CHAPTER XXI.

SYRIA.

1845-1856.

Good tidings were received in 1845 concerning Aintab, in Northern
Syria, communicated by Dr. Kerns, of the London Jews Society, and by
Bedros, an Armenian vartabed, who had been banished from
Constantinople by the Patriarch Matteos.1 His banishment was to the
Armenian monastery at Jerusalem, but he turned aside from Beirut to
Northern Syria. Letters came also from prominent men in Aintab,
written in behalf of a large number of families in that place who
had heard the gospel from Bedros, and were resolved to abandon the
errors of their Church. They asked for a missionary to instruct
them, and said their need of aid was the greater, as they were
violently persecuted by their bishop.

1 See chapter xxii.

Mr. Thomson was instructed by the mission to visit Aleppo and
Aintab. He went by way of Antioch, and reached Aleppo in August.
Bedros was there, having been driven from Aintab, and Mr. Thomson
concluded it was not prudent for him to proceed farther. He
accordingly wrote to the Protestants of Aintab, requesting more
information as to their condition and wishes. The distance was two
long days' ride from Aleppo, and on the fifth day an answer came,
that eighteen of their number, including two priests, were coming to
see him. A message arrived soon after, stating that they had
prepared to come, but fearing the commotion it would produce, they
had concluded to abandon the visit and write. Their letter contained
a very earnest appeal for a missionary, with strong affirmations of
attachment to the gospel, and their determination to adhere to it at
all hazards. Mr. Thomson stated, in his reply, why a missionary
could not be sent from Beirut, and that he would forward their
letters, and those of Bedros, to the missionaries at Constantinople,
with a request, that a missionary might be sent who could preach
both in Turkish and Armenian; or at least an experienced Armenian
preacher, to assist Bedros in this important work. Just before
leaving Aleppo, Mr. Thomson received from them another letter,
declaring their satisfaction with this arrangement, and their
gratitude for his interest in their welfare. "We are the fish in the
great sea," they said, "and wait for you to spread the gospel net
for us."

Mr. Thomson estimated the nominally Christian population of Aleppo
at twenty thousand, and the whole number of inhabitants at sixty
thousand. The most promising were the Armenians, though