was also a relative, he stretched out his arm and exclaimed, 'You, my brother, saw me kill child after child, but you never seized this murderous hand, and said, Stay, brother, God is about to bless us, the Gospel of salvation is coming to our shores. Then he cursed the gods which they formerly worshipped, and added, 'It was you that infused this sarage disposition into us, and now I shall die childless, although I have been the father of nineteen children!' After this he sat down, and in a flood of tears gave vent to his agonised feelings." Can it be needful to add any comment on this simple narrative? It shows, in one, and that a very pleasing aspect, what the Gospel has effected in improving the condition of a people deeply sunk in moral degradation and misery. It is but one of many such pictures which might be brought forward, as illustrations of what has been accomplished by means of missionary exertions. The great work is yet proceeding. Still are hundreds of unoffending infants falling a sacrifice to the ignorance and superstition of their wretched parents. Let not their touching appeal be made in vain; but let all to whom the improvement of the human family is an object of regard, unite in renewed efforts to sweep that dreadful evil, infanticide, from the face of the earth, and to lay open new sources of heartfelt pleasure, such as thrilled in the bosoms of the converted parents of Raiates. "Frequently," writes Mr. Williams, in his Missionary Enterprises, "have our feelings been most powerfully excited, at the examination of our school children; and scenes more affecting than some which have been witnessed on such occasions, it is scarcely possible to conceive. One of these, which occurred at my own station at Raiatea, I will briefly describe. Upwards of six hundred children were present. A feast was prepared for them, and they walked through the settlement in procession, most of them dressed in European garments, with little hats and bonnets made by those very parents who would have destroyed them, had not Christianity come to their rescue. The children added much to the interest of the day, by preparing flags with such mottos as the following: 'What a blessing the Gospel is!' 'The Christians of England sent us the Gospel.' 'Had it not been for the Gospel, we should have been destroyed as soon as we were born. On some, texts of the Scripture were inscribed: 'Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world;' 'Suffer little children to come unto me;' and other similar passages. Insensible, indeed, must he have been, who could have witnessed such a scene without the liveliest feelings of delight. After proceeding through the settlement, they were conducted to the spacious chapel, and opened service by singing the Jubilee hymn in the native language. The venerable old king then took the chair. He had been worshipped as a god, and had led fierce warriors to battle and the fight;' but he evidently felt that he had never occupied a station so delightful or honourable as that of presiding at the examination of the children of his people. These were placed in the centre of the chapel, and the parents occupied the outer seats. Each class was then called up and examined; and after this, in-view, are an interesting people. They have a tradividuals from the different classes were selected, and questioned by the missionary. While this was proceeding, the appearance of the parents was most affecting. The eyes of some were gleaming with delight, as the father said to the mother, or the mother to the father, 'What a mercy it is that we spared our dear girl!' Others, with saddened countenances, and faltering voices, lamented in bitterness, that they had not spared theirs ; and the silent tear, as it stole down the cheeks of many, told the painful tale that all their children were destroyed! In the midst of all our proceedings, a venerable chieftain, grey with age, arose, and with impassioned look and manner, exclaimed, ‘Let me speak; I must speak!' On obtaining permission, he thus proceeded-'Oh that I had known that the Gospel was coming! Oh that I had known that these blessings were in store for us, then I should have saved my children, and they would have been among this happy group, repeating these precious truths; but, alas! I destroyed them all, I have not one left. Turning to the chairman, who THE LOST TRIBES. NO. II. A CHAPTER FOR THE YOUNG. A FORMER paper described a visit paid by Dr. Grant to the Nestorians *, who, in every point of dition that the Magi, who were guided by the star to the manger at Bethlehem, went from Ooroomiah, a city of the Medes; and it is supported by some predictions of Zoroaster, supposed to have been a disciple of Jeremiah, who was a native of that city, and the leader of the Magi. It is said he foretold the coming of a personage corresponding in character with the Messiah; he described him as "the Almighty Word, which created the heavens;" and he charged his disciples to hasten when "his star" should appear, to pay their devout adorations to this "mysterious child." The light he had on this subject appears to have been derived from the Old Testament, to which it is evident, from his Zend or Zendavesta―a book which the ancient Magi and modern Parsees regarded as Christians do the Bible-he was much indebted. Some of the Magi may have seen Christ in his visits to Jeru salem; but whether they did or not, Jews from the country where the ten tribes then lived were present, and spectators of the marvellous events that * See page 299. THE LOST TRIBES. 389 occurred on the day of Pentecost. It is natural, | mediately after the death of Christ; and with this therefore, to suppose that they bore back with the statements of the Nestorians themselves fully them the tidings of the Gospel to their country-harmonise. The learned men of the present race of Mohammedans (the Affshars) also say that the Nestorians are, where they now appear, before the Christian era. men. There is also reason to think, that to them the message of mercy was proclaimed by some of the Apostles, in that spirit of missionary enterprise which was one of the glories of the primitive church, and also that success attended their labours. "Thus, then," says Eusebius, the father of ecclesiastical history, "under a celestial influence and co-operation, the doctrine of the Saviour, like the rays of the sun, quickly irradiated the whole world. Presently, in accordance with divine prophecy, the sound of his inspired evangelists and apostles had gone throughout all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. Throughout every city and village, like a replenished garner, churches were seen abounding and filled with members." That there should be an extensive prevalence of the Gospel before the destruction of Jerusalem was distinctly foretold by our Lord; and this increases the probability of its ministration to the ten tribes. It is also remarkable that Paul, when pleading before Agrippa, and alluding to the hope of happiness beyond the grave, says "Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come;" thus including the ten tribes led into bondage with the other two; and it is no less worthy of notice, that the Epistle of James, addressed to those who are repeatedly called "brethren," and "beloved brethren," was written to "the twelve tribes." It appears from these circumstances, that not only was the existence of the captive tribes recognised, but also their piety; for, as Bishop Tomline has remarked, "the object of the apostolic epistles was to confirm and not to convert ; to correct what was amiss in those that did believe, and not in those who did not believe. The sense of the above inscription to the twelve tribes, seems to be limited to the believing Jews." That the lost tribes are discovered in the Nestorians Dr. Grant zealously labours to prove; we may, therefore, glance at some of the facts included in his argument. It is certainly singular that there is a close resemblance in physiognomy to that of the Jews of the country in which they dwell. Even the natives, accustomed to discriminate between various classes of people by their features, are often unable to distinguish one party from the other. Not less strikingly alike are the names of these people. "I have seen," says Dr. Grant, "promiscuous circles of ten or twelve Nestorians, in which every individual had a Jewish name. From fortyfive members of our seminary, who were taken promiscuously, thirty-two had Jewish names, found in the Bible. Others had received names of significant import, in accordance with the custom of the Jews, and such as are common among those of Ooroomiah." On the language of the Nestorians, he lays considerable stress, observing:-"It is well worthy of remark, that only among the Nestorians, and nominal Jews of Media and Assyria, is the Syriac, at this day, a living language; unless an exception be found among the Syriac Christians, dwelling west of the Tigris, and who may, perhaps, also have a Hebrew origin. The use of a Syriac liturgy by other Christians besides the Nestorians does not militate against the justness of our conclusions. The most of those who use this language in their churchservice live within the bounds of Syria; and the famous Syrian school at Edessa introduced it into the churches in its immediate vicinity. But, with them, and with the Christians of Malabar, it is the language of books only; and it no more proves that the people among whom it is used are Israelites, than the use of the Latin language in the churches of Ireland proves that the sons of the 'Emerald Isle' are Romans. The cases are obviously parallel. Throughout Syria and the greater part of Mesopotamia, Arabic is the spoken language of the Syrian Christians; while in Orfa, the ancient Edessa, where the Syriac literature was the most cultivated, the Syrian Christians speak only Turkish. Neither in Diarbékir, Mardin, nor Môsul, is the Syriac spoken, except by a few who have learned it as a classical attainment, or acquired it among the Nestorians of Assyria. Their churchservice in Syriac is not only unintelligible to the common people, but even to some of the officiating clergy. Were the Syrian Christians to make converts in Africa or India, they would introduce the It is, therefore, argued by Dr. Grant, that of these persons the Nestorians, whom he visited, are the descendants. Seleucia was, from the earliest times, their chief seat of authority and influence; their archbishop and patriarchs residing there, and ruling over the whole country inhabited by the ten tribes. "Nestorian churches and prelates," he says, "have flourished in an uninterrupted succession in the same places where they were founded by the apostles among the Israelites. Succeeding those first apostles of the Persians (Thomas, Thaddeus, &c., who preached in Adiabene and Media), the prelates, subject to the archbishops of Seleucia, aided either in imbuing the same people with the sacred rites of the Christians, or in confirming them in the faith which they had embraced." The Jews assert very positively that the Nestorians were converted from Judaism to Christianity, im- | Syriac language into their religious worship; but this would not identify the Africans or Indians with the Nestorians. It is, however, a very different thing when two people, having other strong points of resemblance, use in common a vernacular language peculiar to themselves. This they must have acquired in common, at a remote period of antiquity, since an entire want of social intercourse between the Jews and Nestorians forbids the idea that they have learned it from each other in modern times." Another singular fact is, that the Nestorians have existed, from time immemorial, in distinct tribes, nearly or quite corresponding in number with those of ancient Israel. The family of the patriarch claim to be descended from Naphtali ; of this they affirm there was proof, in records lost with a large quantity of manuscripts, in conveying them across the Zab, at high water, about sixty years ago; and it is difficult to conceive of a motive for the practice of imposition. Their chiefs, too, retain the Hebrew Melek, or Malek, which designated the royal head of the Israelitish people. At the same time they have little more than the name of office. The patriarch presides in the judicial assembly of the elders. The dress of the Nestorians accords with that of the Jews. A staff may be observed in the hand, when the feet are shod with sandals and the loins are girt. The women braid their hair, and in the mountains wear but few ornaments. Others have ear-rings, and wear jewels, chains, and mufflers, or spangled ornaments, head-bands, and stomachers; bracelets on their wrists, and rings on their fingers. They clothe their household in scarlet or striped cloth, made of wool, and resembling Scotch tartan, of a beautiful and substantial texture. In seasons of mourning they often rend their garments, put on sackcloth or other coarse attire, sit in the ashes, and cast dust upon their heads. Equally Jewish are their manners and customs. When two persons meet, the salutation is offered, "Peace be with you," and the other replies, "Your company is welcome." Similar forms, on other occasions, are of constant occurrence; as are ardent gesticulations, prostrations, falling on the neck, kissing of the lips, cheeks, beard, and hands, and weeping for joy on the return of those long absent. Among the Nestorians the stranger readily finds a home: they promptly bring water for his feet, set food before him, and make every provision for his comfort and repose. He salutes the house on entering it, and he departs with a blessing. He will not fail to remark, however, the practices of early antiquity. "We see," says Dr. Grant, "the damsels coming daily to draw water with their pitchers on their shoulders, gleaning wheat in the fields in the time of harvest, or, like Rachel, tending their father's flocks; while the virtuous woman seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She layeth her hand to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff; both being literally held in the hand. Women are seen grinding at a mill or braying wheat with a pestle in a mortar to separate the hull, or churning milk (not cream) to bring forth butter, or gathering the grass, which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the oven? making bottles of skins or leather to contain the wine which has been trodden in the wine-press by the feet. The vineyards, the threshing-floors, the winnowing of wheat while the chaff is driven before the wind; the threshing instruments having teeth; the reaping and the shouting of the harvest; the turning the rivers of water to fertilize their fields; planting of willows and other trees by the watercourses; the ploughs; the pruning-hooks ; the lodge in the gardens of cucumbers or melons; their food and drink, and the time of their meals; their domestic animals, beehives, and sheepfolds; their dwellings and amusements; their walking and sleeping upon the house-tops, and many other customs and peculiarities, are equally common to the ancient Israelites and the modern Nestorians." The feasts of the Nestorians are worthy of notice. A servant invites the guests, and often does so a second time when the entertainment is ready. All sit on the carpet or floor, and lean forward, eating, in a primitive manner, their plain food. The mas ter of the feast presides, each of the guests being seated by him according to his rank, the more honourable being called up higher, while the others give him place; the social bowl circulates; all dip their hands in the dish, and, occasionally, as an act of special kindness, one dips a sop and gives it to another. In joyous seasons there are music and dancing, the tabret and the viol, the harp of David and the voice of singing. Another class of facts adds greatly to the evidence thus adduced in favour of the Nestorians being descended from the lost tribes. It is evident from history, that Jews converted to Christianity added to it a partial observance of the ceremonial law, and among the people now referred to this practice is still apparent. Acknowledging, as they do, that Christianity reveals the final offering for sin, they continue to present peace-offerings on returning thanks for God's benefits, or with a view to obtain fresh favours, as restoration to health or the recovery of afflicted friends. All the circumstances of this rite are of a Jewish character. Vows, like those under the Old Testament dispensation, are common among the Nestorians. "The most intelligent priest," says Dr. Grant, “in the employ of this mission (Priest Dunka) was devoted to the service of God by his mother, who, like Hannah, asked him of the Lord under a solemn vow. The right of redemption is acknowledged, as it was among the Jews. I saw in Tirgâry a priest who had lived for years under the vow of a Nazarite; allowing his hair and beard to grow, eating none but the coarsest food, and avoiding all cere monial impurities, and whatever else is forbidden | church of Rome appears to be intent. Dr. Grant under this vow. A young Nestorian, who accom- was assured by the Papists in Mesopotamia, that panied me on my late tour, on leaving home, made no effort will be spared with this design; and it is a vow that, if he were returned in safety, he would said that three bishops and priests were about to give a certain quantity of frankincense for the use proceed to Môsul, to hold a convention, to devise of the church in the city of Ooroomiah, and a pre- means to bring them all over to the Romish faith. sent of corresponding value to another church near As yet they have been aware of the evils that thus his native village. At the same time, the young threaten them; and they have declared, that they man's mother vowed that, if her son were safely will prevent the emissaries of Rome from entering returned, she would sacrifice a sheep, and divide it their mountains. Surely, then, Protestants will among the people of her village. Though special appear to afford their sympathy and their help. reference may have been had to the poor in the oblation, a piece was designed for every house in the village (about eighty in number); while a second animal was provided as a feast for their more immediate friends, as in the case of the returning prodigal. While vows are made on many and various occasions, the paying of them is regarded as matter of religious obligation." The offering of the first-fruits to the Lord appears to be a practice so peculiar, as to be identified at once as a remnant of Judaism. The sabbath is regarded among these mountain tribes with a sacredness which Dr. Grant saw among no other Christians in the East. They have also the preparation before the sabbath, commencing about three hours before sunset on Saturday, when all labour should cease, except that which is necessary for spending quietly the following day. Another precaution is no less remarkable. The Rev. Eli Smith says, in reference to the Nestorians :-" I observed that a door conducted into the sanctuary, and was about to enter. But the bishop commanded me, in an authoritative tone, to stop. I told him that I too was a priest; but he replied, that that place can only be entered by fasting, and betrayed, by his manner, such an earnestness that I desisted." A small recess in the wall of their church is called the "Holy of Holies." Swine's flesh, and other meats prohibited by the Levitical code, are regarded by many of the Nestorians with little less abhorrence than they were by the Jews. A close analogy appears between the fasts and festivals-the chief of which is the passover-of both people. "In one instance," says a friend of the writer," while I was hearing the bishop and priest read the New Testament, the difference between the Jewish and Gentile converts was alluded to; and one of the priests remarked to me that the analogy was quite similar between ourselves. "We,' said he,' were formerly Jews, and hold to our fasts; but you are Gentile Christians, and do not wish to adopt our customs.'' We trust that the account now given will induce many to read the valuable volume of Dr. Grant, to which we have repeatedly referred, and of which we have furnished only a slight sketch. His object, as we have already intimated, is to excite public attention to the importance of missionary labours among the Nestorians. On their conversion the THE IRISH WAKE. NO. II. THE keener is usually paid for her services-the charge varying from a crown to a pound, according to the circumstances of the employer. They live upon the dead, By letting out their persons by the hour It often happens, however, that the family has a friend or relation, rich in the gift of poetry; and who will for love of her kin give the unbought eulogy to the memory of the deceased. The Irish language, bold, forcible, and comprehensive, full of the most striking epithets and idiomatic beauties, is peculiarly adapted to either praise or satire-its blessings are singularly touching and expressive; and its curses wonderfully strong, biting, and bitter. The rapidity and ease with which both are uttered, and the epigrammatic force of each concluding stanza of the keen, generally bring tears to the eyes of the most indifferent spectator, or produce a state of terrible excitement. The dramatic effect of the scene is very powerful; the darkness of the death-chamber, illumined only by the candles that glare upon the corpse, the manner of repetition or acknowledgment that runs round when the keener gives out her sentence, the deep yet suppressed sobs of the nearer relatives, and the stormy, uncontrollable cry of the widow or bereaved husband, when allusion is made to the domestic virtues of the deceased-all heighten the effect of the keen; but in the open air, winding round some mountain pass, when a priest or person greatly beloved or respected is carried to the grave, and the keen, swelled by a thonsand voices, is borne upon the mountain echoes, it is then absolutely magnificent*. * Mr. Beauford, in a communication to the Royal Academy, remarks that the modes of lamentation, and the expressions of grief by sounds, gestures, and ceremonies, admit of an almost infinite variety. So far as these are common to most people, they have very little to attract attention, but where they constitute a part of national character, they then become objects of no incurious speculation. "The Irish," continues that gentleman, “have been always remarkable for their funeral lamentations, and this peculiarity has been noticed by almost every traveller who visited them;" and he adds, "It has been affirmed of the Irish that to cry was more natural to them than to any other nation, and at length the Irish cry became proverbial." The keen is very ancient, and there is a tradition | hands over the body, and then tossing them wildly that its origin is supernatural, as it is said to have been first sung by a chorus of invisible spirits in the air over the grave of one of the early kings of Ireland. The keener having finished a stanza of the keen sets up the wail, in which all the mourners join. Then a momentary silence ensues, when the keener commences again, and so on, each stanza ending in a wail. The keen usually consists in an address to the corpse, asking him, Why did he die? &c., or a description of his person, qualifications, riches, &c., &c.—it is altogether extemporaneous; and it is sometimes astonishing to observe with what facility the keener will put the verses together and shape her poetical images to the case of the person before her. This, of course, can only appear strongly to a person acquainted with the language, as any merit which these compositions possess is much obscured in a translation. The lamentation is not always confined to the keener; any one present who has the gift of poetry may put in his or her verse, and this sometimes occurs. Thus the night wears away in alternations of lamentation and silence-the arrival of each near friend or relation of the deceased being, as already observed, the signal for renewing the keen. But we have witnessed the arrivals of persons, who, instead of going over and sitting down by the corpse (which indicated an intention to join in the keen,) fell on their knees immediately on entering, and offered up a silent prayer for the repose of the departed soul. The intervals in the keer are not, however, always silent; they are often filled up by small plays on the part of the young, and on the part of the aged, or more serious, by tales of faerie and phantasie; nor is it uncommon to have the conversation varied by an argument on religion, for even in the most remote parts so large an assemblage is seldom without a few straggling Protestants. The keener is almost invariably an aged woman; or, if she be comparatively young, the habits of her life make her look old. We remember one, and we can never forget a scene in which she played a conspicuous part. A young man had been shot by the police as he was resisting a warrant for his arrest. He was of decent people, and had a fine wake. The woman, when we entered the apartment, was sitting on a low stool by the side of the corpse. Her long black uncombed locks were hanging about her shoulders; her eyes were the deep set greys peculiar to the country, and which are capable of every expression, from the bitterest hatred and the direst revenge to the softest and warmest affection. Her large blue cloak was confined at her throat, but not so closely as to conceal the outline of her figure, thin and gaunt, but exceedingly lithesome. When she arose, as if by sudden inspiration, first holding out her above her head, she continued her chaunt in a low My beloved, my faithful boys, How many falsehoods did he not swear, The bolt of heaven fell. It blasted the bloom of the trees, And give arms to each upon his shoulders, That she might save her boys. Hall's Ireland. |
