Dr. Robinson's computation appears to me the most correct.

NOTE 5. (See p. 596.)

OF PROSELYTISM IN THE EAST.

KEENLY sensitive as I am of the evils that must result from the aggressive system that has become the principle of action towards the ancient Churches of the East, I am yet most anxious not to misrepresent the very estimable Prelate that now presides over the Anglican Congregations in Syria and Egypt. I therefore append, in his own words, a fuller statement of the facts to which allusion is made in the passage above referred to. The following extracts are taken from the annual letter, which it has become the practice for the Anglican Bishop at Jerusalem to publish, in the January Number of the Jewish Intelligence,

from year to year. The letter for the current year gives the following account of the intercourse that exists between Bishop Gobat and the Prelates of the Eastern Communions::

"With respect to the heads of the several Churches, matters stand very much as last year. The Greek Patriarch and his Clergy keep as far from us as they possibly can; with the Latin I am on a footing of polite reserve, and have no reason to complain of enmity, although he began, as I was told, by excommunicating those who came to us. With the Armenian, and even with the United Greek Patriarch and the Syrian Bishop, a friendly intercourse has been continued."

It is remarkable that the relations of the Anglican Bishop with the heads of the Heretical and Schismatical Bodies should be so much more intimate than with the Orthodox Greek or the Latin Patriarch, and suggests the idea that the like anomalous and unsatisfactory position of all is the common bond of union among them.

:

The proceedings at Nablûs are thus detailed by Bishop Gobat:"Besides the two Bible readers employed by the Jews' Society, who have the charge of the ever more important Bible depôt at Jerusalem and Jaffa, I have continued to employ three others; one among the Jews, one among the Christians of Jerusalem, and one among the Arabs of different places. I am expecting a fourth from Beyrout, chiefly to visit the towns of this country. This work has not been without fruits in Jerusalem, in removing prejudices both from the Jews and the Christians. But it is chiefly at Nablous and on the mountains of Samaria that the labours have been blessed. In those parts there is a great movement, hunger and thirst after the word of life, from which I cannot but expect happy results. When one of these Scripture readers was at Nablous, about a year ago, a few individuals began to read and to search the Scriptures; and in the spring, last Easter, several of them came to witness our Church services, but they were rather reserved. However, a few weeks later, I received a letter from Nablous, signed by many individuals, who stated that they had resolved to come out of the Greek Church, (or, as they said, the Church of the Patriarch); in which, if they remain, they and their children must perish for lack of knowledge, &c., and that they had agreed to constitute themselves into an Evangelical Church, taking the Word of God for their guide, and to place themselves under my superintendence. To this, I replied, that although I was most willing to help them on as far as practicable in their search after the truth of the Gospel, I could not approve of their leaving their Church at present; that the only advice I could give them was for them to continue reading the Word of God with prayer, taking it for the guide of their whole life; and thus to abide in their Church until they be driven out for the Gospel's sake, if it should come to that. After exchanging a few more letters, one of the missionaries went with an intelligent native Christian to investigate the matter; and

they found, as was to be expected, that the people had, as yet, but a scanty knowledge of Scriptural truth, of which, however, they seem to be deeply sensible; and that the heads of families, representing about 70 souls, (of the 400 Greek Christians of the place,) had signed a mutual promise to keep together in searching the Scriptures, and especially in endeavouring to have their children educated according to the pure Word of God; and that there were others similarly disposed, but who, from motives of prudence, had not yet been requested to sign the paper. A little later they addressed to me a petition, signed by above a dozen heads of families, breathing a modest and altogether Scriptural spirit, in which they intimated that they would remain in connexion with the Greek Church; but praying most earnestly that I would pity their children and provide them with the means of giving them a Scriptural education, the want of which they so deeply felt for themselves. Upon this, considering all the circumstances, I was led to, and did immediately purchase a house sufficiently large for a boys' and girls' school, and a dwelling for the master's family; and I appointed an intelligent, promising young man, originally from Nazareth, but living at Nablous, as schoolmaster, under the superintendence of the two most influential Christians of the place.

"On the 5th of September the school was opened, with twenty-one boys. But on the next following Lord's day a most fulminating excommunication was read in the Church, in the name of the Greek Patriarch, against all those who should continue to send their children to what was called the English school, with the threat that, although they should afterwards repent, they could never be readmitted into the (so-called) Orthodox Church. (I have some reason to suppose that the Patriarch was not aware of all the bitter contents of the excommunication, since he understands but little Arabic;-but why does he not learn the language of his flock?) The effect of the Anathema, which in fact was against the Bible alone, was different from what had been expected; for the next day several persons joined our friends, and asked leave to send their children to the school. At that time the cholera appeared at Nablous, and all correspondence has been all but interrupted. I learn, however, that the school has continued uninterrupted, although the father of the schoolmaster has died, with two other of our friends; I hear also that several isolated Christian inhabitants of the mountains of Samaria are about to remove to Nablous, in order to have their children educated in our school, which now numbers twenty-five boys."

On this I would remark, that it is a great mistake to suppose that the Greek Patriarch and other Prelates are opposed to education; and I have. no doubt that if the Nablûsians had represented to His Holiness their great anxiety for Scriptural instruction, he would have done his best to supply it, as his worthy brother, Methodius of Antioch, is doing in his flourishing schools at Damascus. Why was he not applied to?

Next, the qualification in Bishop Gobat's reply, ("I could not approve of their leaving their Church, at present,") reminds me very unpleasantly of a passage in an "Important and special Appeal" of "the Malta Protestant College," the first of whose avowed objects is, "The gratuitous education of Natives from the different Regions of the East, as Missionaries, Schoolmasters, Scripture-readers, and Interpreters." (Prospectus, p. 6.) The recent events at Nablûs are thus alluded to in the Appeal, and there is no difficulty in assigning the Letter here cited to the Author of the Annual Letter above quoted, which contains a much fuller, but more cautious, statement of circumstances:

"Never perhaps was there a period when such agents as the Malta Protestant College is preparing as teachers of the Gospel were so much needed. An irrepressible spirit of inquiry has been everywhere awakened along with the downfall of empires, and the revolutions of nations. We have lately received deeply interesting intelligence, which goes to show that numbers in the East, and belonging to the Western Churches, are in the sad condition of fully seeing the deadly errors of their own systems, without having any guides to instruct them in the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A letter recently received from Palestine states, that a great movement has taken place amongst a community of Arabs belonging to the Greek Church. You will rejoice,' says the writer, 'to learn the great effect which has been produced by the circulation of the Scriptures, and conversations, among the Arabs about Nablous. The people became so interested, that all the Christian inhabitants at Nablous have thrown off the yoke of their priesthood, and have separated from the Greek Church. They now ask for a Protestant clergyman and a schoolmaster, but neither can be procured. They are resolved to form themselves into a Protestant community, that they may follow the religion of the Gospel.' This is a sad state of things. Here are men thirsting for the waters of life, and no one can be found to minister to their wants."

A sad state of things, indeed,-in a sense very different from the one here intended; for when it is remembered that this Malta Collegethough under Episcopal sanction-is composed of an union of all Protestant denominations and sects, including not only foreign Lutherans and Calvinists, but Presbyterian and Independent Separatists from the Anglican Church; and that one of its fundamental principles is a denial of the Scriptural doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, (Prospectus,) who that loves Apostolic doctrine, order, and discipline, can wish it God speed? As it has been my lot, in the course of Divine Providence, to declare to three of the Patriarchs, and other distinguished Prelates of the Orthodox Churches of the East, the good faith of our own Metropolitan, and the friendly disposition of the Anglican Church, it is my duty to enter my solemn protest, valeat quantum, against this aggressive policy, as a direct violation of the terms on which the Anglican Bishoprick at Jerusalem was established.

DESCRIPTION OF ANCIENT LOCK AND KEY.

THE iron padlock, of which a sketch is annexed, was found in 1839 in the fosse of the ancient tower, commonly called the Tower of David, at Jerusalem. It was forwarded to His Imperial Majesty by the Russian Consul at Jaffa, as being a very curious and perhaps unique specimen of ancient mechanism.

The lock itself is of forged iron, of a square form, weighing about 38 Russian pounds, and in size 9 by 9 English inches. The mechanism is enclosed in a cylinder between three and four inches in diameter. The key, five pounds in weight, five inches in diameter, and thirteen in length, is introduced through an opening in one of the iron ends of the cylinder, and at a certain distance from the entrance the wards or projections of the key press six springs, simply and ingeniously constructed, and by keeping them compressed permit the removal of that end of the padlock to which the bolt adheres, leaving the interior visible. To lock it, the key has simply to be withdrawn ; compression being removed, the springs instantly return to their grooves, and no way of opening can be used except that of breaking the lock or applying its own key.

The exterior of the lock is covered with a grooved pattern, into which, in all probability, ornaments were soldered. On its disinterment, the channels were filled with an earthy substance so much hardened by time, that it could with difficulty be extracted.

On the lower extremity of the lock, and at the end of the bolt are cavities in which it is evident that escutcheons have been fastened, as the end of the key still bears the traces of incrustation in copper and silver.

Its form, weight, and the manner in which it must be attached, prove that it can only have been made use of to fasten a large door or gate, such as that of a city or tower.

Does not the double cross on the key indicate that at the time of its manufacture the Christians were yet masters of Jerusalem? The arms of the city were a double cross d'or on a field argent. Its perfect preservation may be accounted for by the extraordinary thickness of the metal, the mechanism being so completely concealed in the depth of the cylinder that the rust could with difficulty reach it, especially if we bear in mind the dryness of the soil in southern latitudes.