66 Bishop Abraham evinced, on leaving Calcutta, his confidence in myself, and Principal Mill, in a yet more remarkable manner, in committing to my care for education at Bishop's College, a very pleasing young man, a Deacon of his church, and related to himself, who had attended him from Palestine. He said that the Armenian Church felt the want of a more liberal education than they could usually obtain for their Clergy; that, in particular, a knowledge of the English language and literature would be very valuable to them, and that this young man, who, having good talents and powerful interest, was likely to be called, eventually, to a conspicuous station in the church of Jerusalem, was exceedingly anxious to learn any thing which we might have to teach. He professed a willingness to pay, to the best of his power, towards the expense of his remaining with us, but, well knowing his poverty, I told him that was needless. I have accordingly arranged with the Principal, and College Council, to receive Mesrop David' on the same terms of inmate and guest on which Christian David, the Tamul Clergyman, was received on a former occasion. They agreed with me that it was an opportunity not to be lost of improving and extending the influence of our Church among his countrymen, and should the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts object to his being supported at the College expense, I will most cheerfully take it on myself." "Athanasius and Abraham, with the titles of Metropolitan and Ramban,' or Archdeacon, arrived at Bombay whilst I was there, on their way to the Malayalim Churches, and with regular appointments from the Patriarch, sitting in the seat of Simon Cephas, which is at Antioch.' As it has always been my endeavour to conciliate and befriend the Eastern Christians who find their way into India, both I and Archdeacon Barnes showed them all the respect and kindness in our power, and we were on as good terms as people could be, who had no common language, the strangers speaking only Arabic, and all our communication being filtered through an interpreter. 66 They attended Church, unasked, and received the Sacrament at my hands1; on which occasion I placed the Metropolitan in my own chair, and we embraced in a most brotherly manner at the church-door after service." "TO MAR ATHANASIUS. (As translated into Syriac, by Messrs. Robinson and Mill.) "Calcutta, December, 1825. "To the excellent and learned father Mar Athanasius, Bishop and Metropolitan of all the Churches of Christ in India, which walk after the rule of the Syrians, Mar Reginald, by the grace of God, Bishop of Calcutta; grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ." A correspondence headed in the same oriental style which appears in this last extract, took place in 1616, between Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria. It led to little or nothing; and so our hopes may end with reference to any approximation in our own day, of more remote Eastern Churches to ours: God knows his own time: but there is so remarkable a parallel in some of the circumstances of the two cases, that it cannot be otherwise than interesting to observe it. The parallel will appear by comparing the passages in Italics in the foregoing extracts from Heber, with the parts of those which follow printed in the same character. Speaking of the persecutions suffered from the Turks, the Patriarch says, in a truly Christian spirit of faith and love, A quibus etiamsi variis exagitemur exerceamurque modis, nobis tamen pro Christi nomine quem spiramus, cujusque stigmata in corpore circumferimus, ab istiusmodi hominibus perquam volupe est 1 This, with the greatest deference be it spoken, may be considered a circumstance of questionable propriety, when reference is had to the state of doctrine and worship in the Church to which these communicants belonged. There is, however, this great difference in the cases, that our own Ecclesiastical Establishment is planted and spreading upon the spot where our Clergy are brought into contact with those of the Syrian and Armenian Churches. affligi, vexari, et, si necesse est, durissima atque ultima sustinere, ut hâc exploratione fides nostra magis magisque splendescat et Dei gloria illustretur. This, therefore, was simply to be endured: but remedy was to be found, if possible, for what his Church suffered, in another way, from the emissaries of Rome. Hi emissarii terrorem mirum in modum nobis incutiunt, nostræque imponunt simplicitati, cui mancipandæ varias admovent machinas, maximè freti eruditionis succo et spinosarum disputationum aculeis1, cum nos intereà eruditorum penuria laboremus qui cum sciolis istis æquo Marte congrediantur. Etenim propter peccata nostra despicabiles facti sumus præ omnibus gentibus, et, cum imperio, artes quoque liberales amisimus. Referring then to a proposal from the Archbishop, made under the royal sanction, that a Theological student should be sent by the Patriarch to an English University, thence to return to his own people, he describes thus the individual whom he had selected. En igitur hominem Græcum, gradu Presbyterum, Græcis literis non leviter tinctum, Ecclesiæ nostræ Alex. alumnum, haud obscuro loco natum, ingenio ad reconditiorem eruditionem probè comparato. The Archbishop informs him, in reply, giving a beautiful picture of the flourishing state of the Church of England at that time, that his letter had been read with interest by the king, and that the Greek youth (whose name was Metrophanes Critobulus, and who was afterwards himself Patriarch of Alexandria) had been entered of the University of Oxford, bibliothecâ instructissimâ et septendecim collegiis splendidissimis conspicuæ; and he gives him this assurance, quæ illi necessaria erunt, aut opportuna, omnia haud gravatè impendam2. NOTE G. p. 29.-That part of the Preface to the Common Prayer book which is headed Of Ceremonies, why some be abo 1 This is barely glanced at in the foregoing extracts from Heber, but it has been notoriously the case with reference to the Churches mentioned in the last Note. * Clarorum virorum Epistolæ, ut suprà. lished and some retained, ought to be familiar to all of the members of the Church, and it is to be regretted that the Preface which contains it, is omitted in many modern editions of the Liturgy. The Rubric, to which I more particularly refer in this part of the Charge, are as follows: Whilst these sentences are in reading, the Deacons, Churchwardens, or other fit person appointed for that purpose, shall receive the alms for the poor, and other devotions of the people, in a decent bason, to be provided by the parish for that purpose; and reverently bring it to the priest, who shall humbly present it and place it upon the Holy table. When all have communicated, the Minister shall return to the Lord's Table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated Elements, covering the same with a fair linen cloth. If any remain of that which was consecrated, it shall not be carried out of the church, but the Priest and such other of the communicants as he shall then call unto him, shall immediately after the blessing, reverently eat and drink of the same. Observe also the Rubrics connected with the Prayer of Consecration. NOTE H. p. 30.-I venture to follow up what I have here said in my Charge, by an Extract from the MS. Journal of one of my Archidiaconal Visitations, made a good many years ago: I confess myself to be one of those who seriously regret, that the revolutions of fashion have, in their ordinary dress, assimilated the Clergy to the laity. I do not wish to see our Clergy dressed as the Roman Catholic Priesthood appear abroad in this country; but there are passages in two French writers, which express so much better than my own words can convey them, my opinion upon the subject, that, having been able to light upon them both, I cannot forbear from here transcribing them: cet utile pouvoir The other writer expresses the same sentiment in prose. He speaks of the modern fashions in dress as having "l'inconvénient de confondre tous les rangs et toutes les professions," and adds, that "l'habit vénérable dont l'ecclésiastique était couvert, l'obligeait à la plus grande circonspection dans sa conduite et dans ses discours." It will be said indeed, and truly, that if the heart is unsanctified, the restraint of the garb will do little to make an efficient Minister, and that if the heart be right towards God, and really possessed by the love of Christ, the guise of the outward man is a matter of very inferior concern. But there will always, in large bodies of men, be some to whom such a memento would be useful, making it familiar to them, as the sign upon the hand and frontlet between the eyes, that they are set apart to God, and operating as a check upon some infirmity of nature, or a guard against the influence of some casual temptation; but it is chiefly perhaps in the effect upon others that the benefit is felt more reverence is engendered for Religion among the unthinking part of the world, who are the most affected by that which meets the eye, and this is one step gained. And it is still another recommendation of the practice, that the ideas of seriousness and solemnity thus familiarly associated with the profession, would, as I cannot help believing, keep out of it some persons whose testimonials, with their own attainments, may procure them admission, but who partake too much of a light and worldly spirit, to be an acquisition to the Church. It may seem needless to have quoted French authors upon this subject when we have the solid and venerable authority to the point, which is found in our own Canons of 1603. "The true, ancient, and flourishing Churches of Christ, being ever desirous that their Prelacy and Clergy might be had as well in outward reverence as otherwise regarded for the worthiness of their ministry, did think it fit, by a prescript form of decent and comely apparel, to have them known to the people, and thereby to receive the honour and estimation due to the Special Messengers and Ministers of Almighty God. We, therefore, following their grave judgment, and the ancient custom of the Church of England, |