There is the feast of the transfiguration of Christ; the feast of the cross and the feast of the birth of Christ, and the feast of the baptism of Christ.

"These eight festivals of our Lord we observe, and we have many holy days and the Sabbath day, on which we do not labour. And on Wednesday and Friday we eat no flesh. The Sabbath day we reckon far-far above the others. The sacrament of the body and blood of Christ we celebrate with the leaven, the oliveoil, and pure meal, and with wine."

Sacrifices.-The Nestorians resort to the church to offer sacrifices; i. e. they carry gifts in memory of the saint whose name it bears, and present them to the priest or the poor people of the village. They do the same on other saints' days, at other churches, bearing their respective names. Often, also, individuals make special offerings to avert evils, or thankfully to recognise mercies. In such cases they usually slay an animal, large or small, according to their ability, a portion of which they give to their pastor, and distribute the rest among their poor neighbours. The animal is not necessarily slain at a church, nor by a priest; nor is there so much that is religious in the practice as the term sacrifice might seem to imply, though in English we use that term in the same way, in a figurative and very general manner.

Worship.-Prayers are read daily in the churches of the Nestorians very early in the morning and about sunset at evening. Their services are not usually more than an hour in length, except on occasions when the Lord's supper is celebrated: then they are nearly three hours in length. The worship of the Sabbath does not differ materially from that of other days, except that an extra service for preaching the gospel is now extensively introduced under the influence of the missionaries. The liturgy is chanted in an obsolete language, without interest or edification on the part of the audience. Incense is burned in the churches of the Nestorians on the Sabbath and on feast-days.

Standing is their common attitude in worship, with occasional bowing and kneeling. They always direct their faces toward the East in worship, and construct their churches accordingly.

A cross always lies upon the New Testament on the altar, which all approach silently and kiss on entering the church. They also reverently kiss the hand of the officiating ecclesiastic, both on entering and leaving the church.

They have a great abhorrence of images and pictures, of which none are permitted in their churches.

89. THE SACRAMENTS.

THE Nestorians reckon their sacraments at seven-the favourite number on this subject in all the Eastern churches. All the Nestorians are not agreed, however, in relation to what constitutes their sacraments. The following is a list which I have often heard mentioned:

1. Ordination.

2. Baptism.

3. The Lord's supper.

4. Marriage.

5. Dedication of churches.

6. Burials.

7. Confirmation.

Ordination. The Nestorians assert that their canons require that a bishop be more than forty years of age at the time of his consecration; but so far from adhering to this rule, boys, at the age of twelve or fifteen, are sometimes made bishops; and those still younger are often ordained as priests and deacons.

Most of the Nestorian ecclesiastics are ordained while mere boys. Their readers being few, they often need their services before they arrive at adult years; and as they attach very little sacredness to their religious forms, destitute as they are of spiritual views and feelings, they conceive no impropriety in committing those forms to the hands of children.

§ 10. BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION.

THE ceremony of baptism (Umâda) among the Nestorians, like most of their religious rites, is simple, compared with the forms of other oriental sects. They have a room in the church which is devoted to baptism, (Kunkee-place of consecration; or mâmodéeta, or Baet mâmodéeta, place, or house of baptism.) The children are divested of their clothing and anointed on the head and the breast, in the form of the cross, with consecrated oil, (kerne, horn, i. e. horn of oil, from which the ancient kings and prophets were wont to be anointed-fully written, Kerna d'míshkha.) They are then set into a vessel of tepid water, which extends up to the neck, and held there by a deacon, while the priest takes up water with both hands three times and suffuses it over the head, repeating one

person of the Trinity each time. There is nothing exceptionable in their manner of performing this ordinance, except the oiling and crossing of the child, and the same heartlessness and want of solemnity in the officiators which marked their services at the celebration of the Lord's supper. The Nestorians observe no rule in relation to the age at which infants shall be presented for for baptism. For the mutual convenience of the parents and the clergy, some festival occasions are usually embraced for the purpose; particularly the day which they regard as commemorating Christ's baptism by John in Jordan; also the day of his crucifixion, taking the idea perhaps from the apostle's figure of being "baptized into his death."

If the rite of confirmation exists in the Nestorian canons, nothing of it appears in their practice, so far as I have observed. Children, from the age of three years, or younger, are allowed and encouraged to partake of the elements, which all seem to regard as possessing a magic charm, that will somehow tend to prepare them for heaven, or rather entitle them to it, without reference to any influence exerted on their characters.

The ideas of the Nestorians respecting regeneration, as distinct from baptism, were very obscure when we commenced our missionary labours among them. Their ancient canons seem only to inculcate "baptismal regeneration." As, however, the people become enlightened, not merely the pious among them, but all make this important distinction.

§ 11. THE LORD'S SUPPER.

A BISHOP and priest, garbed in white cotton robes, chants the service in the sanctum sanctorum, which laymen are not allowed to enter. This service is usually performed by a priest and a deacon, provided a deacon happens to be present. The bread, at the close, is received from the hand of the superior officiator at the altar, and the wine from the inferior one, in a lower position, by the side of the altar. The wine at their communion is diluted with water, not on temperance grounds, but because water as well as blood flowed from the side of the Saviour. Both elements are extended to all the communicants. Though the whole service is far more simple than the disgusting routine of ceremonies which attend it in the other oriental churches, still it is but too evidently a heartless form.

Kõrbána, (gift or offering, oblatio,) is the term which they

apply to the elements. They do not worship them in the superstitious manner of the Papists, nor hold to real presence in the Papal sense of that term. They, however, appear to cherish a kind of homage for the bread and wine which is not very intelligent and scriptural, and great particularity is observed in the preparation of these elements. The bread must be baked in an apartment of the church; and among the most scrupulous, the wheat must be ground in a consecrated mill, [hand-mill,] separated from the rest in the field, and shelled by hand, instead of being trodden out by cattle. Alas, in how many things do these fallen Christians strain at the gnat and swallow the camel! As nearly as I have been able to ascertain, in the general vagueness of their views on spiritual subjects, the consubstantiation of the Lutherans would very well define the Nestorian belief in relation to this ordinance, if, indeed, that term be itself well defined or understood by those who adopt it.

This sacrament is celebrated by the Nestorians, not periodically, but on some of the more important festival occasions, to the number of eight or ten times in the course of a year. Entire uniformity in relation to its frequency is not observed. Bread for the communion-service is composed of flour, water, olive-oil, salt, and consecrated oil. It is also leavened. A small quantity of this composition, prepared by the higher ecclesiastics on the day of Christ's betrayal, is kept in the churches, from which a mite is taken and mixed with the bread, to hallow the mass on each sacramental occasion. This sacred "mite" is regarded as essential to the celebration of the ordinance.

The wine used at communion by the Nestorians is fermented. Indeed, they know of no other wine. The term which they use to designate the article (khumra) itself means fermented.

§ 12. MARRIAGE.

It is the practice of the Nestorians to have the marriage ceremony performed in their churches, and very early-commencing at least an hour before day-because the services are long, and the nuptial parties, and all the ecclesiastics who participate in the performance, are obliged to abstain from food on the wedding-day until after the ceremony. But in our instance, to gratify us, they had deferred the marriage till our arrival-10 o'clock, A. M.-and instead of assembling in the church, they had, for our better convenience, prepared to perform the service at home.

Priest Abraham was the principal officiator, but was assisted by two other priests and several deacons of the village, who joined with him in reading the prayers and select portions of Scripture, such as the account of Abraham's sending after Rebekah for his son, Jacob's serving for Rachel, and all the other venerable Scripture authorities that enter into their marriage-service; the whole of which would doubtless be more interesting, if not more instructive, were it not read in an unknown tongue. The bride retained her place vailed in the farther corner of the room about an hour, the bridegroom meanwhile standing near the officiating ecclesiastics. They then arrived at a point where hands were to be joined, this being made known by the ecclesiastics, who alone understood the service. Several women instantly caught hold of the still vailed bride and pulled her by main strength half across the room toward her intended husband; and several men at the same time seized the bridegroom, who was at first equally resolute in his modest resistance, but finally yielded and advanced toward the bride. A smart struggle ensued in his efforts to secure her hand; but he at at length succeeded, and both, with great apparent submission, then took a standing attitude near the officiating clergy. The regular routine of reading occupied another hour or more, when, first the bishops, and after them the multitude-we of course among the rest-advanced and kissed the married pair.

After the services were closed, the married pair and the officiating ecclesiastics, who had till then-near 1 o'clock in the afternoon-eaten nothing that day, retired to take some refreshment. A table was also spread before us, and wine was passed among the multitude.

Betrothals are customary among the Nestorians, which are negotiated by the parents or other friends of the parties, but not without their own knowledge, and usually their mutual choice, and at least a sight acquaintance. These are made months, and often years before the marriage, at which time tokens or pledges, in the form of presents, are given by the would-be lover or his friends to the girl. A kind of semi-wedding is held at the homes of both parties at the time of betrothal, which is regarded as in a measure a sacred contract, though instances are not rare in which it is violated. Wives are purchased among the Nestorians as they were in the days of Jacob-the price varying from five to fifty, or one hundred dollars, according to the standing and charms of the person. It is not considered proper for the father of the bride, who receives the purchase-money, to appropriate it to his private pur