CHAPTER VI.

Nestorians.-Churches.-Worship.-Sabbath.-A Tale.-Preservation of the Scriptures.-Strife with the Koords.-Pastoral Life.-Resources.-Character.-Females.

"The sound of the church-going bell,

These valleys and rocks never heard."

Oct. 20.-SABBATH. A thin piece of board was struck rapidly with a mallet, to call the villagers to church at the rising of the sun. Each person, on entering the church, put off his shoes, and testified his reverence for the sanctuary of God by kissing the doorposts or threshold, and passed on to kiss the Gospels lying upon the altar, then the cross, and finally the hand of his religious teacher.

The church, like all I saw in the mountains, was a very solid stone edifice, with arched roof, and might stand for ages. Others that I saw had stood for more than fourteen centuries, according to their ancient records. For the narrow door (which would not admit a man without much stooping) the usual explanation was given, "Strait is the gate," &c., a truth of which they wished to be reminded when entering the sanctuary. The prayers and the singing or chanting of the psalms were all in the ancient Syriac language, and quite unintelligible to the common people; but one of the

priests read a portion of the Gospels, and gave the translation into the vulgar Syriac spoken by the Nestorians; and this constituted the preaching. Sometimes the reading is accompanied by some explanations or legendary stories, of which they have many.

It was a sacramental occasion; and the bread and wine were consecrated in the sanctuary or "holy place" of the church, and then brought out by a priest and a deacon, while each member of the church went forward in rotation, and partook of a small piece of the bread from the hand of the priest, who held a napkin to prevent any particles from falling, as he put the morsel into the mouth of the communicant; and then he drank of the wine, which was held with great care by the deacon, so that not a drop should be spilled. But there was none of that idolatrous adoration of the host, so characteristic of the mass of the Romanists and of the other Oriental churches. On the contrary, there was almost a scriptural simplicity in the observance of this solemn ordinance.

The priest who had officiated in the prayers and instruction of the congregation first partook of the sacred elements, and then invited me to partake. Hitherto I had never partaken of this ordinance with the Nestorians; but to have declined under present circumstances would have done as much injustice to my own feelings as to theirs. For

many months I had not been privileged with coming to the table of the Lord: God had in great mercy preserved me through many perils, and brought me among a people who had received the gospel from the apostles and immediate disciples of our Saviour, and had preserved its doctrines with a great degree of purity; and though there was painful evidence of a great want of spiritual life, I was encouraged to hope that some almost smothered sparks of vital piety were still burning upon these altars. I could not but regard it as a branch of the true Church of God, though immersed in the darkness of gross ignorance, superstition, and spiritual torpor, yet not of death. But there was still much in their character and circumstances of deep and lively interest; my heart was drawn out towards them in warm affection; and seldom have I commemorated the dying love of Christ under circumstances more deeply interesting, than among these primitive Christians, in the wild mountains of ancient Assyria.

There was great stillness and propriety of deportment in the congregation, and all retired without noise or confusion. In passing out, each person received at the door a very thin leaf of bread, rolled together, and enclosing a morsel of meat. This was the "love feast" of the early Christians of the first and second centuries.*

* Mosheim's Eccl. Hist., vol. i., p. 54.

Several of the people then went to the house of the church steward, and partook of a more substantial but plain repast, retiring soon after to their houses or calling upon their more immediate friends. The day was observed with far more propriety than I have seen among other Christians of the East. There was a general stillness throughout the village, such as I have noticed in few places in more highly-favoured lands. There was no noisy merriment, no attention to secular business; and the social intercourse of the people was nothing more than what was practised in the ancient Hebrew Church. Formerly they are said to have regarded the Christian Sabbath with so much sacredness, as to put to death persons for travelling on that holy day.

In the evening many of the people again assembled for worship at the church, and morning and evening prayers are offered there through the whole week. But, unlike what I have seen anywhere else in the East, many of the people say their prayers in their own dwellings, instead of going to the church during the week; and a small wooden cross may be seen hanging from a post for them to kiss before prayers; a practice which they regard as a simple expression of love to Christ, and faith in his death and atonement. The cross, however, is not considered in any sense as an object of religious worship.

Oct. 21.-At dawn of day the people came in great numbers for medical aid, and I soon became so thronged by them that I was obliged to stop my prescriptions till they should retire to a distance, allowing no more than three or four to come forward at once. Many of the applicants came from other villages. There were many suffering from bilious affections, intermittent fever, etc., the consequence of the rice-fields and extensive irrigation of the gardens in the village, together with the great heat of summer, which must become oppressive from the concentration of the sun's rays in these narrow vales. The mountains rise so abruptly that most of the soil is prepared for cultivation by forming artificial terraces. These are supported by a stone wall on the lower side, while one terrace rises above another, and the houses are dispersed among the gardens.

At a short distance from Lezân, a precipice is pointed out, where the people say their forefathers, before the Christian era, were in the practice of carrying up their aged and helpless parents, and throwing them down the mountain to relieve themselves of the burden of their support. At length the following incident put an end to the horrid practice: A young man, who was carrying his aged father up the precipitous mountain, became exhausted, and put down his burden to rest; when the old man began to weep, and said to his son,