volumes in five languages, and nearly seven millions of pages. The missionaries now often preach to five hundred, eight hundred, and even a thousand, instead of speaking cautiously to individuals, as at first, or, as a little later, preaching to three, five or ten, and sometimes to even fifty or sixty. The Rev. Dr. Tyng, in his visit to the East, met and worshipped with the American missionaries at Constantinople, and gave it as the deep conviction of his soul, "that of all the wonderful results of that great institution, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, this enterprize is the most remarkable." To the missionaries he paid the following just tribute: "These brethren live apart, in different portions of Constantinople and its environs; but the simplicity of their abodes and style of living are a perfect example of apostolic contentment and separation from the world. Here are talent, learning and wisdom, such as the world looks upon with wonder, housed in the simplest and narrowest style, for Christ's sake."

But the view of the mission among the Armenians would be incomplete, did we not notice its influence on the Turkish population. The Mohammedans of Turkey, knowing nothing of Christianity, except as they have seen it exemplified by Armenians, Catholics or Greeks, have loved to contrast it with their own religion, showing its inferiority by its fruits. The inconsistencies of professors, the powerless influence of the Gospel on their hearts, the formality and idolatry of the churches, have led them to despise the Christian religion. But in the Protestant Armenians they have seen Christian doctrine and practice in a new light. The honest and conscientious bearing of these humble and devoted disciples of Christ, has had a powerful influence upon them. Their rejection of saint-worship, their simplicity and spirituality, and their firm adherence to the Bible have called forth the approbation of all classes of Moslems, from the Sultan downward. The progress of religious liberty, as already noticed, was in connection with the Protestants, but had reference to all classes of Christians. Three years ago another imperial edict was issued by the Sultan, declaring that no subject of his Empire should be obstructed in the ex

ercise of the religion he might profess, or be in any way molested on this account. By this act Mohammedans are at liberty to profess Christianity without incurring the penalty of death. In a letter dated September 5, 1857, Dr. Hamlin writes, that the missionaries have received the assurance from the government, that "it has become the established law of the Empire, that every subject, without any exception, should enjoy entire religious freedom. The Mussulman is now as free to become a Christian, as the Christian is free to become a Mussulman! The government will know no difference in the two cases. It will only undertake, whenever an accusation of restraint or compulsion, by fear or force, is brought, to ascertain the true state of the case; and then only with the intention of securing the most unexceptionable freedom of choice." An increased interest in the Bible is everywhere observable among the Moslems. Many becoming indifferent and skeptical with regard to their faith, purchase and read the Scriptures. They are not so strict as formerly in offering their prayers, making their pilgrimages, or in observing their fasts and festivals. The mosques are neglected, those in Cairo are falling into decay, and the walls of the great Mosque of Omar, founded by the conqueror of the city, are already crumbling, which is regarded by many as the sure forerunner of the final decay and downfall of their faith. Many inquirers are found among the Turks, and almost all cases of awakening among them are connected with the labors of the Armenians. The Sultan having been presented with a copy of the Bible by the British and Foreign Bible Society, is said to have been deeply interested in its contents. At the commencement of 1857, a native Mohammedan was for the first time ordained. a minister of the Gospel. Such a thing never before happened. Thus the work has more than commenced among the Moslems. The leaven of divine truth is actually fermenting among them. "The time of the Turks has come."

A remarkable change has also taken place in Tunis, in Northern Africa, which is nominally tributary to Turkey. The Bey of Tunis has introduced into his government radical reforms in the religious, civil and commercial liberty of every class of citizens. In the presence of foreign agents

and residents he has given a Constitution to the country, which guarantees religious liberty, with security of life and property. It regards all religious ranks and sects as equal in the eye of the law, and abolishes the exclusive privileges heretofore enjoyed by Mussulmen. Thus with a population of two millions, with a fine climate and soil, the kingdom of Tunis has taken its place in advance of many of the Christian kingdoms of Europe, and this propitious state of affairs has been brought about through the influence of evangelical Christianity, and more immediately by the British Consul-General.

But the end of these things is not yet. What is to be the effect of the mission among the Armenians upon Mohammedans, and also upon Greeks and Jews, the future alone will disclose. If the past is a criterion by which to judge, what a glorious prospect opens before us, what great and unexpected changes, what overturnings of dead and false religions. And must not the tide of progress and truth move onward? Is not God in it, and does not he inspire hope and faith? In the commencement and in the successive stages of this work we see unmistakable signs of his providence. It commenced just at the best time. A few years earlier a mission, with any hope of success, would have been quite an impossibility; a few years later the opportunities then offered would have been lost. Just such a chain of circumstances and condition of things were never before known in the Turkish Empire, and would probably never occur again. Providence had prepared the way, not only religiously, as already noticed, but also politically; especially by the destruction of the Janissaries in the year 1827, who were a body of thirty thousand men, holding the power of life and death over the whole population, not excepting the Sultan himself, and before whom the head of a native Christian was not as safe as that of a dog, for dogs are always protected by Mussulmen. With this order of men in power, missions would have been an impossibility, and in its destruction we see the first great change in the Empire preparatory to the Gospel. We behold striking providences in the death of the Sultan in 1839, putting a stop to the per

secutions then raging; in the enlightened and liberal views of the present Sultan, who is a pattern of toleration, a patron of justice, and a protector of the persecuted, under whose power the Christian Hungarian found friendly hospitality and a strong refuge; in his giving to Christians and Jews their Magna Charta of rights, making their lives and property comparatively safe, and permitting them even to testify against a Mohammedan in a Turkish court of justice; in his repealing the death penalty to those who renounced Mohammedanism, and pledging free and equal protection to every faith; and in the Crimean war, which has opened the doors which were closed against the Gospel. Thus has Providence, as by a pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, been leading the mission from one success to another, and opening the way to glorious results. Its battles have been mostly fought for it, and on its banner might well be inscribed, "Salvation is of the Lord." But the pillar of cloud still moves forward, and in the future we behold the Turkish Empire brought under Messian's sway. Great changes are now taking place. Mohammedanism is becoming more serious in its opposition to formal Christianity. But even in this there is hope. What is to be the immediate result of the present agitation none can tell. But truth must in the end triumph. It has taken too deep root in the hearts of the people to die. Trials or persecution will only make it shine with increased lustre. The Armenians have been providentially chosen as the bearers of evangelical truth, and being great travelers, commercial agents, bankers and traders, and scattered in every part of the Empire, they are peculiarly fitted for their great and glorious mission, and are destined to exert a wide-spread influence. In that country are to be fought through the pure doctrines of the Gospel two great battles, one with a formal, the other with a false faith. Like two fortified temples these have stood bidding defiance to all opposition. But the conflict has commenced. The foundation of the one is trembling and giving way, and its pillars are tottering; the structure of the other is crumbling, its doors are ready to yield, or else about to be opened by the inmates, and the assailants

welcomed within. Sooner or later victory is certain. At no distant day we may see inscribed on the banner of religious freedom and Protestantism these three names, America, England and Turkey!

ARTICLE II.-ANGELS.

ANGELS are often referred to in the Bible. The word, according to Webster, means, "literally, a messenger, one employed to communicate news or information from one person to another at a distance." The Hebrew word employed is malak, "angel, messenger;" and the Greek Ayyε20s, angelos, "a messenger; a person by whom news is conveyed, one who announces anything directly, or indirectly by way of omen." These Hebrew and Greek words are sometimes employed to designate, 1. A common messenger, II. Sam. ii. 5. 2. A prophet, Haggai i. 13. 3. A priest, Mal. ii. 7. 4. John, the forerunner, Mal. iii. 1. 5. The pastors of Christian churches, Rev. ii. 1, 8, 12, 18; ii. 1, 7, 14. But generally they are used as names of an order of spiritual beings who are represented as of two classes, good and bad, both of which appear interested in the present conduct and future condition of men. We have already devoted an article to the latter of these classes,* and we now propose to ascertain what the Scriptures teach concerning the former of them. As we have already seen, the name is one of office, but as it is used of a class of beings, we should seek to understand their nature as well as their office, and to this we give our first attention.

Of their nature, we remark, they are spirits. In Psalm civ. 4, it is said of God, "Who maketh his angels spirits ;" and in Heb. i. 14, they are called "ministering spirits.' We do not understand by this term that they are without

*The Devil and his Angels, January, 1858, page 38.