in
the seventy-seventh year of his age.

The characteristics of this remarkable man are everywhere apparent
in the preceding narrative. He was evidently designed by Providence
to be a reformer; and though he lived not to witness anything that
could be called a reformation among the Greek people, the battle he
fought through so many years with the bigotry and intolerance of the
Greek hierarchy, will be held in perpetual remembrance. A
reformation has begun, and Dr. King, more than any other Protestant,
was the instrument of Providence in bringing it about. To him is it
owing, preeminently, that the Scriptures, since the year 1831, have
been so extensively used in the schools, and that, in Greece, "the
Word of God is not bound." It is not forgotten, that others labored
with him, and not in vain; but it is mainly to the preaching of Dr.
King, during his protracted residence in Greece, in connection with
his persistent and triumphant struggle with the Greek hierarchy,
that we owe, under God, the visible decline of prejudice against
evangelical truth and religious liberty.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE NESTORIANS.

1841-1848.

Mr. and Mrs. Perkins, finding a sea voyage necessary for the
recovery of her health, left Oroomiah July 5, 1841, and arrived at
New York on the 11th of January, just in time to be present at the
special meeting of the Board in that city. Their passage from Smyrna
had been prolonged to one hundred and nine days, and much solicitude
was felt for their safety. They were accompanied by Mar Yohannan,
who desired so earnestly to see the new world, that he could not be
dissuaded from coming. As the early friend and constant helper of
the mission, and as representing one of the most interesting
branches of the ancient Church of Christ, he was received by the
Board and the religious community with Christian affection, and his
visits to different parts of the country with Mr. Perkins were both
pleasant and useful.

The number of pupils in the seminary at the close of 1841 was
forty-six; there were also eighteen in the boarding-school for
girls, and there were twenty free schools in as many villages, all
taught by Nestorian priests. The free schools contained four hundred
and seventy pupils, of whom forty were girls; making the whole
number in the schools five hundred and sixteen. The press, during
its first year, sent forth sixteen hundred volumes, and three
thousand six hundred tracts, containing in