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and silenced, some banished, some excommunicated, some imprisoned, and that upwards of 700 refused to subscribe?

And now the bishops elected under Charles were all for Catholicism; they not only admitted the Church of Rome to be a true Church, but the Pope to be the first bishop of Christendom; they were so Catholicised as to plead for confession to a priest, sacerdotal absolution, the real presence, images in churches; whilst they declared the doctrine of transubstantiation to be simply a school nicety of expression, manifestly holding at heart the doctrine itself.

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I need scarcely go into the further history of the intervening time. I simply venture the assertion, that the Catholic Revivalists of that time went as far as the Catholic Revivalists of ours, and had matters much their own way. After the restoration of Charles II. the second Act of Uniformity was passed, requiring all clergy to give their unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything contained in and by the Book of Common Prayer." Recent reviews and pamphlets have told the story of this era; suffice it to say that the Catholics gained greater advantages, and that the prayer to sanctify the water used in baptism was added; whilst the penalties imposed were all designed to exclude anti-Catholics, 2,000 of whom left all for Christ. What need we any further evidence of the spirit of the times than Charles' confession to his brother, the Duke of York, Lord Arundel, and others, that he wished to have their advice about the ways and methods to be taken for the settling the Catholic religion in his kingdom. During the

whole of this reign, the forms and ceremonies, which Elizabeth had designedly introduced to favour the Catholics, were not only retained, but more stringently than ever imposed on the clergy. All the edicts of that day were not merely designed to hunt down the Puritans, such as the Conventicle Act, and the Test Act; but by the removal of all processes against Catholics, by the liberty granted to them of resorting to mass both in city and country, it is evident sympathy with Rome was most intense. Bishop Burnet says:— "Those who were secretly Papists, and disguised their religion as the king did, animated the chief men of the Church to carry the points of Uniformity as high as possible, that there might be many Nonconformists and great occasion for a toleration, under which Popery might creep in." The consequence was simply this, that if there were foundations for Catholic Revivalists in the Prayer-book of Edward VI. and of Queen Elizabeth, there was equal foundation, at the least, in the later Stuart Prayer-book!

It may be pleaded that since then the spirit of Protestantism has revived in the English Church, that since the glorious Revolution and the mild reign of William and Mary, matters have all tended the other way, that the instincts of the national feeling have all had a strong Protestant bias. I admit all this. It seems unjust and monstrous that Catholicism should, after the intervening centuries, re-erect itself on the ruins of the past. All our deepest and most sacred feelings rise in antagonism to such a revivalism. But when we come to the calm study of historical fact and precedent, whether it be on questions of

ritual or doctrine, we should be purblind not to see that the Catholic Revivalists, as against others in the English Church, have not only that little sentence about "such ornaments as were in use in the first Prayer-book of Edward VI.," through which little aperture men think they are trying to drag back Rome, but they have statutes and enactments many in their favour! Much as we may hate the Jesuitism of these manœuvres, and the desperate harm they are doing, it is difficult to deny the fact, that the closer and deeper our study of the Prayer-book, and the contemporary events connected with it,

the more we are honestly convinced that the Statute book of the realm, the Book of Common Prayer itself, and the historical story of Church parties, afford ample evidence that the Catholic Revivalists make no vain appeal, while they call all these into court in favour of their present position, as explanatory of their avowed purpose, and as the germ of all their power. Such is a calm estimate of the relation which the Catholic Revival sustains to the Establishment itself. In our next article we shall hope to look at it as in direct relation to Rome. 1

THE ABYSSINIAN CAPTIVES,

MR. LOWE recently remarked that it was very rare to find any one able to tell what the colonies of Australia are, unless they had either been there or had some relations there. He had also amused himself with trying to ascertain what people knew about Abyssinia, and although we were going to make an expedition to that country, his experience was that it was as much as a man could do to find out where Abyssinia was on the map, let alone the finding out of a single town in it. From the number of books, lectures, and articles which have already been published, or which are advertised as nearly ready, it appears that there is a great deal to be known about Abyssinia, and we purpose putting into as brief a compass as possible, a description of the country, its religious condition, and some of the more recent attempts which have been made to evangelize it.

VOL. IV.-NEW SERIES.

The present boundaries of the country are Nubia. N. and W., the Red Sea on the E., and to the S. the country of the Gallas, and other unknown countries stretching to the Indian Ocean. Its entire length from N. to S. is about 670 miles, and its greatest breadth from E. to W. 540 miles. The shore of Abyssinia is a flat, sandy, and almost bare prolongation of the base of a natural sea wall, at the top of which lies the plateau, or table land, which has gained the country its general reputation for fertility and fitness for agricultural purposes. This plateau in fact constitutes the country, for it is below it that the deadly malaria floats, which preys alike on native and strangera region consequently left to the possession of wandering gipsy people. In the rainy season the rivers spread far and wide, and breaking away from the level surface through rocky gorges,

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form magnificent waterfalls at the head of ravines, descending several thousand feet in a few miles. Abyssinia has peaks or mountains, some of them upwards of 14,000 feet in height; these are crowned with perpetual snow, while their sides are adorned with the

richest vegetation. The country yields barley, wheat, rice, cotton, coffee, &c.; and in some of the lower plains vegetation is so vigorous that two and sometimes three harvests are reaped in one year. The domestic animals are horses, asses, mules, cattle, sheep, and goats. The crocodile is found in many of the rivers, and the hyena, buffalo, antelope, giraffe, rhinoceros, zebra, and the wild animals of Africa generally, are very numerous. The inhabitants of the country consist of six or seven races, and they trade in coarse pottery, cotton cloth, and agricultural and warlike implements. Such is the country through which our troops are now proceeding to the release of some threescore European captives.

Abyssinia claims, but without good foundation, to have been governed by the Queen of Sheba, and dates its conversion to Christianity from the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch. The religions which prevailed in Abyssinia prior to the introduction of Christianity were Judaism and Paganism; since the fourth century the religions of the country seem to have been Judaism and a corrupted Christianity. We are told that amongst the many prophetic legends of the land there is one to the effect, that when a king named Theodoros shall sit upon the throne of Abyssinia he shall subjugate all nations to his sway, and then Christianity shall be the creed of the world. The Abyssinian Church holds

many of the doctrines of the Church of Rome, and observes several of the rites and ceremonies of Judaism. For instance, among the doctrines is the impeccability of the Virgin, and among the rites is that of circumcision. The Jewish Sabbath is observed as well as the Lord's day; the churches, both externally and within, have a Jewish character; every church has its ark, and it is frequently carried before the army with great display.

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Notwithstanding its pretensions to the possession of Christianity, Abyssinia has been for generations a land of war and anarchy, of cruelty and licentiousness. It was this fact which induced the Church Missionary Society, about 1830, to attempt its evangelization. Dr. Gobat, the present Bishop of Jerusalem, was one of the first staff of missionaries in Abyssinia. happily, however, through the intrigues of certain Romish emissaries, English missionaries were expelled in 1838, and the Roman Catholics succeeded in establishing a mission of their own. The English missionaries, among them Dr. Krapf, retreated to Shoa, but were again compelled to flee to another place, in consequence of the intrigues of a French Jesuit. Soon after the accession of King Theodore, Dr. Krapf went a third time to Abyssinia to establish a mission there. He took with him Mr. Flad, a German lay missionary, and several artizansblacksmiths, carpenters, and others, as it was Bishop Gobat's belief that indirectly much good might be accomplished by a mission of this kind. Theodore was then flushed with conquest, having just ascended the throne.

It was not until about 1850 that we had heard much about this singular

man. His original name was Dedjatz Kassai, and we are told that from his earliest youth he was impressed with the belief that he was destined to fill a high position and to do wonderful things. Though of humble origin, and known as the "Kosso vendor's son," he was trained to arms in the camp of a chieftain uncle, and when that uncle and his sons were dead he claimed his province, Kawar, and wrested it from a usurper. For years before he achieved this success he was captain of a large band of freebooters. And once Governor of Kawar he went from conquest to conquest till he had trampled down all the independent chiefs of the country, and was crowned emperor under the title of "Theodoros, King of kings, of Ethiopia," being determined, by assuming the name, to fulfil the native prophecy before alluded to. The new King granted Dr. Krapf an audience, and the latter professed himself satisfied with the hopes which his Majesty held out in reference to the establishment of a mission.

In 1859, "The London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews" availed themselves of Theodore's reported good will, and sent out Rev. H. A. Stern and Mr. Bronkhorst to organize a mission amongst the Falashas, the descendants of the first Hebrew settlers in Abyssinia. Mr. Stern says that Theodore received him with the greatest courtesy, asked him about the various countries he had visited, the character of the people, and the religions they professed. On his craving permission to travel in Abyssinia in case the Metropolitan or Aboona (the sole bishop of the Abyssinian Church) countenanced the object, the King instantly replied,

"I am your brother and friend, and you have my full sanction to visit every province in my kingdom." On another occasion the King said, "My people are bad; they love rebellion and hate peace, delight in idleness, and are averse to industry; but if God continues to me my life, I will eradicate what is bad and introduce all that is salutary and good."

Thus encouraged, Mr. Stern and Mr. Bronkhorst began to work among the 250,000 Jews peopling Abyssinia. At first the Jews almost unitedly resolved to hold no communication with them, but gradually curiosity was excited, sympathy was enlisted, and everywhere an anxiety was awakened to hear the strangers. Some were led to exclaim as they heard the story of our blessed Lord's sufferings,

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'Oh, how great is our guilt that we reject love so divine and despise blood so precious!" In another settlement, near the capital, a large audience spontaneously exclaimed, "You tell us good words, and God hath evidently sent you to teach us the right path." After traversing many districts and provinces, Mr. Stern said the journey was one of uninterrupted joy, because of the readiness of the people to possess and to hear the Word of God. "Frequently, hundreds of Christians and Jews would meet together near our tent, and with the Word of God in their hands, canvass and investigate the truths we had been preaching. Let the Falashas be brought around the Cross of the Redeemer, and you have a missionary tribe to move the stagnant waters of unbelief and superstition in the Abyssinian Church." These words occurred in Mr. Stern's speech at Exeter Hall in 1861, when he came back to

narrate some of the things which he had heard and seen in Abyssinia.

During his visit to England three great disasters befell Abyssinia ;— the murder of Mr. Consul Plowden, the fall, in a battle, of Mr. Bell, the King's best counsellor, and the intrigues of a French Jesuit named Bardel. In the place of Mr. Plowden, Captain Cameron was appointed consul. It is believed that Bardel craftily poisoned the ear of Theodore against the English Government and the English missionaries. In 1862, the King, anxious to form alliances, despatched Cameron and Bardel respectively, with autograph letters to Queen Victoria and the Emperor Napoleon. On his way, it is said, Captain Cameron was stopped by a rebel chief, and on the arrival of his despatches at Massowah, they had to be sent to Europe by a circuitous route, so that they did not reach London until February, 1863. Bardel, on the contrary, arrived at Paris with his despatches months before.

Mr. Stern returned to Abyssinia in April, 1863, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Rosenthal. He found the mission in a prosperous state; Mr. Bronkhorst and Mr. Flad had met with ready access to the most repellent of the Falashas. In the month of June, Captain Cameron arrived a second time, and the King, who had expected an answer to his letter, was greatly annoyed at receiving

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to find, however, that he, the British consul, and all the missionary agents were summoned to Gondar to hear the letter which Bardel had brought from the Emperor of the French. After this ceremony had been concluded, Mr. Stern bade adieu to the bishop and other friends and quitted the capital. On his way through the plain of Waggera he came upon the King's tent glittering in the sun's rays. Presently the King came into the open air, with a frown upon his countenance. In less than ten minutes Mr. Stern's two servants were killed, and in perplexity and fear he put his hand mechanically to his lips, or, as it was said, put his finger into his mouth. This was construed into a crime, and he was immediately stripped and beaten. Wounded, bruised, and bleeding, his executioners dragged, or rather carried him down the hill, where his swollen wrist was fastened by a hoop and a chain to the arm of a soldier. At daylight he was given into the charge of several chiefs. A few days afterwards, when he had been taken to Gondar as a criminal, his luggage was inspected, but the search ended in nothing. In going away, however, he had mentioned to Bardel that he had papers and diaries which might compromise him; but Bardel had told him not to be afraid, and then left him in custody. It is stated that Bardel knew too well how to use the information thus conveyed to him by Stern, who, it must be admitted, both in writing his book and his diary was forgetful of Solomon's wise caution against cursing a king, even in thought. Mr. Stern says that the whole affair of the imprisonment turns upon the "Government letter;" but a little more prudence on his part

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