but what
has been the result even of the two schools he did establish, and
promise to support from the funds of his patron and others? The
burthen has rested on those who were persuaded through him of the
willingness of others to co-operate. One is given up, and the other
has dwindled down to about nineteen pupils, and these are educated on
the native plan, so that, as far as divine light is concerned, it is
in _statu quo_. The two colleges that were to be established at Aleppo
and Tabreez, and towards which a beginning was made in promises and
plans--nothing now is heard of them; nor do I think it is to be
regretted. The object was too mixed for much of spiritual prosperity.
The difficulty is not in getting houses and firmans: it is when you
begin to wish to sit down and attack the strong holds of the enemy.
The same with the letters of patriarchs and bishops: when the thing is
new and they see not its bearings on their system, they are all
friendliness--as among the heads of the Armenians, the Catholics, and
other Bishops. But when they have seen the life-giving power of the
divine word in the souls of two or three of their followers, under the
instruction of such clear brethren as at Shushee, or the American
brethren, all is changed, and when dear Zaremba was at Ech-Miazin the
other day, and endeavoured to get the consent of the Armenian
patriarch to the translation of the Scriptures, by Dittrich, his
reception was every thing but kind; and they have actually dragged
away one of their deacons from the dear brethren at Shushee, to try
him at Ech-Miazin for heresy. I have also heard that the bishop of
Ispahan, who superintends all these countries, even as far as India,
has prohibited the reception of any tracts by his people, and would
not let them have a school till the Roman Catholics appeared there and
established one, taking away some of his flock, when he granted it. In
fact, wherever the hierarchical spirit exists, there a spirit of
domination and pride--there a spirit of Antichrist exists--whether in
the Brahmin, the Mufti, or the Patriarch, there is a body of men who
will not go in themselves, nor let others go in; it must be so, as
Mr. Jowett justly observes, wherever the distinction between laity and
clergy is kept up in opposition to the right and duty of each man to
judge for himself. Mr. Jowett's words are, I think, "The principal
religious characteristic of Syria and the Holy Land, (and he might
have adde