BLISS, Isaac Grout

[s. 112] : Born at Springfield, Ma ., graduated at Amherst College, 5, 1822; July 1844, and studied at And over and New Haven Theological Seminaries. He married Eunice B. Day, of West Springfield, and in 1847 was ordained a mi ionary of the ABCFM. Stationed at Erzerum, Eastern Turkey, he was a pioneer in opening up the valley of the Euphrates to mi ionary influence. Uninterrupted labor and Blind; Mi ions to 95 continued traveling, at tliat time far more dangerous and fatiguing than now, broke down a naturally fine constitution, and in 1S52 he was obliged to visit America, and later to resign his connection with the Board. Scarcely a year Bliiefieias after his resignation culation ran up to 56,628 in the twenty-fifth year of the agency. The winter of 1888-89 was a trying one, and he souglit relief in tlie warmer climate of Egypt, but on February 16, 1889, he pa ed away in A iout, Upper Egypt. He was buried by the being le confining, in the winter of 1857-58 he entered upon it with enthusiasm. He found the agency without any organ i zas ide of a lifelong friend and fellow-laborer. Rev. John Hogg, D.D., at the very outpost of his agency, whence it had been his desire to push on the Bible work into the heart of Darlcest Africa. an invitation came to him from the American Bible Society to go to Constantinople as agent for the Levant. The work tion at all. There were almost no rules as to the distribution of Bibles, and the greater part of the funds received from their sale was applied to general mi ionary work. With great tact and patience, and indomitable will, he set to work to bring order out of confusion. His field was very large, covering the whole Turkish Empire (including Egypt, Syria, and Me so pot am i a), Persia and Greece. Located at Constantinople, the port by which most mi ionaries to those lands entered into their fields, and where BLODGET, Rev. Henry: Born in Bucks port, Me., July 25, 1825. Died in Bridge port, Conn., May 23, 1903. For forty years a mi ionary of the in China, and for eiglit years a Corporate Member of the Board. He graduated from Yale College in the cla of 1848, and was. tutor there from 1850 to 1853. He studied in New Haven and And over Theological Seminaries, and was ordained as mi ionary in January, 1854, sailing that same year for China. He arrived at Shanghai in September, 1854, and began to preach in the Chinese language a year later. Dr. Blodget was engaged at Shanghai and at Tientsin ten years, but in 1864 he located at Peking, wliere he remained until 1894, when, owing to the increasing infirmities of old age, he returned to America. He had a wide influence in Peking, being universally respected by representatives of the Government, mi ionaries of all societies and the Chinese Christians. For the last thirty years of his life in Peking Dr. Blodget gave his time largely to literary work. He gave his best strength for nearly ten years, with a company of five, to tlie translation of tlie New Testament into the Mandarin Colloquial of Peking. He translated 194 hymns and six doxologies, and, besides the New Testament and these hymns. Dr. Blodget translated several le er works, as Thomas a Kempis, The Reformed Church Catechism, by Philip Schaff President Edwards’ Consecration, and Henry and His Bearer. He also carried from Shanghai a Catechism and Trimetrical Cla ic, which he rendered into Pekingese Colloquial, and which has been widely distributed in North China. But Dr. Blodget, while giving his time largely to literary work, strongly the evangelistic po e ed spirit. Every morning he had a Bible cla for helpers ABCFM for many years the annual meetings of the whole mi ionary force were lield, his liouse was always open, and there were few of those who pa ed through that did not enjoy its hospitality. He traveled some, tho not as mvich as he felt e ential, directing almost tlie entire work from the little office that he shared with the treasurer of the mi ion of the at Constantinople. Their cramped and unhealthy quarters were a constant trial, and at last the resolution was formed to build a Bible House for Constantinople corresponding to that in New York. Called home in 1866 to attend the Jubilee of the Bible Society, he pre ed the need of such a building. The Society was unwilling to take it up, but allowed him his time to raise the needed money, and in 1867 he returned with tlie requisite funds. The securing of a site and the erection of the building met witli the most determined opposition, but in 1872 the edifice was complete and universally recognized as the handsomest busine building in the city. It has since been enlarged as the work has grown. See Bible House, Constantinople. While in the midst of superintending the erection of the Bible House, Dr. Bli took the time, in 1870, to make a hurried visit to America, and secured the transference to Beirut of the great work of electrotyping and printing the Arabic Bible. This had hitherto been done at the Bible House in New York, and the change seemed to many hazardous, yet by dint of most earnest appeals he secured tlie endorsement by the Society of a step since recognized to be one of the most important in its history. Then came the question of the Turkish versions. There were at that time three, in the Arabic, the Armenian, and the Greelv characters, ABCFM; and inquirers, and he gave time to preaching in Once or the street chapel in the afternoons. twice in the year he made a tour into the country, and for sixty miles south of Peking tliese visits His life and exerted great influence for good. labors were a permanent contribution to the cause of mi ions. 113