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the view of the people, the pastor becomes only an instrument for maintaining the order of Christian worship, or providing a stated entertainment for the understanding and taste, or promoting general intelligence, refinement, and morality, he loses the divine glory of his character, and the right arm of his influence. Such objects are not the pastor's chief end. His aim is to instruct the people in the gospel, to convert them to the faith, and to confirm them in Christian holiness and comfort. To employ him for other purposes is a perversion of the gracious provisions of God for our benefit, and renders a most precious institution of divine mercy a savour of death unto death.

But with due regards for the divine authority and the merciful design of the pastoral office, a people may account it the greatest of all the blessings of their earthly life. If they make it their first concern to obtain salvation, and consider what are the means which the Lord distinguishes by the excellency of his power in saving sinners, they will never fail to regard the faithful pastor as an invaluable treasure to them and their children. They will esteem it but a small part of their privilege to have the word and the sacraments of the gospel dispensed to them with due regularity and by proper authority. The office and the ministrations of the preacher must be joined with those lovely and pure affections, which are at once an evidence of divine grace in the heart, a source of true religious comfort, and a part of the means of religious influence. They want the pastor, through whose genial and plastic instrumentality they are taught to hope for the spiritual heritage of the people of God in this world, and for glory, honour and immortality, in the life to come.

ART. III.-1. The Nestorians, or the Lost Tribes, containing Evidence of their Identity, an Account of their Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, with Sketches of Travel in ancient Assyria, Armenia, Media and Mesopotamia, and Illustrations of Scriptural Prophecy. By Ashbel Grant, M.D. New York: Harper and Brothers.

1841.

2. The Remnant Found, or the Place of Israel's Hiding Discovered. By the Rev. Jacob Samuel, Senior Missionary to the Jews, for India, Persia, and Arabia; Author

of a Hebrew Sermon on the "Evidences of Christianity," and a Journal of five Months' Residence in Cochin. London. 1841.

THE work of Dr. Grant is an uncommonly interesting volume; at least it has proved such to us; and we cannot but recommend it to the careful perusal of all who pursue biblical studies, or take a lively interest in missionary operations. In the year 1831, the American Board of Foreign Missions sent out Messrs. Smith and Dwight to explore the state of the Oriental church; especially as it is found among the Armenians and Nestorians. From the report of these missionaries, the Prudential Committee were induced to resolve on establishing a mission, if practicable, among the Nestorians, who inhabit the country on the lake Ooroomiah; a remarkable body of extremely salt water on the borders of Persia, and at this time under the jurisdiction of the king of Persia. The person selected to occupy this new and important station was the Rev. Justin Perkins, who with Mrs. Perkins, proceeded according to the direction of the exploring missionaries who had preceded them, and arrived at Tabreez, a commercial town on the north-west of Persia, in the year 1834; and in October 1835, were joined by Dr. Grant and Mrs. Grant, who, from purely evangelical motives, had made a sacrifice of all their earthly prospects of affluence and social comfort, and offered their services to engage in the arduous duties of this untried field of labour. Dr. Grant was in full and increasing practice as a physician in Utica, when the American Board met there in 1834; and upon finding that all their efforts to procure a suitable physician for the station had proved ineffectual, he was led, we doubt not, by the Spirit of God, to devote himself for life to this self-denying work. The wisdom of sending out a skilful and experienced physician was soon manifest; for no sooner had he arrived at Tabreez, than the sick, the lame, and the blind, surrounded him by hundreds, and his fame was spread abroad through all the surrounding country. The missionaries, instead of being looked upon as unwelcome intruders, were considered in the light of public benefactors. The Nestorians, in particular, welcomed them with great kindness and cordiality, and their bishops and priests affectionately invited them to aid them in the instruction of their people. This people appear, indeed, to have been remarkably fitted and prepared to receive instruction with doci

lity. They cherish a great reverence for the holy scriptures, and are very desirous to have them diffused among the people. Their feelings towards other denominations are liberal; and in their religious rites and worship, they are much more simple than the other Orientals. They abhor image-worship, auricular confession, and the doctrine of purgatory; so that they have, not unappropriately, been called "the Protestants of Asia." But notwithstanding, as a people they are sunk into the darkness of ignorance and superstition: none but the clergy, when the missionaries arrived, could either read or write; the education of their females has been entirely neglected; and they are accustomed to lay greater stress on feasts and fasts, and other external ceremonies, than upon purity of heart and life. Still there were found among them persons whose exemplary lives furnish ground of hope that vital piety is not entirely extinct. The most surprising circumstance is, that they should be so entirely willing that strangers coming from a country of which they had scarcely heard, should be permitted without a breath of opposition from their ecclesiastics, to open schools among them, and to preach the gospel in its purity; and to make use of every means of instruction which they could wish, not only without obstruction, but with the most cordial approbation of their bishops and priests. Even their highest ecclesiastics have been willing, and indeed esteemed it an honour, to be assistants to the missionaries in their evangelical labours.

The accounts received from this mission were so encouraging, that in 1837, the Board sent out a reinforcement, consisting of the Rev. A. L. Holladay and Mr. William R. Stocking, and their wives, who arrived at the station in June, 1837. And in 1839, the Rev. Willard Jones and wife, and in 1840, Mr. Edward Breath, a printer, were sent out to join this mission: and also Rev. A. H. Wright, M. D. With this company, a printing press was sent to the mission, so contrived, that it could be taken to pieces, and be carried on the back of beasts of burden.

Dr. Grant had the misfortune to lose his wife early in the year 1839; soon after which event he received instructions from the Board of Missions to proceed into Mesopotamia, and form a station among the Nestorians dwelling, as was supposed, on the west of the central mountains of Koordistan. The object was to gain access to the main body of this interesting people, who were understood to have their habitations in the mountains which are situated in the centre of

ancient Assyria. These tribes were difficult of access, on account of the sanguinary Koords by whom they are surrounded, and who had recently treacherously murdered the traveller Schultz, the only person who had attempted to visit the country of the independent Nestorians.

Dr. Grant, however, had been assured by a brother of the Nestorian patriarch, who had visited the missionaries in Ooroomiah, and by a Koordish chief, that his profession, as a physician, would be a safeguard to him through all that region. His own plan was, to proceed directly from Persia, through the Koordish mountains; but by the opinion of others, and by his instructions from the Board, he was induced to attempt the journey through Mesopotamia. And after encountering many difficulties, and being exposed to many dangers, in a visit to Constantinople, he directed his course to Mesopotamia, where he found the country in a miserable state of dissension and disturbance, until he arrived at Môsul, on the 20th September, 1839. Here, he found the country in a more quiet state, under the vigorous rule of their pasha. This city contains about 30,000 inhabitants. On the 7th of October, he left Môsul, and crossed the Tigris, where he stood upon the ruins of Nineveh, and was reminded of the prophecy of Nahum, "Nineveh is laid waste! who will bemoan her? She is empty, and void, and waste her nobles dwell in the dust, her people are scattered on the mountains, and no man gathereth them."

The author fell in now with some villages of a strange people, called Yezidees, who are reputed to be worshippers of the devil. He was received into the house of one of their chief men, who finding that he was a Christian and not a Mohammedan, as he at first supposed, was disposed to treat him with much kindness; for the Yesidees cherish an inveterate hatred against Mohammedans. The truth is, the religion of these people is misapprehended by those around them. They actually believe in one supreme God, and have a great respect for Christ. They scem, however, to retain something of the religion of the ancient fire-worshippers; for they adore the rising sun, and kiss his first rays when they strike on any object accessible to them. They have, also, something common with the Jews, in their religion, for they use circumcision, and attend on a feast which resembles the passover. They also practice the rite of baptism, and make the sign of the cross, and speak of wine as the emblem of the blood of Christ. From a resem

blance to the ancient sect of the Manichees, our author thinks, that they are probably the remains of some branch of this heresy; and the opinion derives probability from the fact that the region in which they reside, was the country where Manes first laboured, and disseminated the seeds of his extravagant opinions. As to their being worshippers of the devil, Dr. Crant is of opinion, that there is no foundation for the charge, except in a very qualified sense. They refuse to speak disrespectfully of the "prince of darkness;" probably from fear of his displeasure; and some of them believe that he is a fallen angel, who has incurred the displeasure of God, but will, at some future day, be restored to favour. Indeed, their notions of the evil being, seem to be derived, in some degree, from the opinions of the ancient Magians. Their precise number it is difficult to estimate, as so little is known of them; but it is sufficient to make them an object for some missionary society: they might be included in the field of a mission among the Nestorians, who consider them as a heretical branch of themselves.

Dr. Grant pursued his journey among the mountains, until after having spent the greater part of the month of October, in his travels, he reached the residence of the patriarch of the Nestorians, about the close of the month. By this prelate he was received in the most cordial manner, and was invited to make his house his home while he continued in the country. The patriarch said, that he had long been looking for a visit from some member of the mission, and was now convinced that it had only been prevented by the difficulty and danger of the journey. He is described as about thirty-eight years of age, above the middle stature, well proportioned, with a pleasant, expressive, and rather intelligent countenance; while his flowing robes, his Koordish turban, and his long grey beard, give him a venerable aspect, which is heightened by a uniform, dignified demeanour. "I would have taken him," says the doctor, "to be nearer fifty than thirty-eight. But his friends assured me that the hoariness of his beard and locks was that of care and not of age. His situation is certainly a difficult and responsible one, since he is in an important sense, the temporal as well as the spiritual head of his people. To preserve harmony, and settle differences between the various tribes of his spirited mountaineers, and with the Koords, by whom they are surrounded, is a labour that would tax the wisdom and patience of the greatest states

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