agan India, vainly
seeking for rest. One of the most noted cases of this kind was that
of an Armenian. To pacify the clamors of conscience, he became an
inmate of a monastery far in the interior, where he undertook to
perform the most menial services for the monks. Failing to find
peace in this, he penetrated into the depths of a wilderness,
clothed himself in sackcloth, and lived on the coarsest fare, away
from the abodes of man. Here also he was disappointed. Returning to
Constantinople, he united himself to the papal Armenians, hoping in
their communion to find the relief he sought. He became chief singer
in one of the churches near the capital, and endeavored to derive
comfort, but found nothing to impart peace in the strictest forms of
papal worship. A friend now advised him to visit the American
missionaries. He had heard of them only as heretics and enemies of
the Christian faith, but was at length persuaded to accompany some
friends to Mr. Hamlin's house. Taking a seat as near the door as
possible, he listened in silence; then proposed some objections; but
gradually became interested, and drew his chair nearer and nearer to
his newly found teacher; until at length he seated himself on the
floor, literally at the very feet of Mr. Hamlin, and there drank in,
with mute astonishment, those divine truths which he had never heard
before, but which revealed to him the only sure foundation for peace
of mind. There was an instantaneous change in his whole character;
and we hear of him twelve years afterwards, as a living witness of
the truth, and a faithful laborer in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.1

1 Dwight's _Christianity Revived in the East_, p.118.

In October of this year, it was deemed advisable to suspend the
preaching service at Constantinople for a few Sabbaths, in
consequence of violent opposition on the part of some Armenians,
formerly reckoned as brethren. This unexpected and painful change
was owing to their forming an acquaintance with individuals who had
imbibed the errors, which threaten the unity of the Episcopal
Churches of England and America. Just before the outbreaking of this
opposition, Mr. Dwight thus gives utterance to his feelings: "How
wonderful are the ways of Providence in regard to the Armenians! In
one way or another, men are continually brought from distant places
to the capital, and here they become acquainted for the first time
with the Gospel; and returning to their homes, they spread