There is no need of entering here on the practical influence of such a religion on the lives of the people. That will appear in the progress of our history. Enough has been said to justify the American churches in laboring to restore to the degenerate churches of the East the Gospel they had lost, especially as an indispensable means of Christianizing the Moslems of Turkey and Persia. The Oriental communities within the range of this history, are the following:-- The GREEKS; The ARMENIANS; The NESTORIANS; The JACOBITES; The BULGARIANS; The ROMAN CATHOLICS OF TURKEY; The JEWS OF TURKEY; and The MOHAMMEDANS. The Missions are as follows:-- The PALESTINE Mission; The SYRIA Mission; The GREEK Mission; The ARMENIAN Mission; The NESTORIAN Mission; The ASSYRIAN Mission; The MISSION TO THE JEWS; and that to The MOHAMMEDANS. MISSIONS TO THE ORIENTAL CHURCHES. CHAPTER I. PALESTINE. 1819--1824. American missions in Bible lands, like their apostolic predecessors, had a beginning at Jerusalem. The first missionaries from this country to the Oriental Churches were Pliny Fisk and Levi Parsons. On the 23d of September, 1818, they were appointed to labor in Palestine. But as, at that early period, there was special need of making the churches acquainted with the work, and foreign missionaries were less common than now, they were detained to labor at home until November of the following year, when they embarked at Boston for Smyrna, in the ship _Sally Ann_, Captain Edes. They were both interesting men, and the impressive public services connected with their departure were long remembered in Boston. A single extract from the official instructions of Dr. Worcester, the Corresponding Secretary of the Board, will give at once a glimpse of that remarkable man, and a view of the object of the mission. "From the heights of the Holy Land, and from Zion, you will take an extended view of the wide-spread desolations and variegated scenes presenting themselves on every side to Christian sensibility; and will survey with earnest attention the various tribes and classes who dwell in that land, and in the surrounding countries. The two grand inquiries ever present to your minds will be, WHAT GOOD CAN BE DONE? and BY WHAT MEANS? What can be done for Jews? What for Pagans? What for Mohammedans? What for Christians? What for the people in Palestine? What for those in Egypt, in Syria, in Persia, in Armenia, in other countries to which your inquiries may be extended?"