thority to which he had no claim. A council was, however, demanded by his enemies, and subsequently held at Ephesus. The machinations of Cyril prevailed; and before the patriarch of Antioch and a number of other prelates had arrived, the sentence of degradation had been pronounced, in opposition to the protest of sixty-eight bishops, several of whom bore a metropolitan rank. After violent but ineffectual efforts to resist the Ephesian mandate, Nestorius was conducted, at his own request, to his former cell, in the monastic retirement of Antioch.

But the seclusion of the monastery neither tranquillized the mind of the degraded patriarch, nor arrested the malignant violence of his enemies. He still continued to correspond with the adherents of his cause, and to receive occasional visits and presents from them; whilst his enemies were constantly traducing his character, and at length obtained a sentence of banishment against him. After four years' residence in his monastery, he was sent into exile, first into Petra, in Arabia, and then to one of the Oases of the Lybian desert, from whence he was again transferred to situations regarded as more secure from the incursions of barbarians. In the midst of the most painful circumstances, he displayed a firmness of mind and a decision of character, which, if regarded by his adversaries as obstinate and heretical, was applauded by his friends as exemplifying an unyielding attachment to truth, and the powerful influence of religious principle. His letters encouraged his followers to perseverance in the sentiments which they had received; his appeals to the governor of Thebaid awed, by the manliness of the style in which they were conveyed, and the energy of mind which they discovered; and his apologies in defence of the doctrines which he maintained, embarrassed and irritated his opponents, by their plausibility and fervor. Stung to resentment by his stern and unbending refusal to submit to the decisions of the councils which had condemned him, his enemies subjected his latter years to privations and sufferings, disgraceful to the cause which they professed to defend, and highly dishonorable to those by whom they were sanctioned or inflicted. After repeated and harassing removals from one place to another, and a temporary captivity by a wandering horde of Nubian marauders, he was so injured by a fall, near the city of Panoplis, in Upper Egypt, from which they were conveying him, that he soon afterwards expired, in the greatest agonies.

The doctrines of the Nestorians were, at the commencement of the disputes, such as would be very generally regarded as orthodox. Nestorius maintained, that Jesus Christ was truly God and truly man, the divine and human natures being united in him; the Word, which took upon him human nature, being equal and consubstantial with the Father; and the human nature, perfect in his kind, being composed of body and soul, and in all things like ourselves, sin excepted. But, though he believed the attributes of both natures existed in Jesus Christ, he denied, that it could be said, with propriety,-except figuratively, that God was born, or suffered, or died; and in this consisted his heresy, according to the decisions of his enemies and opponents; since it induced him to deny, that "Mary was the mother of God."

Long and violent controversies were the result of the unyielding tempers and surly obstinacy of the contending parties; and anathemas, excommunications and persecutions of the most violent nature were employed against each other, as the partisans of the different opinions gained political or priestly ascendency, or direct ecclesiastical power; and every subtlety of metaphysical art was employed in defending their opinions.

After the death of their founder, the Nestorians, driven from the pale of the Greek and Latin churches, gradually assumed the character of a distinct and numerous body of Christians, governed by their own patriarchs, and extending their efforts. to disseminate Christianity in many distant and idolatrous countries, especially in the East.

From the evidences which remain, there is reason to believe, that they not only did not withhold the sacred volumes from the laity, like the Greek and Latin communions, but encouraged the perusal, translation and circulation of them. At an early period, they translated them into the Syriac language, enjoined them to be read in their public schools, and ordered the priests to commit the Psalmis to memory. Numerous commentaries were written, in explanation of the Scriptures; they were carried by their missionaries into the various countries which they visited, and translations of them made into the vernacular tongues of different nations. The manuscript copies of the Syriac Scriptures, obtained from their descendants in India, afford an interesting proof of the care with which they have been preserved amongst that people, and of the caution with which they have been transcribed. A manuscript copy

of the Old Testament, in Syriac, in two volumes, transcribed by a Nestorian in 1558, is deposited in the Vatican library; and a Persic version of the four gospels, from the transcript executed in 1341, in the city of Caffa, was published in England, in 1652-7, by Wheeloc and Pierson.

The missions undertaken by the Nestorians were extensive and successful. In 535, they had established themselves in Ceylon; at Nankin, in China, in 606, and at Pekin in 714; at Socotora in 535, and at Babylon before 1111. At one period, their churches were scattered over nearly the whole of Asia, stretching their line from Nankin and Pekin to Jerusalem and Egypt, and from the northern boundaries of Tartary to Ceylon. Assemann enumerates more than two hundred and thirty names of kingdoms, provinces or cities, in which they had established churches, some of which were metropolitan ones. In the city of Mosul alone, they had fifteen temples, even after it was in possession of the Mohammedans, and forty thousand who professed Nestorianism.

Their greatest prosperity appears to have been during the reign of the caliphs. At that period, their numbers, in conjunction with those of the Jacobites, were supposed to exceed those of the Greek and Latin churches united. So late as the seventeenth century, a learned Roman Catholic writer states the number of the Nestorians at three hundred thousand; but as he only enumerates those in communion with the church of Rome, the calculation must have been far below the actual amount; not including either the churches of the Syrian Christians in Travancore, nor many others, not subjected to the Romish yoke. At a prior period, about the year 1100, there were two hundred thousand adherents to the sentiments of the Nestorians, in the countries under the government of the Turks. The vicissitudes of circumstances and situations affecting the Nestorians were great and various. In several instances, the sovereigns, who governed the countries in which they resided, not only protected and encouraged them, but avowed themselves converts to their opinions. This was especially the case of Persia, and some other eastern governments. At other times, the most severe and cruel persecutions were raised against them, and immense numbers of them martyred. In Egypt and Syria, A. D. 1200, the most violent measures were pursued, to suppress and exterminate, if possible, the Nestorian Christians; the churches were despoiled and robbed;

many of the Christians were crucified; and about forty thousand were put to death in various ways.

The Nestorian churches existing at present are few in number, and, generally speaking, poor. They are principally in the East, in the south of India, and in Syria and Egypt. The Syrian Christians, described by Dr. Buchanan, in his "Christian Researches," are among the most important of the descendants of the Nestorians; but both they and the other remaining churches of this body have lost much of their original purity, zeal and discipline, and, in some instances, have nearly lost the recollection of the sentiments of their founder, and assume the belief of two distinct natures in Christ; or, from their association with the Romish church, have become, in theory, at least, Monophysites, or advocates for the divinity and humanity of Christ, constituting but one nature.

J. O. C.

ARTICLE XI.

CHURCH PSALMODY.

SINCE the harp of David was first struck in the praises of Israel's God, genuine poetry has not failed to leave its impress upon the character and sentiments of all classes of mankind. The strains of Homer, as they dwelt on the lips of his countrymen, through succeeding ages, not only stamped the national character of Greece to its latest day, but gave complexion to all classic antiquity. "The poet binds together, by passion and knowledge, the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time."* Especially in its simpler forms, true poetry is every where felt and acknowledged as nature's own power, breathed from the soul of man, when his spirit is stirred within him. And having touched and swayed the passions of a kindred soul, it commands, at will, the obedience of the whole man.

Poetry, indeed, addresses itself directly to the passions; but since the opinions and conduct of men are greatly dependent upon the state of their hearts, its decisive influence upon char

* Wordsworth.

acter, either for good or evil, is obvious. Hence the desolating success with which its power has been marked, when subverted to the purpose of concealing the enormities and embellishing the attractions of vice. The songs and dramatic pieces of licentious writers have been lamentably successful, even among the refined, in giving to man's animal nature a fatal triumph over reason and conscience. Nor are the strains of those whose souls have felt the loveliness of truth and virtue less efficient for ennobling our intellectual nature, and asserting the supremacy of conscience. The productions of Cowper, Wordsworth and Hemans, and the less finished sketches of Pollok, will each continue to stamp their noble image upon many a soul, till the end of time. Nay more, we believe, that some of their effusions, in which there lives and breathes a holy ardor, will be the means of so affecting some minds as to enhance their joys in heaven for ever.

Of all the poetry adapted to the promotion of elevated and virtuous character, perhaps the most important is that designed expressly to be used in public and social worship. Among those who are accustomed, from childhood, to obey the weekly summons of the "church-going bell," probably no book, except the Bible, exerts so great an influence in the moulding of religious sentiments, and the formation of taste, as the adopted "Hymn Book." At all seasons of strong religious feeling, selections from its stanzas are repeatedly quoted by the pious, either as a means of promoting holy affections in their own souls, or as the most impressive vehicle by which they can transmit pious emotions from their own to other minds. Adapted, from their very form, to retain a strong hold upon the memory, they are often present, in silent admonition or entreaty, even to those who are without God in the world. They are among the earliest expressions which are committed to the memory of childhood, and the latest which linger upon the lips of departing piety.

It is sufficiently evident, from these considerations, that CHURCH PSALMODY occupies an eminent rank among the means of combined moral and intellectual culture. And the same reasons indicate, that a book, embracing a selection of lyric poetry for all the ordinary occasions, both of public and social worship, ought to be characterized throughout by correct sentiment, good taste, and a truly poetic spirit.

But we deem the qualities, essential to a good selection of