Originally delivered as one of the St. Margaret`s Lectures for 1904, the contents of this booklet are focused on aspects of the Syriac-speaking Church. Extracted from Burkitt`s book Early Eastern Christianity, the first lecture concerns the early bishops of Edessa. Starting from the basic difference between Eastern and Western Christian outlooks, Burkitt briefly sketches the early history of documented Edessa. Christianity appeared in the city between its sacking by the Romans and its incorporation into the Roman Empire around the start of the third century A.D.