and over the door is the inscription, Cellula, divino magnoque habitata Luthero, The cell is small and simple, and must have been a freezing study. Beside his portrait is hung a German exposition of the text, "Death is swallowed up in victory," in his own handwriting, and written in the form in which old books often terminate, an inverted pyramid. There is a copy of his Bible so full of very good illuminations, that it might be called a Bible with plates. The wooden boards are covered with ingenious carving and gilding, and studded with pieces of coloured glass to imitate the precious stones which so frequently adorn the manuscripts of the church. It is said to have been the work of a hermit of the sixteenth century, who thus employed his leisure hours to do honour to Luther; yet Protestant hermits are seldom to be met with." G. REVIEWS. Christian Researches in Syria and the Holy Land, in 1823 and 1824, in furtherance of the objects of the Church Missionary Society. By the Rev. WILLIAM JOWETT, M. A. With an Appendix containing the Journal of Mr. JOSEPH GREAVES, on a visit to the Regency of Tunis. From the London edition. Boston, 1826. pp. 364. is THE literature of every people national and local. The mind of a writer is moulded and fashioned by the circumstances in which he is placed, and his genius necessarily receives the impress of all those features of society and manners, and of physical nature, by which he is surrounded, and with which his earliest and fondest recollections are intimately associated. Hence, when he embodies his warm emotions or vivid conceptions in language, and sends them forth to enlighten or to move his fellow-men, who are placed in similar circumstances, and surrounded by the same external objects, his works will exhibit the same characteristics as those with which his own genius is enstamped, and will spontaneously present frequent allusions to those peculiar traits of national character and feeling, and to those distinct and permanent outlines of natural scenery, to which his heart and eyes have ever been accustomed. To his countrymen, whose eyes look abroad upon the same scenes, and whose hearts are attuned to the same social sympathies and habits, such allusions serve to heighten the charm which his works exert over them, by awakening in their minds the same bland associations which dwelt in his own bosom. Or if his work be simply historical narration, still the actors are men of their own country, and traverse the scenes, and are conversant with all the circumstances, with which they are habitually familiar. But to the men of a different age and country, who have been trained in the midst of society of a different character, and among scenery of another description, works of this national cast must be deprived of that peculiar charm which gives them such hold on the affections of those to whom they were originally addressed. There is at first no kindred sympathy or fond associa tion to be awakened in their bo soms; and the only way in which such feelings may be implanted there, ready to respond to the touch of genius from a foreign land, is to transport one's self as far as possible into the situation and feelings of the inhabitants of that land, to read as they read; to see as they see; to feel as they feel; and to surround one's self in vivid imagination by all those scenes in the midst of which they dwell. To do this fully in respect to the literature of ancient nations is now impossible. We may rove among the scenes of their departed greatness, and behold with admiration the monuments which they left behind; we may gaze with rapture on the same beautiful or sublime features of nature on which they were wont to look; but the spirit of life and manners which once dwelt there can never be recalled. Yet even this is much. Who does not feel with a keener relish the power of the Greek and Roman writers, after having gazed on the fading glories of the Parthenon, or wandered among the desolations of the eternal city? But there is a land, whose literature and whose scenery awaken in the heart of the Christian, a still deeper sympathy. We refer to Palestine, the land of patriarchs and prophets, of heroic warriors and patriotic statesman; a land favoured of Jehovah, and among whose scenes God himself was manifest in the flesh. There is the spot which bore the impress of a Saviour's footsteps. There the city still remains where he was cradled in a manger, and where on the adjacent plains a heavenly host proclaimed, "Peace and good will to men." There is yet the humble village and the vale of Nazareth where he spent his youth; and there the holy city, beautiful for situation,' where at last he gave his life to take away the sin of the world! This is the region, to which above all others, the eyes of the church universal are directed; here the warm affections of all hearts centre, which have known the love of Christ; and for this country in its present degraded, polluted, and most unhappy state, we doubt not the keenest sympathies both of Christians on earth, and saints and angels in heaven, are strongly enlisted. Whatever tends to render us more intimately acquainted with the geography of Palestine, whether civil or physical, goes directly to increase our power of comprehending the Bible, and of entering more fully into the spirit and force of all its beautiful allusions and descriptions. It tends, of course, to place us more completely in the situation of the Jews, to whom the scriptures were first addressed. It enables us, in a measure to gaze with them on the "glory of Lebanon" and on the "excellency of Carmel;" to delight in the rich vales and fertile pastures of Sharon, and in the lake and the valleys of Galilee; to roam among the mountains and romantic dells in the vicinity of Jerusalem, the queen of nations, the joy of the whole earth. But the thousands and ten thousands who once came up from all the land to worship in her courts those courts themselves, where the glory of the Lord was wont to be manifested, and where the Saviour of men dispensed light and life and salvation to a lost world all have crumbled into dust! the towers of Zion, so beautiful on the sides of the north, are gone; and the haughty and ferocious Turk now lords it over the heritage of God, and offers his unhallowed worship on the very spot where of old Jehovah dwelt between the cherubim! Hence, also, whatever gives us information on the present state of the unhappy people of that land, enables us to form a juster estimate of the obligations we are under to strive to rouse them from the slumber of ages, and to restore the light of divine truth to that horizon, whence first it broke upon the world. It is under the influence of such impressions, that we welcome the appearance of the work, the title of which stands at the head of this article. The author is well known as the able and intelligent representative of the Church Missionary Society of England; and is stationed at Malta as a central point, from which he may prosecute his researches into the moral and religious state of the countries adjacent to the Mediterranean, preparatory to direct missionary efforts. In a preceding volume he has given to the world a digested statement of the results of his inquiries from 1815 to 1820, which presents a general view of the situation of those countries. The present work is intended to afford more particular information respecting Palestine, and thus fill up, in respect to that country, the outline sketched in the former volume. Exclusive of the appendix, it consists of four parts, viz. a sketch of the various religious denominations in Syria and the Holy Land; a journal of the author's tour in Palestine, to which are appended notes containing among other things several fine illustrations of passages of scripture; a view of the natural, civil, and religious state of the country; and finally, notices, remarks, and suggestions, connected with the general subject of missionary enterprises in that region. The sketch of religious denominations presents a mass of information, drawn from various sources, and exhibited in a more condensed and luminous form than is probably elsewhere to be found. To the missionary who is preparing for that field, or to the general reader who wishes to know the state of religious feeling there, it is invaluable; because many of the works from which the author quotes, are not accessible in this country. We cannot here enter into the melan1826.-No. 5. 32 choly detail. Suffice it to say that the Mohammedans are masters; while the great body of the people are nominally Christians. There are few Protestants, and these are mostly sojourners, either consuls or merchants. But of other Christians, there is hardly a name under heaven, which has not its representatives in this devoted land. They have, alas! a name to live, but they themselves are dead. So far as we can judge from the accounts of Dr. Jowett, and of our own faithful missionaries, not one breath of spiritual life is felt throughout all that great multitude. Separated into numerous sects and communities which are at constant and open variance; zealous for rites and forms of worship which differ only in name from those of pagan nations; they exhibit no trace of the power of religion on the soul, nor of its all-pervading influence upon the duties and the courtesies of social or private life. The heart sickens over this appalling picture; and it is impossible not to feel, that so far as human efforts are concerned, the obstacles to a renovation of pure and vital Christianity in this country are far greater than those which exist to its introduction into pagan lands. But we will not despair. hearts of men are in the hands of Jehovah, who turneth them whithersoever he will, even as the rivers of water are turned. The We do not here specify the different sects of Christians and others which are to be found in Palestine ; because we cannot but hope that all our readers will become acquainted with them through the pages of Dr. Jowett. We have no room to detail their distinctive tenets and rites, and a bare catalogue of names would be of little value. The journey of the author in Palestine, the journal of which forms the largest part of the present volume, was made in the latter months of 1823, and the beginning of 1824. He travelled from Beyroot to Jerusalem and back, making an excursion on the way to the lake of Tiberias. He was accompanied to Jerusalem by the lamented Mr. Fisk; who is now gone a happier journey to a more splendid city, even the New Jerusalem, followed by the tears of thousands, who yet congratulate him on his emancipation from this world of sin, and sorrow, and death. A journal of the tour was also kept by Mr. Fisk, extracts from which were given to the public in the Missionary Herald for October 1824. The notices of Dr. Jowett are more full, and dwell more on the natural scenery of the country, and the characteristics of the present inhabitants. From Beyroot they travelled along the shore through Saide and Sour, the ancient Sidon and Tyre, and took up their lodgings for a night in a small khan between Tyre and Acre. From this place they set off early, in order to reach Acre before noon. The following is a description of the first view of Acre and its beautiful bay and environs. "The first hour of our journey we spent nearly in darkness-wanderers, as it seemed to me, among the mountains; both guides and animals, however, with instinctive sagacity keeping the track. At length the pleasant light covered the sky; and, not long after, we arrived at the height which commands the ample plain of Acre. The elegant and lofty Minaret of the city appeared at a distance of seven or eight miles, directly before us: in the back ground, far off, twice as distant as the city, was a noble scene-Mount Carmel dipping its feet in the western sea; and to the east, running consider ably inland; entirely locking up from our view the vale of Sharon, which lies to the south of it. In the horizon on the left, the sun was rising over the milder mountain scenery, which lies on the road to Nazareth. "Here, though already three days within the confines of Palestine, I first felt myself on holy ground. We were leaving the glory of Lebanon; and, before us, was the excellency of Carmel. As I descended the mountain and entered on the plain, I was often constrained to give utterance to my feelings, in singing a favourite air, of which the words are Emitte Spiritum tuum——— et creabuntur--et renovabis faciem terræ! It was the anniversary of my first landing in Malta: eight years have I now been on the Mediterranean Mission; and I can truly say, Hitherto the Lord hath helped me, and preserved my going out and my coming in." pp. 113, 114. The following paragraph affords a very graphic view of the appearance of an oriental khan or inn, and gives also a lively idea of the general character of the people. The scene is still at Acre. "Looking out of our window upon the large open quadrangular court of the khan, we behold very much such a scene as would illustrate the Arabian Nights' Entertainments.' In the centre, is a spacious fountain, or reservoir-the first care of every builder of great houses or cities in the East. On one side, is a row of camels, each tied by the slenderest cord to a long string; to which a small bell is appended, so that by the slightest motion they keep up one another's attention, and the atten tion also of all the inmates of the khan, that of weary travellers especially, by a constant jingle. On another side, horses and mules are waiting for orders; while asses breaking loose, biting one another, and throwing up their heels, give variety to the scene. Goats, geese, poultry, &c. are on free quarters. In the midst of all these sights and sounds, the groom, the muleteer, the merchant, the pedler, the passers-by, and the by-standers, most of them wretchedly dressed, though in coats of many colours, all looking like idlers whatever they may have to do, contrive to make themselves audible; generally lifting up their voices to the pitch of high debate, and very often much higher. "Noise, indeed, at all times seems to be the proper element of the people of these countries: their throats are formed for it-their ears are used to it -neither the men nor the females, grown-up persons nor children, the rich nor the poor, seem to have any exclusive privilege in making it—and, what From Acre the travellers made an excursion to Nazareth and the lake of Tiberias. The scenery around the former place is finely depicted in the subsequent extract. "Nazareth is situated on the side, and extends nearly to the foot of a hill, which, though not very high, is rather steep and overhanging. The eye naturally wanders over its summit, in quest of some point from which it might probably be that the men of this place endeavoured to cast our Saviour down (Luke iv. 29); but in vain: no rock adapted to such an object appears. At the foot of the hill is a modest simple plain, surrounded by low hills, reaching in length nearly a mile; in breadth, near the city, a hundred and fifty yards; but, further on, about four hundred yards. On this plain there are a few olive-trees, and fig-trees, sufficient, or rather scarcely sufficient, to make the spot picturesque. Then follows a ravine, which gradually grows deeper and narrower; till, after walking about another mile, you find yourself in an immense chasm with steep rocks on either side, from whence you behold, as it were beneath your feet, and before you, the noble plain of Esdraelon. Nothing can be finer than the apparently immeasurable prospect of this plain, bounded to the south by the mountains of Samaria. The elevation of the hills on which the spectator stands in this ravine is very great; and the whole scene, when we saw it, was clothed in the most rich mountainblue colour that can be conceived. this spot, on the right hand of the ravine, is shown the rock to which the men of Nazareth are supposed to have conducted our Lord, for the purpose of throwing him down. With the Testament in our hands, we endeavoured to examine the probabilities of the spot; and I confess there is nothing in it which excites a scruple of incredulity in my mind. The rock here is perpen At dicular for about fifty feet, down which space it would be easy to hurl a person who should be unawares brought to the summit; and his perishing would be a very certain consequence. That the spot might be at a considerable distance from the city, is an idea not inconsistent with St. Luke's account; for the expression, thrusting Jesus out of the city, and leading him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, gives fair scope for imagining, that, in their rage and debate, the Nazarenes might, without originally intending his murder, press upon him for a considerable distance after they had quitted the synagogue. The distance, as already noticed, from modern Nazareth to this spot is scarcely two miles—a space, which, in the fury of persecution, might soon be passed over. Or should this appear too considerable, it is by no means certain but that Nazareth may at that time have extended through the principal part of the plain, which I have described as lying before the modern town in this case, the distance passed over might not exceed a mile." pp. 128, 129. "After spending some time in writing till my mind was weary, I left the bath, and sauntered two or three hundred paces to seek a little shade by the side of a small fragment of ruins. The other guide, knowing that I was indisposed, seemed to think it his duty to follow me step by step: he then sat down, much more quietly and respectfully than people of this country are often apt to do. I must, however, say, that although noise and rudeness are their general characteristics; yet there is, occasionally, in their way of treating |