Page 318 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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minds; if you take an old Yezidi and work on him with all your skill, yui§
cannot profit anything, because the nerves of feeling and mind of under §
standing have been deadened for many years. Thus your work becunn.il
three-fold: for the dead nerves you have to give life, that they may fa I
and understand; when they feel and understand, you have very carefullj,
to clean them of the old dirt of false doctrine that they were stuffed withK
when they are clean, alive, and acute, then as a wise architect, you have tJ
put the foundation of true and sound doctrine. But if we start this wort
with children, whose mind is pure, tender, and ready to accept any teaching
what an easy work! We need not prepare them; their conscience is nuR
scared, that we should have trouble with it, as with an old man. WhmE
we need to do is, from the beginning, to lay the corner-stone. which
Christ Jesus, and on Him to build the truth of the gospel, till we have -•
complete building. It is clear that we cannot touch the mental and spirituals
life of a boy except by means of schools.
The second way is helping. All those that are acquainted with tht
Yezidis in this region well know that they are more poor and needy that E
all their neighbors. Most of them are debtors, and pay interest fron$ !
thirty to forty per cent.; they are so much depressed under the weight oi £
debt that they spend most of their time in thinking how to find money ^
pay only the interest on their debts. Perhaps you will think them ullc.|:
inn on the contrary they are very hard workers. But from the beginningjj
they have fallen into the claws of debt, with such high interest, that thrift
are obliged to sell whatever produce they have from their sheep or land
six months before the harvest time, and pay the interest un their debt*
You will see them working hard, reaping in the scorching sunshine, blip.-,
nothing of their toil is theirs. Iml for others. A people in such poverty ajp
the Yezidis are will never think about spiritual life, 1ml all their liniei»P.j
spent in finding their living. What a loving kindness it would be to lutygj
those who are crushed under the care of this world, who have fallen it
die trap of debt! They look around and cry for help, but no ..nr comes an.|
lends them a helping band. Indeed, there is no greater Christian love l
than to pay all their debts for a low rate of live per cent. This act ui
kindness, which they have never dreamed of, would lie a sure step to lead *
them to Christ and success. i
If they are fed and clothed, but the body is attacked and weakened b}*-:
sickness, troubled with pain, again the mind cannot think apart from tli|
body; all attention is paid to that part which is suffering. The l)rait|
vigorously ponders to find a way to release his sister eye. which is rcd.f
swollen, and paining. The way is found: the Yezidi is sent to Sheikh
s
Massasor. On the way to the shrine of this holy Sheikh, he never sj)eak*r
to anybody, lest the spell should break. He has a jug of water in his hand fe'
>•
on reaching the shrine, the jug is broken; with the water in it, some hiqj U
is made, which is put in a circle around the eye. and some on the eyelids
When all this is accomplished, the patient returns to his house wilhuisfc
saying a single word. What is the result? The poor eye inflames morc.6 .
the pain increases. He visits two more shrines to get rest, but with thrE-
same result. At last he comes to me and asks me for some eye-drops; iiff -
I have them, I put some in his eye and tell him to come every day that Iff j
may treat him. Another is attacked with fever. At once he goes to. the!A

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