KING, JONAS, D.D., 1792-1869; b. Mass.; graduated at Williams college, 1816; Andover seminary, 1819. On leaving the seminary he engaged in home-mission work in Milssachusetts; also in Charleston, S. C., where he was ordained as an evangelist. In preparation for mission work in the east he went to Paris and studied Arabic under De Sacey. From 1823 to 1825 he traveled in Egypt and Syria with the rev. Pliny Fisk under the patronage of the American board, distributing the Scriptures and preaching Christ. He returned to America in 1827. In 1828 he relinquished the'professorship of languages in Amherst college which he had held for some years, declined a similar one from Yale, and acceded to a request from the ladies' Greek committee of New York that he would go to Greece as their missionary. They had been stirred by his recitals of the sufferings. of that country from Turkish despotism; had prepared a shipload of food and clothing,. and wished to send food for "the soul as well as the body." He reached Poros, Greece,. July 28. Supplies for the body and Christian books and instruction seemed for a time• to be received with almost equal eagerness. Every day persons came begging for the New 'Testament, sometimes the number of applicants reaching 150. Some times a school of boys with their teacher would come for this purpose before breakfast, In one instance a bishop asked for New Testaments for the use of his priests, that they might "he able to teach the people properly." Dr. King made known the gospel in the streets, under a fig tree, or wherever he could find hearers. People would assemble in companies of fifty or sixty and,listen with eagerness. Even the priests would give atten tion and approve what was said. The president of Greece seemed to look favorably on his efforts. He visited many important places, everywhere preaching, and promoting the interests of education and morality, and,where there was need, relieving want. There were many who testified to the value of his instructions and his aid in their own expert. once. In 1829 Dr. King married Miss Mengous, a Greek lady of influence. In 1830, at. the request of the American board, his mission was transferred to its care. When Da King established schools, it was with the condition that the Scriptures should be studied in them. In 1855 the minister of education wrote to all the teachers of Greece com mending the reading of the Scriptures as tending to regulate morals and citing the teach ings of St. Chrysostom in their favor. Meanwhile the hierarchy of the Greek church had not looked on with indifference. As early as 1835 a member of the "holy synod" preached against the American schools, threatening with excommunication those who sent children to them. The minister of the interior, however, said: " Go on with your work; it is good." In 1844, being accused in some of the Greek papers of speaking against the doctrines of the church, Dr. King answered in the same papers, showing by quotations that Chrysostom, Basil, and Epiphanius taught what he taught. In 1845
there was issued against him, by both the Greek synod at Athens and the so-called "great church " at Constantinople, "an excommunication from the whole community."" These were sent to churches throughout Greece and Turkey. In 1846, at the instigation of the Greek synod, he was brought before the Areopagus charged with having in one of his books reviled the mother of God, the holy images, etc. When asked, "Have you• any defense to make?" he answered: " Those things in my book with regard to Mary, with regard to transubstantiation, and with regard to images, / did not say; but the most brilliant luminaries of the eastern church, St. Epiphanius, St. Chrysostom the great, and others, say them." He was condemned to be tried before the felon's court in •Syra. An inflammatory pamphlet was circulated in advance, with the avowed sanction of a high priest. His life was threatened, the governor of Syra declared himself unable to protect him. Through the influence of several distinguished lawyers, also of the minis 'ter of foreign affairs and the minister of justice, this trial did not take place. In another instance a conspiracy of fifty men against his life was thwarted. In 1847 an accusation brought against him, though proved false, caused such an excitement that the king :advised his leaving the country for a time. He therefore visited various parts of Europe, in 1848 to his work. In 1851 he was appointed consular agent for the United States. A flag for the use of the consulate was received by him, and the same evening it became necessary to unfurl it in the presence of a mob which threatened violence. In liar., 1852, he was again brought to trial on a charge of reviling the God of the universe and the Greek religion, and condemned to fifteen days' imprisonment and to leave the country. He protested in the name of the U. S. government. Soon afterwards George T. Marsh, minister-resident of the United States at Constantinople, was ordered by his government to investigate the whole affair, which he did. In 1854 the king of Greece issued an order freeing Dr. King from the penalty of exile. He remained at his work as usual. In 1857 he attended the meeting of the evangelical alliance at Berlin. In '1864, after an absence of three years, he returned to Greece, where his useful life closed. His original works, in Arabic, Greek, and French were ten in number, some of them being widely read and translated into other tongues. Eleven others he revised and carried through the press. He distributed 400,000 copies of school books and Scripture portions in Greece and Turkey, besides what he scattered during his travels in other Tarts of Europe, and in Palestine, Syria, and Egypt. But perhaps his most remarkable quality was a happy tact in using conversation as a vehicle of religious instruction and impression. Greece has paid many tributes to his worth and service, and will yet show their large results.