The Bosphorus which flows past the apex of the triangle

The Bosphorus, which flows past the apex of the triangle, has always a strong current running either northwards or southwards, according to the prevailing wind. With rare exceptions there is always a corresponding wind blowing across the city. These winds have at all times done much to keep the city healthy, and at the present day contribute more than any other cause to remedy the mischief to which the want of simple sanitary precautions would give rise. The site, excellent for strength in defence, salubrious, and convenient for commerce, had indeed been admirably chosen by Constantine for the establishment of the New Home, and nearly nine centuries of prosperity had added to the wealth with which its great founder had endowed it. The two chief sources of this wealth had been its political pre-eminence and its commerce.

As the capital city of the eastern division of the Roman Advantages Empire and the residence of its emperor and nobility, Constantinople drew together a large population. It had gradually attracted all that was most noteworthy throughout the empire in art and science. The records of the Christian Church bear witness to the acuteness of intellect with which the great theological questions of the time were, in and about Constantinople, discussed and settled for centuries. The student of law recognizes that the body of jurisprudence which was developed in the New Rome, and which is known as Roman law, owes to the labors of jurists in Constantinople most of its precision, its subtilty, its grasp of principles, and its wonderful generalizations.

Powerful impressions made upon it by Constantinople

The modern world still retains the powerful impressions made upon it by Constantinople. The leading dogmas established by its famous divines and its councils are recognized throughout Christendom. Roman law, which never ceased to be practised throughout Western Europe, has, since its reformation under Napoleon, become the law of the whole civilized world with the exception of the English-speaking peoples, and even our law has been largely added to by doctrines taken, sometimes avowedly, sometimes without recognition, from the same storehouse of legal principles. All that Paris and Berlin have done towards attracting the ablest professors and specialists in the countries of which they are the capitals had been done by Constantinople. The sculptor, the painter, and the architect found the best market for their talents in the capital; the poet or the divine, the wrestler or the actor, his most appreciative audiences.

Common to all Roman subjects

Each subject of the empire under such a system had the benefit or the burden of the laws of the people to which he belonged. He was bound by the laws which were common to all Roman subjects, but in addition the courts took notice of the law and customs of the race of which he was a member. The foreigner was in a different position. Roman law afforded him protection. For the rest, foreigners might settle their own disputes and regulate their own affairs as they liked. The Armenian in Constantinople had, as an occupant of Roman territory, to obey the laws which had been imposed for the preservation of public order, and to pay certain taxes. But questions of marriage, succession to property, of personal status generally, were left to be settled either by the Armenians themselves or by a magistrate named by the emperor to administer Armenian law.

This condition of things was known to other cities, but received its largest development in Constantinople, Treaties or capitulations where the system which created it has always respecting foreign resisted, and still exists, under the treaties or capitulations with the Porte ; a system which is a striking illustration of the continuity of history. In other words, the system of capitulations under which foreigners to-day reside in Turkey is the one under which they have always resided there. As no writer with whom I am acquainted lias called attention to this fact, I may be excused for sketching briefly the history of the capitulations.

Deacon and other Greek authors

The first treaty granting the right of exterritoriality which I have been able to find was made with the Warings, a people who have left Their history. tjiejr name England, and of whom I shall have more to say later on. In 905 and 945, when these treaties were made, the Warings were more usually called Russians, though one has only to read in Leo the Deacon and other Greek authors the accounts of their appearance, to recognize them as relations. From that date we have an unbroken series of capitulations down to the time of the Moslem conquest in 14:53. The Yenetians obtained such concessions early in the eleventh century.

Feeling of hostility between the two churches

But the feeling of hostility between the two churches was too strong to allow of a harmonious working together of their respective forces. The great breach in the Christian Church had been, during several centuries, continually widening. The Eastern Church, which was the more educated, had occupied itself with philosophical and theological questions with which the churchmen of the West gave themselves little trouble. The West had been more engaged with the spread of Christianity than with the accuracy of its teaching.

The Eastern called itself £)rthodox. The Western claimed rather to be Catholic; and the difference in the names by which each chose to be called gives an indication of the difference of the leading tendency of each Church respectively. “ The East,” says Dean Milman, “ enacted creeds; the West, discipline.” The East was occupied with speculation, the West with practice. The want of harmony between the two churches continually displayed itself; and in the twelfth century, with which we are most concerned, there took place the definite, formal separation between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches.

Spirit of chivalry

Meantime in the “West, and in the latter half of the twelfth Decline of the century, the spirit of chivalry and the religious it among the thesis which had been the chief motive forces of crusaders. the first and second crusades were rapidly disappearing. The nobles of Western Europe were beginning to find occupation at home. A movement had begun among them which spread to England, and in the time of John produced lasting benefits at Kunnymead. The barons of the West were beginning to make common cause with the people against incompetent sovereigns. The noble and lofty ideal which the early Crusaders had tried to realize, which a few years later was revived in Saint Louis, was in great part forgotten. These men, from Godfrey downwards, had dreamed of establishing Christ’s kingdom, of trying to execute an almost impossible task, because it was that which God had given them.

Great Palace which adjoined Hagia Sophia

Andronicos, on his arrival in the city, went at once to the Great Palace which adjoined Hagia Sophia.

The emperor returns to the 1 ts windows he could see much that passed. His city.

first idea was to attack the populace in and around the Great Church, and his orders were given to this effect, but the imperial troops had no heart for the fight. They could see that all sections of the people were animated with but one object, to replace their old ruler by Isaac. Among their own number there were many who sympathized with the people against the white-bearded monster whose crown was now hanging in the balance.

When the tyrant saw that his orders were not obeyed, he himself took a bow, went up into one of the balconies of the palace, and drew upon those who were below. The people saw him, and cared nothing for his arrows or for anything he could do lie then endeavored to treat. Speaking, probably, still from the balcony overlooking the precincts of the Great Church, where the surging populace which had rallied round Isaac Angelos was closely packed together, he proposed to abdicate in favor of his son Manuel. The proposal was treated with scorn. The mob answered that they would have neither him nor his son.

Every kind of opprobrious epithet was hurled at him. His appearance had only added to the popular fury. The populace, no longer content with declaring for Isaac, determined to revenge itself upon their enemy. An attack was made upon the palace. A small gate called Karea was broken open, and the mob rushed through in pursuit of their victim. Andronicos saw that resistance was useless, and that the only chance of saving his life lay in flight. Hastily throwing aside a cross which he usually wore, and by which he might have been recognized, taking off his purple buskins, and exchanging the imperial hat for a common Russian cap, he reentered the galley which had brought him from his summer palace, and, taking his young wife and a concubine with him, he fled the capital with all speed, in order, if possible, to take refuge among the Russians.

Frederic was entirely successful

In the spring of 1190 Koutbeddin, to whose share Si was had fallen, attacked the army of Frederic. During a month’s hard fighting, in which, according to some accounts, 300,000 Turks were beaten, Frederic was entirely successful. In one battle 5000 Turks were slain. After Iconium had been captured, amid a slaughter in which 27,000 of the enemy perished, Frederic continued his march.

When he neared Alexandretta he received offers of assistance from Leo of Armenia, who was engaged in attacking the Turks. The incident is interesting as showing the vitality which remained in the Armenian kingdom, and suggests that under a very slight change of circumstances a strong Christian kingdom might have been re-established from Alexandretta to the Caspian, which might have been maintained as the first line for the defence of Christendom.

Leo continued to give aid to the Crusaders, and at length, in 1200, during the internal divisions among the sons of Kilidji Arslan, he received Kai Khosroe, the Sultan of Iconium, as a fugitive seeking his protection. In truth, the Selju- kian Turks had become so completely weakened by the continual attacks of the empire, and by the partial damming of the stream of emigrants by the re-establishment of Armenia and Georgia, that after the severe losses suffered at the hands of the German Crusaders, they are scarcely heard of until after the fall of Constantinople.

The long struggle against this brave, fanatical, and persistent enemy had. however, wearied out the in straggle had exhausted habitants of Asia Minor. The exactions of the empire.

Reasonable hope of peace

Empire, in order to meet the invaders, made the population ready to accept any conditions which gave a reasonable hope of peace holidays bulgaria. Many of the Christian subjects of the emperor took advantage of the inducements which the leaders of the Turks began to hold out to them, and emigrated from the imperial territories into those of a sultan who governed better than usual.

The sketch that I have here given of the struggle with the Seljukian Turks shows how formidable was the difficulty which they constituted for the empire. They were defeated in a long series of battles, and yet they continually renewed the struggle. Great armies were slaughtered, and yet new ones shortly after took the field. The victory of the empire was on several occasions so decisive, and the number of Turks slain so great, that the Homans might well think themselves justified in believing that they had annihilated the foe.

Immigrants from Central Asia

The Crusaders, too, inflicted what they thought to be crushing, and what were really very serious, blows. But the constant flow of a stream of immigrants from Central Asia recruited the strength of the invaders, and Homans and Crusaders were alike powerless to put an end to their progress. The empire had, as we shall see, other and powerful enemies to contend against. The struggle it had maintained for a century and a half against the Turks, and the loss of revenue from so wealthy a territory as that which it had lost, had greatly weakened it.

The cost in men and money had drained the imperial treasury, and compelled the emperors to inflict a burden of taxation upon their subjects greater than they could bear. Ho fact could show more conclusively to what desperate straits Asia Minor had come than that Christian populations should have voluntarily exchanged the rule of the empire for that of the Turk. Whole districts had been allowed to go out of cultivation. Villages had disappeared. Cities of ancient renown were rapidly dwindling down to insignificant villages, or were becoming altogether forgotten.

Asia Minor, instead of being a source of strength to the empire, had become one of weakness. The increasing attacks of a barbarous horde, whoso losses were immediately supplied by the stream of barbarians whom the hope of plunder and religious fanaticism attracted, had lessened the strength of the empire, largely exhausted its resources, and diminished its reputation.

August Edict registered in the proper department

When this, my Imperial will, shall be brought to your knowledge and appreciation, you will nave this August Edict registered in the proper department, and cause it to be perpetuated in the hands of the above-mentioned subjects, and you will see to it that its requirements be always executed in their full import.

Thus be it known to thee, and respect my sacred signet.

Written in the holy month of Moharrem, A. H. 1267 (November, 1850).

Given in the protected city of Constantinople

Even this did not fully protect the Protestants. Its provisions were disregarded by the governors of some of the provinces, and persecution of the Protestants continued. In 1853, another Firman was issued, and sent to all the governors, as well as the head-men of the Protestants, requiring that the previous Charters should be strictly enforced.

IMPERIAL FIRMAN OF 1853.

Let attention be given to the unchangeable, constant, and perpetual execution of the provisions contained in this, my High Finnan; and let care be taken not to contravene it.

To Sdepan, the chosen and honorable Vakeel of the Protestant Christian community! May your honor be increased! When my High Firman reaches you, know that the all-just and sovereign God, the gracious giver of good, according to His divine, excellent, and boundless goodness, having caused my Imperial and August person to reign in regal glory; and having elevated me to the lofty and Imperial rank of Caliph, I give thanks and glory that so many cities and diverse classes and subjects, nations and servants, are committed to the hand of my most just Caliphate, as a special divine trust.

Sultanship

Wherefore, in accordance with the benevolence due from my civil and spiritual power, and also in conformity with the excellent custom “of my Sultanship and my sovereignty, being favored by the divine goodness and aided from above, since my succeeding to the happy Imperial throne, I have used all my care to secure perfect protection to each class of all the subjects of my government, and especially, as in all former times, that they may enjoy perfect quiet in the performance of religious rites and services, without distinction, in accordance with my true and honest Imperial purpose and my benevolent will; and my Imperial government, continually and without ceasing, watches for the same.

Absent about five months

He reached his home at Philadelphia on the 15th of October, having been absent about five months, during which he had preached every Sabbath but one, and had made public addresses nearly every day in the week.

He soon commenced, in compliance with the oft-repeated request of his children, to write out for them the reminiscences of his life. He had always declined doing so on account of his unwillingness to speak or write of himself, but as soon as he entered upon the work, he became deeply interested in the review of his life, and in making the record. As he walked the floor of his room dictating to his youngest daughter, who for years had been his amanuensis, the events of his early life came back to him with such freshness that he seemed literally to be living his life over again; and as one scene after another rose up vividly before him, he indulged freely by turns in laughter and in tears. These reminiscences, as far as he was spared to complete them, form the earlier pages of this volume.

Commending the beloved companion

On Saturday evening, Feb. 16, 1867, he finished the letter giving an account of “ How he found a wife,” which he closed by commending the beloved companion of his youth and of his old age to his children, as worthy of all the love and trust he had reposed in her. The next day he was apparently in perfect health. lie attended the morning service in the church, and in the afternoon was at the Sabbath school.

He remained longer than usual with his Bible class, to arrange with them for the support of one of two young men at Robert College, Constantinople, for whom he had engaged to provide. On returning home, though much wearied, he said to Mrs. Goodell, “ I am so happy; I think I shall get one of these boys started in his education, and if one is provided for, I am sure God will raise up means for the other.” Then folding his hands upon his breast, as was his wont, and seated in his chair, he fell asleep.

Wholly without sympathy for the great object

This verdict upon the principles and course of Sir Ilenry Bulwer was fully confirmed in his speedy recall. He was plainly unfitted to represent the Christian government of Eng-land at such a court as that of the Sublime Porte. Wholly without sympathy for the great object and the great work of the Christian missionaries, he was also so ignorant of the facts in the case, and of religious matters in general, as to assert, and insist upon it, that Dr. Pander was an American, sent out by the American Board; and when the English representative of the British and Foreign Bible Society assured him lie must have been misinformed, for Dr. Pfunder was from England, and was in the service of the English Church Missionary Society, Sir Ilenry replied that he himself was an Englishman, and knew what there was in England, and lie had never heard of such a thing as the Church Missionary Society.

This storm of persecution and excitement, though violent for a time, was not long in passing over and its occurrence was the means of defining more clearly the true character of the religious charter which the Sultan had granted to his subjects, and of making them more secure in the enjoyment of the privileges which had been guaranteed. It is simply wonderful that this Mohammedan power, which by the creed of Islam is pledged to intolerance, if not to persecution, has given so many and such strong pledges, binding itself to carry out the principles of toleration and protection toward those of other religions.

Dr, Goodell’s native politeness and true dignity of heart were never more apparent than when he had occasion to ask pecuniary aid in the work in which he was engaged. This was always done with perfect delicacy, and with the utmost regard for the rights of others; and yet when he made such an application, he did it as though he were presenting a draft which he had received personally from the Lord Jesus, whose is “ the earth and the fulness thereof.” One scarcely can tell which most to admire in the following correspondence, the Christian propriety and freedom of the application, the heartiness with which the generous response was made, or the scriptural simplicity and beauty of the acknowledgment when the response was received: —

CONSTANTINOPLE, Oct. 4, 1864.

To the Rev. W. ADAMS, D.D., Madison Square, Aew York:

Mr. Sarkis Minasian

REV. AND DEAR BROTHER, — Mr. Sarkis Minasian, a native Armenian of Constantinople, but a naturalized American citizen and a good Christian brother, offers to lend us five hundred pounds for two years without interest, on condition that we use it in completing the church which we commenced building several years ago, but had to stop for want of funds. Five hundred pounds is the estimate of the architect, and he has this day commenced the work under the direction of Mr. Minasian and ourselves.

Permitted to be present on every grand occasion or great celebration

But time changed all things, and I must not forget that you are no longer in Fera, but have removed to another country. 1 wonder whether, after our removal to a better country, even an heavenly, we shall be able or be permitted to be present on every grand occasion or great celebration that takes place among the glorified ones above. I know of two bright spirits who had to deny themselves and forego the pleasure of being present on one of the grandest occasions it is possible to conceive. When the Son of God “ went up where He was before,” and all heaven poured forth to do Him honor, and the high command was given, “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in,” two of the blessed angels could not be present. They could not delay a moment to view the pageant, but must hasten down to a little mountain near Jerusalem, in order to give some directions to eleven poor fishermen. And how many others were sent off in other directions to other worlds we know not. But was it no self-denial in them to be absent from this most blessed occasion?

Let us, then, learn to exercise self-denial here, that it may not seem hard to us there. Let us learn to exercise faith, confidence, and a firm trust in God here, for we shall have to confide in Him for ever.

Always your brother,

W. GOODELL.

To another friend in this country, with whom he had long been in correspondence, he wrote: —

Occupy hereafter

“I hope that, in some of the many mansions we may occupy hereafter, we shall be much nearer to each other’s habitations than we now are, and that our good Newbury- port friends will be quite in our neighborhood. What blessed introductions await us! And as to our location, and the location of our friends, as to the particular mansions assigned to us or to them, I presume we shall be perfectly satisfied, not having the slightest change to suggest. Well, let us be satisfied with those we now occupy, for they were assigned to us by the same loving Father.”

Sympathy with Christ in self

I had intended and expected to visit Jacksonville, and I regretted not being able to do so. I had thought much of seeing again the venerable instructor of my youth, to whom more than to any other individual do I feel my obligations for those maxims and precepts which contributed so much to form my character. When I entered Phillips Academy I was already a professor of religion, and perhaps I possessed a little of it; but earnest and spiritual religion, benevolence as an active, living principle, and sympathy with Christ in self- denying effort to save men, were but little understood in my native place. The hints, therefore, which you dropped from day to day, the views you expressed, the exhortations and appeals you made to our consciences, together with the deep religious feeling you manifested in every thing, were all new to me. They were indeed spirit and life to my soul, and they waked up within me new thoughts and purposes, the influence of which I feel to this day. A blessed place was that academy to me, as it has been, I doubt not, to many others. To have seen your face, therefore, once more in the flesh, and, bowing the knee with you in prayer, to have joined in those fervent supplications with which many of your former pupils were so much edified, would indeed have been very gratifying; but it was not permitted.

Away from five beloved children

I am now on my return to my field of labor in the East, and we have already passed the Western Islands. This our second departure from our native land was much more trying to us than was our first, for we had now to tear ourselves away from five beloved children whom we left behind. May this painful separation be greatly blessed both to them and to us. To your prayers do we commend them, together with ourselves and our work. And may your own life be long preserved, that you may still for many years be a blessing to your friends! and that in the important sphere you now occupy you may be as useful to ten thousands of the children’s children as in times past you have been to the children themselves.

It is not probable that we shall ever meet again here; but no matter, for we are almost there. Time seems short, and eternity near; and this is just as it should be. May we daily feel the powers of the world to come, and be as strongly attracted thither as we are swiftly carried thither on the wings of time!

Christian love to all your dear children, and best wishes for all their children.

Your affectionate pupil,

W. GOODELL.

To the Rev. Dr. Anderson, Secretary of the Board tour packages bulgaria, he wrote from the ship, on reaching Malta: —

MALTA, Sept. 5, 1853.

Separation from our beloved children

MY DEAR BROTHER, — To the day of our second departure from our native land we had looked forward with much ap-prehension; and we had long prayed that all the circumstances of it, and especially of our separation from our beloved children, might be ordered in great mercy and kindness. And God, “ who is rich in mercy,” heard our prayers, and sustained and comforted both their hearts and ours far beyond what we had expected. May He grant also abounding grace, that this separation, though now so painful, may be greatly sanctified both to them and to us, and to all our other dear relatives and friends, and thus prove a much richer blessing to us all that our presence with them could have proved. And in the same great mercy and kindness may He order all the circumstances of our re-entrance into our field of labor in the East, of our continuance in it, and of our final departure from it, together with our removal from all these earthly scenes.

Renewedly would we now consecrate our unworthy selves, and the poor remnant of our days, to the blessed service of Christ; and had we a thousand to devote, we would not reserve one of them for mere self-gratification.

To be connected with IIis great kingdom is to be con- nected with that which is not only great and good, but everlasting, and “of the increase of which there will be no end.” And to be connected with it in this very way of extending its humanizing, saving influences among whole races and communities of men who “ heretofore were not a people,” and “had not obtained mercy,” though it be attended with many privations and hardships, and much self-denial, is yet a work which the sons and (laughters of the church should esteem as a privilege exceedingly great and precious.

Forwarding from the United States

Accordingly, when all had retired, he took the mysterious box to his study, and, before proceeding to open it, kneeled and commended himself, his household, and the mission, to the care of the covenant God. With trembling hands he then removed one envelope after another in a long succession, until he reached and removed the last; when his eyes fell, not upon a deadly weapon, but upon the faces of his beloved daughters, who were far over the seas.

They had chosen this method of forwarding from the United States their daguerreotypes, as a surprise to those at home, sending the package by the hand of the captain of a ship, with an injunction that it should be delivered without any intimation of what it contained, or of the source from which it came.

The father’s tears of love and thankfulness fell thick upon the familiar faces, and the whole family were immediately aroused to share in his joy.

During the latter part of 18 and the following year, the fierceness of actual persecution on the part of the Armenian ecclesiastics was stayed, but their hostility toward all who manifested any tendency to evangelical principles was not in the least abated. They took another method of expressing it, described by Mr. Goodell, under date of Oct. 27, 18: —

“All fiery persecution has now ceased. The policy of the present patriarch is more in accordance with civilized usage. The aim is to wear out the patience of the brethren, by depriving them of business in the most quiet and effectual way possible, and thus to reduce them to subjection by reducing them to poverty in a more genteel way than by prison and exile.

Spirit of determination

This is really, as our brethren confess, harder to bear, because it does not, on the one hand, rouse up the mind of the sufferer to such a spirit of determination, nor, on the other, does it secure so much sympathy from others. But, to the praise of God’s grace be it spoken, they all hold on their way, and the Lord is adding to them continually of such as shall be saved. The papists are still popping away at us with missiles drawn from the Missionary Ilerald,” but nobody seems now to care any thing about it. In fact, I have heard of no one being shot, or even wounded.

From strength to strength

To me this work has been, next to preaching the Gospel, the most delightful employment. The land through which I have passed has not been a wilderness to me, — a land of drought and barrenness, but it has been a country of fertile vales, and hills of the richest mines, abounding with such beautiful prospects and refreshing shade and cooling fountains, that I have often stopped to enjoy the scenery, to listen to the sweet songsters of the grove, to “ drink of the brook in the way,” and thus to “go on from strength to strength.”

My feelings have gone along with those of the sacred writers to such a degree, that often when alone, in my study I have been reading a page perhaps for the seventh time, I have had to stop in order to wipe away the fast flowing tears, or to offer up such prayers and praises, as the subject called forth. And then, only think of such a song as that of Deborah’s! Having in such perfection all the softness and delicacy and minute detail and lively description of female composition! Who could translate it without feeling his very heart dance within him!

I could almost wish that all the Lord’s people were translators, as Moses wished them all prophets, in order that they might see with their own eyes the very words and the very manner, often inimitable in translating, in which the great God expressed His thoughts to man, and might thus enter more readily into all the scenes and circumstances and feelings of those “ holy men of God, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” God’s word is, indeed, a great deep; who can fathom it? It is divinely beautiful; who that once looks upon it can help gazing for ever with ever increasing delight? It is fraught with the riches of eternity; who shall not prize it “ above gold, yea, above fine gold ”?

Gesenius and Simoni’s Lexicon

My helps have been Robinson’s Gesenius and Simoni’s Lexicon, Michaelis’ Hebrew Bible, with critical notes in the margin, Rosenmiiller’s Scholia, Barnes’s Notes on Isaiah, Keiiffer’s Turkish Bible, Leeves’s Greco-Turkish, and the Septuagint, with the English.

Before night between three and four thousand houses were heaps of ashes

Upon the very heels of these disasters came another of those fearful conflagrations with which Constantinople has been so often visited. On the 9th of August, nearly if not quite half of Pera, where Mr. Goodell was living, was reduced to ashes. The fire broke out in the morning in the midst of wooden buildings, which, owing to a long-continued drought, had become like tinder, and before night between three and four thousand houses were heaps of ashes, and not less than fifty thousand of the inhabitants were without a home or a shelter.

Armenians were visited with severe personal

In addition to these public calamities, the Armenians were visited with severe personal afflictions. In the sudden reverses of the government and the country some of the wealthiest bankers were reduced to poverty, one of them in the extremity of his misfortunes committing suicide. The hand of God was laid heavily upon many of those who had been leaders in the persecution, so that it became a common remark that God was taking the side of the persecuted and vindicating their cause.

In the shadow of all these public and domestic calamities a council of the Armenian leaders was called, at which it was resolved that those who had been sent into exile should be recalled, and that the rigorous measures against the evangelical converts should be suspended. There was no real change in the feelings of the leaders, but they were awed.

They seemed to realize that the hand of God was lifted against them, and that it was best to stay the persecution. The old patriarch, who was friendly to the missionaries, was reinstated, and the assistant, who had been appointed to the office for the purpose of carrying out the most rigorous measures, was dismissed. One after another of the banished returned; those who had embraced the simple truths of the Gospel had their faith confirmed; intercourse with the missionaries was resumed; their own labors among the people were taken up; and the work of God appeared to receive a new impulse.

Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

The sequel you know. I therefore only add, to those that died we believe it was gain, infinite gain! While those that survived lost nothing, nothing! On the contrary, they received a thousand-fold. I do not think Mr. Dwight ever had so much real enjoyment before in his whole life, put it all together, as he has had within a few months. His peace is like a river. His feet are on a rock, or rather The Rock. And his head is far above all the storms and tempests of this temporary scene. Oh, what a Saviour is this of ours! Oh, what a glorious Gospel is this of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

“ His worth, if all the nations knew,

Sure the whole world would love him too.”

Is not this my fifteenth letter to Catskill? Shall you, my dear sir, live to receive fifteen more? or shall I live to write them? Neither the one nor the other is at all probable. But no matter, I trust we shall have eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And instead of saying to you, as all my neighbors are saying to me on this new year, “ Many happy returns to you,” I would say, “ May you live for ever! ”

And so may yours truly,

W. GOODELL.

He writes in his journal at this time of these and other trying scenes through which he and his associates were called to pass: —

Around the Mediterranean

“ The missionary families in and around the Mediterranean have been afflicted in a very uncommon degree, and not only by sickness and death, but also by opposition of a peculiarly trying nature. Men have persecuted them for being so much like Christ, and God has chastised them for not being more like Him. But of whatever nature the affliction, the fruit of it, as there is good reason to believe, has been to take away sin. Though not in itself joyous, but grievous, it has yielded some of the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Oh, what deadness to the world it has in some instances produced! What lively hopes of heaven! What acquaintance with Christ, and with the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, and the preciousness of His Gospel! And what near and strong views of those things which are unseen and eternal!

Notwithstanding all the books

The following passage occurs in his journal: —

“ We feel it to be an occasion for devout thankfulness that we have never been drawn aside from our work to engage in any controversy with the Greeks. Notwithstanding all the books that have been published against us and our operations, we have never written one syllable or said one word in reply. We have had enough else to do; and we have kept about our own work as though nothing had been said or written against us, leaving them to light on alone, ‘ as one that beat- eth the air.’ ”

So clear was his conviction of the truth that Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, and that it is not to be advanced by worldly authority and power, that he was exceedingly averse to obtaining firmans for carrying on any missionary operations, or seeking official interference and protection from the government whenever it could be avoided. To one of the missionaries at Smyrna, who had urgently requested his influence with Commodore Porter, as United States Charge d’affaires, to obtain some official protection of the schools, he counselled quiet prosecution of the work, without creating disturbance or invoking aid from any civil power, and especially a foreign power: —

January 24, 1834. The fact is, our strength consists in being as quiet as possible. The less that is said and known about our operations so much the better. A great deal can be done in a silent, harmless, inoffensive way in these countries, but nothing in a storm. I do deprecate a storm far more than any of our consuls or worldly wise men do. If Mr. 0. talks to you of prudence, you may go all lengths with him, and a great deal further, unless he is different from any consul I have ever seen.

Be frank with him, and ask his advice whenever you know it cannot but be exactly in accordance with your own views; ask it, too, whenever you are in any real doubt as to our relations with the Porte, &c. We did not come here to quarrel with governors and pashas, nor with patriarchs and bishops. And, as to the Catholics, pray let them entirely alone, and neither curse them at all nor bless them at all.”

To another missionary at Smyrna, who had asked the same kind of interference, he wrote: —

“ From a remark in Mr. T.’s letter, I find you are still expecting I should endeavor to obtain a firman for the restoration of your Turkish schools, and wondering why I should have been so long silent on the subject. I had in numerous letters expressed my views and feelings so very fully on this whole subject, in the case of Bishop Dionysius, that I supposed all the brethren at Smyrna perfectly understood that the thing was, in our view, impracticable.

Reis Effendi the ambassadors

“ Pray, how is such a firman to be obtained? Avho shall apply for it? No ambassador can do it officially, without transcending the powers vested in him. And to urge him to do it is to urge him to do what is not his duty, what is a violation of the treaty, and what, of course, his own government will not bear him out in doing. Ought he, then, to do it? I answer unhesitatingly, he ought not. Ilis official conduct ought to be strictly conformed to the treaty, as it is mutually understood by the parties. If the treaty be defective, that is no concern of his, except with his own government at home; all he can do is to represent its defects to them, and in the mean time to abide by the existing one till his government can or will form a new and better one with the Porte. Should he happen to be on familiar terms with any distinguished Turks, he can, of course, as a private individual From Alican and Dilucu border gates to Karakale, ask and obtain favors of them, such as they are able to grant. But firmans are official documents; they proceed from the Reis Effendi, and bear the signature of the Sultan; and, besides, with the Reis Effendi the ambassadors are seldom on terms of intimacy.

Indeed, they seldom have much intercourse with any of the high officers of government, except what is strictly of a diplomatic or official character. In this character they are not in general backward; but, on the contrary, are forward. This is especially true of all consuls, so far as I have known them. At Beyrout they were petty kings; they were disposed to go far beyond what existing treaties would allow, or their own governments at home would sanction, and instead of a spur they rather needed a curb. Ought they, then, to be urged and goaded and fretted, when their own inclination already leads them to interfere beyond what existing treaties give them any right to do? Manifestly they ought not.

Description of Stamboul

He reached Constantinople on the 9th of June. His description of Stamboul and its suburbs, as seen on his approach, is not excelled in graphic force and beauty by any of the numerous pictures that have been drawn of the grandeur of this magnificent Oriental scene: —

“June 9. We all rose at an early hour to see Constantinople. The storm had passed away, the stars were fading out of their places, the winds breathed soft, and the morning had all the freshness and coolness of one at this season of the year in New England after a refreshing shower. The view of Constantinople was at first indistinct, and presented nothing striking. We began to call in question the correctness of the opinions expressed by writers, of the unrivalled beauty of its situation and of the scenery around. But as we approached the city the prospect became enchanting.

On our left were fields rich in cultivation and fruitfulness. On our right were the little isles of the sea, and beyond the high lands of Broosa, with Olympus rearing its head above the clouds and covered with eternal snow. In the city, mosques, domes, and hundreds of lofty minarets were starting up amidst the more humble abodes of men, all embosomed in groves of dark cypress, which, in some instances, seemed almost like dense forests; while before, behind, and around us were, besides many boats of the country, more than twenty square-rigged vessels, bearing the flags of different nations, under full sail, with a light but favorable breeze, all converging to one point, and that point Constantinople.

Sweep around Seraglio Point

When we first caught a glimpse of Top-IIana, Galata, and Pera, stretching from the water’s edge to the summit of the hills, and as we began to sweep around Seraglio Point, the view became most beautiful and sublime. It greatly surpassed all that I had ever conceived of it. We had been sailing along what I should call the south side of the city for four or five miles, and were now entering the Bosphorus, with the city on our left and Scutari on our right.

The mosques of St. Sophia and Sultan Achmet, with the palaces and gardens of the present Sultan Mahmoud, were before us in all their majesty and loveliness. The latticed windows of the women’s apartments, the gilt doors, with the titles of the grand seignior inscribed over the massive gates in letters of gold, were coming into sight like enchantment. Numberless boats were shooting rapidly by in all directions, giving to the scene the appearance of life, activity, pleasure, and business.