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"One Sunday afternoon, two children were baptized in the house where we had lodgings. I had never before had opportunity to witness a Catholic baptism. The priest was a Capuchin friar, with a white robe over his usual coarse, brown dress, and an ornamented belt over his shoulders. The prayers and creed were read in Latin. The priest took spittle from his mouth, and applied it to the ears and noses of the children; he then applied oil to the foreside and backside of their necks, and salt to their teeth, with some other ceremonies. After this he baptized them by pouring water on the head, and then made the sign of the cross on the top of the head, with consecrated ointment.

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"The Copts in Alexandria; are not numerous. They have, however, a convent with a church in it, which I have visited. Only two priests reside in the convent, with a few domestics and attendants. One of them, with whom I conversed, shewed me their garden, church, baptistery and books, among which were their liturgy, and certain parts of the Scriptures in Coptic and Arabic, together with an Arabic Bible given them by Mr. Jowett. To these I added a Psalter and some Tracts in Arabic. prayers are performed in the church, first in Coptic, and then in Arabic. The Coptic is not understood even by the priests. They merely know how to pronounce the words. They baptize by trine-immersion, and were at great pains to explain to me the ceremonies they employ on the occasion. One of the apartments, belonging to the church, is a tomb, in which they told me that seventy-two Coptic patriarchs had been buried. The church is dedicated to St. Mark, and according to the Coptic tradition, was founded in his time, or soon after, though it has been more than once destroyed and rebuilt. The priest told me that there are not less than six or seven hundred Coptic churches in Egypt, the greater part of them in Upper Egypt, where their

sect of Christians is numerous. I observed, in most of the Coptic books, that the letters very nearly resemble the Greek.-I told the priest that I was a minister of the Gospel from America, that I had come to see the country where our Saviour and the apostles lived, to visit the churches here, and to distribute the Holy Scriptures. I was then obliged to explain to them what and where America is. I then gave them an account of the origin, design, and labors of Bible Societies. As I cannot yet converse in Arabic, and they are acquainted with no other language, this conversation was carried on by an interpreter.

"Of Greeks, I believe there are not above fifty or sixty families in the city. Under the government of the present pasha, they have been defended from such outrages as have been committed against them in other parts of Turkey, since the commencement of the present revolution. I have become acquainted with one of them, who is a merchant from Rhodes.

"I told him, I had some Greek books to sell, and showed him some Testaments. He said, 'If you wish to sell books to the Greeks here, you must bring histories. They care nothing about books that treat of religion.' He then spoke in very strong terms against the ignorance and bigotry of their priests. If a young man,' said he, wishes to become a priest, he has only to go to the bishop, and give him about 100 piastres, more or less, according to circumstances, and all is finished.' I then stated to him the course of study, and the qualifications, requisite in order to become a priest in America; all which seemed very new, very wonderful, and very good. I endeavored also to shew him, that there is an important difference between bigotry and superstition, sometimes called Christianity, and Christianity itself.

"The Greek convent I have visited very often, particularly since interring there the remains of my beloved brother. It is situated, like the Coptic and Catholic convents, without the city, on the site of the ancient Alexandria. There are in it four priests, two deacons, one young lad, and three servants. In conversations with the priests, I have uniformly found them more interested in the progress and issue of the present war between their countrymen and the Turks, than in any thing which concerns the Redeemer's kingdom. We have, however, often conversed on religious subjects, and I have supplied them with some books.

"Since the funeral of my brother, I have often seated myself by his grave, and read some appropriate chapter from the Greek Testament; as, 1 Cor. xv. Rev. xxi, and xxii. John xi, and xiv. On these occasions, the president of the monastery, and some of the monks, have always joined me, and listened to the chapter and some accompanying remarks, and some account of the religious views and feelings, the character and preaching of the deceased. In conversation with one of the deacons, he spoke freely of the superstition of some of their priests, whose charitable opinions never extend beyond the limits of their own church. For his part, he thinks all who believe in Christ are Christians. There is no Greek school in the place.

"The most interesting part of my labors in Alexandria, has been among the Jews. I have become particularly acquainted with three. One of them is Dr. M. who was Mr. Parsons' physician. He is a native of Germany, but has been many years in this place. He is reputed skilful in his profession, is one of the pasha's physicians, and is a man of extensive learning and very respectable talents. He has a library of about 2,000 volumes, among which are the Scriptures in different languages, and several valuable theological books. He shewed me

the writings of Eusebius, and spoke of them as highly valuable. He has also the works of several of the Christian fathers.

"We hoped to be able to enter into some interesting discussions with him, but did not intend to begin immediately. At almost his first visit, however, he told us that Mr. Wolff had spoken to him concerning us. We then entered into conversation concerning the Jews. He says there are about 400 in this place. Their language is Arabic; they read Hebrew, but understand very little of it; and are exceedingly ignorant, barbarous, and superstitious. I then said, 'Are they still waiting for the Messiah?' He replied, 'Yes; but they care very little about the Messiah that has come, or any one that will come. They might easily be hired to consent that there should never be a Messiah.' Speaking of the Talmud, which he studied a long time while young, he said, 'It is a perfect Babel, a confusion of language, a confusion of logic, theology, and every thing else. In a whole volume, you will scarcely find twelve sentences worth reading.'—— I observed, 'No pretended Messiah has now appeared for a long time.' 'And I hope,' said he, 'none ever will appear. In Europe it would be impossible for one to succeed; he would soon be detected. In this country he would probably lose his head immediately. If any monarch should now undertake to assemble the Jews, they could not live together. The Jews of Germany, of England, of France, of Spain, and of Asia, differ so much, that they would not tolerate each other. The way to make Jews Christians, is to give them the privilege of citizens, and let them intermarry with Christians.'

"He speaks of the Gospel as containing very sublime morality, and of Jesus Christ as holding a high rank, and possessing a most unexceptionable character, when viewed as a lawgiver, and the founder of a sect; and says the stories in the Talmud con

cerning him are ridiculous and absurd beyond all conception. He one day took up a Hebrew Testament, and turned to the sermon on the mount and said, "This is excellent. This would be good to read to the people every day.'

"I one day asked his opinion concerning the plural names of God in Hebrew. He says it is merely an idiom of the language. Elohim is used in reference to the character of God as Judge; and hence the same term is applied to human magistrates. Jehovah refers to God as the object of adoration; and hence the superstition of the Jews in respect to pronouncing that name, which leads them to substitute Lord instead of it. Several Jews, with whom I have conversed, have all given the same opinion on this point.

"He gave me, one day, a most horrible picture of the state of morals in this country, particularly among the Turks and Mamelukes. The most unnatural crimes are committed without shame, and almost without any attempt at concealment.-Among the nominal Christians of this country, he says there is no morality; and assigns as the reason of this,that morality is never found among slaves.

"I lent him the Memoir of Martyn, which hẹ read and returned. A few days since, I sent him an English Bible, and several Tracts in different languages. The next time I met with him, he told me, that the title of one of the Tracts interested him extremely. To use his own phrase, it pierced his skin. This was Leslie's short Method with Deists, which I sent to him in French. This was the last

interview I have had with him. He has just sent me three letters of recommendation to Jews at Cairo. "Another Jew, with whom I have had frequent conversation, is an aged man, named Jacob. Though he is 62 years old, and, in consequence of an ophthalmia, has been eight years blind, he is still the head master in a Jewish school of 40 children. He thinks

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