TURKEY by H. P. H.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 12, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 45.

TURKEY.

By H. P. H.

[From our own correspondent.]

OUR Bible school in Constantinople is now in the past, and we are on the way to visit our work in Italy and France. Our sojourn in the Turkish capital and interviews with laborers from the field gave us an opportunity to gain some knowledge of the situation in this country that is now so prominently before the world. The result is the confirmation of the view before expressed, that the Armenians are themselves, more than any one else, to blame for what they suffer. This fact is so evident that it is a marvel how ministers and newspapers can continue as they do painting the Armenians and cursing the Turks. It seems almost like a case of wilful ignorance.

Ever since the Lord permitted the Mohammedans to fall as a scourge upon the professed Christians of Europe, to punish them for their idolatry (see Revelation 9), Europe has had a horror of the Turk. The present stir is but the preaching of another and the final crusade. This crusade, once started, is like its predecessors, blind to revelation and reason. First, the cry was raised, "The Turk must be driven out of Europe," but now this being nearly accomplished, the cry is raised, "The Turk ought to be blotted from the face of the earth."

But God has decreed the time and bounds of this nation, as of all others (Acts 17 : 22-26), and why should men meddle with his unalterable decrees? Those that try to take his place are not assigned a very desirable position in the Bible. 2 Thess. 2: 3, 4. While politicians oft essay to do this, Christians can never do it; the moment they do, they step down from the position God has assigned them. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Gospel of peace, and not of war. Its mission is to save, not to destroy, life. When two of his disciples proposed the destruction of the Samaritans because they rejected the Master, Christ told them that they knew not of what spirit they were.

It is our mission to preach the Gospel of salvation to every creature; this includes the Turks; this is our only mission to them; it is not ours to condemn or to wish to destroy.

Moreover, it is very doubtful if the Armenians would fare any better in any other nation, if they should there attempt the same as in Turkey. It is their avowed purpose to throw off the Turkish yoke. With them, it is not a question of religious liberty, but of national independence. As to religious liberty, they enjoy more than sects in some professedly Christian nations. With the Armenian, it is nothing but a revolt against the government; religion figures only so far as it may be used as an aid to this revolt. Now that they are not likely to gain their ends through their religion as a pretext, they resort to dynamite. How much concord is there between the religion of Jesus Christ and the dynamite of the anarchist?

There was a revolt against the government in the United States when some of the southern states seceded from the Union on account of the Slavery Question. Was there no attempt to put down this revolt? no bloodshed? no property destroyed? Do those who use dynamite against the government in France, Germany, etc., fare any better than the Armenians in Turkey?

It is not our design to convey the impression that all the Armenians are anarchists; far from it; there are many excellent, peace-loving people among them; but the masses are in sympathy with the revolt against the Turkish Government, and some who are not, dare not express their sentiments because they fear the Armenian revolutionists more than the Turks. Were the Armenians as a nation independent, it is doubtful if Protestant missionaries would enjoy the tranquillity which they share under the Turkish Government. The Armenians are only men, and as such no better than the Turks. Some of our people, Armenians, who have always lived in Turkey, and whom we know to be reliable, bear a favorable testimony of the Turks. Under the same circumstances, they compare very favorably with the Greeks and Armenians. But their evil traits have been held up before the world and magnified so long, while little or no mention has been made of their good qualities, that the world has been led to consider them horrid monsters, utterly void of any redeeming features.

Let us view the situation in the light of common sense, and not be carried away by the false crusade sentiment that now dominates the masses. Let us leave the fate of the Turk in the hands of God, who will mete exact justice to all! H. P. H.

Smyrna, Oct. 12, 1896.