it holds with reference to this field of missionary labour, as in many others, that the teacher of a pure and scriptural christianity must experience his greatest trials and difficulties from the agents of "the man of sin"-the instruments of "the mystery of iniquity." To this day the Nestorians retain their ancient jealousy of Romish influence. When Dr Grant penetrated into their mountain fastnesses, their first inquiry, as he informs us, was, whether he was a Catoleek,-declaring that they would not permit these "wolves in sheep's clothing" to enter their country. But the intrigues and wiles of Jesuitry constitute only a small part of the dangers which encompass this interesting people, ever threatening their extinction, but perseveringly withstood by them. "The Koran the tribute or the sword," is the well known watchword of Islamism. And situated as the Nestorians are, in the very centre of the regions where this system holds the minds of its votaries as if spellbound in its destructive embrace, it can easily be supposed that their continued spurning, for upwards of twelve and a half centuries, of the claims of the false prophet, must have been a source of deep mortification to his adherents; and that they must have been long marked out -disowning, as they do, the Koran, and refusing to give tribute to the Moslem power-as meriting the heaviest inflictions of the sword. For several years past, accordingly, plans have been formed by the united counsels of the Turks and the Koords to bring them under subjectionthe full execution of which has only been delayed in consequence of the misunderstandings which have sprung up between these two parties, and the hostile relations which recently subsisted between the Turkish and Persian governments. At last, however, the followers of the prophet have obtained their revenge. And there is not wanting ground for suspecting that that revenge may have been accelerated by the vindictiveness of the agents of Rome, who have been wont to endeavour to coerce the Nestorians into the adoption of their creed, by threats, if they refused, of Mussulman vengeance being hurled upon them. However this may be, it is a mournful fact, that these mountain recesses have now been made the theatre of cold-blooded carnage, and converted into scenes of desolation and sorrow. Under instructions from the Pasha of Mosul, a powerful body of troops, but a few months ago, invaded the Nestorian territory, scoured like a band of furies their remotest glens, and spread devastation and disaster wherever they went. Already sufficiently barbarous, they were, ere they set out for the scene of blood, instigated by fanatical Mollahs, to exterminate every male among the Nestorian tribes, and enslave the females. And they seem to have acted but too faithfully upon these inhuman instructions. The small tribe of Diss, in the north-east, was the first to fall before them, and the havoc which followed is said to have been great, in proportion to the numbers of the invaded. Among the killed were the aged mother of the patriarch, a brother, and several other members of the family. Three more of his brothers, his sister and other relations, eighteen or twenty in all, along with hundreds of others, women and children, were taken captive. Being now joined by the chiefs of the neighbouring Koords, who eagerly mustered their forces against their common * Grant's Nestorians, p. 48. enemy the Nestorians, the victorious army proceeded against the Tiyâry tribe, hitherto independent-the most numerous and powerful of all the tribes, and occupying a district supposed to be almost impregnable. According to a private communication from Ooroomiah, now before us, the Koords having sent a message to the Tyâryans, threatening to put the prisoners whom they had seized to death, unless they surrendered, the invaders were permitted, without opposition, to take possession of it, when pillage and massacre became the order of the day. According, however, to the statement of Dr Grant, in a letter to Dr Morison of London, recently published,* the invaders took the tribe by surprise, entered the district at an unexpected point, and then swept every thing before them, as with the besom of destruction. "The chief melek (or king) was among the first who fell; many were overwhelmed, by the vastly superior numbers, while nobly defending their villages or the mountain passes; while others, seeing that the contest was hopeless, fled to their strongholds. All who fell in the way of the enemy were cut down or driven to captivity: their most venerated and ancient churches were blown up, or otherwise demolished; their villages all but four or five burned; their produce and effects destroyed; their flocks driven away; and their lately peaceful valleys made one scene of mourning. In one instance, children were thrown up into the air, that the ferocious Koords might display their dexterity in cutting them in two parts as they fell; in another, a priest was driven into the creek, then he was stoned whenever he raised his head above water, till he was finally drowned. A company of women who were driven away as captives, while crossing a bridge, threw themselves simultaneously into the river, and were drowned. Others, who were neither young nor handsome, were put to death, after being taken as not worth the transportation." Dr Grant and his companions of the mission fled to Mosûl as danger approached; and the patriarch, along with some attendants, effected their escape, though with difficulty, to the same place. The country is now entirely in the hands of the Koords. One of the worst mountain robbers has been made governor of Tiyâry; and the mission premises, which, since these disasters occurred, have been enlarged, through the forced labour of Nestorians, are now occupied as a barrack by a body of Koords, five hundred strong, placed there to overawe those whom they have vanquished. The work of the missionaries among the mountains has thus for the time been entirely suspended, and a dark cloud rests upon the enterprize which they had so auspiciously begun. "I know not," remarks Dr Grant most touchingly, when reviewing these mournful occurrences, "whether we have most occasion to grieve for the living or the dead-for those who are left destitute of food or shelter in their bleak mountains-the captives who may be left to the option of a change of their religion, extreme suffering or death, or those who have made the Zab a common grave with their relentless destroyers."+ 66 *Evang. Mag. Nov. 1843. Since the above was put in type, we learn from the New York Evangelist, of date February 15th (which quotes letters received from Dr Grant), that after their defeat by the Turkish arms, the Nestorians, smarting under a sense of their wrongs, made an attempt, but without success, to regain their independence. The Koords, encouraged Into the future fortunes of this interesting people, it were as vain as it were presumptuous in us to pry. The counsels of the infinite One it is not for short-sighted and feeble mortals to scan. Still, it were contrary to the principles which mark his procedure in the execution of his all-wise plans, to suppose that, in so singularly preserving this ancient race from admixture with other tribes of the human family, and keeping them in the possession of a comparatively pure christianity, while multiform errors prevailed around them, he has not some important end to serve, the accomplishment of which no schemes of man will frustrate, however it may be apparently thwarted or retarded. It is not a little remarkable, that a church located far in the interior of Asia, whose light for many centuries streamed to the remotest east, carrying the tidings of salvation to the millions that peopled the vast territories of Persia and Tartary, China and Mongolia, should now be in progress of re-illumination by a mission from another continent, of whose existence the long succession of Nestorian missionaries were profoundly ignorant. And who can doubt that were the arm of God revealed to this interesting remnant, and a spirit of devotedness implanted in their breasts such as that which fired their self-denying progenitors; and were something of that holy zeal-that active piety which once burned upon their altars, again to distinguish them, and prompt them to resume the enterprize of christian benevolence, the benighted kingdom of the false prophet itself would be arrested by the fact, and the crescent would grow pale, and be extinguished before the blaze of the sun of righteousness. Even now, there is the promise of ultimate success in enlightening and resuscitating this bedimmed and enfeebled portion of Christ's church. The first fruits are already appearing which promise a future and abundant harvest of glory to God, and blessing to men. There are amongst them, Simeons and Annas, who "wait for the consolation" of Israel: who know the power of divine truth; and who, mourning over the general degradation and declension of their people, sigh and cry for the time when this part of God's heritage, once so effulgent with the beauties of holiness, "will again be fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." It is to bring about this glorious result that the missionaries at Ooroomiah are prosecuting their zealous labours. Let christians succour these devoted men, and bear them on their hearts before the mercy seat, entreating that, through their instrumentality, the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified. And let them remember the scattered remnant-who are even now groaning under the evils of ruthless oppression-and not desist from interceding on their behalf until the hand of persecution is withdrawn, and their glens become the abodes of peace, and the cry of blood is succeeded by the still small voice of "him that bringeth good tidings-that publisheth salvation." W. T. by the Turkish government, made another inhuman assault upon them, destroyed Asheta and several of the villages in its vicinity, and perpetrated outrages in their own savage style. One report says, that nearly 500 women and children were taken by the Koords and burnt alive; and that as many men were slain by the sword. For an interesting account of these labours see Secession Magazine, April 1839; and also Grant's Nestorians, pp. 6, 7. REVIEWS. Notices of the State of Religion in Genera and Belgium. By H. HEUGH, D.D. J. Maclehose, Glasgow. A POET has said that "The want of occupation is not rest 1844. A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed." He might have added, that minds of the highest order, will often turn to the best account, a period of withdrawment from severer labours; and, in seeking relaxation, will rear a monument of their energy and resources. The volume before us is a proof of this. The distinguished author having retired for a short time from the incessant toils of his pastorate, and, in search of invigorated health, having selected Geneva as the place of his temporary residence, devoted his leisure to inquiries into the religious condition of its inhabitants in particular-and of Switzerland at large. The results of these investigations are detailed in this instructive and seasonable work, whose pervading design is to awaken in the breasts of British christians, a deeper feeling of interest in the religious condition of the continent, than has yet been manifested. If we may judge of the impression which the perusal of the book-one every way worthy of its gifted author-is likely to leave on other minds from the effect which it has produced on our own, the object which it contemplates, will not fail of its accomplishment. We think it unlikely that the christian will rise from the survey of those of the reformed churches whose condition is eloquently delineated in this volume, without catching something of the devoted spirit with which it is imbued, and cherishing the desire of becoming instrumental in the spiritual resuscitation of these churches, so that (to use Dr Heugh's own words)" in place of appearing in small and feeble groups, scarcely preserving the existence of religion in their little communities, they may be inspired with new life, may lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes of their tabernacles, and soon be enabled to proportion their efforts for the evangelization of their respective localities, in some due measure, to the necessities demanding them." The govern It is to the classic ground of Geneva, that Dr Heugh's attention is principally devoted in these pages; that small state, around whose history the hallowed names of Calvin, Farel, Beza, Turretine, and Pictet, have thrown an imperishable lustre, and which has exerted an influence on nations, not less remarkable, when its limited extent is considered, than that of the ancient republics of Greece. ment of the canton of Geneva, which is a pure republic, and its educational, literary, and scientific institutions, are described with much copiousness of detail in the first chapter of this work. Of the locality of Geneva, not less lovely and attractive in its physical features, than interesting in its historical associations, we have the following spirited sketch :: "The town itself is striking in its appearance: its environs are beautiful and magnificent. It is situated at the western extremity of the spacious lake which bears its name, and occupies partly a flat, immediately contiguous to the lake-partly sloping banks, which rise to a higher level. Modern buildings, handsome, if not elegant, skirt the lake; while the old town is a congeries of irregular, crooked, narrow, but remarkably clean streets, the houses very lofty, showing, both in their structure and condition, plentiful tokens of the olden time. In the higher parts of the town massive edifices with large gateways and square courts, bespeak the residence of wealth and station; while the city in general affords every indication of widely diffused intelligence, industry, and comfort. The town is fortified with pretty rather than formidable ramparts, designed, one would suppose rather as healthful promenades for the citizens, or as a neat model of fortification, than as any effectual protection against the assaults of modern warfare. As you walk along the streets of the city, you are met with monuments of the great Reformation. Inscribed above its gates you read the motto, Post tenebras lux, (after darkness light)—a motto very appropriately adopted by the Genevan Reformers. In passing one of its narrowest but most antique streets, you are pointed to the house in which John Calvin lived and died. Its gothic cathedral, 800 years old, is the church which the Reformer purged from superstition; and, as you enter, you are thrilled, as if his pale face yet looked from that pulpit, as if these arches still echoed with his solemn voice. On one side you find the college which was instituted, and the library which was formed; in another, the hospital which was erected, in this golden age of Geneva. Bebind and above the town you tread a spacious common, a grass plot of table-land, fragrant with the thyme and other wild flowers of this region; and here the fascinating environs of Geneva are all around you. You can trace the zig-zag of its ramparts-you see the antique roofs of its buildings, and the modest turrets of its cathedral. The rural residences of its wealthier citizens are thick spread amidst gardens and groves-before you is its placid lake, stretching like an inland sea to the far distant mountains-its elevated banks are thickly planted with villas, hamlets, and small towns, with vineyards and corn fields-you hear the rushing of the blue impetuous Rhone, which hurries in a broad and deep flood from the lake, as if it would speedily drain it-while your horizon is bounded in every direction by those vast mountain ridges which form the chief physical attraction of Switzerland. At your back is the Saleve range, rising precipitously within two miles of you to the height of 4000 feet above the sea level. On the left is the Jura, a long mountain tract, presenting its dark sides and rocky summits, and exceeding 6000 feet in height. More in front, and beyond the lake, are other mountains, most of them still loftier; while, at the distant extremity of a vast recess toward the right hand, are the snowy sides and summits of the Great Alps,-Mont Blanc towering above all, and shooting up like massive silver above the clouds. Who can survey this glorious panorama without deep emotion? What an array of the monuments of the power and beneficence of Jehovah. The sad career of declension, through which the church, modelled by Calvin and his coadjutors, has passed, is delineated by Dr Heugh with a masterly hand. The causes of that declension are traced, and we are shown how the elements of that torpor and death, which have spread over the Genevan church, were interwoven with its original constitution. The vital errors of the Reformers, in losing sight of the distinction between the church and the world,-in admitting the local population indiscriminately, to the ordinances of Christ's house, instead of professed converts exclusively-in denying the members of the church their rightful influence in the management of its affairs, and reducing them to a state of passiveness in the appointment of its office-bearers-in allying the church with the state-and in cherishing a spirit of intolerance, which led them to visit with civil penalties, those who were guilty of ecclesiastical offences-these sources of weakness and backsliding, are laid open with uncompromising faithfulness to the interests of divine truth. The successive stages are pointed out in this course of defec NO. V. VOL. 1. 2 G |