as it now exists, cursed as it is in all its products, the breath of its life is away. It was the opinion of its heaven shut up, and comparatively without the ancients, that all that the lightning touched was rain. Deut. xi. 17. The prophecies concerning sacred, and that they who were killed by its flash Canaan are numerous, and have been so literally were specially regarded by Heaven; and it is a fulfilled that they may now be used as actual his- feeling arising from a similar source, that causes tory. "Your high-ways shall be desolate....I the traveller to look upon the Holy Land with will make your cities waste, and bring your sanc- something of the same reverence. We gazed tuaries into desolation.... And I will bring the upon it as the old prophet of Bethel gazed upon land into desolation, and your enemies which dwell the carcass of the man of God that had been slain therein shall be astonished at it.... Then shall by the lion, and which he took and laid in his own the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth grave, mourning over him, and saying, "Alas, my desolate, and ye shall be in your enemies' land: brother!" But if the thought partake too much even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sab- of superstition, we may call to our remembrance baths."-MOSES. "The land shall be utterly the tenet of a purer faith, that enables us, by the emptied and utterly spoiled.... The new wine promise of a resurrection unto eternal life, to awamourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry ken "a joy in grief," and to look upon the remains hearted do sigh: the mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the of our dearest kindred with chastened exultation, noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the and speak of "the lovely appearance of death." harp ceaseth....There is a crying for wine in The sure word of prophecy has promised unto the streets, all joy is darkened, the mirth of the Judea a glorious resurrection, and has described land is gone in the city is desolation, and the it in "colors dipped in the rays of heaven;" and gate is smitten with destruction.... Upon the though its words may refer as well to a spiritual land of my people shall come up thorns and Israel, extended as the world, they are the better briers."-ISAIAH. "I beheld, and lo, the fruitful for all this, and we will utter them with a louder place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof voice and a gladder heart. It is because of sin were broken down at the presence of the Lord, that the land is thus desolate; but amidst all the and by his fierce anger; for thus hath the Lord afflictive dispensations with which it is visited, God said, The whole land shall be desolate: they though it be now comparatively treeless and shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the streamless, a glory shines upon its rocks that gilds fierce anger of the Lord."-JEREMIAH. These not the towers of the noblest of earth's palaces. prophecies might be taken one by one, and many The inheritance of Israel is "at rest;" in the nerothers might be added to them, and from the pre- vous language of inspiration, it is "the Sabbath" ceding statements there would be for each some of the land:-one woe is past, and a second and evidence of accomplishment. It has, indeed, been a third have been endured:-the clouds that now matter of dispute to what period some of them re- envelope the mountains of Lebanon and Hermon fer, and it is possible that they may have received shall soon be dispersed, and beams all-cheering as some inferior accomplishment before the coming the bow of the covenant shall play upon their sumof Christ, but the full weight of the woe that they mits, and shall descend lower and lower, as the denounce was reserved for these last days. Sun of Righteousness rises in the firmament, gathering richness as they descend, until they burst in a flood of glory upon the lowest of the valleys, and from limit to limit fill the whole of the promised possession:-the breath of the Lord shall then breathe upon the mass, and every hill, and field, and stream, shall teem with a new existence, and the breath as it breathes shall receive instant homage from the lily bending in its loveliness, and the rose of Sharon shall give to it the fragrance of its leaves ;-the sky shall be like the heaven it but partially hides, the air all fragrance, the hills shall put forth the sweetest of the fruits, and the vales shall be covered with the corn, and the oil, and the wine;-the waters of the stream shall murmur praises unto the Lord, the whispers of the winds shall be hymns to our Emmanuel, and the sounds when they cease upon earth shall be carried on by the angels of heaven. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them: and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." "THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HATH SPOKEN IT." There are prophecies of another description, that present visions of hope to the now abject Jew, and are too important to be passed by without notice. "I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee; though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure."-JEREMIAH. "The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days."-HOSEA. These predictions also may be included among those that have a double character, a first and a secondary fulfilment; and though we cannot go the same length that some good men would wish us, as touching the restoration of the Jews, we can have no doubt that they will one day be restored to the favor of the Lord, and that their land will again receive the blessing of the Most High. There are at present in Palestine all the materials requisite for the forming of a prosperous people; it possesses the framework of a mighty nation, but the spirit of its existence is fled; and though a form once powerful and features once beautiful be there, the form is now motionless, the features are marred by a mortal convulsion, and It will perhaps be asked of me, what are my thoughts as to the effect produced upon the mind of the Christian by visiting the sacred places; whether it tends in any measure to quicken the spiritual affections by seeing with the bodily eye the exact spots where the wonders of redemption were made manifest? the first house, when they wept with a loud voice, and shouted aloud for joy, because the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes. There are, in addition, many circumstances connected with the history of Jesus Christ that may be classed among the same series, such as the greater part of his miracles, the delivery of the sermon on the mount, the riding in triumph into Jerusalem, and even the raising of Lazarus. No man can visit the country where these several events occurred, without increasing his perception of their interest. But when we come to the birth of Christ in the stable, his temptation in the wilderness, his prayers upon the lone mountain, his agony in the rection from the grave; in a word, when we come, not to those things which were done for the explaining and confirming of his mission, but to those that regard the great mystery of our redemption, and that can never be understood by us in the full immensity of their import, the mind shrinks from too near an approach towards the hallowed scene, and feels as if it were diving into secrets forbidden to be contemplated by man. There was a woman, in the house of Simon, permitted to wash the feet of our Lord with her tears, and to wipe them with the hair of her head, but after his re To this question it would be difficult to give an answer that would be equally applicable to every inquirer. The minds of men are differently constituted, and where one would receive pure and salutary instruction, another would receive equal disgust, and would turn away as from an unclean vessel or a poisoned chalice. There are individuals, more especially among men little acquaint-garden, his death upon the cross, and his resured with the Scriptures, who seem to require some outward and visible sign by which to quicken their faith, and when that sign is given them, they throw into their faith the whole fervor of their souls, and embrace it as a boon from Heaven. Such characters may perhaps be profited by a sight of the mountain village where our Lord was born, or of the sudden turn in the road from Bethany, near which he wept over Jerusalem, or of the mount upon which he triumphed over the grave and snatched the victory from death. Indeed there is no believer in these things who will not find himself influenced more or less by a sight of these me-surrection, even to Mary Magdalene was this commorable places: but in the far greater number of minds there will be no benefit at all adequate to the loss that will be sustained by an absence from the regular means of grace, by having of necessity to mingle much with men of the world and heathen men, and by meeting continually with those disappointments and annoyances from the people of the country, that tend to bewilder the mind, and to deaden the best affections of the heart. I have now seen most of the places whose his-tirement of the closet than amidst the glare of the tory tells with the most thrilling sensations upon the soul; but at the time I visited them, I did not feel that deep and awful interest in them that I previously expected. I had many inquiries to make before I could tell what to believe and what not: I was sometimes fatigued by the distance, or by the intense heat of the sun, or by climbing of rocks; there was so little to see that at all comported with the simplicity of the actual truth; there was among the bystanders so little manifestation of a feeling in unison with the grand transactions they were professing to reverence; that all these things, single or united, tended to unfit me for that "flow of soul" I might otherwise have supposed would spring up within me as a mighty flood of the purest and most refined enjoyment, when standing, for instance, upon the mount of Olives or the mount of Zion. mand given, "Touch me not." It is not "after the flesh" that we are now to know Christ: the mind may be affected by a recital of the death and passion, whilst the heart retains its uncleanness; it is that spiritual sight of the victim slain which enables me, as an individual, so to look upon it, that it becomes the received atonement for my own transgression, that will alone be accepted by God, and this may be better exercised in the re lamps and ornaments of the pretended Calvary. The pilgrim to the Holy Land would generally be better employed in visits to the throne of grace; and would derive more wisdom from searching with sacred awe the oracles of the word, than in gazing for a time upon the spot where these oracles were delivered, or the events were transacted that they record. I do not, after all, regret that I have turned aside for a little time to see these great sights. I have witnessed the degradation into which the professed churches of Christ have fallen, a degradation more deep, more awful, and more distressing, than I could possibly have conceived without being an eye-witness; and I am not without some hope, that my imperfect representations of these things may tend to induce the inhabitants of a more favored land to make some attempts to resIt is necessary too that a distinction be made cue them from their errors, and impart unto them between the different kinds of events of which this a knowledge of "the truth as it is in Jesus." I land has been equally the theatre. I can witness seldom open my Bible, more especially the histothe horrors of the road to Jericho, and the good- rical parts, without reading its pages with greater ness of the Samaritan appears to me greater than interest, from the more vivid perception I have of I before could have conceived; I can wind along its scenes: I have been present at the first estathe valley of Elah, and the patriotism of the shep-blishment of a mission at Jerusalem, which I trust herd boy with the five smooth stones in his scrip, will never cease its operations till the city be a touches my soul with power; I can wander among the ruins of Cæsarea, and listen with more intense delight to the stirring oration of the apostle; I can stand near the site of the temple, and feel with the fathers, the ancient men who had seen praise in the whole earth: and in looking at some of the barren hills of Judea, where the beast wanders not, the bird flies not, and the grass grows not, I have seen the impress of the curse of God, in more dreadful characters than are to be seen elsewhere on this side the grave; a sight render-numbers of locusts, and to the farmer they must be ed still more striking by the beautiful flowers, and a terrible scourge. the patches of flourishing grain, that here and there present themselves, as if to show what the land was once, and what it again may be, when the blessing of the Lord shall rest upon the city and upon the field, and the labor of man's hand shall be refreshed by the former and latter rain. THE ISLES OF THE MEDITER RANEAN. THIS sea is called in Scripture the Great Sea, and the Sea of the Philistines. It is not much noticed in the Old Testament, except as the western boundary of the Holy Land, and the cedars used in the building of the temple were floated upon it from the foot of Lebanon to the port of Joppa. It was upon this sea that Paul was shipwrecked, and several of the other apostles sailed upon it in their voyages of mercy. It extends from the coast of Syria to the Straits of Gibraltar, a distance of more than 2000 miles. It is one of the most celebrated collections of water in the world. It has been looked upon by nearly all the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, and by Jesus Christ. It has carried upon its breast almost every warrior, philosopher, and poet, both of ancient and modern times; and could the spirit of its winds collect together at one place all the characters they have wafted along its surface, there is scarcely a single name of note written upon the pages of history that would not be included in the assemblage. Upon its waters were fought the battles of Salamis, Actium, Lepanto, and the Nile. Upon its shores, or at a little distance from them, stood the cities of Jerusalem, Tyre, Troy, Athens, Alexandria, Rome, and Carthage; and among the mighty empires of the ancient world, whose wings were dipped in its waters, were Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Greece, and Rome. It includes within its limits several minor seas, and many islands of celebrity both in sacred history and profane. CYPRUS. I EMBARKED in a Sardinian brig for Larnica, in Cyprus, May 14, and on the 18th we were off the port of Famagousta, the ancient Salamis, mentioned by Homer, where Paul and Barnabas "preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews." We were not able to make Larnica before the 19th, though the same voyages sometimes performed in a few hours. There being no immediate opportunity of embarking for Greece as I had expected, I made a ittle tour into the interior, in company with a friend. The plains were cultivated to some extent with barley and wheat. In some places the barley was reaped, and the crops were expected to be large, from the plentiful supply of rain that had fallen during the winter. We saw great After passing several villages, in about eight hours from Larnica we arrived at Nicosic, a fortified town, and the present capital of the island. The principal mosque was once the Greck cathedral of St. Sophia. Cotton prints are extensively manufactured here, but the bazar is as dull as Turkish indolence can desire. I had a letter of introduction from the British counsul to the patriarch of the Greek church. He is a stout heavy man, destitute of all energy, and was placed in his present office by the Turks, that they might receive as little opposition as possible to their oppressive schemes. He signs his name with purple ink, and as no law can be legally promulgated in the island without his consent, he has it in his power greatly to protect his people, were he not too subservient to the masters who have placed him in his present situation. He did me the honor to say that the convent should be mine during my stay, however much it might be prolonged. It has been said that 10,000 people were massacred here by the Turks at the commencement of the Greek revolution, but the statement is greatly exaggerated. The patriarch, bishops, and about 150 of the more respectable ecclesiastics and other inhabitants were summoned to the house of the governor, under pretence of having to hear read to them a document from the Sultan, and were all massacred. About 300 persons perished in other places. The houses of the sufferers are yet in ruins, and the melancholy aspect of the town seems to say that there is a curse upon it for the treachery of its masters. In the evening we again mounted our horses, and in three hours arrived at the convent of St. Chrysostom. On the way we met the harem of a respectable Turk. A black attendant rode forward, and ordered us to leave the path until the ladies had passed. The convent is situated on the side of a steep hill, and has the appearance of a strong fortress. The monks waited on us at table as servants. The visiters had music and dancing, and were as riotous as if they had been at an inn, but the monks did not join in their sports. An archimandrite, who had been in England, was playing at cards, but he was reproved by one of his brethren. I returned to Larnica on the 25th, as I was afraid that I might be absent during some opportunity that might present itself for me to leave the island. Larnica is the principal sea-port of Cyprus, and is well frequented by ships of all nations that put in for provisions, as they are plentiful and cheap. There are two towns, and that near the sea is called the Marino. The space between them is said to have been once occupied by houses, the inhabitants of which fled to other places to escape oppression. There is a small castle, but not of any strength. A mound of fragments and stones is said to have been formerly surmounted by an acropolis. About a mile to the southwest of the town is a small lake, whence salt is procured: an aqueduct and tomb are seen on the opposite side, and the view of it at sunset was almost the only sight of interest I met with in my rambles. There was one day a feast to commemorate, as I was told, the deluge. The roadstead was gay with streamers and music, and the beach was lined with crowds of people, all dressed in their holyday apparel. Citium, the birth-place of Zeno, is at a few miles distance, and retains its ancient name. Cyprus is the largest island connected with Greece, except Candia, or Crete, and was celebrated in ancient times for its attachment to the licentious worship of Venus, who was fabled to have here arisen from the froth of the sea. It was visited by Paul and Barnabas, who landed at Salamis, and went "through the isle unto Paphos." Barnabas is thought to have been the first bishop of Cyprus, and there is a church dedicated to him at Larnica, which is said to be built over his tomb. The island contains at present about 60,000 inhabitants, 10,000 of whom are Turks, and the rest are Greeks. It pays 3,000,000 piastres annually as tribute to the Sultan. The principal exports are wine, cotton, and silk. The government is as oppressive as that which is exercised in other Turkish provinces, and some think even worse. A new governor was daily expected from Constantinople, who was in office some years ago, and is remembered as having been extremely cruel in the exercise of his functions. The more respectable Greeks are anxious to have a missionary stationed among them, principally to establish and superintend schools. They offer to raise 8,000 piastres a-year towards their support, but I fear that their wishes cannot at present be complied with, as there are many other places of much greater population that are destitute of instruction. A number of youths have formed themselves into a class for the purpose of studying ancient Greek. An intelligent young Greek, who was educated in England at the instance of Mr. Wolf, has commenced a school at Larnica, but he does not meet with the encouragement his ability and good intentions deserve. na. ness. I embarked in a Greek brig, June 11, for SinyrWe passed PAPHOS on the 13th, formerly celebrated for the most ancient temple in the world dedicated to Venus, and now for its hundreds of churches. Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul, whose name was assumed by the apostle of the Gentiles, resided here, and it was here that Elymas, the sorceror, was struck with blind"Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga, in Pamphylia; and John departing from them, returned to Jerusalem." Acts xiii. 13. On the 17th we passed in sight of MYRA, in Lycia, whence the apostle embarked in the ship in which he was wrecked at Melita, and on the 19th we passed in sight of PATARA, a maratime city of the same province, where the apostle, on his way from Philippi to Jerusalem, found a ship bound for Phoenicia, in which he sailed. Acts xxi. 1. During this little voyage, I was presented with a fine opportunity of studying character. We had about fifty souls on board, Turks, Greeks, and Jews, one Egyptian, and several female slaves from Africa. I occupied a little box on deck, over the helm. The Turks took possession of the larboard side of the deck, and the Greeks of the starboard: the Jews were in the forecastle, and the negresses in the long boat, where, in spite of their situation, they were the merriest group in the party. There was something imposing in the gravity of the Turks; in the constancy with which they offered up their prayers at the canonical hours, with their faces towards Mecca, no matter what other scenes were presented around them; and in the studied importance which they always assumed, even in such common acts as the washing of their hands and the cooking of their victuals; and all this was the more striking when contrasted with the laughter and recklessness of the Greeks, who were all day long trolling some catch, or playing at games of chance, or showing themselves adepts at all kinds of silly tricks and buffoonery. The poor Jew moved among them without fellowship, and on his countenance was written too clearly the mark of dejection and care. One of them came to me as I was standing near the carpet of a Turk, which he happened to touch with his toe, for which the old Moslem, seeing the pollution to which his carpet was exposed, railed at the son of Abraham with a bitterness that made me feel keenly for him in his degradation. RHODES. WE anchored about noon, June 20, in the harbor of Rhodes. The city has a good appearance from the sea, with its towers and castles, and rises gradually from the shore. I counted at one time upwards of thirty windmills. I had a walk through the principal streets, attended by the dragoman of the consulate, who had informed me that he had been interpreter to Sir Sydney Smith during the late war. I was now in the land of chivalry, and the town is so little altered in appearance since it was delivered into the hands of the Turks by the knights of St. John, that I might almost have expected to jostle with some steel clad warrior on turning a corner of the streets, or to see the jolly face of some ancient warder on passing under the entrances to the venerable castles. Rhodes was taken from the Greeks by the knights of St. John in 1310, and they kept possession of it until 1523, when it was besieged by Soliman with 200,000 men, and yielded after a brave defence of six months. The moats, walls, and towers are still formidable. The street of the Cavaliers is the most perfect and the worn pavement at the sides bears evidence that it has been trodden by the feet of many generations. It is narrow, and built upon an ascent. The arms of the knights are emblazoned upon shields over the entrances to the wards, together with the arms of the nation to which the ward belonged, and some of these heraldic emblems are still entire. The arms of England are opposite the entrance into the castle of the Grand Master, in which the massy door is yet upon its hinges, and the arch by which it is surmounted is formed of many ribs of elaborate sculpture. The entrance from the street to each ward opens upon a passage that leads to a court, planted with trees, and round the court are galleries or cloisters, from which the apartments are severally entered. At the higher end of this street are the remains of a church, now roofless. Nearly all the old castles and houses are inhabited. The streets are paved with small pebbles, and have a neat appearance. There are many stone balls, of different sizes, scattered in all tunity of examining its appearance, so far as is directions, said to have been used during the siege. possible from the sea. It is about 20 miles in cirThe quarter of the Jews contains about 150 houses. cumference, and its aspect is forbidding and cheerThe city was supposed to be the finest in the world less. The shores are in most places steep and in the time of Alexander. There are two har-precipitate, and from our vessel it appeared as if bors, across one of which the celebrated colossus the inhabitants would be in constant danger of probably stood, but its exact situation is not rolling down into the sea. The highest part of the island is surmounted by a monastery, dedicated to St. John, round which are built the houses of a respectable town. We could discover very few trees. The sailors were lavish in their praises of the inhabitants. known. The island was visited by St. Paul, on his way to Jerusalem. Acts xxi. 1. It is 40 miles long, and 15 broad, very healthy, and might be extensively cultivated, were the government of a different character. It does not contain more than 30,000 inhabitants. The principal exports are honey and wax, and last year there was a considerable trade in oranges, as the crops in other parts had failed. A Greek brig entered the roads, June 20, bound for Syra, and as this port was more convenient for me than Smyrna, I made an agreement with the captain, and took 'eave of my old friends from Cyprus. I thus lost the opportunity of seeing Smyrna, and perhaps some other of the Asiatic churches, but my voyage to Greece was much shortened. The passage between Rhodes and the continent of Asia is about 20 miles in width. In the evening we could distinguish a great number of islands, nearly all of which are celebrated in the mythology of the Greeks. They rise boldly out of the sea, but are destitute of trees, and greatly disappointed me in their appearance. We were off CNIDUS on the 25th, and the heat was most oppressive, as we had a dead calm nearly the whole of the day. St. Paul was in similar circumstances near the same place. It was with unutterable feelings I gazed upon this dreary rock. The situation of the weeping exiles was before me, who were banished from the pleasures and applauses of imperial Rome, and were sent to inhabit this dull and distant region, with none to converse with but sufferers in the same calamities, whose very attempts at consolation would only add still deeper sorrow.What must they have felt, and how must they have wept, when they beheld from the horizon the little speck that was to constitute their world?There was one among these exiles that I seemed to know, whose brow was calm, whose eye was bedimmed by no tear, and from whose countenance seemed to beam the serenity of a spirit in bliss. It was the beloved disciple of the Lord.The banishment of the venerable apostle was from a cause perhaps different to that of any of the exiles who had preceded him, as it was "for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Standing upon one of the eminences of the island, and turning towards the continent, St. John would be able to distinguish mountains that might also be seen from the whole of the seven churches of Asia; and as he had planted some of them with his own hand, and probably visited all of them, can we doubt he often would stand thus, and looking towards these interesting spots, lift up his hands to heaven, and pour out his soul When we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus." Acts xxvii. 7. I followed the course of the apostle in his voyages and travels, and often prayed that I might follow him more closely in his holy ardor in the cause of Christ. I seemed to be able to realise the appearance of the apostle more power-in prayer, that he who walked among the golden fully on board ship than in any other place: we were sailing upon the same seas, looked abroad upon the same islands and mountains, and our mariners spoke nearly the same language. We sailed by Cos on the 26th, visited by St. Paul, and celebrated as the birth-place of many eminent men. On the 27th we were within a short distance of CRETE, mentioned in the Apocrypha and by St. Paul. Titus is said to have been bishop of this place, and to have resided here when the apostle wrote his epistle, in which he says, "the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies," quoting as his authority one of their own authors. Titus i. 12. That "this testimony was true," we have ample evidence in the writings of the ancients. The next day we saw SAMOS, also visited by St. Paul, and the birthplace of Pythagoras. It is separated by a narrow channel from the Ionian coast, and EPHESUS is only a few miles distant. PATMOS. WE were close in with "the isle that is called Patmos❞ several hours, and I had a good oppor candiesticks would continue to visit them in mercy, and save them from the power of the antichrist that was to come. It is one of those thoughts upon which the mind so much delights to dwell, that from this rock, surrounded only by other similar rocks, and looking out upon distant mountains, there should have been an insight given into futurity, further and clearer than in any other place was ever afforded unto mere man. I remained in quarantine fifteen days at Syra, visited Hydra and Egina, and saw many other islands of inferior interest, but shall not here attempt to describe them, as they are not in any way connected with sacred history. The island of Rhodes was the last spot upon which my foot touched Mahomedan ground, and I am called upon to take some farewell notice of the remarkable people whose territories I had now forsaken, for the most recently constituted of the kingdoms of Christendom. The followers of Mahomet, in their manners and customs, long resembled the laws of the Medes and Persians, they altered not; and the Turk sitting |