and until some time in the autumn.

Still the position of the Protestants was everywhere one of trial.
They were separated from the Armenian community, but not united with
any other. The government, though determined to protect them from
persecution, did not know exactly what to do. The municipal
regulations of Constantinople forbad marriage, baptism, or burial
without the cognizance of the civil power. To obtain a permit for
marriage, it was necessary to present to the head of the police a
certificate from the Patriarch; and the Patriarch must report the
name of every baptized child to the same officer for enrolment.
Before every burial, permission must be obtained from the Board of
Health, and this also must be through the Patriarch. Then every
traveller must have a passport, which could not be obtained without
a voucher from the Patriarch. It had become quite obvious, that the
Patriarch could no longer act as their civil representative at the
Porte.1

1 _Christianity Revived_, p. 241.

In order to promote the internal peace of the empire, the Sultan
found it necessary to reduce the power of the Armenian Patriarch, by
appointing a council of laymen, for secular matters, and another of
ecclesiastics and laymen, for matters spiritual; the Patriarch not
being allowed to act without their sanction.

The number of Protestant Armenians, including men, women and
children, now separated from their former churches, was about one
thousand. Nearly three thousand more were known to entertain
Protestant sentiments, though still retaining a loose connection
with their former churches. Those who were more or less awakened to
a knowledge of their errors, and secretly desired the progress of
the reformation, must have amounted to several thousands more; but
of these no accurate estimate could be made.

The six churches formed previous to May, 1848, were as yet small,
the whole number of members being only one hundred and sixty-six.
Ninety-nine were at Constantinople, twenty-six at Nicomedia, twelve
at Adabazar, sixteen at Trebizond, five at Erzroom, and eight at
Aintab. But neither the number of church members, nor the size of
the congregations, nor the number of those who came to the
missionaries for religious conversation, told the whole story. There
was a deep movement going on in the Armenian community itself, which
might be expected to produce great changes in the whole body. In
some of the churches there were contentions,