 1832, aged 78 years, having a blissful faith in Jesus Christ and an unshaken hope of a glorious immortality. His last words were, "How often shall my pulses beat Before my bliss shall be complete ? Come, Lord Jesus, oh, come quickly." "Ask you my name? 't is Jonas King. Beneath these clods I lie. In life I suffered much from sin, And sin caused me to die. But by the blessed Jesus, I Do hope to rise again ; I then shall live, and never die, And praise the Lord. Amen." Another of these letters was from Dr. Carnahan of Princeton, announcing the conferring of a title, not so common then as now, and of which Dr. King says : " I suppose that it is considered by my friends that it will give me some influence and be the means of promoting the cause of Christ, but I doubt whether such means should be employed." His visiting-card always still read simply " Jonas King." In April, 1834, Dr. A. G. Paspati came as special messenger in a vessel, chartered for- the purpose, from the missionaries at Constantinople, proposing that Dr.
Riggs should go to Persia with Mr. Perkins. Just be fore receiving this message he and Dr. King had been speaking of the strong attachment they were beginning to feel for Athens and the work there ; so this new question was trying, as well as sudden. On the whole, Dr. Riggs decided not to leave Greece at present. Dr. King himself was invited before long to come to Napoli, but he also declined making a "change of base." 246 JONAS KING. CHAPTER XVI. MISSIONARY WORK NEEDED IN THE EAST. Indulgences—Infidelity—Errors and Superstitions—Worship of Virgin Mary—Relics—Bones of St. Antipas—Image-worship —Letter to Society of Inquiry, Princeton. EXAMPLES have already been given, showing clearly how far the Papal and Oriental churches have lapsed from the simplicity of the gospel. Many others are found scat tered here and there in Dr. King's Journals. Let a few of these speak more loudly than words can do, of the necessity of such work as that in which he was engaged. " Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1832. Mr. Venthylos showed me a curious document which he found some years since on Mt. Athos ; a letter signed by the patriarch of Constantinople, and twelve bishops (the whole Synod), and given to a monk on Mount Athos, in March, 1516, stating that by the power given unto them to bind or loose, his sins were all pardoned, of whatever nature or kind they might have been ; if he had disobeyed God, broken his command ments, despised Jesus Christ, and been an atheist, etc., they were all pardoned, both for this world and that which is to come, and that, even should he be under the censure or excommunication of any priest, bishop, etc. I wished to take a copy of it, but he was not willing to give it. "March 6, 1834. This is what is•called by the Greeks,
Tc. Kvanpr . Tcheknepefti, which I should translate Singe-Thurs day—as on this day they are accustomed to kill a fowl or turkey, and pick it, and then singe the small feathers as we do usually in the fire—in other words, to prepare it for Saturday and Sunday next, after which the feast begins. Went with my wife to call on Prince Karagin. His wife expressed herself in a shocking manner against God and his government ; expressed a doubt with regard to revealed religion, and the prince talked like an infidel. The captain of the Guards also was present, and took part with them. By the grace of God I was enabled to speak boldly for Christ and God's holy word. "April 20, 1334. After the service at my house in the afternoon, several of the scholars asked me questions about the Scriptures, such as `Did John the Baptist have wings ?' and `Why was he thus painted in our churches ?' I told them that if he was a bird he must have had wings ; but if a man, not. Another asked if he had not two heads ; if one did not grow out immediately when the other was cut off. For this I referred them to the Scriptures, which say, his disciples took up his body and buried it. Another asked about angels' wings, etc. To all these questions I gave such answers as I thought true and proper." The following lets one in behind the scenes as to the motives that led even some enlightened men to oppose Dr. King's mission : "July 12, 1335. Mr. K. called and wished to speak with me alone. Taken with me into my study, he said :
Whatever may be your object in Greece, I rejoice that you are here and wish you success in your work, for my views are like yours ; and being such, I thought it my duty to come and tell you what I have heard from cer tain learned men who were speaking in regard to you and your labors here. They said that you have in your employ and pay at Syra four hundred and fifty Sciots to disseminate your doctrines, and that the son of a shoe maker (who, I think he said had been in my gymnasium) spoke about the Virgin Mary, etc., according to your doctrine, and that the people were in danger of getting into a civil war on the subject of religion, which of all wars was most to be dreaded, and therefore it was expe dient to prevent you from proceeding ; that though your doctrines might be true, still the people were not prepared for such a change as those doctrines would bring in. I consider your mission,' added he, `as a new mission for• preaching the gospel, similar to that of the primitive age of Christianity, and you must expect to suffer what the first preachers were called to suffer; but be of good courage, for God will not leave you to suffer any thing.' " Some priest also told Meletius, a student whom I had employed to sell the New Testament in the market place, that it was wicked for common people to touch that book ! Meletius and another boy sold, however, in three clays, between 90 and ioo copies. " Sept. 28, 1836. The Greeks appear to depend more upon external forms than upon the religion of the heart; they believe all the truth and something more, and the MISSIONARY WORK IN THE EAST. 249 additions that have been made by man to their religion seem to be of more consequence in their eyes, than what God himself has taught. " Sunday, March 7, 1839. Preached from John I :29. I was led to take this text from seeing the lambs that were brought to be slain at the Passover, as it is still a custom among the Greeks for every family, however poor, to kill a lamb on this occasion. " Sunday, April 2I, i 844. Two deacons called in the morning. Conversed plainly, seriously, and pointedly ; endeavored to convince them of the error of worship ping images and praying to saints. They seemed con vinced ; I found them exceedingly ignorant of God's word. I verily believe that an ordinary child in New England, eight or ten years old, knows far more of the ology and of the Bible than they. " May i6, 1844. Narcissus, a priest, called. Spent two or three hours in conversation on religion. He has gained much, recognizing as the only rule of faith the word of God, rejecting from the fathers everything which does not agree with that ; also rejecting, as contrary to the word of God the monkish system; also the abstain ing from different kinds of food, which is called fasting; while at the same time he approves, as I do, of what is true fasting: and on the subject of images he is not far from the truth, and also in regard to despotism in the church. This he says will most surely cease. Gave him a New Testament in ancient Greek, and a copy of my ` Farewell letter.' He is to me the most interesting man among the clergy in all Greece, on account of his
-efforts to preach the gospel here. He is the only man I know of who preaches the gospel. - "May 18, 1841. Called on Madame Covoqui. Con versed about prayer to saints and the virgin. After showing her several passages of Scripture, she said she was convinced of the truth of what I said, and that she should no more offer her prayers to the virgin, but to God alone. "Thursday, July 31, 1845. Mr. Pheovater said that an old nun at the monastery, 102 or 104 years old, on seeing the Old Testament which he gave to the church, seemed delighted with it, and begged him to ask the man who gave it to him to let her have one ; and remarked that she had never till then heard that such a book ex isted as the Old Testament !" March, 1847, Dr. King describes a miraculous medal ordered by the Virgin Mary to be made, after three ap pearances, and by which one might enjoy the particular protection of the "mother of God." The prayer to be read from the medal was in the usual wording of the Roman-catholic prayer-book. In February, 1848, Dr. King makes note at Malta of a Roman-catholic procession in honor, or rather dishon or, of St. Paul, whose image was paraded about the street, borne on the shoulders of eight or ten men, who evidently found the wooden god a heavy load. They were preceded by perhaps five hundred priests and monks of the clerical order. In a letter written from Athens in January, 1849, Dr. King writes, that "Protestants are considered by the MISSIONARY WORK IN THE EAS7: 251 Greek church as heretics, it is sufficient to say, that all who do not call Mary the ' mother of God,' and who condemn the use of images (pictures), and the worship of the cross and relics (bones of the saints), are con demned as heretics by the several councils, which the Greek church universally considers as inspired and of undoubted authority. I may add, that acording to some of those councils, baptism, as performed by Protestants of any denomination whatever, is condemned as hereti cal." "February, 1849. Having some business at the No tary's, and having occasion to state where I was born, as I wrote, ` Hawley, America,' he said, ` Write, Happy Amer ica.' This led to some conversation on the subject of religion, and he avowed that the cause of the wretched ness here, of the had state of society, is the priesthood ! Mr. P. was formerly governor in Mani. " November 8, 1849. I conversed with two Italians on the subject of Transubstantiation, and the worship of the Virgin Mary. One of them said that he was con vinced that the Roman-catholic religion is erroneous; but that before he came here, had an angel from heaven told him so, he would not have believed it. That since he had seen the Bible and heard my conversation, and read some copies of the " Catholico Romano" which I gave him, he is convinced. But still I think he clings in some degree to the worship of Mary. She is the actual god of the people in these regions." On one occasion, when in Naples, Dr. King was shown
I. A bone of the arm of St. Paul.
"But after the priest assured me that this was a true copy of the original in Syriac, I said to him, ` I have studied Syriac, and this is not Syriac, but Chinese; at least so it appears to me.' It seemed to me to be noth-
" March 17, 1851. Had a long talk with the abbot of the convent at Ipsara on the subject of religion and the errors of his church. Among other things he said that whosoever went to the Old Testament was an adul terer. On asking me what were the commands of Christ, I began to repeat the Ten Commandments ; but he said these were in the Old Testament, and would not listen to them. He finally asked me if I did not believe the miracle of St. Spiridion, when he took the tile and squeezed out blood. I said, No, it is a fable.' At this he became quite angry, and threatened to tear my eyes out. " June i6, 1851. Mrs. K. S. brought me two imlgcs or pictures which have long been objects of devotion i.~ J01139 King. no ~.J MISSIONARY WORK IN THE EAST 253 her family. The smallest one is St. Athanasius, which, she thinks, was used by her grandmother. This is on wood. The other, which is on brass or copper (and is the largest), represents the flagellation of our Saviour by the Jews. This, she says, is three hundred years old. Both came down to her as a parental inheritance ; but she no longer values them, and will not permit them in her room, and has given them to me to dispose of as I choose. "April 6, 1853. Mr. A. told me that the indulgence which the pope gave him was plenary for him and his parents and family to the third generation, and that the pope signed it with his own hand. "August 26, 1853. I have to-day received from a Greek female what I never before received from any one—holy relics, saints' bones. One is said to be of St. Antipas, the same, I suppose, who is mentioned in Rev. 2: 13 ; another of St. Mercurius. They are set in silver, and have been handed clown from one generation to another for I know not how long. The female who sent them to me received them from her mother, and she from her mother, and they were considered very precious. When any of the children were ill these bones were put in water, which was given to the patient for his recovery. After taking them into my hands I felt almost as if I were defiled, and I went and washed them in water, and then again with soap and water! How strange that men should be so deluded as to have hope in dead men's bones, and worship them! It is a device of the devil to keep men from God. 254 7ONAS KING. " January 3, 1854. Was called to see a dying woman. She was most anxious to live another year, promising to follow my directions, and even to kneel in prayer. To kneel in prayer, except once in the year, is considered by the Greeks as amounting almost to a renunciation of their religion." March lo, 1857. Of some pictures Dr. King says, " One was the picture of the Virgin Mary, which has long been the object of worship, and which was supposed on some perilous occasion to have saved life in shipwreck ; and sometimes it was supposed to creak—when dis pleased ! The board on which it is painted is so thick and large that it might well keep a man from drowning, and in hot weather it might creak." The question of images was an important one. A priest of much intelligence calling, Dr. King says, " I conversed much about the errors of the Greek church, particularly in the use of images or pictures. He said the fathers were from the Eastern church, and had taught all this. I told him that the first fathers in the church were Jews, and that they taught the Greeks. He said the Eastern church had preserved the doctrines entire. I told him that this assertion, so often in the mouths of the Greeks, showed their ignorance of ecclesiastical his tory. He said that images were received by the fathers, and that St. Luke made them, etc. I told him that was not true, and that images began to be introduced about the fourth century, not earlier, and that it was against the command of God, the second command. He said he be lieved the traditions of the fathers. ° So did the Phari- ATISSIOIVARV WORK ITV THE EAST 255 sees,' said I, and our Saviour condemned them for it. The Greeks do the same, and do wrong.' He said that the Catechism taught the proper use of images, and that the common people did not use them aright. I said, ' The proper use of them is to let them be hung up, without having any reverence whatever paid to them, just as I have the plan of Athens,' pointing to it in my room. He said if they were in error he did not care, he would re main where they were, or something to that effect. I said, ' I wish for the truth,' etc. I spoke as plainly as possible, but I know not that any good will result." Strange ceremonies were observed on occasion of the burial of a bishop, the President of the Synod. " He was not placed in a coffin, as other people are, but seated on a throne, with all his priestly robes as bishop, with his crozier in his right hand, the gospels in his left, with his mitre on his head. Multitudes went to the house to kiss his hand ; and thus he was carried to the church on his throne, and placed in the centre, with his face towards the altar during the prayers and funeral service. When Barnabas delivered the oration, the corpse was turned with the face towards the pulpit, in an opposite direction from the altar. After the service and oration, all crowd ed to take their last look, and he was borne through the streets on his throne, by the palace and to the grave, where he was buried in the same position." Extract from a letter to the Society of Inquiry, Prince ton, October 29, 1850: "The longer I remain among the Greeks, the more I perceive that in all things they are too superstitious,' and that the true God is little known 2 56 ,ONES KING. among them. And though they may not ` think the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone graven by art or man's device,' yet he is represented in this church as an old man with a long heard, with the inscription in Greek, ' I AM,' and on the throne of this great I AM they seem to have placed a woman, whom they call his mother, Mary, the All-Holy, the Mother of God.' The faith which Paul once preached in this city has become so sadly shipwrecked (I Tim. i : 19), that one can hardly find a board or bit of the ship big endugh to keep a man from sinking. The very essence of Christianity, the doc trine of salvation by faith alone, has been perverted into a doctrine of salvation by works, fastings, penances, alms giving, etc., so that if a man has not money to leave to buy prayers for him after he is dead, he is afraid that his soul will go to the place of torment. I speak now of the mass of the common people, and not of the learned in this city, many of whom, I have reason to believe, have re jected not only their superstitions, but the truth also as it is in Christ, and like the Sadducees of old, believe nothing, though they profess to be orthodox members of the Eastern church. So that on the one hand I have to combat the deep-rooted superstitions and errors of the ignorant, and on the other the infidelity of men called enlightened." On one occasion Dr. King writes : " Last Sunday I went with my wife and her mother to the church of the Evangelistria to see a poor deranged woman brought here from Smyrna to be healed. She has a husband and one child, both, I believe, at Smyrna. Her hands were
tied very tight behind her back, and a young man, her relative; stood by, often beating her and tying the cords which she endeavored to loosen. She stood looking out at a window and constantly crying, ` 0 thou Holy Trin ity, save me and help me!' Her relatives said she was possessed of the devil, and was crying to him to help her, and when she said, O Holy Trinity,' she meant the three sisters, the Nereides. Many of the Greeks suppose that the Nereides come to people in the night-time, and take them and walk and dance with them, and that, in conse quence of this, they become deranged." Again. '• Heard that the body of a saint had been found, and that the people were running to pay their adoration. Supposing it to be some trick of the wonder-working church here, I had the curiosity to go also, and found that a priest from Athens had, when he fled from that place, brought with him the body of a female who died about two hundred and fifty years ago, as he said, and he was now exhibiting it to the people, who came and kissed the relics with great veneration." Of the Greek church Dr. King says, " Multitudes of the people have a thousand times more fear of eating meat on Wednesdays and Fridays than they have of uttering a falsehood ; and the Virgin Mary and the saints really seem to be more reverenced and more fervently adored than the God of heaven ; and the traditions of men are more honored than the commandments of God. Still this church is far from being plunged in the superstition and ignorance and wickedness of the Papal church. The Greek church receives the gospel, and a spirit of refor- 2
mation has begun to operate. The monkish system is going by, and the priests have lost much of the influence which they possessed ten years ago. Many begin to see and believe that true religion does not consist in abstain ing from meat and eggs two days in the week. In short, the Greeks as a body are inclined to think for themselves, and to express their opinion, though it should be con trary to that of their priests. They cling to their images and relics and crosses and prayers to the saints with great tenacity, nor can I expect that it will be otherwise with them till the gospel is more extensively distributed and read, and till some of their own preachers shall receive the influences of the Spirit from on high, and call their attention to the truth as it is in Jesus. "The sister of Mr. C. called September 3, 1848, and asked for a leaf from each tree in my garden. I asked why, and found that she wished them for a woman whose child was ill, and she thought, with some magical words said over the leaves, the child might recover."
CHAPTER XVII, LIFE-WORK AT ATHENS. i. Schools and Religious Services—Bible in Schools—Notice of Students in Gymnasiums and Seminaries—Testimony from Napoli Newspaper. a. Direct Mission-Work—Reasoning out of the Scriptures—Publishing of Bible with Notes from the Fathers Proposed—Letters to several Societies of Inquiry—Qualifications needed for a Missionary—Delight in Christian Union—Letter to Dr. Goodell—"Greece as a Missionary FieId." 3. Bible and Tract Distribution. 4. Efforts in the Temperance Cause. 5. Visits to Prisons. Yüklə 0,75 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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