hile the sky of Persia was covered with heavy clouds of ignorance and
even the dim ray of light in Assyria was almost quenched, suddenly
God, in His great wisdom and wise providence, awakened the consciences
of godly men in America to think about mission work in Persia. In the year
of 1832 Messrs. Smith and Dwight were sent by the A.B.C.F.M. to exam-
ine the degenerate and antique churches of the East. They traveled through
Syria, Asia Minor, Armenia and Persia. In the latter country they remained
in the city of Oroomiah for several weeks, and met the bishops and leaders
of the Assyrian church with whom they visited the villages of Assyria. Men,
women and children everywhere greeted them with great joy. In this way
they became acquainted with the needs of the nations. Mr. Smith said at
that time: "I see that this field is white and ready for the harvest. In all my
journey I have seen no people as willing to accept the gospel as are the As-
syrians of Persia. It is a good field for the work."
On their return to America Messrs. Smith and Dwight reported the needs
of the Assyrians and their readiness to accept the gospel. But the question
3 MOOSHIE G. DANIEL
arose, Where is the man qualified for the work, who can overcome the diffi-
culties? In the beginning of every great work there must always be a unique
man to lead it. God found only Moses among all the Israelites as being com-
petent to bring His people out of Egypt. He elected George Washington to
make free America. Even so, in His providence, he found the Rev. Justin
Perkins to be the man equipped for this great mission work. In 1835, Justin
Perkins and Dr. Grant as his medical assistant were appointed to the work
in Persia. These two blessed messengers of Emanuel shone in the dark skies
of Persia, and I believe will everlastingly shine in the sky of heaven.
They were received by the natives as if God had sent them from heaven.
Many Assyrians went out to meet them with tears of joy in their eyes. Per-
haps some one will ask why the Assyrians were so eager to receive the mis-
sionaries. Were they awakened to their spiritual condition? The answer is,
they were not fully awakened to their great need of spirituality, but they
were eager to be saved from the wicked plan of the Mohammedans to con-
vert them to that faith by force, if need be.
CHAPTER II.
METHOD OF WORK.
M
r. Perkins gained the confidence and won the love of the people by mak-
ing himself one of their number, by adopting their customs and speak-
ing of Assyria as "our nation." In this way he got very close to the people,
they believed him their friend, and were not afraid to come near to him. In
adopting the native dress it must be remembered of him that he wore the
hat commonly worn by aged religious men. It was made of sheep-skin and
was not less than two feet high.
TheAssyrians churcheswere open to the new missionaries and they preached
two or three times every Sunday. There was marked interest in the new
teachers from the beginning, and every service was attended by 200 or 300
natives. In addition to the observance of Sunday the Assyrians have nu-
merous sacred or saint's days; at such times the churches are better attended
than on Sundays. Services were also lead by the missionaries on these days.
Through every day of the week the missionaries were busy scattering the
b
