the pleasure of looking upon those vol- | been one of mercy to us as individuals and as umes; and while speaking upon the subject, he said to me, "You will please write to Dr. Robinson after my decease, and tell him how much pleasure I have derived from my companionship with him, and how much I have been the gainer from our association for a common object. Tell him I have ever regarded him as one of my most valued of earthly friends; and do not forget to say that I am entirely satisfied with his treatment of me, in the new edition of the Researches. I could have asked nothing more honorable. Congratulate him on the completion of that noble and important work, and express to him my hope that he will give his remaining had but two, both at Abeih, one for boys, families, and of prosperity in our labors. There has been no death, no serious illness, no accident, no political commotion. Our strength has been reinforced, bodily and numerically; our families have been contented and happy; our field open and opening wider; the work to be done abundant; and more than all, the good Spirit has descended, not indeed in large, visible manifestations, but gently, and yet in almighty power, for souls have, we trust, been converted." strength to the work of providing a commentary upon a book or books of the sacred Scriptures. But this is for him to decide." Dr. Smith suffered but little, which is the more wonderful as Dr. Van Dyck, on a post mortem examination, took from the lower part of his stomach a cancer which had reached its active state, as large, or nearly as large, as the egg of a goose. The neighboring parts of the intestines had become, in consequence, so much disordered, that almost no nourishment could pass into the circulation from his stomach, and his death at this time seems to have been from his dropsy and the want of sustenance. Yet his appetite continued good to the last, and his stomach digested well. But he has gone. God hath again smitten our mission. May we be sanctified by the affliction. REPORT OF ABEIH STATION FOR 1856. THE report notices the return of Mrs. Whiting to the United States on account of the death of her husband, by which there "has ceased from among us a family known and loved in Syria for the last twenty-five years." The place thus made vacant has been supplied by the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Bliss, but Mr. Bliss's attention must of course be given in great measure, at present, to the acquisition of the language. The year, it is stated, "has Schools-Seminary. In consequence of a re-arrangement of our field on Lebanon, several of the common schools, which were formerly under our charge, have been transferred to the care of other brethren. We have the other for girls. The latter, which was taught by Sada, one of the girls educated by Mrs. Whiting, has recently been suspended, and the teacher transferred to Tripoli, to take charge of a school for girls at that station. Our boys' school has been prospered, the average number of pupils having been forty. In the seminary there are twenty pupils, most of whom give good promise of usefulOne pious young man has been obliged to leave on account of the death of a brother, for whose family this young man must now ness. provide. The year has been one of more than usual religious interest in this institution. The usual thorough course of biblical instruction has been still pursued. Our pupils are gathered from a wide range of country, and as usual are from different sects. It is pleasing to see how the simple study of the Bible brings them all to a substantial agreement in religious opinions, and to a unanimity in rejecting all schemes of men as a sufficient rule of faith and duty. Of open opposition we have had but little. One youth, who was on his way to Abeih to join the seminary, was forcibly taken by night in the village where he slept, by the emissaries of a Maronite a neighboring bishop, and carried to was acting without his father's consent. | stract made by one of the youth in the Several of his relatives have recently become Protestants in Hasbeiya, and we hope that the youth will yet find his way open to return to us. Church-Preaching-Congregations. Our little church has been increased from sixteen to twenty-two members. It has doubled within the last eighteen months. Additions have been made at each of the four communion seasons during the year, and we have good hope that they are of those who shall be saved. We think that, in general, they manifest a more than usual degree of simplicity in their Christian character. Two, admitted at our last communion, are pupils in the seminary; young men who give promise of much usefulness. Their declared aim is to fit themselves to become religious teachers of their countrymen, and we have confidence that such will be the result. When more years and more experience are added, we hope that they will become useful pastors of rural congregations. The year has been one of much harmony in the church, though (for the first time in its history) we have been compelled to resort to discipline in the case of two of its members. seminary, and were surprised at its accuracy. The heads of the discourse, and the inferences, were correctly stated, and much of the filling up was added. Our public worship is conducted in all respects as in the United States. Singing has been successfully introduced; and though this part of worship is not performed with all the skill and taste of practical choirs at home, yet we may venture to say, that there are those who indeed sing with the spirit and with the understanding. At Aramon, an out-station, about an hour distant from Abeih, religious ser❘vice is usually held on the Sabbath, conducted chiefly by M. Araman, the first teacher in the seminary. The congregation sometimes reaches to thirty, though oftener the number is from fifteen to twenty-five. There are two church members in the village, and a considerable number of enlightened persons. One among these is a Greek priest, who has given up all connection with the old church, and is known as a Protestant. Another is a Druze, who exhibits a spirit of uncommon perseverance in the cause, is evidently convinced of the truth, and may perhaps have passed Our Sabbath services have been main- | from death to life, though we wait for more decisive evidence of a saving change. He has endured no little opposition, and has been often threatened by his old associates; and yet avows his readiness to receive baptism, and thus publicly proclaim his attachment to Christ, and his hope of salvation in him alone. tained as usual in the chapel-an expository exercise at nine o'clock, A. M., preaching at ten, and a second service at two, P. M., similar to the one held at nine. The first of these two expository services is usually conducted by M. Ruzzuk, the second teacher in the seminary. At our regular preaching service the congregation averages from sixty-five to seventy. It is made up of the seminary students, and young men from Abeih and other villages. Of females, we usually have not more than eight or ten present. The attention to preaching becomes, we think, increasingly devout. A considerable number of the hearers, especially of the students, take regular notes. We had occasion lately to see an ab We have been essentially aided during a part of the year in preaching, both at Abeih and at Aramon, by Mr. Wilson, who was compelled by the illness of his wife, to leave, for a time, his station at Homs. Reports from several other stations of this mission have been received, but cannot be published in this number of the Herald for want of room. Greece. LETTERS FROM MR. KING, DEC. 31, 1856, THE first of these letters from Mr. King is designed as a summary report of his labors during the year, and furnishes, in many respects, a very gratifying account of the work in which he is engaged, its results and its promise. Use of the Press. I have this day finished correcting the translation of the fifth volume of the collection of the American Tract Society's publications in modern Greek. This volume contains upwards of six hundred pages 8vo., and the correction of the translation has cost me a great deal of labor. The first volume, of four hundred and thirty pages, I printed in 1853. The second volume, of five hundred and eighty-seven pages, in 1854. The third volume, of four hundred and ninety-eight pages, also in 1854. The fourth volume, of four hundred and thirty-five pages, in 1855. The fifth, as above mentioned, of six hundred and forty-eight pages, is just finished; making in all upwards of two thousand five hundred pages which I have printed during the last four years. This work I had a great desire to accomplish as soon as possible, because I felt that no other one would do it, and that, should I be taken away by death, many of the American Tract Society's publications would remain useless, on account of the style in which they were formerly printed. Some of the translations too were very incorrect, and almost all needed a thorough revision, in order to make them truly useful and acceptable to this people. Now that they are put in an eligible and permanent form, I trust they will be useful long after my head shall have been laid in the grave. There are other publications of the same Society, which need correction, the old editions of which are exhausted. To the printing of some of these Il intend to proceed, should God spare my life, the ensuing year. One of these, which I consider very important, is Alleine's Alarm to the Unconverted. I wish also to publish, as soon as possible, a third edition of the "Prayers of the Saints," in Modern Greek, as the first and second editions of that work are out of print. This work, which I first published several years ago, consists of the greater part of the prayers contained in the Old and New Testaments, together with those passages which relate to prayer, the manner in which it should be offered, through whose mediation, &c. Of portions of the Scriptures, school-books, and religious tracts, Mr. King had distributed during the year, not far from half a million of pages. Preaching-Theological Class. I must speak of my preaching in Greek on the Lord's day. This I have continued through the year, with no interruption except once or twice by illness. The audience has averaged about fifty. Many of the hearers are students and men of intelligence, and in general, listen to what is said with great attention. After the service, my daughter has had a class of Sabbath-school scholars, consisting of girls from five or six to eighteen or twenty years of age. The number has varied from ten or twelve to eighteen or twenty. The third thing to mention is my theological class, consisting of six young men, (a part of the time there were more,) all Greeks, who, I trust, will one day be, in one way or another, useful to their nation; and most of them, if not all, by preaching the gospel in its purity. Those who commenced their course with me, a little more than a year and a half ago, have carefully examined most subjects which usually come under consideration in dogmatic theology, and also the important subject of the proper mode of interpreting the sacred Scriptures. To aid them in this, I wrote a little work in modern Greek, with a view to combat, at the outset, an idea so prevalent among ۱ many, that everything written in the | We have just learned, that a band of Intercourse with the People. My general intercourse with the people here has been very satisfactory to me, and scarcely any thing has transpired to give me trouble in my missionary work. Various persons, who are distinguished for their learning and the position they hold in society, have expressed to me in private, their belief that I hold the truth as it is in the word of God, and the expectation that the Greeks will, one day, return to the simplicity of the gospel, and take the word of God only as their rule of faith and practice. One of these is a distinguished priest, who said to me that he did not dare express his sentiments publicly. and took three men, one of whom they butchered, the legs and arms of another they broke, and cut off the nose and ears of the third. Not long since, they took some fifteen persons, most of whom they mutilated by digging out their eyes, breaking their legs, &c. And though we are now quiet at Athens, it will be nothing strange should the robbers take it into their heads to pay us a visit, as they did last summer. Within ten days past, eleven robbers have been beheaded, six here and five at a place not far distant. Among them were two brothers. The father came to take leave of them on the morning of the execution, smoking a cigar, as I was told, and with the greatest indifference; and those who were to be beheaded expressed not the least compunction, or sign of repentance for the evil deeds they had committed. Their utter hardness of heart and indifference attracted the attention of the Greeks themselves, and was noticed in one of the principal papers in this city. Yet these hardened robbers were all of them young men from eighteen to thirty years of age. One of them had butchered two girls whom they had taken, and for whom a ransom was not sent. When it was A Greek of distinction from Thessaly, who, I am told, has great influence in the region where he dwells, called on me only a few weeks since, for the purpose, as he said, of expressing to me his friendly feelings (though an entire stranger) and saying that he did not participate in the views of those who had been opposing me in my work. The second time I saw him, I was ill in bed, but had conversation with him sufficient to learn | proposed to kill them because the ran that he has abjured almost all the errors Disturbed State of the Country. som was not furnished, one of the robbers seemed disposed to let them go. Another said, No. The first had a few figs in his hand, and the other said, 'Give me those figs, and I will kill them,' and on receiving the figs he butchered them both! When these things are to cease in Greece, I do not know. I know, however, that the only means to prevent such evils, in all parts of the world, is the preaching of the gospel. I do not know exactly how many robThe state of the country seems to be bers (all of them murderers) have been always unsettled. And though it is pub- beheaded during the year, but I should lished to the world in some of the Greek | think seventy or eighty, perhaps well nigh a hundred, including those who were destroyed by the government troops. newspapers, that robbery is put down, Movement among the Greeks at Cas sandra. twenty-five years of age, appears to be a very interesting young man, and has Mr. King refers to a movement of much | nearly finished his course as a medical interest at Cassandra, in Macedonia, where several heads of Greek families have openly proclaimed themselves Protestants. The movement, he says, "has been noticed by the Greek Patriarch at Constantinople, and called forth an Encyclical Letter to the churches, to prevent the spread of such an evil. It has been noticed in a Greek newspaper at Smyrna, and by one of the principal newspapers in this city, and also in the 'Spectateur de l'Orient,' a periodical printed in French, and conducted by some of the most distinguished Greeks in Athens." This movement has frequently been mentioned, with much interest, by missionaries from the Church of Scotland to the Jews at Salonica. Cassandra is a district lying to the west of Salonica, and the Greeks who are thus interested in the truth have been visited by Mr. Marcussohn and other laborers among the Jews at the latter place; and now the Committee of the Church of Scotland have agreed to engage Dr. Paionides, a pious young Greek, to reside at Cassandra as one of their lay mis sionaries. Writing again, January 28, Dr. King sends the translation of a very interesting letter, written by eight young men at Athens to their Christian brethren in Cassandra, which will perhaps be published in the May number of the Journal of Missions. He then mentions the following Pleasing Incidents. student in the University here. Till quite lately, he has been, as he confessed to me and as I learned from others, opposed to me. Last Sabbath he attended my Greek service, and afterwards expressed his approbation of what he had heard, and asked for a private interview with me, which I granted him yesterday. After a good deal of conversation, I gave him my "Farewell Letter," my "Exposition," "Rites of an Apostolical Church," and some other books, to read and examine carefully, so that he may know precisely my views on the subject of religion. His strongholds of prejudice against the truth seem to be broken down. A Greek priest has also attended my Greek service for two or three Sabbaths past, and last Sabbath, after service, he stopped and I had a long conversation with him. He spoke in such a manner, I was almost tempted to say to him that I thought him not far from the kingdom of heaven. He declared his full belief that the Bible is the only rule of faith and practice, that all acts of Councils are to be tried by this word, and that only such things as are in conformity with it, are to be received. Recent Intelligence. Yesterday morning, a Greek female called, and told me that her husband, who is an Italian Roman Catholic, wished to become Protestant; and she added that she herself did not believe in various superstitions held by her own church. In the course of the day, two students in the University called on me, separately, and expressed their persuasion that my religious views were correct. One of them is from Macedonia, and the other from Epirus. The one from Macedonia, who is, as I should judge, near thirty ings with inquirers, with members under cen SANDWICH ISLANDS.-Mr. Bond, of Kohala, writes, Jan. 6, sending for the Morning Star' "fifty dollars from our Sabbath school, and twenty dollars from our domestic Sab years of age, said that he had read my Exposition of an Apostolical Church, and that it had made a very great impression on him; and last Sabbath he came to my Greek service. bath school;" and one hundred dollars as his own donation towards paying off the debt of the Board. He writes: "Last Sabbath was our season for observing the communion. It had been preceded, as usual, by a tour, meet sure, and with the church for business, &c. The first day of the year, also, was observed in our house of worship as a day of fasting and prayer. There was a goodly attendance, but no extraordinary divine influences were vouchsafed us. The Sabbath was a day of The other, from Epirus, perhaps | much interest. Our house was crowded with |