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they make a speedy, unceremonious approach to the purses of the different communities: and then give place to a new, and equally hungry successor. As I was mentioned as Secretary of the Bible Society in Malta, the bishop expressed his interest in the welfare of the Society-saying, "Your heart is set upon a good work❞—or words to that effect. His colleague is, at present, ill of a fever.

with the maxim, that a soft tongue breaketh the bone. Oppression has taught them to carry gentleness to an excess. They are born and bred to the practice of refined insinuation or gross flattery, and it seems impossible to beat them off from that ground, since they expect to succeed on no other. Both the Abyssinian priest and myself speak Arabic too imperfectly, to make ourselves well understood by each other. I learn from him, however, that he has been in this city seven years; that there are about twenty Abyssinians in his convent, and that he is the chief among them. Last year he says that seven pilgrims set out from Abyssinia; of whom three were priests and four deacons. By the term deacon may be meant merely persons who have taken the first degree in the church, and read the lessons in divine service: it is usual, in the east, for young men to do this, while they remain laymen; and this corresponds with the prima tonsura of the church of Rome. One of these pilgrims did not live to reach Jerusalem, but died at Damietta. The priest informs me, likewise, that the daughter of the king of Abyssinia, mentioned by Mr. Connor, is dead. The political news which they hear from Abyssinia is, that Subyadis is increasing in It is one of the canons of the Greek convents strength, and likely to fix himself in the situation of of Jerusalem, that NO NATIVES CAN BELONG TO the late Ras Welled Selasse as governor of Tigré: THEM. The Christians of this communion are if he should finally succeed, it may be of consider- numerous in Palestine and Syria; but they rise to able advantage; as he is under personal obliga-none of the dignities of this patriarchate, nor are tion to Mr. Salt, and consequently a friend to the English.

GREEK CONVENT.

Tuesday, Nov. 25, 1823.-We visited the principal Greek convent, and had an interview with Daniel, the bishop of Nazareth; a man of acuteness and learning; very placid, but apparently much worn with anxiety on account of the oppressions suffered by the Greek convents-And on the side of the oppressors there is power. To him, conjointly with the bishop of Petra, is committed the charge of the affairs of this patriarchate. The Patriarch himself, Polycarp, never visits Jerusalem. For more than a century this has been the custom; and indeed those of whom I inquired scarcely knew from how far back the Patriarch had been in the habit of taking up his residence at Constantinople. This he does, because a very large sum of money would be required by the Turks, on such an occasion as the entrance of a Patriarch within the walls of Jerusalem. The head dragoman of the convent was present, as also the librarian. The dragoman cried out, repeatedly, and with an earnestness which seemed almost like an appeal to our purses, "We want help! We need some assistance!" The bishop himself speaks with much more pathos: when we condoled with him on their present afflictions he briefly replied, "It is for our sins: the measure of the chastisement of our sins is not yet filled up!" And these are the expressions which he often uses with us. In allusion to the new governor, who arrived only two days before us, I was saying that probably they had not yet had much acquaintance with him: they answered, with a sad smile, "Our governors soon make themselves known." Coming, in fact,

as

often as once a year, and sometimes oftener,

The librarian accompanied us to the library. There are some books in Latin, French, and Italian; but not many-none in Ethiopic: the chief part are Greek. In the small inner rooms, several Greek manuscripts, principally Scriptural, were shown us: they did not appear to be of great antiquity. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, he tells us, is settled by the will of his predecessor, not by election-the Patriarch of Constantinople, by election of the Holy Synod; and the Patriarch of Antioch, also, by the same Synod of Constantinople. The Patriarch of Antioch takes up his residence at Damascus. The Patriarch of Alexandria he represented also as chosen at Constantinople. These are all of the Oriental Greek

church.

they admitted members of the monasteries. Most generally they are married priests. Their language is Arabic. In the convents here, Greek chiefly is spoken, and also Turkish; the monks being all from Greece, Asia Minor, or the Archipelago.

Daniel takes his episcopal title from Nazareth: his colleague is styled Ayos IIcrpas, "the saint of Petra," or "the holy [bishop] of Petra." Petra (the metropolis of which is Karrac, three or four days' distant from Jerusalem, on the east of the Dead Sea, in which region are yet many Christians) is his diocese. The title "holy" is very commonly given, in this manner, to the bishops; although, strictly, they do not allow the title "saint" to any except those who work miracles. This bishop is the one who, annually at Easter, performs the reputed miracle of the Holy Fire: concerning which it is difficult to reflect without mingled emotions of horror and indignation.

We visited some of the monks; and went over the whole of the convent, which is a very extensive but irregular building. The number of monks whom it would well accommodate was stated at seventy: and here nearly all the resident monks of Jerusalem abide. The other Greek convents, in number about ten, are of far smaller dimensions; designed only for the reception of the pilgrims, and merely occupied by a Superior and one or two monks during the absence of pilgrims.— They are, at present, nearly a solitude; no Greek pilgrims having arrived for two years: formerly, this communion could boast a much larger number of pilgrims than any other. The number of ecclesiastics, in the whole of the Greek patriarchate of Jerusalem, was stated to me at 200: but 1 have no means of verifying the statement.

From the terrace of the principal convent, the court of the Abyssinians is overlooked. At the

hour we were there (about mid-day) we saw the poor Abyssinians receiving their daily bread: it is given them as charity by the Armenians.

ABYSSINIAN CONVENT.

Thursday, Nov. 27, 1823.-Went to the Abyssinian convent. The road by which the priest led us, which was not the direct way, was through the place where they slaughter animals. Hovels and streets so offensively abounding with noisome sights and pestilential smells, I never before witnessed. In the court-yard, and in a small adjacent garden belonging to the convent of this people, we saw twelve Abyssinians; of whom five were females and seven were men. One of them was pointed out to us as a priest; but he could speak no other than his native language. In the garden was a wretched hovel, which was the abode of part of this company. Some of them appeared very old; one or two rather young. They all seemed very idle, and indeed their whole object appears to be, to spend their last days in Jerusalem, doing almost nothing. Nor do we see, indeed, any thing in the society by which they are surrounded, which would stimulate them to a higher purpose. We were not able to converse with them, and our accompanying priest was but an imperfect, and somewhat unwilling, interpreter. He took us into his own room; and here we sat, for a long time, occupied with his manuscripts. Among other books, we found copies of the Psalter published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. This city may be an excellent station for learning the Abyssinian language; as here is a company of twenty, who, although ignorant, indolent, and utterly inapt to the art of teaching, would, nevertheless, to a man who could teach himself from books, furnish pronunciation and practice. As a station for distributing the Abyssinian Scriptures, I imagine it would not answer; for they, who come hither, generally never return to their native country. The motive which brought them hither-blind devotion-and the difficulties which they met with on their way, added to their extreme poverty, operate to fix them in Jerusalem, when once fairly arrived. Yet, possibly, an Englishman, intending to visit Abyssinia, might here find an individual among them willing, for a suitable pecuniary consideration, to accompany him; and he would serve, though on many accounts imperfectly, as a guide and interpreter. My conviction is here confirmed, that whoever visits Abyssinia must go relying, under Providence, on his own resources, and not on any companion. Were it my destination, however, I should certainly, after acquiring a competent knowledge of Arabic, aim at giving twelve or eighteen months to the study and practice of the ancient and modern Abyssinian languages in Jerusalem, rather than any other spot which I have yet seen. There are these additional advantages: the mind would thus become inured to the misery of the circumstances of that people; and, further, a traveller, passing from Jerusalem to Abyssinia, would carry with him, as a visiter from that holy city, a peculiar recommendation.

I examined several of the manuscripts in this convent; and subsequently purchased the whole

of the Ethiopic New Testament, in two manuscript volumes. There was, among the manuscripts, one great folio, written in large characters. The priest had told others, and he wished to persuade me, that it was the whole of the Old Testament. From the simplest calculation it evidently could not be above the fifth part of it; but when I turned the leaves over, and showed him that it was only a Lectionary containing extracts from Isaiah, Daniel, Hosea, and other books of the Old Testament, he began to be half angry. He said that they read this book through in the offices of the passion week.

I will here add the remainder of that scanty information, which I subsequently obtained in this quarter concerning the Abyssinians. Three or four of them have joined the Greek communion : so far as I could learn, this conversion has arisen from the hope of improving their condition a little, and eating more bread. They are, at present, residing at the Greek monastery of Mar Saba, three hours to the east of Jerusalem, on the way to the Dead Sea. There are, likewise, two at the Armenian convent: I did not see them: but the Abyssinian priest, who is on friendly terms with the Armenians, said that one was elderly, the other a youth. Of those whom I have to-day seen, one was quite young; not more, probably, than twenty years of age. The person pointed out as a priest seemed to me not more than thirty-five. The chief priest appears upward of forty years of age.

YSA PETROS, A GREEK PRIEST.

The breaking up of the weather here, in the close of this week, interrupted our excursions. I have just made the acquaintance, however, of one of the most interesting characters in this placePappas Ysa Petros. He is a priest of the Greek communion: being a native, Arabic is his language. He is married, and has several children. He has already been employed as a translator into Arabic by Mr. Fisk; through whose kindness, two or three tracts have been put into my possession for printing. During a residence of many years at Damietta, he translated, for an opulent Arab merchant at Damietta, the whole of Rollin's Ancient History into Arabic, which it is to be hoped may one day see the light of this work, he has a small part in his possession, which he showed us : it is the first rough translation, containing the history of Egypt and Carthage: the whole work occupied him six years. He understands, besides his native language, Greek, Italian, and French, and he has studied Syriac, Ethiopic, and Arme nian from his natural love of languages. I have seen no one in Syria, who unites so much simplicity and goodness of disposition, with such a compass of literary acquirements.

It is a curious circumstance with regard to names, that not only is the influence of Mohammedanism manifested in the adoption, by Christians, of names not common among their brethren in other countries; but, further, in the name Ysa they have adopted the orthography of the Koran: it is the Mohammedan reading for Jesus.

Sunday, Nov. 30, 1823.—We again united with our countryman, in performing divine service in English.

Monday, Dec. 1, 1823.-As I was this morning on my way to wait on the Armenian patriarch, I met a courier just come in with letters from Malta. They announce the arrival in Beirout of two more American missionaries, the Rev. Messrs. Bird and Goodell, with their families. We were already apprized of their intention to proceed either to Smyrna or Alexandria: but this decisive step has rejoiced our hearts more abundantly than we had anticipated. To Mr. Fisk and myself, they appear to have done exactly the right thing; and the kindness with which they have been received on their landing, by our consul and his family, has not a little gratified us.

REFLECTIONS ON HOLY PLACES.

in that language, might seem premature: it may, doubtless, be expected, however, to occupy one day a useful post in the field of religious inquirya field which is gradually becoming more and more open to people of every nation.

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I was particularly struck with one remark of Ysa Petros on the style of some short sermons which we put into his hands to translate into Arabic. They are," he observed, "too much in the second person. Thus You are a sinner -You must repent or perish!' Now the reader," he said, "will naturally ask, Who is this, that tells me I am a sinner? Is he not a sinner himself?" This criticism, intended as a censure, appears to me to be, in some sense, a commendation of the sermons: it shows that they are pointed and awakening; and it amounts, at the same In the afternoon I went out of the city, and time, to a tacit acknowledgment, that pointed and walked round a considerable part of the walls, so awakening addresses to the conscience are not in as to obtain a general view of the principal objects. the style of the east. Sermons, in fact, are very Educated in an early love of Scripture, I can- rarely preached here; and those are little more not describe the emotions excited by beholding than moral treatises, or panegyrics of some saint, the very scene of the most important events re- or stories of miracles. Ysa Petros, himself, does corded in the Old and New Testaments. I have, not preach. He would be astonished to witness designedly, kept myself from attending to the tra- the earnestness of multitudes of our English ditionary minute which are imposed upon the preachers, stirring up sinners to flee from the thousands of annual pilgrims. I envy not those, wrath to come, and urging them to come to Christ who, from ignorance and superstitious subjection, for salvation. Perhaps he would say to himselfare obliged to receive from the lips of hackneyed "They preach as if they thought they were speakguides the trifles of tradition; who can fall downing to men who are not Christians!" prostrate, and embrace with rapture, the very spot There are, in Jerusalem, about ten native Greek measured to an inch, or the very stone wall of a priests who are married and have families. No house preserved for ten or twenty or thirty cen- one of them comes up to Ysa Petros in acquireturies, at which some event of Scripture history ments, or in intelligent and philanthropic views. is said to have taken place. Good taste and the They are far behind. He is much respected by love of truth alike revolt from the details, which the Superiors of the Greek convent; and is apmay be collected from many books of travels.-pointed by them to accompany us to-morrow to This system tends to bring down the mind to tri- examine the library of the monastery of the Holy fles it more often perplexes than throws open Cross. the fair path of antiquarian research: and (which is the most painful) it confounds the belief built on sound historical evidence, with that credulity which clings to uncertain tradition; and draws aside the hearts of the multitude of superstitious devotees, from great, essential, and affecting doctrines, to dubious and insignificant localities. I feel it enough to know, that, here, is the hill of Zion-beneath, and all around, are the valley of Jehoshaphat, and the brook Cedron-yonder, the Mount of Olives, and the road to Bethany. The rest must be supplied by a spiritual sense of an ever present Saviour.

CONVERSATIONS WITH YSA PETROS.

In the evening, we had our friend Pappas Ysa to tea; and conversed concerning his translations into Arabic. He was long employed in this capacity, by Seignior Basil Fakr of Damietta; who, to his extensive commercial engagements, added a very laudable ambition to furnish his library with useful books, translated from European languages into his own. Rollin has been translated into modern Greek; and, from this version, the Arabic translation was made. Another work which Ysa Petros translated was an answer to various infidel objections by Voltaire: I have not heard that any part of the works of Voltaire was ever translated into Arabic; so that a refutation of his opinions,

MONASTERY OF THE HOLY CROSS.

Tuesday, Dec. 2, 1823.-We proceeded, this morning, with our friend, to the monastery of the Holy Cross, which is romantically situated in a valley on the west of the city, between the two roads-that, on the one side, to Jaffa; and that, on the other, to Bethlehem. By leisurely walking, we arrived there in forty minutes. We had to knock loud and long, before we gained attention. The Superior having scanned our appearance from the lattice of an upper window, at length put forth his head, and inquired our errand; after which an order was given for our admission, and we entered, door after door closing with bars and locks behind us. It is in a solitary situation; and is exposed, particularly during the present disturbances in Bethlehem, to the rude demands of the Arabs, who, could they force an entrance, would prove not very courteous guests.

It is a wearisome ceremony, especially when any business presses, to have to receive pipes, sweet-meats, and coffee. Such, however, is the usage; and he would be thought a barbarian, who should decline, in certain circumstances, to receive the compliment. Such discourtesy would have been particularly felt by the Superior of this convent, to whom we were introduced by a letter from the bishop of Nazareth, and who in this solitude seems to have nearly nothing to do.

only but, when of gold, a lady will carry from five to ten pounds' worth upon her head; sometimes much more: and even dirty children, playing in the streets, will be seen with gold pieces about their head-dress, to the value of five or ten shillings.

We were taken over the whole building, which, dress might be of the value of 20 or 30 shillings with several courts to it, may contain sixty or seventy rooms, for the reception of pilgrims. It is at present occupied by this monk, a native of Larissa; and three or four nearly superanuated men, who are employed as domestics, but who seem not to have one idea beyond the walls of the monastery. I remarked, particularly, one of these inmates, who seems, either from want of society or want of employment, to have sunk into a state of almost ideotic vacancy.

This was, originally, an Iberean convent; and, in the spacious but dilapidated church, there is a great number of portraits of Georgian kings and queens, executed in the rudest style on the walls, with inscriptions in the Georgian character. In a recess behind the altar, they show the ground wherein, as they pretend, grew the tree from which the cross was made on which Christ was crucified: and, that credulity may not want her show of evidence, or at least her outward visible sign, a small circular hole, of a few inches diameter is exhibited, before which a lighted lamp is suspended; and here the original tree is said to

have stood.

After the pledge was given, and the man gone, the superior begged us, on our departure, to take a particular road on the other side of the monastery, lest our visit should be observed; as it might, probably, occasion him to be troubled with questions: such is the state of apprehension and precaution in which they are obliged to live.

ARMENIANS.

Monday, Dec. 4, 1823.-Having, a few days. ago, sent to the Armenian patriarch a letter of introduction which I had for him, I went, this morning, and had an interview with him. This convent is far more splendid than any other building in Jerusalem; and declares at once the opulence of its possessors. The patriarch himself sits on a divan which is quite princely, and speaks in a In various parts of this extensive, but now de- slow and dignified manner. He complained of serted establishment, considerable expense has being indisposed; and left his two bishops, who very recently been bestowed, in suitably furnish- were sitting on the opposite side of the divan, to ing iron railings and other accommodations. This support the conversation. Many inquiries and rewas the work of the late Procopius, superintend-plies of ceremony occupied the first minutes; as ent of this patriarchate. He was a man of great ability and spirit; and he flourished at a time when prosperity filled the Greek coffers with opulent resources. His death, about two years ago, was a serious loss to the Bible Society, whose cause he had heartily espoused.

The library, into which we were after some time introduced, proved to be a small room, full of dust; and so dark, that we were obliged to hold, every one of us, a candle in his hand the books lay in heaps, some on the floor, the rest on bending shelves. At the beginning of this year, the American missionaries classed them according to languages; and this circumstance has facilitated my researches. There may be four or five hundred volumes of different kinds: the principal part of these are in the Georgian language, thick folios in manuscript. As I was given to understand that a person from St. Petersburgh had visited this convent, and made a selection of such volumes as might be useful to the Bible Society, and as there is not at present in Jerusalem any person who understands this language, I contented myself with obtaining one folio and one quarto. The rest are in Ethiopic, Armenian, Syrian, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. Of the Ethiopic, I made a more copious selection: but, unhappily, these manuscripts are in a mutilated condition; and, excepting psalters, do not contain much of the Scriptures. The Greek and Latin are few in number, and chiefly printed books.

Just before our leaving the convent, a peasant of the neighborhood called for a pledge which had been left by him. It was a woman's head-dress, made, according to the fashion of the country, of pieces of money; and fitting the head like a close helmet, strapped under the chin by a band of similar texture of coins. As these pieces of money were of the lowest value in circulation, this head

also the introduction of coffee, sweet-meats, and wine-the wine of a very great age.

I endeavored, as well as I could, to touch, in geographical order, on those places with which the Armenians have most connection. They have four patriarchates at present-Echmiazin, Jerusalem, Constantinople and Sis: of these, Echmiazin, in Persia, is the first. To my inquiry, if they enjoyed protection there, they expressed themselves as being in a better state under the Persians than under the Turks. In Calcutta, under British government, they acknowledge, with pleasure, that they have perfect protection. On my prosecuting that topic, one of the bishops sitting opposite to me, whose name I was afterward told is Garabee, said that he had visited Calcutta, about eleven years ago: as this was previous to the arrival of bishop Middleton in India, I gave them some account of the ecclesiastical establishment now existing there, aud the name of the present bishop; and expressed a hope that their churches and ours would become acquainted upon Indian ground.

Printing presses for the Armenian language they have at Constantinople, in Russia, and in Venice. On my mentioning what modern Armenian books I had found in Paris, such as Rollin, Robinson Crusoe, &c. they informed me, that the style of those translations is good. Of the modern version of the New Testament executing in Paris, they had not seen a specimen. With regard to the style of modern Armenian, they recommended the neighborhood of Erivan, rather than Erzerum, where the Armenian is vulgar.

I was particularly desirous to know if they had any communications with Samarcand, or Buckharia; but, after pronouncing these names in every possible way, they could give me no information about the places; and bishop Garabee

said that they travelled to India by way of the Persian gulf. As they were equally curious to know my motive for asking about those places, I directed their attention to the opinion that many Jews, and probably the ten tribes, exist there; which brought up the mention of Mr. Wolff, of whose movements they were much interested to

hear.

I was anxious to bring the subject of Abyssinia before them; and inquired if they still kept up the communion with that country, which formerly they had been in the habit of doing; and for which they enjoy a peculiar degree of facility, from their church holding the same doctrines with the Abyssinian church. They gave little satisfaction on this head indeed they said, that, at present, they have no intercourse with Abyssinia. I explained my views as well as I could through the interpreter; stating, that, as both England and the Armenians were friends to Abyssinia, and the Armenians peculiarly so, it would give us pleasure if the Armenians, when voyaging to the Red Sea, would assist us in our endeavors to convey the Scriptures to Abyssinia.

I intimated a wish to see their library; but they stated that they had no old or very curious books to show; and on my more particularly specifying the acts of their councils, the proposal was turned off in a manner that evinced a decided unwillingness to enter on such subjects. Their opinions are, indeed, thus far known-that they admit only the first three general councils, and break off from the Greek church at the fourth; but the subsequent national councils of the Armenians I have not seen. I had a particular wish to see those which relate to the celibacy of the clergy. The Patriarch offered me a room in the convent, which I said that I should gladly have accepted, had I not found one already prepared for me by a friend in Mar Michael. He asked if I wished to see their church: this question, as the servant at the same time came to sprinkle rosewater upon my hands, I took as a polite hint that the conversation had been sufficiently protracted; and, therefore, after an interchange of compliments similar to that at entering, I withdrew.

CHURCH OF THE ARMENIAN CONVENT.

The Patriarch's secretary then took me to see the church. It is more splendid than any thing else in Jerusalem, not excepting the church of the Holy Sepulchre, although this latter is considerably larger. The walls of the Armenian church are lined with a kind of glazed Dutch pottery, with pictures of sacred story and Armenian inscriptions upon them. On one side is a small chapel, brilliantly adorned and lighted up, with a picture of St. James's head: the head itself, they say, is in Spain. The convent is dedicated to this apostle, and is built, they say, upon and around the very spot where he was beheaded by order of Herod. On the opposite side is a very large chapel for the females: adjoining to this convent is an Armenian nunnery. On the left hand, as you face the great altar of the church, is a splendid spacious pulpit; but sermons are not preached here: it is used for the purpose of the customary procession, in which one of the priests or dea

cons, gorgeously arrayed, and surrounded with many lighted tapers, solemnly ascends the pulpit, and reads, or rather chants, a portion of the gospel. From the lofty ceiling are suspended many lamps, and also numerous ostrich eggs, which several servants were keeping clean with long bunches of soft feathers. Every thing has an air of oriental splendor, too glittering and gaudy for our simpler occidental taste.

While we were wandering here, another bishop entered the church from a side door. These, with two more whom I' subsequently saw in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, make, in addition to the Patriarch, five bishops. I had been informed that there are fourteen in all. They are not constantly residing here, but occasionally visit the other monasteries; of which, in the Holy Land, there are four-namely, this one within the city, one just without the walls, one at Bethlehem, and one at Rama; besides the adjoining nunnery in the city.

JEWS.

Friday, Dec. 5, 1823.-A little before noon, we called on Rabbi Mendel, a Jewish rabbi, of some consideration on account of his talmudical learning. There is frequent mention of him in Mr. Wolff's Journals. He had, at his side, a volume of the Talmud; and he is greatly in repute for his skill in these works.

It is, in myself, a mixed feeling of inability and disinclination to enter upon such studies, which restrain me from taking up the question with the Jews on that ground. Mr. Wolff, who is not destitute of the ability, yet latterly has grown and I think it a more likely way for success-disinclined to argue with them from the Talmud; but presses on them the law, the prophets and the gospel. He did, indeed, procure a Jew to sift out of the Talmud all passages in favor of Christianity; and, in the course of their research, they also found, among these writings, many passages so absurd, that the Jews themselves do not like to have them produced. But the detection of these absurdities does not much aid the cause of truth: men can bear a great deal of absurdity to be proved against them, and against their party or system, without changing sides; and, frequently, the more we point out partial weaknesses or errors, the more tenaciously do they cling to their own opinion. Mr. Wolff has latterly told them, that is, during his second visit to Jerusalem, that, unless they quit the Talmud, it is impossible that they should" think straight." Thinking straight has evident reference to some straight rule of opinion; and this rule is the law and the testimony. From what I can learn concerning the disputes and studies of the rabbies of Jerusalem-with whom I am unable to converse much, from not knowing German-they seem to be men ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

OPPRESSIONS SUFFERED BY THE JEWS.

In addition to a certain wild abstracted gaze, which nature and talmudical studies have given to the countenance of Rabbi Mendel, he was further suffering from terror, the impression of which

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