WHY SEND MISSIONARIES TO THE BULGARIANS?
By Charles F. Morse
[Rev. Charles F. Morse, in Missionary Herald.] THIS question has often been asked, and with special frequency since the capture of Miss Stone and her associate by the brigands in European Turkey. It should be borne in mind that the Bulgarians in accepting Christianity under King Boris in A.D. 861, did not do so voluntarily. It was forced upon them by royal decree. The nobles rebelled, but King Boris overcame them, and with great cruelty and slaughter compelled the reception of the new religion. But the Christianity which he forced upon them was of the corrupt form prevalent in the tenth century. The gods and goddesses of the Greeks were early replaced by the saints of the church. Everything in nature and every profession and business had its patron saint to whom prayers and offerings were made. The saints were the intercessors, and more prayers were offered to them than to God. Their number was so great that nearly half the time was taken up with the observance of saints' days, which became literally feast days—days of carousing and idleness. The intercessory and atoning work of Christ was lost sight of, and in its place fasts, penances, and formal prayers were substituted. The Bible was found only in the churches and was not understood by the people. Its meaning was perverted. Baptism was made to mean regeneration, and repentance, penance.13When they read the declaration that God commandeth all men everywhere to repent, it only stimulated them to do penances with greater zeal. If they read, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin,” they understood the wine in communion. The missionaries also were necessary for the education of the Bulgarians. When the mission of the American Board was commenced in 1858, there was not a single Bulgarian school. Then a boys' school was opened at Philippopolis and a girls' school at Eski Saghra. This stimulated the Bulgarians to open schools in the principal towns. In Eski Saghra a girls' school large enough to accommodate two hundred pupils was opened, and teachers from our school were employed. Pupils came from all parts of Bulgaria and returned, to open schools in their own towns. The example of the larger towns was followed by the smaller municipalities, so that schools sprang up all over Bulgaria. Nothing like it has been known in history. The Bulgarians had no school books. The missionaries translated for their own schools our best American school books, and these were beautifully printed by a Bulgarian company in Vienna, so that in ten years the Bulgarians had as good school books as we had in America forty years ago. In many lands the missionaries have to educate readers, but not in Bulgaria, for they already existed. There may be those who, in view of the fact that no great numbers have been enrolled as Protestants or church members, will regard the work as having made but little progress. A fair number have been enrolled. But the Bulgarians are intensely patriotic, and look upon such enrolment as treachery to their own country. Yet they read everything prepared by the mission and are becoming enlightened without being aware of it, and the time may come sooner than among the Armenians when there will be revivals of real spiritual power in the Bulgarian churches. When the first missionary went to Sophia it was not known that there was a single Protestant Bulgarian. A leading Bulgarian came to the missionary and said: “You had better go home, for should you stay here till you die, you will not make a single Bulgarian convert.” The missionary replied, “The time is coming when there will be a large evangelical church in Sophia, and more than that the time is coming when all Bulgaria will be evangelical.” For several years now there has been a large evangelical church in Sophia with a weekly audience of four or five hundred; also a Bible house, a Young Men's Christian Association building and a Protestant bookstore, exerting their influence through all that region. The same is true of other stations and out-stations, and there are now the sixteen churches with their thirteen hundred members and three times that number of Sabbath attendants, besides a hundred native helpers and colporters disseminating the truth everywhere. Probably half a million of Testaments and Bibles have already been put in circulation. The Bulgarians are not prejudiced against the Bible because it is published by the mission, but regard it as their own precious Scriptures given them by St. Cyril and Methodius. Mention should be made of two excellent training schools and the printing press. To one who can remember when there was not a single Protestant Bulgarian, the progress seems wonderful. It is a well-known fact that the Bulgarian Government has been largely influenced by the missionaries and by the education given at Robert College. Dr. N. G. Clark, years ago, said, “The Bulgarians have the most liberal constitution of any government in Europe.” The Bulgarians are a part of the great Slavic race. Books and tracts in Bulgaria can be read by educated Russians, and these books and tracts are carried by students into the universities of the North, and it would not be strange if some great reformer should arise, exerting an influence like that witnessed in the great reformation of the sixteenth century. Can there be any question as to the propriety of sending missionaries to the Bulgarians? The work has been well begun, and the strategic points are occupied by a noble band of missionaries.