apprehend, to be more peremptory in our assertions than the Scriptures themselves; nor must we call that essential or unalterable which has not been declared to be so by our Lord or his Apostles." Now, while we lament, for their own sakes, that some other churches have not an Episcopal ministry, and while we rejoice that we have, still we look with honest and hearty delight upon the blessing which the Lord has undoubtedly given to many of the labours of our dissenting brethren among the heathen. The Lord. himself knows that there is room enough at present in the vast wildernesses of the earth for the labours of every ministry of the universal Church of Christ. And while we should be glad to know that our own noble Liturgy supplied a form of sound words to the converted worshippers of the Lord God throughout the length and breadth of every now desert region of the world, and that the three orders of the ministry which we believe to have been appointed from the time of the Apostles themselves, were ordained for the service of God and of the people in every now heathen land, still, wherever "Christ is preached, we therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."

Mr. Moffatt's volume, to which we have done poor justice, adds to the many proofs which have been already laid before the Christian public, that it does please the Lord our God to send forth labourers into his harvest, and to bless them with an abundant success, although they may not have received Episcopal ordination. Ah, who that knows any thing of Robert Moffatt, of his single mind, his honest zeal, his kind and loving heart, his powerful and touching eloquence-and his most extraordinary successes, would dare to speak of him as one who preached the everlasting Gospel without the peculiar favour and grace of God bearing witness to his work, and crowning it with His blessing. No; they are not the true friends of our beloved Church, who would exalt her by reflections upon other Christians and bodies of Christians, at once unwise, untrue and uncharitable, and, we may add, above all, unscriptural. Let such objectors pause till they have read for themselves the volume of Mr. Moffatt. Let them, in company with him, view the African in his native wilds:

"Follow me," he says, "and I will lead you to where the wilderness and the solitary way has been made to rejoice and blossom as the rose; where streams have broken forth in the desert. I will lead you not to the delusive mirage which guides the weary traveller to imaginary pools and streams, but to those places where living waters gently roll; where the weary wanderer expected to find his course terminate at the horizon of death, the standard of the cross has been erected, and now the African finds to his everlasting consolation the shadow of a great rock in a weary land,' and witnesses with wonder and delight that on his native wastes and burning sands the Rose of Sharon blooms."-(p. 34.)

TRAVELS AND RESEARCHES IN ASIA MINOR, MESOPOTAMIA, CHALDEA, AND ARMENIA. By WILLIAM FRANCIS AINSWORTH, F.G.S., F.R.G.S., in Charge of the Expedition sent by the Royal Geographical Society, and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, to the Christian Tribes in Chaldea. London: Parker. 1842.

WHATEVER may be thought of the pretensions of these volumes, in a literary point of view, they cannot but derive considerable interest from the avowed object of the expedition which was committed to the superintendence of Mr. Ainsworth. "On the return of the Euphrates expedition to this country in the year 1837, a strong desire," he tells us, "was excited among many, to become acquainted with the actual condition of the mountaineer Chaldean Christians, of whom much had been heard during that expedition; but whose isolated position, and country difficult of access, had placed them beyond the reach of the exploratory excursions of the officers. Under these circumstances, the Royal Geographical Society and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, united to bear the expenses of an expedition, which should specially visit these interesting tribes; and the author of the present narrative (who had accompanied the Euphrates Expedition as surgeon and geologist), and Mr. Rassam (a Chaldean native of Musul, who had been educated by the missionaries at Cairo, and had joined the Euphrates Expedition at Malta) having been selected by the Geographical Society for the undertaking, were approved of by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge." The choice was, in either case, a happy one. Mr. Ainsworth's narrative, which has at least the recommendation of being a plain unvarnished tale, a straight-forward and unaffected record of incidents, proves him to abound in the most essential qualifications of a traveller, courage, enterprize, perseverance, enthusiasm, and endurance: while Mr. Rassam's travelling experience, his knowledge of the Turkish and Arabic languages, his previous connection with missionary societies, and his claims of relationship among the Chaldeans, rendered him peculiarly fitted for the undertaking generally, and more especially for prosecuting the inquiries suggested by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The expedition was subsequently joined by Mr. Thomas L. Russell, a gentleman of eminent mathematical attainments, who was, however, compelled to return home by severe and protracted illness, to the great detriment of the astronomical portion of its labours. We

are not, however, so much concerned with the scientific and geographical results of the Expedition, or even the character of the countries visited, the peculiarities of their inhabitants, their scenery and antiquities, as with the intercourse held by Mr. Ainsworth and his companion with the Chaldean Christians; with the information thus obtained respecting their religious tenets and views of Church discipline and government; and with the prospect thus elicited of the revival or the extension of pure Christianity in the east. We shall therefore confine ourselves almost exclusively to this portion of Mr. Ainsworth's narrative, only glancing cursorily and incidentally at the present state of the Christian religion in the regions which the Expedition traversed, a large portion of which is the classic ground of ecclesiastical history, and may almost be designated, in a secondary sense, the Holy Land.

On the 18th of September, 1838, the Expedition left Constantinople, and on the 21st reached Isnid, or Nicomedia, which was once a royal city, and still retains traces of its former dignity. The Christian residents are numerous, and the Greek Church has still its apostolical representative at this ancient see, whose bishop was distinguished by the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism to the first Christian emperor of Rome. A month's journey through the Lesser Asia brought the travellers to Zafaran Boli, a place hitherto little known to Europeans, though containing about 3000 houses of Mahomedans, and 250 houses of Christians. The chief trade of this place is in saffron, the large production of which, says Mr. Ainsworth, has rendered the place so flourishing, and gave to its ancient name of Flaviopolis, and its modern one of Zafaran Boli. We do not hear from him, indeed, any particulars respecting the Christian inhabitants of the place, except that they have at St. Stephen's church a limb of the martyr himself, in a high state of preservation, which is said to have been brought from Syria, and presented to that church by Theodora, wife of the Emperor Justinian. Mr. Ainsworth concludes his account of this town, however, with observations so just and pertinent, and so happily illustrative of the tendency of the Christian religion to ameliorate the social condition, as well as to promote the eternal interests of mankind, that we cannot withhold from ourselves the pleasure of extracting them :

"Zafaran Boli, it may be remarked, is one of the very few towns in Lesser Asia that has preserved its ancient prosperity under the Mohammedan rule. Almost universally the opposite is the case. Iconium, Cæsarea, Angora, Sebaste, Tigranocerta, Edessa, and a host of places rendered illustrious by their former prosperity and greatness, are now in the most prostrate and fallen condition, while others also of celebrity, as Nisibin, Anazarba, Issus, Amorium, &c., are mere heaps of ruins. In Paphlagonia, as in Bithynia,

we find a brighter period, even in its half-savage condition, and at the remote epoch of the Greek colonies, than in modern times. The history of wars with the kings of Pontus is relieved by the account of the founding and embellishment of cities; its bishops were seated at the councils of the Church; its towns were the homes of the noblest Asiatic Greeks. It remained to be prostrated, with the other fair provinces of the peninsula, under Mohammedan misrule and lethargy.

"It is a curious fact, that the Osmanli conquerors of Lesser Asia cannot claim the foundation of a single town or city. For four centuries they have neither established new ports, nor formed new roads, nor have they originated any new branches of industry or of commercial intercommunication. Even the Saracens did more by their inroads. The Turkomans of the Seljukiyan dynasty constructed a road from Koniyeh eastward; but, beyond a few bridges and causeways, and numerous religious edifices, the Osmanli sultans have done nothing for the interior. With one of the finest countries in the world to pour its tribute into the coffers of the Sublime Porte, the sultans have built jamis, a fleet, tombs innumerable, and have adorned the shore of the Thracian Bosphorus with wooden palaces; while agriculture, commerce, and industry, have sunk to the very lowest ebb, in a climate and country favourable to each; and at the same time all the intellectual and tasteful pursuits of mankind have been banished by the hideous form of a baneful religion, from the earliest home of literature and science, of music and the fine arts."-(vol. i. pp. 68, 69.)

The next place of importance at which we would detain our readers for a few moments, on account of its former reputation rather than its present prosperity, is ANGORA, which was wont to be distinguished for the extent of its European commerce, and where there are many tombstones of British merchants in the burial-ground attached to the monastery of St. Paul's. It is now, however, through the withdrawal of consular protection, well nigh abandoned both by English and French, who have at this time only a few native Christian agents in the place. The population consists of 10,000 Mahomedans, 500 Christians, and 200 Jews. The Armenians of Angora had formerly seven churches, of which only those of the Holy Cross and Sergius (St. George) are now used. The Schismatic or Romish Armenians have no church of their own. The Greeks have two churches. There is reason to hope, however, that better times are yet in store for this decayed city, and that with the revival of commerce there may be connected ere long the exhibition of a purer Christianity than that which now prevails. Indeed, from the interesting account which Mr. Ainsworth has given of his conversation with the priests of Nev Shehr, or the New Town, a city of the ancient Cappadocia, about 150 miles S. E. of Angora, we may entertain a hope that there is no great variation, as to essential doctrine, from the articles and formularies of the Anglican Church :--

"We were much pleased with the Christian inhabitants; we visited their church and schools, and attended divine service. We had also frequent and long conversations with the priests, who were of far less domineering disposi tions than those of Angora. One of them giving reason for the faith that JULY, 1842.

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was in him, said, confession was a divine institution, being first used by Adam, who confessed his own and Eve's transgressions to God himself. We took this opportunity of informing him that confession of that description, or spiritual confession, was much approved of, and indeed insisted upon, by our church, but that this differed very much from confessing to a man. He next quoted the confession that Lot made to Abraham. The ordinary authority from James was then quoted by ourselves, and commented upon, that one to another' did not mean privity of confession; and we further admitted, that confession was not avoided, but rather enjoined by our Church, explaining the cases and their application.

On the subject of baptism, the priests objected to the sprinkling of water, but we explained from Matthew, that the sign was the principal matter, and consecration in the Holy Spirit, true baptism; that there was no positive objection to immersion, but that it is unnecessary.

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The holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper appeared to be but imperfectly understood by them; Why,' they asked us, 'do you go to that ordinance after breakfast?' to which it was answered, because the historical fulfilment would be a mere ceremony of passing the bread and wine about after supper. In spirit, the elements of the Eucharist might be dispensed in the ordinary state of man's habits and feelings, if his mind and spirit were prepared-but that in England many worthy persons considered it advisable (without the injunction of priests) to take that holy sacrament fasting.

"As regards the marriage of priests, they did not hesitate to acknowledge St. Paul's injunction to Timothy (1 Tim. iii. 12) as an interdiction to a priest's being the husband of more than one wife at a time, and not as forbidding second nuptials, after the decease of the first wife, as is maintained by many Oriental Churches.

In justification of councils and legends, they asserted that our Lord left his religion imperfect at first, like a piece of rough wood or timber, and that the fashioning and polishing of this was reserved for the workmen-the apostles and the early patriarchs-the fathers of the Church.

"The dress of these Cappadocian Greeks had much originality about it, and still more particularly so in the females, who dressed showily, and enjoyed a great degree of freedom, exhibiting themselves openly and with uncovered faces, and even at times entering into conversation."-(vol. i. pp. 174, 175.)

Assuredly, the national character is much altered for the better since the Latin epigrammatist wrote, concerning the serpent who attempted to bite à Cappadocian,—

"Gustato periit sanguine Cappadocis."

It must be stated, however, that Mr. Ainsworth's first impressions of the intelligence, and morality, and advancing social condition of the Christians of Nev Shehr were somewhat modified by the misconduct of the host, who, though a respectable merchant, entered into a conspiracy with the Shehr Kyayak, or deputy of the governor, to extort from the travellers an exorbitant price for their apartment, and double the ordinary charge for horses. They applied for redress to the governor, a strange and eccentric old man, generally designated as Blackbeard, who, after much loud and angry altercation, concluded by granting all that they desired, and left the remuneration of their exorbitant host to their own generosity. Nevertheless, our author does not depart from this province without again expressing