does not depend on the doubtful loyalty of halfa-dozen regiments of Italians, or on the more honest obedience of two or three thousand Swiss guards, but on the hearts and hands of many millions, who look up to him as their spiritual superior at all times, and their temporal superior, whom they are bound to obey in opposition to all other sovereigns, when anything occurs "ad majorem Dei gloriam," and for the advancement of the Church of Rome. A power such as this, which in our trafficking and money-making country is thought little of, -a power such as this lies dormant in the hands of the Grand Lama of Thibet, whose followers form almost half of all mankind, in those of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and to an inferior degree in those of the Patriarch of Etchmiazin. They are all paralyzed and quiescent from the same cause—namely, that the chiefs of these mighty institutions are old ignorant men, whose minds have not the energy, or their hands the power, to work the tremendous engine committed to their care. That the Czar is perfectly aware of the uses to be made of the religious feelings of the inhabitants of other governments to further his own ends, we see from the numerous magnificent presents ostentatiously forwarded by him to churches in Greece and Turkey, where the monks and priests by these means are gained over to his interests. From his generous hand, extended to the borders of the Adriatic, about 5000l. are annually dropped into the poor-box of that truculent specimen of the Church-militant, the Vladica of Montenegro. But the Czar is not an aged monk, he is not wanting in energy or strength, and he will not fail to pull the strings which hang loosely in the hands of the Armenian Patriarch. If he pulls them evenly and well, he will advance his interests far and wide, even in the dominions of other princes, who may hardly be aware of the influence exercised in their states from a source so distant and unobtrusive. The danger in his case is, that he may use too great violence, and break the strings from too severe a tension, raising the storm against himself which he intended to direct against others. However this may be, the power of which he holds the reins is one which may be used for the advancement of the greatest or the most ignoble ends. For the most sublime and glorious actions, the most heroic and the most infernal deeds that have ever been accomplished by mankind, have been occasioned by the awakening of religious zeal, or by the fanaticism of religious hatred, from the earliest days, when the pen of history was first dipped in blood. Nothing can be more anomalous than the present aspect of religious questions. The Christian Emperor of Russia is at this moment exciting the minds of his subjects to make war upon the infidel; and his armies march under the impression that they undertake a new crusade. Yet this crusade is carried on in direct contradiction to truth, justice, honour, and every principle of the Christian religion, whose pure and sacred precepts are violated at every turn. On the other hand, the Mahometan, or infidel, as he is called, displays, under the most difficult and insulting circumstances, the highest Christian virtues of integrity, moderation, and strict adherence to his word in treaties granted by himself or his predecessors; at the same time, the armies of the upright Sultan are commanded by a Christian renegade who has abjured his faith, and yet he fights against the Christian power in a righteous cause. The terrible revolution which is the cause of such awful scenes of bloodshed and atrocities in China is carried on under the name of our merciful and just Saviour, whose mild religion these rebels against their sovereign affect to follow. The savage atrocities of the Holy Inquisition, the cruel massacres by the Spaniards in America, were perpetrated by men who made a cloak of the benevolent precepts of the Gospel for the perpetration of the most brutal crimes. Those times we thought were past, but human nature is the same; and where the light of true Christianity has penetrated, we find a period of wonderful intelligence and appreciation of the truths of the doctrines of our Lord in some places—in others, where a nominal Christianity alone prevails, actions are committed by men in the highest stations which would disgrace the records of the dark ages. CHAPTER XV. Ecclesiastical history - Supposed letter of Abgarus, King of Edessa, to our Saviour, and the answer - Promulgation and establishment of Christianity-Labours of Mesrob MaschdotsSeparation of the Armenian Church from that of Constantinople - Hierarchy and religious establishments Superstition of the lower classes Sacerdotal vestments -The holy books — Romish branch of the Church Labours of Mechitar - His establishment near Venice - Diffusion of the Scriptures. - THE ruins of Ani to this day attest the magnificence and antiquity of former dynasties which long since reigned and passed away in the highlands of Armenia. In the time of Cyrus, according to Moses of Chorene, the historian of that country in the sixteenth century, Greek statues of Jupiter, Artemis (Diana), Minerva, Hephæstion, and Venus, were brought to Ani and placed in the citadel of that town. Here the treasures and the sepulchres of the ancient kings were preserved in a fortress deemed by them impregnable. I will not pause to disentangle the records of Armenia before the time of our Saviour, for even during the life of our Lord the annals of Armenia become remarkably interesting as connected with his holy faith, and the rise and progress of Christianity in the countries |