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much like ours, as like that of England when Chaucer wrote. Are the Russian priests, of the same grade, any more corrupt than were such as figure in the Canterbury Tales? The Czar does not hesitate to say that his subjects are degraded. But they are docile, toward him at least; and they aspire to be like him. They catch their ideas of religion, and of culture in general, from his example. When Alexander I. was inclined to become a Protestant, the Greek church, as a body, stood ready to follow him. "The Greek church could become Protestant, because it has never denied, and cannot consistently with its own creed deny, either the authority or the free circulation of the Scriptures. One single Christian-minded and wise Russian emperor could place the Greek church in Russia in friendly relations with evangelical Protestantism." This is an encouraging fact; for it is the fixed policy of the Czars to learn what they can of other nations, and especially of Western nations which are Protestant. Their patriotism, in this particular at least, is not proud or narrow. They are teachable, ready to confess the degradation of their subjects, eager to be instructed by an enemy even. It was for instruction, which might redound to his country's advantage, that Peter travelled in disguise through Germany, Holland, and England. It was one of his darling objects to give sea-ports, ships, and a commerce to Russia. For the sake of that object he labored hard to gain a knowledge of ship-building. He worked with his own hands as a common shipwright in the dockyard at Amsterdam, and afterwards in the English yard at Deptford. Thus has it been, though in a less marked degree, with all his successors. In the science of government and of civilization, and in letters, they are constantly learning from the nations around them. And whatever of light they receive, is straightway reflected upon their people. Mr. Bancroft speaks of the Russian language as "copious and harmonious," fitted "to become the voice of the muses and the instrument of science." The government is beginning,

1 See Article in Encycl. Brit., quoted above.

at length, to apply the capabilities of that language in a way which can but produce the happiest effects on both priesthood and peasantry. Not to mention other schools, which are springing up in various parts of the empire, six hundred and eighty-two for the exclusive benefit of the sons of the clergy have already been established; and, in these schools, there are now more than seventy thousand pupils. More encour

aging than all this, is the fact that the Bible is given to the masses in their mother tongue. And the number of those who can read it understandingly, as we infer from the facts stated above, is rapidly increasing. May we not hope that the word of God, beginning thus freely to be circulated in Russia, will work out for her the same blessed results which it has accomplished in other lands? When we compare English society as it is at the present day, with those rude tribes over which Alfred reigned; and consider what the possession of the Scriptures by the common people has done in bringing to pass the happy contrast, we feel warranted in concluding that the day is yet to come when those broad steppes, over which Ivan the Terrible' once led his savage hordes, shall teem with a free, intelligent, and Christian population.

If the Greek church should not give up its present organization, and should continue always to be an adjunct of the Russian crown, there is a career opening before it which every Protestant ought to ponder. Since the fall of Constantinople, up to the present time, it has generally been regarded as a down-trodden and decaying church. Rome has worn the insignia of spiritual dominion, and been watched by the nations of the earth with wonder and terror.

But

1 The appropriateness of this epithet, by which the first Czar is characterized in Russian history, will appear from the following incident: He once gave orders for the building of a church, which should in splendor surpass all others. The most skilful architect to be found was entrusted with the work; and the edifice, when completed, more than fulfilled his most ardent hopes. So enchanted was he with the structure, that he ordered the architect's eyes to be pulled out, that he might never be able to build another of similar beauty! The church, in connection with which the Russians tell this story, is still standing, within the enclosure of the Kremlin at Moscow.

now, unless the lines of history deceive us in their tendency, the case is about beginning to be reversed. That vigorous Western spirit, which gave success to the papal church in former times, is fast stealing out of it; and now, like the Greek church when identified with the Eastern empire, it has to work chiefly with effete materials. It still has many missionaries scattered through the world, and its inquisitorial machinery is still worked to some extent; but these, if we may believe such a writer as Mr. Hallam, are dying spasms-the retractile claws of the tiger who has received a death-wound. Rome's only chance of prolonging her life, and of renewing her youth, lies in the project which she has conceived, of subjecting this Western continent to her sway.' It rests with Protestant America to complete the overthrow of the Mystery of Iniquity, which natural causes have already brought to the verge of ruin in the Old World. There Italy, Austria, Spain, and France are the main dependence of the papacy. It has no solid footing among the Northern nations of Europe. France is wayward and volatile. War, superstition, and Oriental vices, have at length wasted Italy and Spain. Austria bows before the pope, only because her fear of the Western powers just now outweighs her settled dread of the Czar. Whatever may be the successes of the Romish church in remote and Protestant countries, and oftentimes they are not in reality so great as they appear to be, — it is plain that nearer home, and within its own dominions, it is sinking into decay. Like that great evil of slavery, which so afflicts the American government, it can live only by going forth continually to other lands. Let it be confined within the territory it has already acquired, and it will gradually dwindle till its life shall become extinct.

But on the other hand, Rome's ancient foe, the Greek church, seems to be just entering the glorious period of its history. The slumberous night, which followed the capture of Constantinople, has passed away. The morning of resurrection is now breaking. And that which was sown in

1 Dr. Edward Beecher's Papal Conspiracy Exposed."

weakness, has already begun to be raised with power. Greek Christianity has escaped from the embrace of Orientalism, and has become identified in its fortunes with the dynasty of the great Northern Cæsars. They are gradually breathing life, hope, courage, and the spirit of conquest into it. This new inspiration is making itself felt throughout the East.

The Christians of Asia, so many of them as look to the Czar for protection, are on the alert. They do not bear the Turkish yoke as meekly as they did a hundred years ago. They feel themselves to be, in an important sense, strangers on their native soil; and they draw the spirit which animates them from their mighty champion in the Northwest. This new development has not shown itself conspicuously as yet, in all instances; but it has begun, and is steadily advancing. Such is the testimony of intelligent men, who have travelled extensively in the East. And more will be seen and known of this movement, as the plans of the Czar are more fully comprehended by the Oriental Christians. The Armenian and Nestorian churches, and that of Alexandria also, will not allow their differences to keep them from uniting under one civil protector, when they have learned that he is tolerant, that he is bent on destroying their common foe, and that he will probably restore their ancient immunities to them all. These organizations have never enjoyed an independent existence. In the early conflicts between the Greeks and Latins, they held no fixed position. Sometimes they sided with the Eastern, and sometimes with the Western church, as one or the other party seemed to offer them the more powerful protection. After the Saracen invasion, and the wars of the crusaders, they came almost entirely under the dictation of Rome, so far as Rome had the power to dictate in the Sultan's dominions. But now the tide has turned. The Greek church is in the ascendant again. And hence we may infer that those Asiatic churches, true to their ancient policy, are ready to give what influence they have to the Northern conqueror. It is for the interest of France and her allies to deny that such a disposition prevails in the East, VOL. XV. No. 59.

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and to counteract it in all possible ways; but the testimony, even of some English travellers is, that such a disposition does exist, and is on the increase, wherever the relations of Russia to the Turkish empire are well understood.

Are we sufficiently observant of that prodigious power of church and state combined, which is growing up in the heart of Europe, and which already casts its shadow over nearly a third of the habitable globe? That people has the advantage of every variety of soil and climate; and the blood of almost every race of man flows in its veins. "Perhaps in no country in the world does one meet so great a variety of foreigners; almost every nation has its representative in Russia, from the Norwegian and Swede to the Albanian and Turk, from the Spanish adventurer to the Moldavian and Wallachian, they are all to be encountered in society; and that not by any remarkable accident, but merely in an invitation to one's general acquaintances." The resident there must be able to converse in at least three languages -French, German, and the Russian-in order to any satisfactory intercourse with the people. This foreign population does not control, though it must favorably affect the national character. It is gradually absorbed. That process which scientific men term the degradation of races, has always tended to the elevation of the native population, in Russia. "The remains or the exiles of other nations are to be found in the central parts of Russia; but the emigrants seem never to have even impaired the nationality of the original inhabitants; but the rather to have become incorporated with them to the entire loss of their own distinctive character." But this gigantic empire is fortunate not merely

It may not be for the interest of the Western powers to conceal this fact at home, where they wish to excite as general a dread of the vast influence of the Czar as they can; but it is necessary to the safety of the Sultan's dominions, whom they wish to employ as a reason for opposing Russia. Should the people of Turkey be persuaded, by their knowledge of the Czar's designs, to throw off their present yoke, such a revolt would not only prove disastrous to France, but might also put an end to the dominion of England in countries still further east.

2

Russians at Home, by a Ten years' Resident in that Country," p. 303.

8 Bancroft's "Studies in History." See "Miscellanies," p. 319.

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