Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/427

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After our departure, Mar Shimoon continued to correspond with me on the state of his affairs. A fresh trouble vexed him about this time, occasioned by the proceedings of the American Independent Missionaries at Ooroomiah, who had printed a number of tracts contrary to the doctrines of the Nestorians, one of which against Baptismal regeneration, was put into his hands before we left Mosul. The Patriarch thus expressed his sentiments on this subject in a letter which I received before leaving Constantinople: "We would further make you acquainted with what has just happened at Ooroomiah among the Americans who are residing there. A serious quarrel has taken place between the Bishops and the citizens on the one side, and the Americans on the other, on account of the improper conduct of the latter in the said town. This led to a council of the zealous and true shepherds with their rational sheep, and they closed up and disbanded the vain schools which the Americans had established at Ooroomiah. We have moreover written to them a letter under our seal, that the schools remain closed, and that the Americans be sent from thence." He then goes on to beg, that the Church of England should send missionaries to undertake the education of his people in Ooroomiah, expressing his anxiety lest the Romanists should enter into his flock and lead many over to the errors of the Papacy. Nearly about the same time, the two American missionaries at Mosul requested per-