my sermon out of my
pocket and disappeared with it." Being unable to make the address from
memory he dismissed the audience.

The church has developed along this line, however, and to-day in
Oroomiah their services differ very little from that of the evangelical
churches. Once a tiny rivulet the evangelical church has become a brook
which flows in beauty and waters much of a thirsty land. It is the hope
of Persia.

The statistics of mission work in Persia in 1895 were as follows: Five
presbyteries, fifty-five churches, 2,600 members, 4,000 Sunday-school
scholars, 4,500 attendants at preaching services. These five
presbyteries make one synod. Besides this there are two other
presbyteries with about 500 church members. There are seven missionary
stations, viz., Oroomiah, Tabriz, Tehron, Salmas, Hamadon, Myandab and
Moesul. These are in charge of American missionaries; besides them
there are many native preachers in the different towns and cities.
Oroomiah is the mother station. Most of these missions are dependent on
missionaries, but some of them are self-supporting. The total number of
Protestants in Persia will number fully 15,000.

CHAPTER IV.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

COLLEGE.

The first need of the nation was a college. In 1836 Justin Perkins
gathered a small number of deacons and priests to teach them for the
work of spreading the gospel. The native priests were very ignorant,
but Mr. Perkins believed it would take fewer years to prepare them for
the work than children, so he opened a rude school in a cellar. At that
time the priests in common with all other people drank wine and were
frequently drunk. When Dr. Perkins opened his school for the native
priests and deacons many of them brought a bottle of wine for use
during school hours. Dr. Perkins dealt patiently with them but stated
that it was against the rules of the school to bring wine. They replied
that they would not come to study if they were not allowed to bring
wine. So wine they brought. One native preacher who is now an old man
and a fine singer, told at a recent synod of this early school, of
which he was a member: One day they got too much wine and went upstairs
and began to dance. Dr. Perkins called to them and asked them to dance
a little slower. They replied to the teacher that they would dance
slower, but kept on dancing. In time the habit of drinking was left off
and total abstinence was firmly established.

The school in the cel