The missionaries had no earthly friend nearer than Mr.
Stevens at Tabreez, who did all he could for them; and the pious
natives felt shut up to God as their only refuge.
Yahya Khan, the governor of the province, now wrote urging on Mar
Shimon, and ordered his agent in Oroomiah to aid him to the utmost
of his power. As Yahya Khan was brother-in-law to the king, he was
able to do the mission much harm at the court; and the patriarch,
encouraged by such a coadjutor, set himself with renewed zeal to
destroy it; but in September, the prince royal summoned him to
Tabreez, and the nobility hardly daring to resist the order, he was
reluctantly preparing to comply, when news came of the death of the
shah, and all was confusion. The missionaries had been praying for
help against their dreaded enemy, Yahya Khan, and lo! his power to
harm them perished with his master.
The night after the news reached Oroomiah, anarchy reigned, and all
kinds of crime abounded. Five men were killed near the mission
premises, and the firing of guns was heard all night long; but
though outside were robberies and murders, within that enclosure all
was peace.
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