e
of the men put his head through the door, and said, "Good-morning,
reverend sir, come here, and preach to us the Gospel." September
22d, a company of Armenian men and women, four of them from
Nicomedia, came and asked him "to teach them out of the Gospel." On
the 24th eight, besides the students, were present at the services,
forenoon and afternoon; two from Galata, one from Constantinople,
three from Nicomedia, and two from Adabazar. On the day following,
thirteen were present, most of whom had heard the maledictions of
the Armenian Patriarch pronounced, the day before, on all who should
visit the missionaries. On a day in December devoted to family
visitations, Mr. Dwight preached the Gospel to more than thirty
women.

It was not the missionaries alone, who labored in word and doctrine.
Several priests were "obedient to the faith," and preached it more
or less formally; and intelligent lay brethren,--scattered abroad,
some by persecution, some in the prosecution of their worldly
business,--like the primitive disciples, preached the Word; that is,
they took such opportunities as they could get, to make known the
truth to those of their countrymen who were disposed to hear it.
Vertanes, who had suffered imprisonment and banishment for the sake
of Christ, made an extensive missionary tour through Armenia.

In the summer of 1843, a body of Turkish police was seen conducting
a young man, under twenty years of age, in the European dress,
through the streets of Constantinople. His face was pale, and his
arms were pinioned behind him. Arriving at a place of public
concourse, they suddenly halted, the prisoner kneeled, and a blow of
the yatagan severed his head from the body. His crime was apostasy
from the Mohammedan faith. He was an obscure Armenian, and while
under the influence of alcohol had abjured the faith of his fathers,
and declared himself a Mohammedan. He had not submitted, however, to
the rite of circumcision before he repented of his rashness. The
penalty of apostasy being death, he fled to Greece. In about a year,
impatient to see his widowed mother, he returned in a Frank dress,
but was soon recognized, imprisoned, tortured to induce him to
reabandon his original belief, and even paraded through the streets
with his hands tied behind his back, as if for execution; but upon
his proclaiming aloud his firm belief in Christianity, he was
sentenced to decapitation. The British ambassador, Sir Stratford
Canning