It was recognized as a fact of fundamental importance, that the people within the bounds of the mission were Arabs, whether called Greeks, Greek Catholics, Druzes, or Maronites, and that the divers religious sects really constituted one race. There were believed to be advantages, in the fact, that these sects were intermingled in the several villages, since the population was less inclined to oppose, and more easily accessible, than where the villages were exclusively of one sect. The most hopeful parts of Lebanon were the southern districts, inhabited by a people social in their habits, owners of the soil, shrewd, inquisitive, industrious, and capable of devising and executing with tact and efficiency. There was much discussion as to the best manner of cultivating the field, but all agreed that wherever small companies were ready to make a credible profession of piety, they were entitled to be recognized as churches, and had a right to such a native ministry as could be given them. The reformed churches might combine persons from several, and perhaps from all, the various sects; and the method of church organization should be such as to throw the greatest responsibility on the individual members. The question was raised, whether the marked disposition in the mountain communities to place themselves collectively under the instruction of the mission, would justify a lowering of the qualifications for church-membership, especially with reference to the baptism of children. It was believed that no good would result from this; especially, as the people are so bent on regarding baptism as a renewing ordinance. To form churches in this way, would only be to multiply communities of merely nominal Christians. The brethren admitted, that their labors had been too little adapted, hitherto, to awaken religious feeling among the people. The reasons assigned for this were, the absorbing demands of the press and of education; the habits of preaching and laboring formed under past unfavorable states of the field; and finally, a painful impression of the suffering that converts must endure, with no civil power to interpose between them and their persecutors. To counteract the first of these causes, it was decided to suspend the printing for a year; and the seminary was revived, which had been suspended in 1842, to counteract the second. The remedy for the last two, was a more perfect reliance on the Holy Spirit and the divine energy of the Gospel. It was the general opinion, that education in all its parts should bear a fixed proportion to the frequency, spirituality, and power of the more formal preaching. Nor was it less clear, that the press should be kept strictly subservient to the pulpit.