_A_. I have already said that my preaching consists in teaching what is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, that is, the Word of God, which all the most distinguished early Fathers in the Eastern Church, especially Chrysostom and Athanasius, declared to be the only school of godliness, the fountain at which all Christians ought to drink; and if the Eastern Church acknowledges these sacred Scriptures as the foundations of its religion, I cannot be guilty of the charge, for I have said nothing against those bases. As to the superstructure, what has at various times been built up on these foundations, I have nothing to say at this time. That is quite another question, and one which the accusation does not touch. But against the foundations themselves, as already explained, I can have said nothing, because I preach that Word, which contains them. And besides, I consider it a sin for any one to preach anything of his own, and that it is the duty of every one to preach only what is contained in the Word of God." The judge then said, "The examination is ended."1 1 _Missionary Herald_, 1851, p. 268. Dr. King, sometime before, had prepared an "Exposition of an Apostolical Church," founded entirely on the Word of God, which was printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This was extensively distributed, and was denounced by the Greek hierarchy in Constantinople, Smyrna, and Thessalonica. In September, the Council of Judges in the criminal court of Athens, a sort of grand jury, presented him for trial in that court upon the allegations, that for two years he had "preached within his house in this place publicly, in the exposition of the sacred Scriptures, that baptism is no other than a simple symbol, and consequently it is indifferent whether men are sprinkled or immersed; that those who eat a little bread, and drink a little wine, are foolish in thinking that they will be saved by this communion; that the most holy mother of God is not ever virgin; that those who worship her, as also the other divine images, are idolaters; that he does not accept the sacred Councils, and the things ordained by them in religion, and handed down by tradition to the orthodox Christians in later times; that the fathers and the saints of the orthodox Oriental Church of Christ were deceivers, and as a consequence of this, they brought in divers heresies; that holy baptism is no other than an external sign for Christians;" etc. There were successive appeals, as in the former case, up to the Areopagus; but with similar results, except that the highest court decided that the penal law did not apply to one half of the allegations. It was hoped that the matter would end here, but a trial was ordered for the 5th of March, 1852.