The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-06-27 00:00:00

remember that he had spent two years in this country,
deavouring to obtain such Eng

lish instruction as wou

enable him to carry on his scheme for raising up a native
agency in Syria. In 1840 he had the honour of going out
with Lord and Lady ,Francis Egerton, with whom he tra-
velled through the country, and then he endeavoured to com-
mence the work of introducing Christian education, in order
to spread the knowledge of our great Redeemer, and extend
the truth as it is in Jesus. This was a difficult task, in-
deed, for one individual, and nothing but the determination
he had formed in his own mind enabled him to proceed.
Unfortunately, as soon as he had organised his plan the great
expedition to overthrow the Egyptian government went
forth from this country ; it did incalculable evil to the inha-
bitants—nay, it was impossible to conceive all the suffering
they underwent in consequence of the war. It pleased God
at that time to permit him to labour among the afflicted—
those who were labouring under sickness arising from the
destruction of their property, agues, fevers, and other mala-
dies—in Lebanon ; and he found the little knowledge.he had
of medicine of great service in the relief of man

At the

same time he pressed upon the minds of the people the im-
portance of education, showing them that had they been an
enlightened people they would not have incurred so
much misery during the war. By degrees he obtained
confidence ; nothing could remove him from the path
of duty ; and he persevered although he was exposed
to ignorance, bigotry, and all sorts of difficulty which, of
course, must present themselves to the first reformer. But
God enabled him to persevere, and after continuing three
years in this cause, his friends in London, who had formed
themselves into a committee to assist in working out his
views, thought proper to send for him back in order to help
in organising a more permanent system, for he bad strewed
them that as the Syrian Christians spoke the same language,
bore the same climate, resided in the same country as the
Mahometans, they could therefore become the most eligible
labourers in the work of God throughout the East, inasmuch
as their language extended to almost all the 'Alahome-
tans in Asia, and among the most numerous tribes in Africa.
The lecturer then proceeded at great length to give as ac-
count of the manners and customs of the inhabitants of
Syria ; their costume, domestic habits and ceremonies ; strew-
ing that in the present day these existed in strict accordance
with the descriptions given in the Sacred Scriptures. He
observed that, throughout all ages, various nations, and va-
rious conquerors, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Saracens, the
Crusaders, Turks, and Egyptians, had entered the land of
Syria; all kinds of languages were introduced, and every
effort was taken to destroy Christianity, but they had
all been in vain. The mariners and customs of the na-
tives each still illustrated the Holy Scriptures. Had
the names of their cities been altered by the succes-
sive invaders, confusion would have been thrown upon
Biblical history, and Christianity would have been exposed
to the infidel objection that it was not true, since in the land
where its chief events took place the piaces mentioned in the
word of God did not exist. A Church was formed' of the
converts to Christianity, but Christianity, it should be re-
membered, had existed in the land from the time of our Sa-
viour, and no Mahomedan invasion, no sufferings, no torture,
no tyranny, nor all the most severe and oppressive measures
adopted by the various conquerors to force them to embrace
Mahomedanism, had been effectual. Thus the Christians re-
tained their religion, while all the people had kept close to
those native manners and ceremonies which to this day il•
lustrated the Holy Scriptures. He then rdferred to several
passages from the Old and New Testaments, mentioning the
custom at the time of the event, and showed that the very
same customs were observed to this day. The events,
too, recorded in the sacred volume were familiar to the
people, while the most important circumstances attend-
ing the several invasions of the country were absolutely un-
known to them. Passing from the illustrations of Scrip-
ture, which we regret having no room to give in detail,
the lecturer gave air interesting account of the progress
which education is making in Syria, and of the relaxations
of which he had set an example in the case of his own wife,
of the prevailing customs with regard to females, whereby
they were gradually being raised to the position which they
ought to fill. A complete change was being effected by the
means of education among the upper classes of society, and
thus, he said, the effect of native agency in spreading religion
arid knowledge was found most effectual: Six young Syrians
were now receiving instruction in London at the expense of
the society ; and the lecturer concluded by a lengthened and

impressive appeal to the sympathiee of Liverpool to raise a
fund sufficient to have one native youth educated here to
enable him to do good in his native land.

The Cn AIRMAN mentioned the imposture of the disguised
Roman Catholic priest, who went about this city collecting
subscriptions from the Protestants under the name of the
Archbishop of Tripoli, and said that in this case of Assaad Y
Kayat there was no fear of imposition, for the whole thing
had been examined on the spot, and there could be no doubt
whatever of his character and object.
A collection was then made ; shortly after which the pro-
ceedings terminated.
The second lecture was delivered last night, Mr. Adam
.Hodgson in the chair. The subject was an account of the
Christian church at Antioch, which it was shown had main-
tained the great essentials of the true faith. The details were
interesting and very initiate. The wife of Alsaad was pre-
sent, and attracted much attention. The third and last lec-
ture of the series will be delivered on Friday next.

His Grace the Duke of Cleveland has engaged a number
of workmen to cut a drain in order to have water conveyed
fern the place in the Flats-wood, near Thirnard-castle,
where several men had formerly made the attempt to sink a
pit, but were prevented by an overflow of water. It is sup-
posed that there is good coal at the place, and that the neigh-
bourhood will receive considerable benefit if his Grace be
successful in his undertaking.