From the Bishop of Rhodos

“November 14. Received a letter this morning from the Bishop of Rhodos to, addressing me as ‘ the honorable Father,’ 1 the illustrious preacher of the Gospel,’. He begs me to overlook and forgive a misdemeanor in one of the young Armenians in the high school (he had stolen books from us), as he now appeared penitent, and the bishop would himself be a guarantee for his good behavior in time to come, if we would take him again into our service. Another instance of the confidence and kind feelings of these high dignitaries of the church towards us and our objects.

“ November 30. The good work among the Armenians has been steadily advancing from week to week, and it now seems to be carrying bishops, bankers, every thing before it. And what is still more glorious, the work of regeneration has absolutely commenced, and is following right on after the work of reformation. God’s blessed word was the first in order, and now it is God’s blessed Spirit. 4\re have seen nothing like this, nothing to be compared with it, since we left America, now almost thirteen years ago.

“ December 9. At Hass-Keuy called on Der Kevork, the learned priest of whose ordination, together with that of fourteen others, I have made mention. The evidence he gives of being truly ‘ a man after God’s own heart ’ is becoming more and more decisive. This priest has the charge of a school consisting of three hundred and seventy-five boys, with some half a dozen under-teachers. A class of twenty, the finest boys in the school, were attending, under his more immediate direction, to the critical study of the New Testament.

Endeavor to understand

After hearing them read, construe, and explain, I expressed the great gratification I felt in seeing them have in their own hands, read with their own eyes, and endeavor to understand with their own judgments, the words of eternal life. I then added that I had read the whole New Testament through five or six times in Ancient Greek, several times in Turkish, Armeno-Turkish, and Modern Greek, several times in Italian, Latin, and Arabic, and between fifty and sixty times in English; all this not carelessly, but with thought and reflection, and not only with attention of the mind, but with a sincere and prayerful desire of the heart to understand it, and that the more I read it the better I liked it.