courtesy is thought to be due to that which is now an essentially corrupt communion, ought to make us throw "checks and hindrances" in the way of their reception into what they feel to be a safe refuge from the evils of their Church. With such a document before us as that presented by Mr. Venn to the Bishop of London, there can be no need for any further preliminary remark. We do most earnestly commend the whole to the very serious attention of our readers; it is, as we have already said, a masterly defence of the Bishopric of Jerusalem, as it now stands; of the operations of the Church Missionary Society in those places lying within the boundaries of that see. What, however, we regard as a still more important portion of this valuable letter is, that earnest call upon our own Church authorities so to widen the door which has been opened to us in the East, that the Church of England may not be prevented by false notions of trenching upon the mission and authority of corrupt Churches, from taking that place, holding forth that light, and giving that refuge and comfort, which it is her privilege to possess, and her responsibility to dispense. Church Missionary House, My Lord, I am thankful to your Lordship for permitting me to see letters addressed to your Lordship by parties whose opinion is entitled to much consideration, containing strictures upon the Society's Mission to Syria; and I beg to offer a few remarks in reply, which will place the matter in its true light, and answer the objections which have been alleged against us. The main points to which, as I under. stand, the strictures apply, are First, the propriety of our sending missionaries to Syria, and other adjoining countries, where the chief sphere of labour, it is supposed, must be among the members of the Orthodox Greek Church, while the whole Heathen world is open before us. Secondly, a supposed pledge given by our Church at the time of the institution of the Anglian Bishopric at Jerusalem, that no aggressive measures of proselytism should be adopted against the Oriental Churches, more especially the Orthodox Greek Church. In respect of the first objection, I must remark, that more than thirty-five years ago the Society first entered upon a mission to the countries of the East, bordering upon the Mediterranean. Above twenty missionaries, as well as many other agents, have been sent out to labour there; our operations have consisted of three branches, - Missionary Tours, Education, and the Press. In the course of these years the Society has had repeated opportunities of reviewing the grounds of its proceedings, and of gathering a large amount of experience upon the question. Our Annual Reports, have regularly, from year to year, reported the progress of the mission; nine-tenths, at least, of our subscribers have joined the Society since this mission was commenced, and therefore have virtually given their support to the principle on which it is conducted. The question of the propriety of these proceedings is. therefore, raised rather too late in the day. Nevertheless. I will briefly state the grounds on which the Society's operations in the Levant were undertaken, and are still sustained. These grounds may be easily learnt from the numerous published Reports of the Society. The following extract, taken from one of our early volumes, may be selected as a specimen : "Mediterranean Mission.-The revival of the Christian Churches bordering on these great internal seas, is an object most important in its probable influence on the extension of Christianity throughout the continents of Africa and Asia. They have long ceased to be instrumental in the propagation of the pure faith of the Gospel, and have presented a distorted picture of that faith to the unchristianized nations. Yet every Chris. tian Church was a designed instrument for the maintenance and propagation of the Gospel in the world. Had every Church, as planted in the gracious providence of God, done her duty in promoting the glory of her Lord, the world would doubtless, at this moment, have yielded, from all its kindreds and tongues, the honour due unto His name: and it is by the revival of truth, and purity, and zeal in the Christian Churches, that this great work must be accomplished. The Western Churches of the Protestant world, whether in Europe or America, are fast rousing from their slumbers; and while they direct their efforts, as op portunities offer, immediately toward the heathen, they are anxious that the more ancient Churches of the Eastern world should gird themselves for that service, in reference to the surrounding Mahomedans and heathens, which has been long expected at their hands. It is to the revival of these Churches that the representatives of the Society in these seas have hitherto directed their chief attention."— Twenty-first Report of the Church Missionary Society, p. 97. The Churches to which this reference is made, are the Greek Orthodox, the Latin-Greek, the Armenian, the Jacobite Syrians, the Nestorians, the Copts, &c. To all these Churches the labours of the Society have been directed. The Greek Orthodox Church is the most numerous. It is said to number four millions out of six millions and a half, which comprises the Christian population of the Turkish provinces of Europe and Asia. But wherever our missionaries have found willing listeners. they have without distinction endeavoured to communicate to them the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and they have met with some encouragement in each denomination. The congregation at Nazareth, which Mr. Klein is desired to visit, is mainly composed of persons who were members of the Latin Church. The operations of the Society are grounded upon the palpable need of a thorough reformation in all these Churches. The long and extensive observation of our missionaries has afforded abundant evidence that the shades of difference are very faint in respect of the ignorance, the doctrinal error, and the moral degradation of all these nominal Christian Churches. The Orthodox Greek Church, as it is termed, in the Turkish provinces, maintains in its Liturgical Books and the confessions of its faith that have been published under high authority The Adoration of the Virgin Mary, Angels, and Saints. The Worship of the material Cross, and of Pictures. Prayers for the Dead. Auricular Confession and Priestly Absolution, as absolutely necessary for sal vation. A Doctrine essentially that of Transubstantiation; with various other errors and superstitions. The reading of the Scriptures is only partially allowed, and they are not read in public in a language understood by the people. The standard of Christian practice is, therefore, as deplorably low as the standard of Christian doctrine; and the Jews, the Mahomedan, and the heathen tribes, instead of receiving any light from these Churches, are by their example confirmed in their prejudices against Christianity. The shameful scenes which annually take place at the Holy Sepulchre, are but the manifestation of the superstition and wickedness of the various sects of Christians represented at Jerusalem. But It has appeared to the Society to be a legitimate and Christian object to endeavour to raise these lapsed Churches, by circulating amongst them the Word of God and Scriptural truth, and promoting the education of their children; but when, in addition to this object, regard is had to the vast heathen population of Asia and Africa, in contact with these Oriental Christians, with many of whom they have a common language, and amongst whom they are scattered by commercial transactions to the utmost limits of Asia, it will be seen that the Mediterranean Mission has an important bearing upon the conversion of the Heathen. more especially Turkey must be regarded as the centre of Mahomedanism. The Mahomedan population, comprising throughout the world a hundred millions of people, present everywhere the greatest obstacles to the advance of Christianity amongst the Heathen, and are themselves the most manifest objects of missionary labours. It is clear, that if any impression can be made upon Malomedanism in Turkey, and such an impression, it clearly appears, from information before us, is being made-towards a more favourable view of Christianity, the effects would be felt throughout the world. There is no country so favourable for presenting Christian truth to the Turks as those provinces of their empire in which the Arabic language is spoken, and no locality so advantageous as Syria and Jeru salem. Such is the vast field and scope for missionary exertion in Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, to which the efforts of the Mediterranean Mission are directed. The nature of such a work prescribes special modes of operation, somewhat different from those adopted in the case of a heathen country. It has never been the object of the Society to form, among these Oriental Christians, congregations according to the model of the Church of England, as in heathen countries our object has been by journeys, by the press, and by education, to disseminate the knowledge of Scriptural truth throughout the country, in order, by God's grace, to raise the tone of Christian doctrine and practice. For this purpose our missionaries have visited persons of all ranks, including many of the highest ecclesiastics; they have distributed the Holy Scriptures and religious books in all languages. We leave to other agencies, under the providence of God, the work of settled pastoral ministrations, and parochial education. We rejoice especially whenever a priest of their own communion can be found among them to supply his people with Scriptural instruction and pastoral similar establishment has been maintained at Cairo, for the benefit of the Coptic Church, with the concurrence of the Patriarch. We have long had a station at Smyrna. Palestine and Syria have always been included in the journeys of our missionaries; and lately, at the express invitation of the Jacobite Bishop at Mosul, transmitted to us through the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Society sent two Missionaries on a tour of inspection into Mesopotamia. It may surprise one of your Lordship's correspondents, who refers to the expulsion of our missionaries from Abyssinia, through French Jesuit intrigue, to hear that the present chief Bishop, or Abuna, of the Abyssinian Church, was a former pupil in our missionary school; and keeps up a friendly intercourse with our missionaries, and earnestly entreats their return. For these extended operations, it has been thought advisable to make Jerusalem the centre, more especially as between seven and ten thousand pilgrims annually resort to that city from distant parts of Asia and Africa. Mr. Klein was sent out to Jerusalem, in consistency with our proceedings for the last thirty-five years, to act upon the plan already described. I trust this statement, and these facts, will sufficiently vindicate the propriety of the Mission upon general principles. But it is alleged, secondly, that a pledge was given by our Church, at the time of the institution of the Anglican Bishopric at Jerusalem, that no aggressive measures should be adopted against the Oriental Churches, especially the Orthodox Greek Church. A convention between the King of Prussia and the late Archbishop of Canterbury, under the sanction of our government, ten years ago, is the foundation of such a supposed pledge. These high contracting parties, or their representatives, are therefore the proper parties to determine how that convention is to be understood and to be carried out. They were perfectly cognizant of the operations of our Society in the East. They neither made this Society a party to that convention, nor have they ever regarded the Society as restricted by that convention from pursuing its own course of action. They continne to this day to manifest their interest in the very Mission against which strictures have been addressed to your Lordship. Reference has also been made to a "Letter commendatory," given by the late Archbishop of Canterbury to the first Anglican Bishop, to the heads of the various Oriental Churches. It is a misnomer to terin this Letter, or any part of the former document a pledge-for that word conveys the idea that the overtures were accepted by the parties to whom they were addressed, whereas it is notorious that the Letter of the late Archbishop has been disregarded by the parties to whom it was addressed, and that no response has been made to the overtures which it contained; and that by the Greek Patriarch it was treated with scorn and derision. It is a question with the best informed whether the Greek Church regards our Church as a Christian Church. It will be well, however, to refer to the terms of the documents which contain what has been miscailed a pledge; and to show that so far from the operations of the Church Missionary Society being at variance with these documents, they are in strict conformity with them. The first official document is, "The Instructions of the King of Prussia to his Ambassador," which formed the basis of the whole proceeding. These Instructions contemplated the protection and centre of union which the proposed Bishopric would afford, not only to all European Protestants residing in those lands, but also to the natives, some of them persons of high consideration, residing in Armenia, as well as at Beyrout and Jerusalem, who have expressed a desire to embrace Protestant Christianity, or to allow their children to be educated in its principles; but who have been held back because the missionaries had no means whatever of ensuring protection and safety to them." (p. 43, "The Protestant Bishopric of Jerusalem," by Henry Smith, Esq.) The next document is that which sets forth the convention to which reference has been made, "A Statement by autho. rity, of proceedings relating to the establishment of a Bishopric, &c." The passages in this Statement which bear upon the question at issue, are the following: "The immediate objects for which this Bishopric has been founded, will appear from the following statement. Its ultimate results cannot be with certainty predicted, but we may reasonably hope that, under the Divine blessing, it may lead the way to an essential purity of discipline, while it may be the means of establishing relations of amity between the United Church of England and Ireland, and the ancient Churches of the East, strengthening them against the encroachments of the See of Rome, and preparing the way for their purification, in some cases from serious errors, in others from those imperfections which now materially impede their efficiency as witnesses and dispensers of Gospel truth and grace." "While the Church of Rome is continually, and at this very moment, labouring to pervert the members of the Eastern Churches, and to bring them under the dominion of the Pope, sparing no arts nor intrigues, hesitating at no misrepresentations, sowing dissension and disorder amongst an ill-informed people, and asserting that jurisdiction over them which the ancient Churches of the East have always strenuously resisted, the two great Protestant powers of Europe will have planted a Church in the midst of them, the Bishop of which is specially charged not to entrench upon the spiritual rights and liberties of those Churches, but to confine himself to the care of those over whom they cannot rightfully claim any jurisdiction; and to maintain with them a friendly intercourse of good offices, assisting them so far as they may desire such assistance in the work of Christian education, and presenting to their observation, but not forcing upon their acceptance, the pattern of a Church essentially scriptural in doctrine and apostolical in discipline." "His spiritual jurisdiction will extend over the English clergy and congregations, and over those who may join his Church, and place themselves under his Episcopal authority in Palestine, and for the present, in the rest of Syria, in Chaldea. Egypt, and Abyssinia." "He will establish and maintain, as far as in him lies, relations of Christian charity with other Churches represented at Jerusalem, and in particular with the Orthodox Greek Church; taking special care to convince them that the Church of England does not wish to disturb, or divide, or interfere with them, but that she is ready, in the spirit of Christian love, to render them such offices of friendship as they may be willing to receive." In the same document there is also reference made to a college about to be established at Jerusalem, in which "the religious instructions given will be in strict conformity with the doctrines of the United Church of England and Ireland, and under the superintendence and direction of the Bishop; and the following very important sentence occurs :"Oriental Christians may be admitted, but clerical members of the Orthodox Greek Church will be received into the college only with the express consent of their spiritual superiors, and for a subsidiary purpose;" - -a sentence which plainly intimates that those who are not "clerical members" of that Church, and all other classes of Oriental Christians, would be admitted without the express consent of their spiritual superiors. The only remaining document which bears upon this subject is "the Letter commendatory" from the late Archbishop of Canterbury to the Prelates and Bishops of the ancient and apostolical Churches in Syria and the countries adjacent. The expression in this Letter is less precise than the statements already quoted: the words are, "We think it right to make known to you that we have charged the said Bishop, our brother, not to intermeddle in any way with the jurisdiction of the Prelates or other Ecclesiastical dignitaries bearing rule in the Churches of the East, but to show them due reverence and honour, and to be ready on all occasions, and by all means in his power, to promote a mutual interchange of respect, courtesy, and kindness. This Letter was neither accepted nor acknowledged by the Oriental Prelates, nor was repeated in the case of Bishop Gobat. A review of these documents taken together clearly shows that no restriction is placed upon the dissemination of Scriptural truth, upon general plans of education, or upon the labours of missiona ries for the same end; and it was fairly to be presumed, that the appointment of a Bishop would increase the number of missionary clergymen in the country. The "purification" of the Oriental Churches is contemplated as an ultimate object. All this is in perfect harmony with the course which has been pursued by the Church Missionary Society. The only assurance given in "the Statement" is, that these labours shall be pursued in a friendly and not a hostile spirit; that there shall be no interference with jurisdiction; that there is no wish to disturb or divide. But if, as the natural result of such labours, pursued in such a spirit, members of these Churches are led to see "the serious errors" of their own Church, and to desire to join a Church essentially scriptural in doctrine and apostolical in discipline," there is nothing in these documents to prevent the reception of such enlightened converts; nor is there in their reception any violation of "the spirit of Christian love" towards the Oriental Churches. It would be preposterous to put an interpretation upon the documents which would imply that after the Church of England had used its best means, in the best spirit, to awaken a love of scriptural truth among the Oriental Churches, it should repel those who may embrace the truth, and refuse to them the ministrations of our clergy, if they can no longer conscientiously remain under the ministrations of their own. But, in truth, the documents were framed in a very different spirit; and while they significantly state, that "the ultimate results cannot with certainty be predicted," there is one clause in which it is not indistinctly intimated, that the spiritual jurisdiction of the Bishop might be extended over congregations who may join his Church in Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, and Abyssinia. The mention of the latter field can only refer to those who might be gathered together by missionary labours, and the rest of the sentence must therefore allow of the same interpretation. Hence, when Bishop Gobat, upon his consecration, applied to the late Archbishop of Canterbury for his grace's judgment upon this very point, whether he was at liberty to receive into communion with the English Church those members of the Greek and other Churches who might be led conscientiously to separate from their own Church--the late Archbishop unequivocally declared, that such individuals ought to be so received. His grace, however, pointed out an im portant distinction to be observed in such cases, namely, that it would not be advisable to receive whole villages, or masses of the people, if they should apply, because no reliance could be placed upon the purity of their motives. The Bishop has acted upon this principle; and the result has been that in several instances large parties, and lately, a whole village, Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, have gone over to the Church of Rome from the Greek Church, after in vain applying to the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem to receive them. Circumstances have therefore arisen, such as "the Statement by authority" alluded to, which could not "be easily predicted." The rulers of the Oriental Churches have rejected the friendly offers of the Church of England; but many individual members have been enlightened by the means used by our Church, with the express design of leading to the purification of their Churches. They have many of them separated from their own Churches; have been recognised by the government of their country as Protestant communities, and as such have a right to claim from the Anglican Bishop, by the very terms of the Convention, his protection and aid, if they choose to put themselves under his jurisdiction. The Anglican Bishop is as ready as ever to act in the spirit of love; but a new state. of things requires a new course of action, which is not at variance with anything which the Convention contains, and which is the natural result of the principles which it propounds. I have thus fully met the objection as far as I understand it; for I would not appear to avoid any part of the question. At the same time I have gone beyond.. what was necessary for the vindication of the Church Missionary Society. For, as. I have already explained, the Society has no intention of forming settled congregations under our missionaries as in hea.. then lands. Our instructions to Mr. Klein were, that he should rather suggest their remaining as reformed congregations of their own communion, until they should see themselves to be conscientiously compelled to separate from their Church. The Society cannot, however, presume to say what course altered circumstances may require. In conclusion, though I have trespassed largely upon your Lordship's time, I must venture to present this subject in another, and, as it appears to me, most important point of view. It is a fact, which is too momentous to be passed |