that they may cling more closely to the cross of Jesus; and though the wound which infinite love sees needful to inflict, be too deep for human sympathy to heal; yet if it be sanctified to our souls, and we are thereby led to think more of that God whose unerring wisdom appointed the blow; we may well adopt the language of the pious Young, and with feelings like him exclaim, "Amid my list of blessings infinite, Stand this the foremost, that my heart has bled.'" And in reference to the departed, who lived and died in the Lord; how should the consideration of their superior happiness check the mournful sigh! Those dying strains whose chords yet vibrate on the survivor's ear, awakening all those feelings, around which memory still hovers with fond delight, are now exchanged for notes unmingled with wo; nor would we wish (were it possible) for one moment, "to constrain the liberated spirit into bonds again." Rather let the thought of meeting our departed friends in glory, and the assurance that ere long, it will be our turn to endure the struggles of dissolving nature, stimulate us to increased watchfulness and prayer in our Christian course: for as we are led to cultivate communion with Jesus on earth, and to live very near his footstool, with a mind deadened to the world, and thoughts frequently exercised on eternal realities; in that proportion will death be disarmed of its sting, and appear rather as an angel of light commissioned by the Father of spirits to convey our souls to glory. And in order to promote our advancement in holiness, let us constantly cherish all those feelings which tend very highly to exalt the Saviour, in the dignity of his person, and in the preciousness of his offices, as Christ Mediator to his people. May we be led to meditate much on his finished work; and by an appropriating faith, be enabled to realize in our happy experience, that he has for us completed the work which the eternal Father gave him to do; that nothing shall be able to separate us from his love, and that although sin may be permitted to assault us even till we arrive in glory, it shall -never finally prevail against us; yet a few more revolving suns, and if interested in Jesus, we shall bid a final adieu to sorrow and temptation, and become inhabitants of those mansions which the dear Redeemer promised to prepare for all his blood-bought family. It is indeed sweet when the mind is rightly attuned, to reflect on the love which induced the Saviour to leave the realms of glory, and dwell in this our wretched world; but more especially that he should condescend to assume our nature, and tabernacle in clay: Ah! had he not participated in the groans of humanity, and experienced all the agonies which our nature is capable of sustaining (sin excepted), he would not, perhaps, have been touched as he now is with a feeling of his people's infirmities; it therefore "became him, for whom are all things, in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." If it be so sweet to think on the love of Jesus below, what shall we feel when admitted to his presence in glory? and if we delight to sound his praises on earth, how shall we rejoice when our tremulous voice, now checked by frequent sighs, shall be aided by celestial harps; and the feeble accents of redeeming love, be strengthened by the chorus of the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven. This is indeed "a consummation devoutly to be wished." Holy Spirit, attune my heart to sing the praises of a dear Redeemer, while I sojourn in this vale of tears: enkindle a flame of holy zeal and love in my languid affections: may the fire of devotion burn more brightly on the altar of sweet and intimate communion with Jesus; that my service below may be but a prelude to that sublimer worship above, which admits of no interruption; but which will be perpetuated throughout the ages of a ceaseless eternity. ELIZA. From the Literary Gazette. A VISIT TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA; with an Excursion into Pisidia; &c. By the Rev. F. V. J. Arundell, British Chaplain at Smyrna. 8vo. pp. 339. Lowdon, 1828. J. Rodwell. ANATOLIA, Covered as it is, we might say having its soil impregated, with the precious remains of antiquity, cannot be traversed in any direction, and described by even the most casual observer, without furnishing much to attract the regards of the rest of the world. Mr. Arundell's Journals of two excursions from Smyrna to various interesting sites and places, are, it must be confessed, more dry and meagre, in many cases, than we could wish; but still they are often instructive, and always deserving of the attention of the classical scholar and the antiquary. Following principally in the tracks of Dr. Smith, (whose journey in 1671 is too little known') Sir Paul Ricaut, Chishull, Pococke, Chandler, and Dallaway; besides Tourneforte, Van Egmont, Hasselquist, and Choiseul Gouffier; the expeditions of our mo dern tourist were too hastily performed to enable him to add many very important facts to the information supplied by these distinguished travellers. But, still, he has corrected and authenticated several remarkable questions of geography and antiquities; and with some admirable notes by his eminent and very intelligent predecessor in the same course of inquiry, Colonel Leake, his volume presents, as we have said, considerable claims to public attention. Of the seven Christian Churches of the Apocalypse, founded in Asia by the apostles, hardly a vestige remains. Smyrna, Ephesus, Pergamos, Sardis, Thyatira, Laodicea, and Philadelphia, (see Revelations, chap. ii. and iii.) with all their power and magnificence, have * This gentleman's researches in Asia Minor seem to have originated Mr. Arundell's jour neys; and he has greatly enhanced the value of the Rev. Chaplain's labours by elucidating them by notes and comments. 1 fallen into utter decay; except that the firstmentioned city remains a port of commercial consequence. But Ephesus is a mere heap of ruins; Pergamos has a population of 1500 Greeks, among 13,000 Turks; Sardis, once the splendid capital of Lydia, is a few mud huts; Thyatira (now Ak-hissar) has only one miserable Greek church; Laodicea (now Eskihissar) is a Turkish village, near masses and scattered fragments of ancient architecture and sculpture; and Philadelphia (now Allah Sher) has been shaken into dust by wars and earthquake. Of some of these, without tracing his route, we shall, at once, give the author's striking and mournful accounts. Ephesus." What would have been the astonishment and grief of the beloved apostle and Timothy, if they could have foreseen that a time would come when there would be in Ephesus neither angel, nor church, nor city! when the great city would become 'heaps, a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness; a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby!' Once it had an idola trous temple celebrated for its magnificence as one of the wonders of the world, and the mountains of Corissus and Prion re-echoed the shouts of ten thousand tongues, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! Once it had Christian temples almost rivalling the pagan in splendour, wherein the image that fell from Jupiter lay prostrate before the cross, and as many tongues moved by the Holy Ghost made public avowal that Great is the Lord Jesus!' Once it had a bishop, the angel of the church, Timothy, and the beloved disciple St. John; and tradition reports that it was honoured with the last days of both these great men, and of the mother of our Lord. Some centuries passed on, and the altars of Jesus were again thrown down to make way for the delusions of Mahomet; the cross is removed from the dome of the church, and the crescent glitters in its stead; while within, the keblé is substituted for the altar. A few years more, and all may be silence in the mosque and in the church! A few unintelligible heaps of stones, with some mud cottages untenanted, are all the remains of the great city of the Ephesians! The busy hum of a mighty population is silent in death! 'Thy riches and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy caulkers, and the occupiers, of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, are fallen.' Even the sea has retired from the scene of desolation; and a pes tilential morass, covered with mud and rushes, has succeeded to the waters which brought up the ships laden with merchandise from every country. was at Ephesus in January, 1824; the desolation was then complete; a Turk whose shed we occupied, his Arab servant, and a single Greek, composed the entire population; some Turcomans excepted, whose black tents were pitched among the ruins. The Greek revolution, and the predatory excursions of the Samiotes, in great measure accounted for this total desertion. There is still, however, a village near, probably the same which Chishull and Van Egmont mention, having four hundred Greek houses. Pergamos." The country immediately be aspect, rocky and bare of trees, and in the winfore entering the town was of an unpromising ter must be very desolate, from the greater part of the low ground being covered with water. As we passed, however, under the ground, the view improved much, from the arches of a bridge, and thence through a burial abundance of cypresses, poplars, and other trees. On entering the town, now nearly dark, I was struck by some enormously high masses of walls on the left, strongly contrasted with them. I heard, subsequently, that they are the diminutive houses beneath and around the remains of the church of the Agios Theologos, or St. John.-Thursday, September 21, I accompanied a Greek priest to his church, the only church at present in Pergamos; it lies on the ascent of the castle-hill, and is a poor shed covered with earth. Though the sun was blazing in full splendour on all the scene without, this poor church was so dark within, that even with the aid of a glimmering lamp, I could not distinctly see the figures on the screen. On one side of it another priest kept a little school of thirty scholars. I a Testament. The contrast between the maggave him which lay beneath, and this its poor represennificent remains cf the church of St. John tative, is as striking as between the poverty of the present state of religion among the modern Greeks, and the rich abundance of gospel light which once shone within the walls of the Agios Theologos. * * details) I was permitted to go into the bath, in "For a small bacshish (he adds, after other spaired of seeing it, as the bath was occupied which stands the celebrated vase. I had deby females during the morning, and subsequently by men: the evening, I was told, was the only time in which it could be shown. But of any bath; and I was actually admitted a little money will sometimes open the doors while a number of females, were reclining on exaggerated accounts were given by the keepthe marble benches around the vase. Most er of the bath of the sums offered by English milordi for this vase; one was said to have offill it with sequins. fered forty thousand piastres, and another to "Sardis.-Identified with the names of Crosus, and Cyrus, and Alexander, and covering and tens of thousands of men of war ;-great the plain with her thousands of inhabitants, earthquakes, and restored to its importance by even in the days of Augustus ;-ruined by the munificence of Tiberius;-Christian Sardis, offering her hymns of thanksgiving for deliverance from pagan persecution, in the magnifidis, again fallen under the yoke of a false relicent temples of the Virgin and Apostle ;-Sargion, but still retaining her numerous population, and powerful defence, only five hundred years ago;-what is Sardis now? Her founShe sits silent in darkness, and is no longer dations are fallen; her walls are thrown down.' city sit solitary, that was full of people!' A called the lady of kingdoms.' 'How doth the few mud huts, inhabited by Turkish herdsmen, and a mill or two, contain all the present popu lation of Sardis. The only members of the the Turkish miller. * church of Sardis are two Greek servants to "Of the temple of Cybele only two pillars remain at present; the Turks have recently destroyed the rest, for the sake of the lead connecting the blocks. It is impossible to behold these magnificent columns, of which the capital,' says Mr. Cockerell, 'appeared to me to surpass any specimen of the Ionic I had seen, in perfection of design and execution,' without being inexpressibly affected. Colonel Leake believes these remains to be antecedent to the capture of Sardis by Cyrus, and yet the columns are as perfect as if erected yesterday! The object of greatest interest to the Christian traveller are the ruins of two churches; one at the back of the mill, said to be the church of the Panagia, and another in front of it, called the church of St. John. Of the former there are considerable remains, and it is almost wholly constructed with magnificent fragments of earlier edifices; it must be this to which Colonel Leake alludes, as being perhaps the only one of the Seven Churches of which there are any distinguishable remains; but there are also some remains of the church of Pergamos. Of the other, there are several stone piers, having fragments of brick arches above them, and standing east and west. When Smith wrote, a Christian church, having at the entrance several curious pillars, was appropriated to the service of the mosque. * "Previous to quitting Sardis, I was deeply affected by an instance of bad principle in one of the two Christians at Sardis. I was anxious to send a letter to Smyrna, and requested this man simply to forward it by one of the numerous caravans which are almost hourly passing before the mill door, and, as an inducement offered to give him a Greek Testament. I had made the same man a present last December. He flatly and surlily refused to do it; while a Turk, who accidentally came in at the moment, voluntarily offered to convey it, and he was as good as his word." *It is but justice to observe, that on many occasions our author, though naturally partial to the Greeks, is obliged, by his regard for truth, to show the superiority of the Turkish character. Thus, at the outset, he says:"We left Smyrna at half-past three in the afternoon of Tuesday, March 28, 1826: our party consisting of Memet, a janizary of the English consulate; Melchon or Milcon, an Armenian, the proprietor of the horses, dressed as a Turk; Mustapha, a surigee; and Nicola, a Greek servant of Mr. Hartley (a church missionary who accompanied the author). We had agreed to pay nine piastres a-day for each horse, and paid a sum in advance, stated by Milcon to be sufficient, with the stipulation that we were not to be called upon to pay the balance till our return to Smyrna; a stipulation he took care to break repeatedly upon the road. In addition to a very strong firman, for which I am indebted to the most kind application of Lord Strangford, about two years ago, and which embraced the whole of Asia Minor even to Cæsarea, we had no less reason than Dr. Smith to praise the governor of Smyrna, not now a cadi, but a pasha, who behaved with extraordinary civility and courtesie,' in giving us a teskeray, which included every town on our in We pass over Thyatira as a populous place, and Laodicea as offering nothing of extraordinary contrast, beyond heaps of prostrate grandeur; and conclude these examples with a portion of the description of the last of the Seven Churches. Philadelphia.-"We arrived at Allah Sher, the ancient Philadelphia, at a quarter before eleven, entering the town, through chasms in the old wall, but which, being built of small stones, did not appear to be much older, if so ancient, than the last days of the lower empire; tended route from Smyrna to his pashalik of Isbarta; and his principal officers were no less obliging in giving me letters of introduction for Philadelphia, Ignighioul, &c." And again at the Hermus. "The ferry-boat was destroyed; no alternative remained but to ford.the river, or return to Smyrna without seeing Thyatira. It was very broad, and looked very formidable. While we were hesitating, a fine Turkish lad of eighteen came up to us, and, unsolicited, offered to be our guide. He accompanied us to the brink of the river a short way below, and pointed out the fording place. The surigee plunged in, but before he had reached a quarter of the way across, he became terrified and returned. The young Turk instantly mounted one of the horses, and rode in before us. It was providentially not so deep or rapid as to throw the horses off their legs, though very broad, and we reached the opposite bank in safety, though sufficiently wet. We offered some money to our guide who had earned it so well, but, with a generosity which formed a most striking contrast to the conduct of the Christian at Sardis, he positively refused to take a para!" At Demish, a village, "a circumstance occurred which proved that the Turks are much better informed, at least in every thing connected with their own language and history, than we are usually disposed to allow. A splendidly dressed Turk came into the khan, to whom the others paid so much respect, that I fancied he was the aga of the place, and probably he was so. He was very anxious to tell me that he had a very curious ancient coin, and that he had sent a person to fetch it. In a short time it came, and proved to be a coin of one of the Saracenic caliphs, having on one side a Cufic inscription. He asked me if I knew what it was. I replied that it was a coin of no value; that the letters were Cufic, Eski Arab; that I could not read them, and that very few people could; that I felt quite sure nobody in Demish could read them. The Turk said, I will show you that you are mistaken, and immediately putting the coin into the hand of an old white-bearded imaun, directed him to read it. The old man, having put on his spectacles in due form, and rubbed off the dirt, letter after letter, with his finger, began to read; and to my astonishment read every word to the perfect satisfaction of every body around him. I only remember the date, 1262 or 1267, and the word Melee. 1 shall long remember my dessert at Demish with the appetite of a gourmand. A splendid Cassaba melon, which at Smyrna costs about two piastres, but here only ten paras, black and Burgundy grapes, and magnificent peaches!" the passage through the streets was filthy in the extreme, though the view of the place as we approached it was extremely beautiful, and well entitled to the appellation of the fair city.' I had a letter for the Motslem from Suleiman Aga, the grand customer of Smyrna; Memet carried it to him; and returned speedily with a very different expression of countenance from his sombre looks, while fasting at Ignighioul. The Motslem not only sent his cashier instantly to supply us with all the money we might need, but requested us to go to the Greek bishop's palace, who had his orders to lodge and entertain us in the best manner possible. We walked through the town and up to the hill on which formerly stood the Acropolis; the houses were mean in the extreme, and we saw nothing on the hill but some walls, evidently of much more modern date than either the times of the Roman or even the lower empire. On an adjoining hill, separated from the first by a deep fosse or a narrow ravine, were similar fragments of walls, but we observed a few rows of large square stones just appearing above the surface of the ground. The view from these elevated situations was magnificent in the extreme; highly cultivated gardens and vineyards lay at the back and sides of the town, and before it one of the most extensive and richest plains in Asia. The Turkish name, Allah Sher, the city of God,' reminded me of the psalmist beautiful for situation is mount Zion,' &c. There is an affecting resemblance in the present condition of both these once highly favoured cities of God; the glory of the temple is departed from both; and though the candlestick has never been removed from Philadelphia, yet it emits but a glimmering light, for it has long ceased to be trimmed with the pure oil of the sanctuary. We returned through a different part of the town, and though objects of much curiosity, were treated with civility, confirming Chandler's observation, that the Philadelphians are a civil people. It was extremely pleasing to see a number of turtle-doves on the roofs of the houses; they were well associated with the name of Philadelphia. The storks retain possession still of the walls of the city, as well as the roofs of many of the houses." Considering the foregoing to be the most interesting separate extracts which Mr. Arundell's volume affords, we shall not dwell long on other parts of his narrative. One of his greatest geographical achievements appears to be the having determined and explored the site of Apameia, once Celæne, the capital of Phrygia; which is undoubtedly at Deenare, (the Dinglar of Pococke,) near the source of the Meander. To this source Mr. Arundell also penetrated on his second journey, by way of Tripolis. The account of Sagalassus,* (Agla son, quære Sadjakla? see Lempriere) the furthest point of the route eastward and beyond Isbarta, is curious; though we cannot but think it deformed by such canting as occurs in the annexed. "At a quarter past ten, having crossed the stream for the eighteenth time, we were among mountains covered to the base with snow. Our road lay up the steep side of a lofty mountain; the snow gave a smooth surface to the whole, except where some craggy rocks, elevated a little above the snow, proved that the ground beneath was extremely rugged and full of pits. The ascent was difficult and perilous in the extreme; my horse fell repeatedly, and the baggage horses almost at every step. Long before we were half way up, I gave up all hope of being able to get the baggage horses to the top, and it was not without great labour, our poor horses falling and trembling as they plunged up to the shoulder at every step, that we reached the summit ourselves. Having rested a short time, I left my horse, and walked back again to look after the baggage. The party had just reached half way; most of the baggage having fallen or been taken from the horses, lay scattered about in all directions, half buried in the snow; and the men were completely exhausted. Notwithstanding it was the ramazan, I ventured to offer some rakee to the surigee and mustapha, which they thankfully accepted, and its effect was to stimulate them to fresh and great exertions; and ultimately, by the mercy of God, we were all safe at the summit. A more perilous day I never recollect to have passed. The ground was ornamented profusely on the top of the hill with a beautiful species of crocus: I dug up several roots in commemoration of His protecting and guiding hand to which we owed so much. The fatigue we had undergone made rakee quite as medicinal to us as to our attendants; and being sufficiently re-invigorated, we began to descend the mountain at half past twelve o'clock. On this side, having a southern aspect, the snow providentially did not lie, but the road was narrow, winding, stony, and perpendicular. We at last arrived at the bottom, about one o'clock." The digging up of crocus roots in honour of the Almighty, sounds to us very like fanatical profanation; and there are several other passages of the same kind in these pages, which might as well have been spared.-Aglason, or rather a mountain near it, is fertile in coins, medais, and inscriptions: of these, the author has brought several away; but the spot seems to invite a far longer abode, and more complete investigation from the antiquary. Of "all we saw," observes Mr. A. " the theatre most strongly attracted our attention, being in a state of preservation superior even to those of Laodicea and Hierapolis; I could almost fancy the crowds of ancient days rushing in at the different portals, and impatiently taking their places. The seats, forty in number, were almost as perfect as if still in use; and a considerable portion of the proscenium and entrances was nearly as perfect. The orchestra it also holds the second place, Antioch being the first. 30 was covered with snow, as well as a large heap of stones, close to the proscenium. Among those covered, we saw a good deal of architectural ornament of excellent execution, but neither bas-relief nor inscription. We had no means of ascertaining the external diameter; but the interior must be about ninety feet, as the pulpitum of the proscenium was above eighty-six. In the pulpitum was a centre door fifteen feet high and nine wide, and two smaller doors on either side, of which the nearest was eleven feet high and nine wide, but the most remote, near the ends of the cavea, only five including one of the door-posts. The distance between the pulpitum and the scene was eighteen feet. From the doors of the pulpitum were four steps to descend into the orchestra. The dramatis persone were a solitary fox and a covey of red-legged partridges." Before adding a very few brief quotations, illustrative of existing manners and circumstances, we will trace the outline of the routes, which extended to about 200 miles, as the crow flies, from Smyrna, but were both laborious and difficult in their circuitous run. The first was across the Tmolus mountain, by Metropolis, to Ephesus; thence to Inekbazar, and up the course of the Meander by Akchay, and Nosli, to Sairikeuy (Caroura). Here Hierapolis, near the river Lycus, Laodicea, Denizli, Khonas, &c. were visited; and the traveller next proceeded by Chardak and the north of lake Anava to Deenare. The second route skirted the south of the Tmolus mountain, by Baindir, Demish, Kelles, and Debrent, to Tripolis. From Tripolis to Ishekti N.E.; thence S.E. by Omai and Deenare to Isbarta and Sagalassus the return by a Sait Lake; and lastly, striking up to the north by Sardis (near the Hermus), Thyatira, Pergamos, round to Smyrna. The most northern line appears, according to the plan, to run nearly parallel to the most southern on the Meander, at the distance of about eighty miles. We now conclude with the promised miscellanies. A whimsical Alarm.-After leaving Isbarta, "we retired to rest at an early hour, and in no long time I was awoke out of a sound sleep by a voice exclaiming, What is this?, what is it? I have hold of a man's hand, a man's hand, really a man's hand!' I was alarmed; for our apartment having no fastening to the door, it was not an impossible thing that, among the multitude of characters in the khan, some thief had crept in. The alarm was quickly given; but it was almost as quickly discovered that it was the alarmist's own hand, which he had grasped so firmly in the other as to occasion a stoppage of the circulation. Some Armenians, who slept in an adjoining apartment separated only by a very thin partition were sadly alarmed; and we heard one of them saying his prayers for a full hour afterwards with uncommon earnestness." Anecdote." A most extraordinary instance of the pertinacity with which a Greek adheres to his religion, occurred only five days ago at Denizli. A man was accused of adultery with a Turkish woman; the alternative, in such cases, is either to become a Mussulman, or death. The man, though of notoriously bad character, refused to abjure Christ, received two thousand strokes of the bastinado, and, after lingering for three days in a horrible state of suffering, died; and will henceforth be held in high regard by the Greek church as a martyr." Bread.-"During a residence of four years and a half in Asia Minor, I have never eaten such delicious bread as at Kirgagatch It is amusing to observe the varied kinds and forms of bread which a traveller meets with even in a journey as short as mine. The common loaf and frangoli (the latter is a long roll) are to be met with generally only as you approach within four or five days of Smyrna. Further in the interior, you have large pancakes as thin as brown paper, which are eaten either folded up, or several doubled together. At Bourdour the bread was of a more singular form, very little thicker than a good English pancake, but instead of being circular, about a yard long and four inches wide." Animals.The neighbourhood of Sedikeuy abounds with jackals; wild boars are also numerous; and about two years since a hyæna was killed between that village and Boujah Lions have, I believe, never been heard of near Sedikeuy; but a lion was seen a few years ago on the road to Nymphæum, by I. J-t, Esq. Between Sedikeuy and Ephesus, wolves are frequently inet with. The lynx has at times been seen in the mountains of Sedikeuy; and an enormous tiger, represented by the peasants as high as a mule, is at the present moment committing dreadful ravages among the flocks and dogs of the shepherds. Its abode is at the summit of a very lofty rock, about two miles south-east of the village. On the opposite mountain of Tartalee, the ancient Mastusia, two species of bears, a large and small one, the one reddish-brown, and the other black, are not unfrequently seen. Since the above was written, the supposed tiger which has committed such ravages has been killed, and proves to be a leopard of enormous size. It came down on the flock of an old shepherd, who, having no arms, depended for his safety on an old dog and her three young ones, not two years old. The mother commenced the attack, but the leopard placed her quietly be tween his forelegs; a young dog was served in the same way; but a second fixed his teeth on the eye and lip of the beast, and kept so determined a hold, that the others were liberated, and after a fierce contest, succeeded in killing the leopard." From the Christian Moderator. THE SNOWDROP. TOUCH'D with the view of Nature's drooping form, Relenting Winter hush'd the raging storm; Fair Spring, reviving, claim'd her right to reign, And trembling, dropp'd her foliage o'er the plain. The jealous tyrant rose with aspect drear, 1 |