translation of the Scriptures, so much praised now by biblical scholars, was made, down through the sad days of Moslem conquests and the Crusades, to the civil wars with the Druzes of our own times.

As to the race they must be considered of pure Syrian stock, the descendants of the ancient Aramaic kingdoms of Damascus and Hamath, whose contests with the Israelites under David and his successors are so frequently mentioned in sacred history. Their origin as a distinct sect, however, was during the strange times of the later Constantines. There is certainly not a more singular spectacle in history than that which the Eastern Empire then presented of a country ruined apparently by the Christian religion. The whole population seemed to be composed of furious zealots, persecuting and persecuted, and delighting in the strangest and most unaccountable heresies, each, as it arose, bringing new wars and new desolations. Between these contests of councils, bishops and patriarchs the very spirit of Christianity departed forever. Meantime, year by year the empire itself grew weaker from these ceaseless commotions, which proved to be a fearful preparation for a wonderful invasion that came like a Simoom from the sands of Arabia, bringing with it the religion of the false prophet and the empire of the Caliph.

Prominent among these rebellious sects were the Monothelites, whose distinctive dogma was that though the Saviour had two natures, he had but one will. That being purely divine, it is difficult to see in what his humanity consisted, as they vehemently scouted its being restricted to a human body. Nevertheless, the new heresy made progress in every direction, as usual. The Bishops of Antioch and Alexandria, the Emperor of Constantinople, and Honorius, Pope of Rome, all become heretics together, but nowhere did the new doctrine take such deep root as among the mountaineers of Lebanon, owing to the preaching and sanctity of St. Marone, one of its most distinguished teachers. Soon, however, a new Constantine arose who was orthodox and who lost no time in convening the Sixth General Council of Chalcedon, in which the Monothelites were excommunicated, and their eminent teachers, in

cluding the Pope Honorius, (who however was then dead), were, to quote an old Catholic historian, "chained down in the bonds of anathema and expelled the church."

Accordingly the emperor straightway set about pulling up this new tare of Satan, and as far as the Eastern and Western churches were concerned succeeded, but the Maronites of Lebanon obstinately refused. A large army was despatched to bring them back to the fold. The well tilled plains around the base of Lebanon were laid waste, the villages destroyed and their inhabitants massacred or sold into slavery. This accomplished, the orthodox host began to ascend the mountain range and encamped on the plateau of Koora, above Tripoli, among the olive groves of the plain. A furious onset was suddenly made on the camp by the Maronites, who rushed down from the lofty hights above, and, though met at first by a stout resistance, the rout of the Imperial army at last became total, and their two generals were slain while endeavoring to make a stand at the village of Amanoon. Their foes, whether out of respect to their courage, or to commemorate their great victory, raised two monuments over their graves, which remain to this day.

The Byzantine government had soon to abstain from such senseless measures in a struggle for its very existence with the Moslem. The prophecy which was uttered twenty-three centuries before, that Ishmael should become a great nation, was now wonderfully fulfilled when the Caliph Waleed in his divan at Damascus received at the same time despatches from his generals 'Abd er Rahman, who had crossed the Pyrenees, and Mahommed Kasim, who had crossed the Ganges. It is difficult for us now to realize the intense feeling which the sudden appearance and appalling progress of the Islam excited throughout the Christian nations. However bitter were the contentions with each other about various dogmas, yet the great doctrine of a Divine Saviour was reverently cherished by both East and West; but now from the hot sands of Arabia arose countless winged hosts, like those other resistless messengers of devastation, the desert born locusts, who hastened to spread a gloomy form of monotheism by the sword. To the Christian it was left either

to apostatize or to exist under ceaseless contumely and insult for the sake of his faith, that made life itself bitter. Once imbued with the teachings of Mohammed, the spirit of an insolent intolerance kindles in the devotee's breast, which causes him to omit no opportunity to wound the most sacred feelings of all other religionists. It has been the fashion with many writers who affect impartiality, to speak lovingly of Islamism and to style Mohammed the Arabian Reformer. We only wish that our philosophers, before they began to write about Islamism, could but be made themselves to taste some of the fruits which grow on this tree, (happily in a far different and distant clime from ours), and then let us hear their verdict. But a few years ago it was the law of the Turkish empire that no Christian should presume to dress in any color but black, to be addressed as Sir, to pass on the right hand of a Moslem, to give the salutation of peace, to build a two-story house if his Moslem neighbor had but, one-story, to testify in a court of justice against a true believer; while in commemoration of his submission, " with his face to the ground," (in the language of Caliph Omar's compact), to the sword of Islam, he was to pay once a year a capitation tax, which done he was to receive a slap on the nape of the neck. The slightest outward prosperity was begrudged them, not by the ignorant mob alone, but still more by the Imam and men of learning. "Cursed be he who clothes them with the garment of happiness," says Ibn el Werdi, one of the greatest of Mahommedan jurists and one of the first Arabian poets. Righteously did the great heart of Europe swell with indignation at the outrageous infidel, for we cannot but feel that the Crusades, like all the mighty stirrings of the masses, occurred because the deepest sentiments of justice and religion were roused, and which scarce the reverses and disasters of three centuries could extinguish.

Meantime, against the Moslems the Maronites of Lebanon made a gallant stand, and even gained ground on warriors before whom the nations trembled. Led by a noble and warlike family of Emirs, who dwelt on the high ranges above Beyroot and Tripoli, they drove the Saracens to the very gates of Damascus, until the Caliphs were obliged to surrender to them

the government of the whole mountains from Aleppo to Jerusalem. But it was an unequal contest, and step by step they had to recede to their own Lebanon, until even its southern half became a desert, as the Arab tribes, the ancestors of the Druzes, found it when they took possession in A. D. 821. We can well understand therefore with what joy they hailed the approach of a mail-clad host, proudly carrying before them that same dear emblem, the cross, which they had seen for so long under foot.

The Crusaders, on the other hand, could not but welcome the aid of a warlike Christian tribe, and accordingly, after exchanging "tender sentiments of fraternity," says William of Tyre, "they addressed themselves unto these fideles of Lebanon, as unto wise and sober-minded men, and having an exact knowledge of roads and localities, to ascertain what would be the safest and most practicable way to Jerusalem." But here was a serious difficulty-the Maronites were heretics! However, by a skillfully regulated cession of religious points on both sides, a treaty was at last ratified. The Maronites consented to abjure their dogma, which in truth few of them could comprehend, and to acknowledge the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff, but the priests would not give up their wives nor the people their saint. The pope, therefore, granted a license to the priests to marry, to elect their own bishops and patriarchs, and to retain their ancient Syriac liturgy, while he agreed to say nothing relative to the post mortem whereabouts of St. Marone. The Maronites have ever since been zealous papists, though often sorely chafed when their opponents twit them with the fact that the church has undeniably cast their beloved apostle into outer darkness. There is no doubt that were it to come to the pinch, they would follow him there also, as their reverence for the monk of the Orontes falls little short of deification. "Where shall I place him!" exclaimed a famous Maronite preacher, waxing warm in a sermon on the saint's fast day. By Elijah? A greater than Elijah is here. By the prophet Daniel? Higher yet he stands. Where shall I place him?" "You may place him," interrupted a Greek in the audience, "in my seat, for I am going out!"

When the power of the Crusaders waned, the Maronites had to share their reverses with them, and rather than carry a Moslem yoke, many of them left their native land to follow their brethren, when they evacuated Syria. A Maronite battalion fell sword in hand in defense of Cyprus against the Turks, and, at this time, a large portion of the population of Malta is derived from the Syrian refugees, as their singular language attests, being a genuine Arab stock grafted with a twig from half the dialects of Europe. Meantime many sorrows befell those that remained. The destroyer Tamerlane well nigh exterminated them, and after him the Moslem Sultans erected a number of strong castles, in which they placed a set of Turcomen and Metawileh robber chiefs, who exhausted every means of cruelty upon the unfortunate Christians. By these long continued oppressions their ancient warlike spirit was broken; and though they were freed from these tyrants by the strong arm and generous heart of the Emir Fukhreddeen Maan, the governor of the Druzes, yet they have never recovered their old military qualities. Ever since his time, however, they have been steadily increasing in numbers and wealth, so that at present, throughout Syria, we think they cannot fall much short of three hundred thousand. Where they are allowed freedom of action, they prove themselves enterprising and industrious, but in their own district in Lebanon, called the Kesrawan, the land has passed almost wholly into the possession of the convents, which crown almost every mountain top, so that the people are generally greatly impoverished. Would that this was the only evil the Maronites have had to suffer from the power wielded over them by their hierarchy, for their patriarchs and bishops have been among the prime originators of every civil war that has recently devasted Lebanon. Still their progress of late years has been truly remarkable and encouraging. With the conquest of Syria by Mohammed Ali, in 1831, came a great change in the condition of the Christians. The Egyptian government seemed to relish nothing better than to thwart and put down Moslem fanaticism, and to give freedom to Christian advancement, whether European or native. European trade began slowly to return to those fertile regions