A History of Protestant missions in the near East

Protestant Missions in Turkey and Armenia 123
Acts 2 :
43-47, in which he set forth the ideal of the " one holy
Catholic Church " in glowing words. The difficulty subsided
for a time. But by the year 1854 friction had again become
so violent that the church of communicant members had to
be dissolved. A new examination took place, and again only
eleven out of twenty candidates were admitted. For a time
there was again a calm. But eight years later there arrived a
Protestant Scripture reader, Garabed, a protege of Samuel
Gobat, then Bishop of Jerusalem, who had in Jerusalem become
acquainted with the rules of the Anglican Church. He
maintained that all adult Protestants should be admitted to the
Lord's
Supper, and their children baptized without exception.
This naturally gave rise to new trouble and a further crisis.
As there was no central authority for the Churches, the
missionaries travelled hither and thither trying to establish
their influence in the congregations, supporting, comforting,
advising and admonishing both the native pastors and catechists
and the congregations themselves. In some cases, as in
Kharput, special men were set apart for this evangelizing
work within the Protestant community.
In 1846 the Board began to pay special attention to educational
work. After the Protestants in Turkey had been
formed into separate communities side by side with the other
Churches, it was necessary, in the nature of the case, to provide
a separate educational system for the youth of the congregations.
This was done by establishing primary schools,
which the church-members were expected to maintain as soon
as they should be able to do so. Even more necessary was it
to train able and reliable teachers and ministers under Protestant
influence. We have already told how the Board began
its educational work in Constantinople by establishing advanced
schools with a view to attracting promising young
Armenians. This undertaking was now abandoned, for the
expense of such institutions was excessive, nor did they seem
altogether necessary as a pioneering agency, since there was at
that time a general interest in the Gospel among the Armenians.
The Board wished to devote attention to the congregations,