SYRIA: LADIES' ASSOCIATION FOR THE BRITISH-SYRIAN FEMALE SCHOOLS, BEYROUT, THE Committee desire to lay before their friends the results of the work in Syria during the last six months. In addition to the former agencies for raising the condition of the Syrian women several new and important features have been added to the labours already in existence. These are, 1. The formation of a secluded school for the elder Mohammedan girls of the upper classes; 2. An industrial-school for the blind, who are also taught to read the holy scriptures on Moon's system of raised types in Arabic; 3. And, within the last three months, the establishment of a girls'-school at Damascus for Jews and Mohammedans, Greeks and Latins. The Moslem school took its rise in our infantschool at Beyrout, where the younger Mohammedan girls were allowed freely and without restraint to mix in the open school. Here they learned to read, to sing, and to sew; and, on their return to the harems, those "gilded cages" where their elder sisters are rigorously secluded from all contact with the outer world, their progress excited the most anxious desires for education. Accordingly, the Mohammedan parents, including the highest government officials, applied to Mrs. Bowen Thompson to form a secluded school for their elder daughters, most of whom are betrothed at an early age, after which they are not suffered to be beheld by the eye of a man. The examinations at the Normal Training School have been attended by the pasha, and many Mohammedans of position; and the president of the Board of Civilization, in seconding a vote of thanks, expressed "his great satisfaction and delight at hearing the children repeat * From an occasional paper, No. 1928. and sing so well. He would impress upon all the necessity of female education, now that they had so splendid an opportunity, and advised all, and especially the Mohammedans, to avail themselves of Mrs. Thompson's kindness." Another Moslem effendi, who invited Mrs. T. to visit the ladies of his harem, observed: "We now know that they are not mere clods of earth, but have an immortal life, and we wish them to be taught by the teacher who will lead them to the true Master (meaning Christ). We once thought it our duty to keep our daughters at home; but now we see that the best way to educate them is to send them to school. It is the mother that educates the child: we men know nothing about it. But what can we do for our elder daughters ?" The Mohammedan mothers had a meeting at Mrs. Thompson's to consider the matter. It was a subject which lay very near her heart; and after much prayerful consideration she resolved at once to meet this wonderful opening for bringing the light and liberty and peace of the gospel into those hitherto-impenetrable fastnesses of Moslem jealousy and bigotry. Writing to the committee, April 22, she says: "I have arranged to commence the Mohammedan school in connexion with our infant and elementary schools, which are more easily secluded than any apartments in the main institution: a high wooden wall, with trellis-work on the top, runs all round the play-ground, which is now provided with a double entrance, so that if one door is open passers by may not have a peep at the girls, while the windows also are whitewashed so that the poor girls may not peep out. I think the Mohammedans begin to feel quite ashamed in thus making prisonhouses for their young daughters; and an effendi who brought two of his daughters yesterday, said, 'Put them where you like, in the open or closed school.' I quite hope, after six months, we shall see a great change. We shall need help for this school at first. All the alte rations have cost above £26. I cannot tell you how full of gratitude I am for this school. No principles are yielded; for, with closed doors, we have an open bible. "May 11.-We have now above thirty Mohammedan girls who, as yet, are day-scholars; but several effendis (would like to place their children as boarders after the long vacation. This, however, I fear cannot be accomplished for some time; for I could not have the courage to ask our friends to help in erecting the necessary accommodation. Of course it is most important to get these young girls placed under home superintendence, and thus break the pernicious influence of harem life. I had a long visit from one of the Ulêmas last week. He said he had a list of ten other Mohammedan girls, but he wanted to make sure that, as they were strict Mohammedans, they would be taught to read with vowels, as it was considered a sin to omit even one single jot or tittle; that hence it would be absolutely necessary to have one of their own people to teach them to read with Vowels. I told him that our first class were perfectly competent to undertake this, and at once gave him the opportunity of judging for himself by taking him into the first class, where Maalim Selim made them read from the vowel testament. He exclaimed, Mashallah, Mashallah: they read as well as Ishi.' He expressed his wish to see the younger Mohammedan girls, and marvelled to see the order in which they were ranged behind their desks, and repeated one or two hymns and texts." . There was a general examination of all the British-Syrian schools during the month of July. That of the normal training-school occupied the three days of the 7th, 8th, and 9th July, and excited great interest among the natives. On the last day there were above 1,180 visitors, among whom were the pasha of Beyrout, the mufti, and many other Moslems, and also his excellency Franco Pasha, the new governorgeneral of the Lebanon. The examination was in Arabic, English, and French; in the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament, grammar, history, geography, arithmetic, the piano, singing, &c.; while the modest selfpossessed manner of the girls gave much satisfaction. The mufti, in a long address, said, "With these schools has begun the regeneration of Syria." Indeed, the Moslems were so pleased, that they begged Mrs. Thompson to have a special private examination for the benefit of the Mohammedan ladies; which was accordingly arranged for the following Thursday. The premises were cleared of all the men; two black eunuchs were stationed at the gate to keep guard. The ladies arrived, closely shrouded in white sheets, or tzars, which, on laying aside, disclosed the richest diamond ornaments. They sat for three hours listening with the greatest interest, and were very unwilling to leave at the appointed time. They were charmed to see and hear their children and young relatives; and several expressed a desire to come here as boarders, provided we had private rooms. I have had an estimate made for this; from £250 to £300 would cover the expense of erection. What good might be done for such a comparatively-small sum! Well, the Lord may put it into the heart of some of his servants to care for these Mohammedans. I am sure the results would be great. His excellency Franco Pasha left the following record in the visitors' book as translated from the Arabic: "Since I was in Beyrout, eight years ago, I have not witnessed anything like what I have now seen here in regard to the growth of education and the spread of knowledge. Therefore my admiration is great in regard to what I have seen in this useful school, touching the success of the daughters of Syria in languages, sciences, morality, by the care of the honourable head, Mrs. Bowen Thompson. Therefore I offer to her my hearty thanks for the care she has taken to spread education in the right directionteaching the children of all sects, without distinction; and I have been pleased in that I have seen them brought up in unity and love; and, as these young girls must one day be mothers, they will, without doubt, impart to their children these same good principles. Hence unity and civilization will become general, under the shadow of the rule of his majesty the sultan. "I feel especially obliged to Mrs. Thompson for her desire to conduct Arabic educa tion in Arabic, which is their native language. I know this school will be very va luable to Syria, and I congratulate Beyrout for having it. (Signed) "NUSRI FRANCO, July 14, 1868." The blind-school was commenced in February last by a brother-in-law of Mrs. Thompson, who was deeply affected by the forlorn condition of the blind, who are very numerous in Syria. A small room was hired; and the master of our boys' school charged each of his pupils to bring one blind person, so that a goodly number was soon collected. They commenced by singing in Arabic, "My faith looks up to thee, Thon Lamb of Calvary." After reading the touching story of blind Bartimeus, to which they listened with intense interest, the object of assembling them was explained-to give them the power of reading the word of God, and, if possible, furnishing them with some employment; the pupils are of the most various conditions and ages. The old muezzin who calls the hour of prayer from the Turkish minarets; several Druses, women and children. There are three little Turkish children, brother and sisters, all blind; a mother with her infant; all learning to look to him the entrance of whose word giveth light. There are about twenty-seven pupils; and a similar school has been opened at Damascus, where Mr. Mott proposes to introduce the scriptures in Hebrew for the benefit of the blind Jews. The exami nation of the blind-school excited the greatest interest and astonishment; and many eyes were filled with tears. The girls' school at Damascus, which was commenced at the urgent petition of a large number of Jews, Greeks, Turks, and even some Roman-catholics, was opened in May, in a small hired house. On the 10th of June Mrs. Thomp- | son writes: "The school already numbers above fifty children of the most respectable families, Jews and Greeks: the former preponderate. Our house and our forces will not enable us to take more than sixty; and indeed this is ample for the commencement. This work is most manifestly of the Lord, and, small as it is, has already given an impetus far beyond the circle immediately concerned. The stupor hanging over the female mind has been aroused; and now they will never rest till they get education. The Jewish community is the most alive to the necessity of shaking off the lethargy of ages. Every morning, several Jewish ladies make their appearance, sometimes at sunrise, bringing their daughters with them, and they lament their own inability to profit by these advantages. One of these mothers made many inquiries as to our religious views-pictures, images, saints, &c.; and finished by saying, 'If your school here is to be like that at Beyrout, I promise you twenty children of my own connexions; and, indeed,' she added,' you may have all our Jewish children.' Several Turkish gentlemen also have asked me whether I would receive the Mohammedan girls, and were delighted when assured it was open to all. "Yet with so much unexpected success, our God, as if to keep us from being unduly exalted, sees fit to send us many trials. Thus, for instance, "A very respectable man called upon me on Monday with his grown-up daughter, to place her at our school. He told us that the day before the Roman-catholic priest had cursed us from the altar, as well as those who should send their children to the English school. The man stopped to speak to the padre after service, and told him it was wrong to curse us, that we were as good as other people, and that, as regarded himself, he should take his daughter and place her at our school the next day, "A young Turkish officer whom I met one day, said he would give anything to learn English. He was twenty-three; and his eldest child five years old. He would like her to come to school; but the distance wast oo great. He said the English thought it was wrong to have more wives than one: he could have four. At present he had only two, of whom one was a Circassian, whom he had bought for £150. This led to the avowal of the fact that there is at this time a regular slave-market at Damascus. O, what iniquities lie at our very threshold; and we know it not! It is well; for it would crush every energy. Dear friends, let us take courage and buckle on our heavenly armour, and, Ö, may we get a firm hold of faith; for without strong unwavering faith in the love and power of God we are defenceless on all sides. We must look to you to provide with needful supplies your Damascus little one-born and cradled amidst difficulties and toil and want. It looks to you." And truly God is hearing and answering prayer. He has not only opened a great and effectual door in Damascus, so that, day by day, the number pressing for admission increases far beyond the limits of our small hired house, which has made it necessary to lengthen our cords, and accept the offer of an educated Jewish merchant to rent or purchase his large and commodious house, having double courts, a fine garden, and an abundant supply of pure water. By a remarkable coincidence this house is situated in "the street which is called Straight," where we trust that many will, by the blessing of God, be turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Here our British St. Paul's school will, we hope, soon be carried on. Funds and friends, we cannot doubt, after our long experience, will be raised up to enable the committee to undertake this new and enlarged field of labour, in the most ancient city in the world, associated as it is with the conversion of the great apostle of the Gentiles. The committee have much pleasure in closing this paper with a letter just received from the rev. E. B. Frankel, missionary to the Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, dated Beyrout, July 11, 1868: "I am on my way home to Jerusalem, from a missionary tour through Syria. Speaking to Mr. Mott about God's work at Damascus, he asked me to communicate my impressions to you about Mrs. Thompson's efforts there. After each visit to Damascus I pleaded with Mrs. Thompson on behalf of the many thousand children in that ancient city. Her reply has always been, I wish I had the means: my heart is yearning for the dear girls there.' However, a petition from the parents themselves to come over and help them decided the question at once. The Lord is calling; and his servant must hear. The school was opened a month ago; and nearly seventy children are already under Christian training; and a few days ago the teachers had actually to close the door against fresh appli cants. The present house is too small to take in any more. "Mrs. Thompson's schools remind me of the poor widow who had to borrow vessels from all her neighbours that the Lord might fill them with oil. Mrs. T. has only to furnish the schools, and the Lord is filling them with souls who are to receive there the oil of gladness; and every day a fresh cry is raised,More vessels, more schools!" Thousands more are ready to be instructed in the way of God. Who can refuse these calls? "I trust the women of England will not turn a deaf ear to the appeal of their poorer sisters in Damascus. "I cannot describe to you my feelings when I entered the school one morning, and found these girls, who had perhaps never prayed in their lives, all, Jews, Greeks, Turks, and Latins, united in worshipping one God and Fa ther in the name of his dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, all joining in the Lord's-prayer. It may be said of many a girl of benighted Damascus, as was said of Saul the persecutor, 'Behold, she prayeth!' Time will not permit me to say anything about the work of the two biblewomen, the school for the blind, classes for men, &c., but I know that it will rejoice your heart to hear that by the efforts of your dear sisters the light of the gospel has been introduced into many a dark corner. The Lord is truly working with them. What a privilege to be workers together with Christ, to advance his glory and hasten his coming! "Yours truly in the Lord, "E. B. FRANKEL." In a letter dated August 2, Mrs. T. says, "The school is full. The children come at five o'clock in the morning, so that the teacher has inflicted on such as come at that early hour the duty of sweeping and cleaning the courtyard. But no matter, the girls come all the same, and the broom passes from one soft hand to another, so that they may but come to their beloved school." The committee are happy to add that two English ladies (one of whom has already been five years in Palestine, and is acquainted with Arabic) are now on their voyage to Syria, to take charge of the Damascus school. The expenses of their passage, &c., have been generously defrayed by the Society for Female Education in the East, who have desired to give this proof of sisterly co-operation. They are, however under the exclusive responsibility of Mrs, Bowen Thompson. The salary of one of these. ladies has just been most nobly undertaken by a band of Christian friends at Tunbridge Wells. The committee are happy to say that the two Syrian bible-women at Damascus, whose monthly stipends are lovingly provided by friends of the "Missing Link," have given much satisfaction, and by their diligent visits have acted as pioneers to the school. The new governor-general of the Lebanon, too, has entered warmly into the plans of the British-Syrian schools, and promises to encourage the Lebanon mission even beyond our highest expectations. With such fields all around, the committee need not say friends and funds are more than ever needed to reap the harvest of souls. NOTES ON THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS. UNDER the pretence of reviving effete monarchies or nationalities the man of lawlessness is scattering rebellion through the world, as though the lessons of history were of no avail, and forgetful of the truth "non bis in idem." Under this idea the crusades are attempted to be restored in the Levant; and this, with the persecution of the Jews revived in the principalities, reveals one of the peculiar traits of the present day-the attempt to bring mediævalism back again upon us. With the same spirit in the west, the bishop of Rome is endeavouring to restore his old dominion, and more particularly to re-conquer this country. He is also generally urging the old pretensions of that see to universal temporal and spiritual dominion, and encourag ing rebellion and discontent in Ireland and other countries to carry out his views. In aid of these efforts every engine is set to work, and we have placed before us matters that rival the dark superstitions of the middle ages; of which the holy coat of Treves and the story of La Salette, where two children were reported to have seen an apparition of the virgin, are in stances. of In the recently-published life of St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the passionists, the following, abstracted in the "Athenæum" of the 18th July, 1868, is put forward for our belief: “The biographer of Paul of the Cross, lost in enthusiasm for his hero, places him above the Saviour. The miracles performed by the Son of God are equalled, and sometimes surpassed, by those which Paul of the Cross is said to have executed. We smile at Paul's power to detect a sinner by the smell. ...... But the matter becomes more serious when we find that Paul saw the virgin, went down into hell, and walked not merely on the waters but also in the air. We are further told that he doubled crops corn, fed multitudes from a granary, which remained full as at first when the hungry had been satiated. When deluges of rain fell, Paul and the ground about him remained dry: rays of glory were seen by some people encircling his head; and his intercession with our lady seems to have been thought irresistible." Again: “A scrap of his old habit having cured an incurable boy, and relieved, by its application, a girl of cancer, the church promoted Paul to beatification in 1852. By this promotion it was lawful to reverence Paul, but not to have public processions in his honour. Last year, the church, having discovered that a girl praying statue had been healed, proceeded to his canonization; and henceforth it is not only law. ful but a matter of necessity that good Romanists should ask for the intercession of the new saint-all that the scriptures tell us of one Mediator and one Sacrifice to the contrary not withstanding." In the life of the curé of Ars, who died in 1859, and which was published during the pre sent year, we are told in the gravest way that, being honoured, ambitious men who entered "the curé of Ars worked miracles of the same the ministry sought to be masters, and succlass as those recorded in the New Testament; ceeded in their efforts. After the fall of the that a cap he had worn cured a wound in the Roman empire the catholic church became head so completely that not a scar was left; a politico-religious body, "binding kings in that he healed throat diseases, affections of the chains and their nobles in fetters of iron," and spine, and nervous maladies which the doctors to this may be added, the people in ignorance pronounced incurable; that he made the lame and spiritual bondage. Hence the terrible evils to walk and the dumb to speak. Flour which that have come upon it; from the effects of sufficed only for two loaves swelled till there which Christendom is suffering severely to the was bread enough to fill an oven. An empty present day, granary became full as soon as the relics of a saint were put inside it. A cask filled itself with wine of a quality very superior to that which was supplied from earthly sources. St. John the Baptist appeared to the curé, and made signs to him to build a chapel" (Idem, 25th July, 1868, p. 109). Of a similar character is the story told in connexion with a free-church minister in Scotland -that when he was born all the candles in the house lighted spontaneously at once. It is not the papal influence alone that is now putting itself forward, but the great power of Antichrist; and the church of Rome is only one of the many agencies employed. In our Own church medievalism is showing its strength in restoring the errors, superstitions, and ceremonies of the dark ages. It is attempted to put the elements of the Lord'ssupper into the place of the Saviour, to show that they are God, to sacrifice him daily, whereas the sacrifice of redemption was offered once and for ever on Calvary; to make us believe that he is brought materially in his body into our churches, whereas the scriptures tell us that his body is in heaven, awaiting the time of the great change, the resurrection of mankind. The usurpation of a soi-disant priesthood is developing itself amongst other religious bodies, who denounce the authority of government in the temporalities of the church, and strive for what they call "the Headship of Christ," and themselves his vicars on earth-a species of fifth-monarchism or tendency towards the heresy that the resurrection is past. Archbishop Manning has challenged this movement as involving the same principle as the church of Rome on the subject, and calls its supporters brothers working for a common cause, putting forward Thomas à Becket as its proto-martyr. The Society for the Liberation of Religion from State Patronage and Control takes a conspicuons place in this movement. The church has been forewarned that it would experience a general onslaught in the latter days. It is not here pretended to assert that we have arrived at the period indicated; but the coincidences are so remarkable that the mind of the student is naturally attracted by, and cannot resist pondering over, them. Of such passages are 2 Tim. iii. 1-7, Rev. xi. 7, and the very remarkable passages representing the various forms of Antichrist that have been developed at different eras of the Christian dispensation as coming up together against Armageddon, the mountain of the gospel (Rev. xvi. 13-16). The mixture of politics with religion has been the bane of the church. Not content with Nor were those who seceded from the church after the reformation less open to censure. They escaped from oppression to become oppressors; and during the first English revolution they applied the passage above quoted to themselves, openly avowing their intention of fulfilling the prophetic words, and thus restoring Roman principles. From this contrast we may see that these evils did not arise from Christianity, as secularists affirm, but from the barbarism of the age and the corruption of the heart of man. Had the church studied to be quiet and to do its own business, had it remembered that its mission was to endeavour to save the souls of men, and not to rule over the temporal affairs of life, the wilderness might long since have blossomed as a rose. Archbishop Manning says, in his speech regarding Thomas à Becket, the proto-martyr, according to him, " for liberty of conscience and religion": "Let any one read his (Macaulay's) account of the Star Chamber and of the Court of High Commission, and, finally, of the attempt to establish episcopacy in Scotland. If these references were not sufficient to show that our civil and religious liberties had not been guaranteed by the establishment of a religion, but been vindicated and obtained only in proportion as the legalized establishment had been undone, he would give up the attempt to prove anything from history." The errors or crimes to which he here alludes were committed by those who had not yet fully thrown off all the doubtful observances that were tolerated in the reformed church during the reign of Elizabeth and her immediate successors; adhesion to which was the means of overthrowing for a time the monarchy and the church. These errors or crimes of the ministers of the church of England, which arose in part from their false position as ministers of state or amici curiæ in politics of the government, cannot be charged with justice upon the church of the present day any more than those of Romanism can be upon Christianity. On this point mediavalism is advancing in force: great efforts are being made to restore those observances that caused so much evil to the Stuart family-the downfall of the monarchy and church, and the rejection of the episcopal church in Scotland. It is now sought to lead us back to the ceremonies of the beginning of the seventeenth century and the superstitions of the sixteenth, and so to travel back to the middle ages; whilst the outward enemies of the church are seeking to destroy that Erastianism which prevents the domination of the ministry and the restoration of that |