, that
there is hardly a Nestorian in the mountains, who sympathizes with
the doctrine or discipline of the Dissenters, whenever these differ
from their own, yet I am persuaded, that, from the Patriarch to the
poorest peasant, all value the important services of a good
physician; and besides this, they highly prize the money which the
missionaries have already expended, and are still expending among
them with no niggardly hand, in presents, buildings, schools, etc."1

1 _Nestorians and their Rituals_, vol. i. pp. 248, 249.

The reader need not be told, that Congregationalists and
Presbyterians are neither Dissenters nor Independents; and these two
large bodies of Christians founded the mission.

The object of Mr. Badger was to alienate the Patriarch from the
American mission; and he appears to have succeeded. Mar Shimon, in a
letter addressed to the Archbishop and Bishops of the English
Church, in August, 1843, speaks thus of the missionaries, with whom
he was on confidential and somewhat intimate terms before the visit
of Mr. Badger.

"Such was our condition, remaining in our own country in perfect
peace and security, when, about three years since, persons came to
us from the new world called America, and represented themselves as
true Catholic Christians; but when we became acquainted with their
way, we found that they held several errors, since they deny the
order of the Priesthood committed to us by our Lord, nor do they
receive the oecumenical councils of the Church, nor the true
traditions of the holy Fathers, nor the efficacy of the sacraments
of salvation, which Christ hath bequeathed to his Church, namely,
Baptism, and the holy Eucharist; on which account we must beware of
their working among us. But when your messenger, the pious presbyter
George, came to us, and delivered into our hands your letters, we
were filled with joy when we read their contents, and learned
therefrom your spiritual and temporal prosperity. And we have now
given up all others, that we may be united with you, in brotherhood
and true Christian love."1

1 _Nestorians and their Rituals_, vol. i. p. 273.

Five months before the date of this letter, and after the return of
Mr. Badger to Mosul, Dr. Grant received a letter from Mar Shimon,
filled with Oriental protestations of undiminished attachment, and
with urgent invitations to revisit the mountains. He went,
accompanied by Mr. Laurie. They were kindly received as before, and
spent