(
This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Our country's sin. A sermon preached to the members and families of the Nestorian mission at Oroomiah, Persia, July 3, 1853
(This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)
This reproduction was printed from a digital file created at the Library of Congress as part of an extensive scanning effort started with a generous donation from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Library is pleased to offer much of its public domain holdings free of charge online and at a modest price in this printed format. Seeing these older volumes from our collections rediscovered by new generations of readers renews our own passion for books and scholarship.
Justin Perkins was an American missionary to Persia.
Background
He was born on March 5, 1805 in the Ireland Parish of West Springfield, now a part of the city of Holyoke, Massachussets, United States, the son of William and Judith (Clough) Perkins, and a descendant of John Perkins who came to Massachusetts in 1631 and two years later settled in Ipswich. He spent his boyhood on a farm.
Education
After experiencing a religious awakening at the age of eighteen, he studied at Westfield Academy and in 1829 was graduated with honors at Amherst. Later two years he was a student at Andover Theological Seminary.
Career
He taught at Amherst Academy, for one year was tutor in Amherst College and finally he was ordained in the summer of 1833.
In September he sailed as a missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, his appointment being to the remnant of the Nestorian Christians in northwestern Persia. He found the people poor, ignorant, and degraded, living in a state of serfdom under their Mohammedan rulers. In the autumn of 1835 he established his missionary center in Urumiah, the reputed home of Zoroaster, near a lake of the same name. Religious work was begun at once and was carried on for the most part in entire harmony with the Nestorian clergy, in whose churches the missionaries were soon invited to preach.
A printing press was established at Urumiah in 1840 and from it issued the eighty works of which Perkins was either the author or translator. Under his editorship a periodical, the Rays of Light, devoted to "Religion, Education, Science, Missions, Juvenile Matters, Miscellany and Poetry" was issued, which was continued after his death. His translations of portions of the Scriptures appeared at various times; but his principal Bible translations were the New Testament (1846) and the Old Testament (1852), both printed with the ancient and modern Syriac in parallel columns; and the Old Testament with references, in modern Syriac (1858).
His other numerous publications include books for day and Sunday-schools, hymn books, and translations of religious classics such as the works of Watts, Bunyan, Doddridge, and Baxter. The high esteem in which he was held by Nestorians and Persians alike enabled him to acquire valuable Syriac manuscripts which have enriched European libraries and have greatly aided scholars in linguistic and theological studies.
His contributions to the journals of the American Oriental Society, the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, and the Missionary Herald, were numerous and important.
He died at the home of a nephew in Chicopee, Massachussets.
(
This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
Personality
Perkins was especially acceptable to the Persians on account of his uniformly polished and courtly manners. He had an iron will and a robust constitution and he worked with persistence and clocklike regularity.
Connections
On July 21, 1833, he married Charlotte Bass of Middlebury; of their seven children, one son survived his parents.