The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-08-29

the schools, Of the missionary. have
been potential factors In creating
members of the young Tupkish party.
Religion and politics have been one
with the Turk. The unspeakable
Abdul Hamid has been at the head OF
the Moslem faith. Some of his black
est deeds have been done in the name
Of the prophet. The massacre or the
Armenian Christians will live in his
tory as one of the blots on the nine
teenth century. Now, under the new
day that has dawned, Armenian and
Greek and Protestant Christians will
no longer go about in constant terror
of their lives. In the new ministry
which has been formed to carry Into
effect the promises of a constitutional
government there are two Christians.
Thus is religious liberty trfumphfng
throughout the world.
Christendom remembers. as 1t reads
of Turkeys reform, that the land
made sacred by the Savior's life among
men is in the possession OF. the sui
tan. What the crusades of the mid
die ages failed to do, in winning that
sacred soil for Christianity, may now,
perchance, be accomplished by the
silent forces of reason and truth.
One of the great lives associated with
Turkeys ultimate betterment tand we
wonder how he regards recent history
from the battIements of the other
world) was Cyrus Hamlin. the wise
and well-beloved- His is great name
on the roster Of missionaries of the
cross. A brief summary of his life is
thus given by Amos r. Wells:
Cyrus Hamlin was born near Water
ford, Me, January 8. 1911.
His father died when Cyrus was an
infant, and his mother was very poor.
While the boy was learning to be
jeweler, he discovered a liking for
books, and decided to go through col
lege and become a minister.
With wonderful energy and resource
without any money except what he
earned, graduating from Bowdoin coli
lege and Bangor Theological seminary.
In December, 1888, he sailed for Tur-
key as missionary. Constantinople
was the scene of his labors till his re-
turn in 1873.
He promptly learned Armenian, Tur-
kish, and modern Greek, and was set
at the task of forming and conducting
a theological seminary for the training
of native preachers and teachers. This
task he accomplished in spite of almost
insuperable obstacles put in his way
by native bigotry and intolerance.
Hamlin was a man of great mechan-
zeal ability, and thorough believer in
the virtue of hard work. As training
In Industry and thrift, he established
a stove factory and a last factory,
which were successful in teaching the
natives to work, and providing employ
ment for the converts who had been
communicated for their faith.
During the Crimean war DR.. Hamlin
perceived the awful neglect of the suf-
fering English soldiers, and with won
derful energy established a great flour
mill bakery, and laundry. The $4,000
profit from these industries he turned
over to the mission treasury.
Christopher Robert of New York, es-
tablished Robert college, at Constanti-
nople, which has become the great
Christian college of Turkey in Europe.
DR.. Hamlin was its builder and its first
president. The college was opened in
1868. Into the founding of this institu-
ton DR.. Hamlin threw alT his vast en-
ergy and boundless versatility. 1t re-
mains as his enduring monument.
After returning to the United States,
DR.. Hamlin became professor in Ban
gor seminary and then president Of
Middlebury college, and passed his
closing years in Lexington, Mass,
where he died on August s, 1900. His
autobiography, my Life and Times"
is one of the brightest and most in