The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-04-24
At Madi.on-Avenue Reformed Church.

At Madison-Avenue Reformed Church.
The meeting at the Madison-avenue Re-
formed Church was devoted to a discussion
of missionary work in Mohammedan lands.
Rev. James l.. Barton, president of the
American Board of Missions in Turkey,
. spoke of the situation in the Ottoman en-
pire. He said: Protestant churches have
been organized from all Of Turkeys an
cient churches, until thsre are now $50
churches, with total membership of over
twelve thousand, but with more than fifty
thousand adherents. Five theological semi
naries have been active in preparing men
for special Christian service, and from all
of these institutions OF all grades have
come forth men and women trained for
Christian leadership and champions of an
intelligent faith and pure life.
1.-The mission schools to-day have about
twenty-three Thousand pupils. and of these
about eight thousand are girls. With little
delay the Bible. which. from the first. all
the Christian churches, in profound ignor-
ance of its contents, almost worshiped as
divine. translated and issued in the
yernacular. These include complete trans
lations into the Arabic and the Armenian
language, the Arabo-Turkish, the Greco
Turkish, the Armeno-Turkish, the Bull
garian, the Syriac, the Ararat-Armenian
and the koordish and Albanian in part.
Many OF these translations have passed
through a large number of editions and re-
visions. They have been followed by COM
mentaries, cohcordances, Bible dictionaries
and, In fact, s. whole catalogue of Christian
literature. The schools necessitated the
manufacture of entire series of textbooks
In many of these languages, and the neces-
sity was ably met. For some of these peo-
pie, the missionaries created their modern
literature. OF the first sixty volumes pub
hshed In the modern Bulgarian tongue,
forty were due directly TO the missionaries
To meet the daily need OF the people, a
periodical literature sprang up in several
different languages circulating in the
strongholds OF some OF these ancient
churches.
zone of the. pioneers of creating a Chris
tan literature for the multitudinous races
OF Turkey, is Rev. Elias Riggs. ID. D.. LII.
ID, who joined the mission in 1892. With q
marvellous genius he mastered language
after language, and from his pen version
after version has gone to the eagerly
waiting people. After sixty-eght years of
unparalleled successful literary work COW
ering almost every department of sacred
literature. during which period he has but
once visited the homeland, he is to-day
engaged i'm revising, for the second time
the Bulgarian Bible, which he originally
translated. and in writing Greek and Bull
garfan hymns for n new hymn book.
Turkey was land practically destitute
OF modern literature three-quarters of
century ago, but to-day, in spite of govern
ment opposition. hardly home exists
upon which modern Christian books and
periodicals have not. in some measure, cast
their elevatinS influence. The success is
not measured by the nearly fifty thousand
evangelical Christians which are numbered
among the Protestants.
1T is probably true that no Evangelical
Christian would be expelled to-dsy for his
ideas from any OF the old churches in the
empire. and, Undoubtedly, the most of the
Protestants would be nov heartily well
coined back 10 the mother church which
once s. rudely cast them out and they
would, III many cases, find there a Chris
tan intelligence. not uneongenial"
Rev. William Jessup spoke on '.Afissiop
Work in SYRIA l.. III. Hutton president
OF the Presbyterian Mission Board smoke
on Missions in Arabia j. Hargraves
Ridgeford, on Early Efforts OF Mission
aries in Northern Africa" and John Giffan