be seized hold of, and bent to the same purpose. Nor can it be denied, that many things said by Christ and his apostles, either with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, or to the great day of judgment, when Christ will really come again in person to our world, might be easily construed as bearing upon the same point. The apostle John possibly had reference to such a belief, in the phraseology he used in the 21st and 22d chapters of the Revelation. At least, what he has there said would readily be employed by Christians to confirm the views which they had drawn from other sources. When persecutions raged against them, as under Nero, they would cherish their chiliastic anticipations with so much the greater fondness. In particular, the contests which were continually carried on between Christianity and idolatry would greatly confirm them in the belief, that their Saviour was in reality soon to come in his own person, and decide it in their favor for ever.*

In illustration of what has now been said, we might bring forward a great abundance of quotations. This, however, must be postponed to some future number.

ARTICLE VIII.

EIGHT YEARS' RESIDENCE IN PERSIA.

A Residence of eight years in Persia among the Nestorian Christians; with notices of the Muhammedans. By Rev. JUSTIN PERKINS. With a Map and Plates. Andover. Allen, Morrill & Wardwell. 1843. pp. 512.

8vo.

THE lineal origin of the Nestorians is hidden in the mists of uncertainty. Their common tradition ascribes it to the Jews, and they themselves urge their resemblance to the

"It is natural for man," said Patrick Henry, in one of his great speeches, "to indulge in the illusions of hope." Oppression, in almost every age of the world, has made its subjects look out for deliverance, and led to chiliastic anticipations. So, among the ancient Jews; so among the ancient heathen, and the early Christians. See a further illustration of this same position, in the fact, that many of the slaves have, for more than ten years past, been indulging in just such anticipations; and have many rude hymns in circulation among them, which they have composed in view of the coming of their Lord.

Jews in many respects, as proof of the same.

Dr. Grant, in

a work published not long since, maintains, that they are the lost ten tribes. But Dr. Robinson shows, that many of his arguments are worthless, because they prove too much. The customs on which Dr. Grant relies to substantiate his theory are not national but oriental; so that the argument is fitted to prove, that all the eastern nations are descendants of the ten tribes, as much as that the Nestorians are so. It is not improbable, that their ancestors may have been of those tribes; but, at this distance of time, the point is incapable of demonstration. They claim to have become Christians through the labors of Thomas, one of the twelve apostles. The name of the Nestorians is derived from Nestorius, who was born and educated in Syria, was a presbyter at Antioch, and was made bishop of Constantinople, A. D. 428. They call themselves, and are known among their neighbors, by the name Syrianee, and Nusránee, a word commonly used in Arabic to designate all Christians, and which is generally regarded as equivalent to Nazarene. Nestorius was accused of heresy, judged without being heard, deposed and excommunicated by the third general council at Ephesus, A. D. 431. One of the charges alleged against him was, that he refused to apply to the Virgin Mary the title Oɛotóxos, mother of God; giving it as his opinion, that the Virgin was rather to be called XQuτotózos, mother of Christ, since the Deity could neither be born nor die; and, of consequence, the Son of man only could derive his birth from an earthly parent. A second charge was, that in his theological belief, he invested Christ with two persons, as well as two natures. But he denied the justice of the charge. Probably, as Mosheim intimates, he seemed to make a distinction of two persons in Christ, in his zeal to avoid the error of Apollinaris, who confounded the two natures. Perhaps, a thorough and unprejudiced examination of the views of Nestorius would have shown him as orthodox as the council which condemned him. However that might be, his cause created extensive sympathy, and found many advocates. The party which favored Nestorius, the first Christian sect that was severed from the church, taking firm root in a central position, spread rapidly in all directions, and became powerful, especially in Persia. In this region, as well as in some others, to which it was then extended, it has remained permanent from that day to this.

Besides the Nestorians, to whose welfare Mr. Perkins and his coadjutors have devoted themselves, are the Jacobites and the Chaldeans, related to the others originally as fellow-countrymen. The Jacobites are Monophysite Christians, swerving to the opposite extreme, in an effort to escape the supposed error of Nestorius, and ascribing to Christ but one nature. To this class belong the Syrian Christians visited by Dr. Buchanan in Malabar, the number of whom is about 10,000. The Chaldeans were formerly of the same faith with the Nestorians; but have gone over to popery. The Jacobites and the Chaldeans are mostly found on the western side of the Koordish mountains, and in Mesopotamia. The title Chaldeans was given by the pope of Rome to those of the Nestorians who have become identified with the Catholic church; and the title Syrian Christians, to those of the Jacobites who have been persuaded to subject themselves to the papal rule. These titles have been assumed, however, in defiance both of modesty and propriety. The Nestorians are bitter enemies of the Jacobites. The latter now speak the Arabic language, and have thus broken almost the only remaining link of national union.

The Nestorians are found principally in the mountains of Koordistan and in Oroomiah. Those who inhabit the mountains and those who dwell on the plain are almost antipodes to each other. The former partake of the rude habits of the neighboring Koords,-bold, warlike, uncivilized. The latter have the urbanity of the most refined Persians. They call their brethren, the mountaineers, wild men. The mountaineers, however, have frequent occasion to visit the plain, where they cannot help imbibing a humanizing influence. The diffusive spirit of Christianity, as it becomes predominant in the more civilized portions of the people, who are intimate with the missionaries, will send forth its power by degrees among the mountain fastnesses, not only to benefit the Nestorians, but perhaps, also, to convert the savage Koords. The former will be a spiritual leaven in the neighborhoods where they dwell; so that by their means Christianity will, almost without effort, win among its trophies another nation, which, but for their geographical relation to these mountain Nestorians, would, doubtless, for a much longer period, remain inaccessible to the gospel. The Nestorians of the mountains are of the same faith with those in VOL. VIII.-NO. XXIX.

18

the city of Oroomiah, and have a patriarch residing among

them.

It is difficult to ascertain, with any definiteness, the number of the Nestorians. Mr. Perkins thinks the whole number may be 140,000; in Tiaree, the most populous of the mountain districts, 50,000; in all the other mountain districts, about 60,000; and between 30,000 and 40,000 in the province of Oroomiah. They are not to be regarded simply by themselves. Their own numbers are not a proper standard by which to estimate their importance. When it is considered, that, by means of a well-conducted mission to the Nestorians, it may be possible also to gain access to the minds of the Muhammedans, as this work abundantly proves, that nation, few as its numbers are, is of vast consequence. If the Nestorians should be indirectly the means of opening a door, wide and effectual, for the introduction of the gospel into Persia, they may become benefactors of the whole Muhammedan world. It will be a glorious attainment to break the spell of the crescent,-the greatest obstacle to the general diffusion of the gospel which now exists,-a most pernicious orb of darkness, to use the figure of a Persian poet, whose gloom is now shed so widely over the nations. Heaven may well keep jubilee, when such an event takes place. The journals of Mr. Perkins in this volume look more favorably towards such a consummation, than any publications which we have ever seen. What need of wisdom has the servant of God in such a field, that the first gleams of light and truth may not by any means be shut out, and the people be condemned to a tenfold thicker darkness! The work of missions may well be viewed as a work pre-eminently demanding humility, faith and prayer.

The language of the Nestorians is the modern Syriac ; which, in fact, is nothing else than the ancient Syriac, corrupted by the influence and intermixture of Persian, Turkish and Koordish words. The ancient Syriac is used in their liturgy; and in that language they possessed and venerated the Scriptures, at the time when the mission was commenced. No attempts had hitherto been made among them to reduce the oral language to writing. And even in the ancient language, Messrs. Smith and Dwight found none but manuscript books among them. Besides the canonical Scriptures, the Nestorians have portions of the apocryphal

books, a work purporting to be the Revelation of Paul, several books of prayers, and other compositions to be used in the church-service, legends of saints, traditions, portions of the fathers, books of martyrs, comments on all parts of the Bible, proverbs, ponderous dictionaries, grammars, etc., and lastly, a small Romish legend, claiming to be an epistle that descended from heaven, at Rome, about A. D. 777, being engraved by the finger of God on a table of ice! It is entitled The Epistle of the Sabbath, and demands a reading every Sabbath; but its claims to such frequent perusal are little regarded. The circulation of books, however, is extremely limited. Being written with great labor, the copies of them are few in number. Mr. P. says, three, five or ten books are regarded as a liberal supply for a village, or even for a district. The gentlemen before alluded to found a very great destitution in this respect. The psalter, gospels and epistles, were in every church; but a copy of the whole Bible, scarcely any where. At Jamalava, the gospels and epistles were carried every night to the bishop's house, to secure them from being stolen.

But the ignorance of the people sufficiently accounts for the fewness of their books. Mr. P. says, "Not more than one in two hundred of the people,—in general, only the clergy, could read, when we commenced our labors among them. A majority of the priesthood can merely chant their devotions in the ancient Syriac, without knowing the meaning. Even some of the bishops among the mountains, are in this predicament."

The manners of the Nestorians are purely oriental; yet evidently modified by their intercourse with their neighbors and oppressors, by the continued prevalence among them of the Christian faith, and by the early influence of Catholic confessors. We have gleaned from various parts of the volume a brief account of the customs of the people, both as a nation, and as Christians. By his free intercourse with the bishops and priests, Mr. P. had abundant opportunity to become acquainted with the latter; and his missionary work, leading him to cultivate the intimacy of the nation at large, has given him access also to the former.

The civil year of the Nestorians commences at the vernal equinox, and is ushered in by a festival of a week's continuance, called Noorose, which has come down from the