ship, or even compatible with it, except at sacrifices which have too often curtailed

the brief span of life,

By useless, thankless, hopeless strife,'*

and added to the long catalogue of the victims of intellectual ardour.

Should these brief and cursory remarks attract the attention of the Society of Friends, we hope that they will be received in the spirit of friendship which has dictated them. It has been our anxious wish, neither to misrepresent nor to offend; but we have had a higher object in view than the mere gratification of any of our readers, and have felt it to be our duty, at the risk of offending, to submit these considerations on a subject which has hitherto attracted far less attention than it deserves. In conclusion, the impression which we wish to leave with our readers, is, that the Church of Christ is one. Whereupon,' says Hooker, because the only object which ⚫ separateth ours from other religions, is Jesus Christ, in whom none but the Church doth believe, and whom none but the Church doth worship, we find that accordingly the Apostles do every where distinguish hereby the Church from infidels and Jews, accounting them which call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to be his Church. If we go lower, we ⚫ shall but add unto this, certain casual and variable accidents, which are not properly of the being, but make only for the happier and better being, of the Church of God, either indeed, or in men's opinions and conceits. This is the error of all popish definitions that hitherto have been brought. They define not the Church by that which the Church essentially is, but by that wherein they imagine their own more perfect than the rest are.'-What is wanted to bind all true Christians together in a genuine Catholicism, but the recognition of the just and noble sentiment thus admirably expressed? Errors and opposite views of non-essentials will probably always break the uniformity of the visible Church; and these, to a certain extent, render the religious intercommunion of differing churches impracticable. Such intercom+ munion, however, so far as conscience admits of it, ought never to be lost sight of as a most desirable object. As Dissenters, we know of no principle of Nonconformity, certainly none of Christianity, which should exclude Episcopalian, Moravian, Wesleyan, or Quaker, still retaining all his opinions, from com

See Stanzas on the Approach of Winter' in "Napoleon and other Poems," by Bernard Barton.

munion with us, if his principles admitted of such an expression of Christian fellowship. But as this cannot under existing circumstances be realised, what we plead for is still more important, namely, the recognition of our common principles as Protestant Christians calling upon the name of Christ. If the terms of communion cannot be, at least let the terms of mutual charity and kindness be co-extensive with the terms of salyation. Our Quaker friends have hitherto kept widely aloof from all the other sections of the Protestant world, in matters of religion, extending their fellowship to none, their tolerance to all; at once the most sectarian and the most charitable of sects, the least catholic and the most liberal; the most comprehensive in their spirit, the most narrow and exclusive in their ecclesiastical policy; towards their fellow-Christians the most reserved and unbending, towards their fellow-men the most benevolent; retreating with horror from the Calvinist, sympathising with the Negro. This is an anomalous state of things. Were they Jews or Mahommedans, we could indeed wish for. nothing better, while they retained their sentiments, than that it should continue to characterise them as a body. But we take them to be Christians, fellow Christians. At least, as regards a considerable portion of the body, (for it would be too much to hope of the whole of any religious society, that of them the remark should hold good,) we consider them as visibly allied, by their profession of the faith of Christ and their exemplary lives, to the Church of God. On this ground we acknowledge them, and claim to be in turn acknowledged by them, as members of the same body. And while we wish not to impair the breadth of their beaver by the eighth of an inch, or to rob them of one of their harmless peculiarities, nor yet to bring them over to an outward conformity to any of our notions or practices in matters non-essential, we plead, for Christianity's sake, to be not merely tolerated, but comprehended in the range of an enlightened Catholicism, by those whom we recognise as Christians. There is but one true Church; and therefore, if both parties do not fact consist of brother Churchmen in the best sense, one of the two is, by the very terms, excluded from the pale; that is to say, its members are not Christians.

Art. IV. 1. Christian Researches in the Mediterranean, in Further ance of the Objects of the Church Missionary Society. By the Rev. William Jowett, M.A. 8vo. Price 10s. London. 1822. 2. Travels along the Mediterranean and Parts adjacent : in Company with the Earl of Belmore. By Robert Richardson, M.D. 2 vols., i. 8vo. London. 1822.

EGYPT, the parent of Grecian and even of Chaldean wis

66

dom, the inventress of science, the oracle of nations, in whose schools, Moses, and Pythagoras, and Plato exhausted the treasures of human learning, may be said to have sunk into the decrepitude and imbecillity of a second childhood. How strikingly has the oracle been fulfilled: "It shall be the basest of the kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself any more "above the nations; for I will diminish them, that they shall "no more rule over the nations." "There shall no more be a prince of the land of Egypt." "The sceptre of Egypt "shall pass away." "How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are they? Where are thy wise men?"* All have perished, and the name of the once most enlightened of nations, has come to be associated only with utter darkness. In place of her native line of Pharaohs, the Assyrian, the Persian, the Greek, the Roman, and last of all the Turk, have subjected this once proud and still fertile country to their iron despotism; and under the last and most despicable of her conquerors, it has literally become the basest of the kingdoms. Science survived for a time the fall of the empire, and even since the Christian era, seemed for a season to rally her ancient strength in the school of Alexandria. But Christian Egypt has also passed away: at least, that which calls itself Christianity, is but the sightless and hideous mummy of a Christian Church. The orthodox Greeks and the Monophysite Copts, though retaining their ancient distinctions, are alike slumbering the sleep of death amid the shades of the grossest ignorance. Twenty thousand Coptic families, of whom fifteen hundred reside in Cairo, and a few of the other Christian communions, estimated altogether at a population of 100,000 native Christians, form the small remains of the once famous patriarchate of Alexandria. The ascendancy of the Coptic Church over those of the Greeks and the Latins, originated in the Copts making terms with the Saracen invaders of Egypt in the seventh century, and assisting the Mussulmans to expel their orthodox rivals, the Greeks. The exactions and

* Ezek. xxix. 15, xxx. 13. Zech. x. 11. Isa. xix. 11.

*

oppression they have ever since been subjected to, Mr. Jowett considers as a standing warning to the Church, of the guilt and certain punishment of discord, perfidy, and schism.' The sin of schism, however, lay quite as much at the door of the Greeks; and even that of heresy, which Mr. J. would fasten more peculiarly on the poor Monophysites and Monothelites, might be shewn to attach with equal justice to the General Councils and the ferocious prelates by which they were anathematized. The Greeks were their tyrants and oppressors in matters civil as well as ecclesiastical; and it is probable that, when they exchanged the Byzantine for the Saracenic yoke, they lost nothing, and they might hope to gain much. Perfidy could not be charged on a measure which had self-defence for its plea, which violated no compact, no alliance, and which was less a schism of the Church, than a political revolution wresting the devoted country from one foreign tyrant, to consign it to another.

The perpetuation of even the semblance of Christianity under these circumstances, is a most striking phenomenon. In Egypt, as in Abyssinia, in Syria, and in Muscovy, the ecclesiastical historian finds the standing documents of remote ages, the notions, practices, and corruptions of the fourth and fifth centuries still extant, having undergone no essential change, but perfect as a carcase embalmed in snow, or incrusted by petrifaction; preserved from decay by the very element of cold and darkness which envelops them. The Protestant Christian, when brought into contact with these posthumous relics of the middle ages, finds himself less separated by diversity of national habits or of dialect, than by ecclesiastical prejudices and religious differences, from those who avow a common faith. The Coptic priest at Alexandria asked Mr. Jowett, how we used to baptize,' and shook his head at hearing that the English Church used no holy oil. The Alexandrian Greeks, indeed, claim some alliance with the English, as it seems that our countrymen there are indebted to them for the rites of baptism, marriage, and burial, if not of absolution, We, said a Greek Priest to Mr. Jowett, we are alike: we 'marry, bury, baptize, &c. for the English; but the Copts-ah!?

In every point of view, however, Egypt is an object of the highest interest, and is likely to become increasingly such. It is all but holy land. Its antiquities are of the most curious and imposing character, and altogether peculiar to the country. Its proverbial fertility, its geographical situation, its commercial advantages, its provincial government, so favourable to its independence whenever circumstances shall admit of its being detached from the ill-shapen empire to which it belongs, its

importance as one of the portals to the interior of Africa,, as the connecting link between the African and the Asiatic countries, all these considerations conspire to recommend it alike to the traveller, the statesman, and the philanthropist, as one of the most interesting regions in the world. From Alexandria, there is much commerce with Malta and various ports of Europe, and by way of the Red Sea, with the East Indies. The latter, however, is principally in the hands of the Mahommedans. Cairo contains a large and mingled population from many parts of Africa. It forms by far the most advantageous line of communication with Abyssinia, and perhaps with the Mahommedan States on the North; and the language, Arabic, is both well cultivated, and very extensively available as a medium of communication with the adjacent nations. On these several accounts, Mr. Jowett strongly recommends Cairo as a missionary station. It would have the efficient protection of the British Consul-General. Add to this, that the English are highly in favour with Mahommed Ali, the present viceroy; nor will Aboukir and Alexandria soon be forgotten. The motley population of the Saracenic capital of the land of the Pharaohs,' consists of Turks, Arabs, Greeks, Copts, Jews, and Armenians. Of these, the first and the last, Dr. Richardson states, (and his testimony is in concurrence with that of other travellers,) are generally the most upright and agreeable in all mercantile transactions.

The Turks, being masters of the country, are superior to all in wealth and dignity; yet the Arabs constitute by far the greatest part of the population, both in Cairo, and throughout the whole of Egypt and Syria, and their language is the vernacular tongue in both countries. Notwithstanding which, and their being of the same religion with the Turks, they enjoy no offices of emolument, and are kept nearly in as much subjection as the Copts or the Greeks, though they are at least in the proportion of twenty to one or more. The Armenians are numerous, and entirely engaged in trade, and bear the character of a respectable, industrious people. They are favourably situated in Egypt at present, on account of one of their countrymen being the interpreter and one of the confidential advisers of the Pasha. The number of Jews in Cairo was differently stated at three, four, five, or six thousand. But I am disposed to think that the highest number is considerably under the truth. They are an industrious people, and are chiefly engaged in small traffic, as in this country; but many of them being able to read, write, and cipher, are employed in the different offices of government. They have seven synagogues in Cairo. The Copts are generally considered as the legitimate remains of the ancient Egyptians, as retaining in their features and even in their name, proofs of their descent from that great and wonderful people. Though I must be permitted to say, that neither in their features nor