Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

recovering the Classes alienated from the Church" (Canon Murray, for Canon Ryle, J. G. Talbot, M. P., Lord Forbes, the Rev. T. Hugo, Dean Fremantle, the Rev. J. F. Kitto, Earl Nelson, Mr. Paterson, of Bradford); "Aids to Spiritual Life" (Prebendary Clark, Canon Bell, the Hon. Charles Wood, and others); "The Due Relations of Church and State" (the Earl of Devon; the Rev. J. Bardsley, on the special topic of "The Court of Final Appeal;" Dr. Phillimore, "The Supremacy of the Sovereign over the Church; " Arthur Mills, M.P.; the Rev. Bradmore Compton, and others). Papers were also read on "Church-Bells" (in which competitions for prizes and ringings on secular occasions were deprecated), the Periodical and Daily Press of the Country" (in which ideal journals were delineated by which the Church was to attract all readers toward herself), and "Ministrations to the Sick." Resolutions were adopted declaring "that the promotion of the reunion of their Nonconformist brethren with the Church is a duty binding on all faithful churchmen," and commending to hearty sympathy and active support the "Home Reunion Society," an organization having for its object the promotion of unity without compromise of the faith or constitution of the Church.

66

The Archbishop of Canterbury in September, 1876, sent the following letter to the Colonial Bishops, in relation to the calling of a PanAnglican Synod, to meet in 1878:

RIGHT REVEREND BROTHER: A wish has been ex

pressed by many bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, by the bishops of the Canadian Dominion, and by the West Indian bishops, that a second Conference of our brethren should be held at Lambeth. Before I decide upon the important step of inviting the bishops of our communion throughout the world to assemble at Lambeth, I have thought it right, after consultation with the bishops of England, to give all our brethren an opportunity of expressing their opinion upon the expediency of convening such a Conference at this time, and upon the choice of the subjects which ought to engage its attention if it be convened. I therefore beg leave to intimate to you our readiness to hold a Conference at Lambeth in or about the month of July, 1878, if it shall seem expedient after the opinions of all our brethren have been ascertained; and I need scarcely assure you that your advice is earnestly desired, and will be respectfully considered. May I ask for our guidance whether you are willing and are likely to be able to attend the Conference yourself? Those who were present at Lambeth in 1867 thankfully acknowledge that, through the blessing of Almighty God, the bishops of the various branches of the Anglican Communion were drawn together in closer bonds of brotherly love and sympathy. The help and comfort which are due from the branches of Christ's Church to each other are more readily rendered the more fully each is made acquainted with the wants of the rest. In this time of religious activity and increased intercourse between all parts of the world, there is greater need than ever of mutual counsels among the bishops of our widely-extended communion. The bishops of England, therefore, earnestly ask you to join with them in prayer that we may all be guided to a wise decision on this important matter, and if it should be resolved to hold the Conference, that its delibera

tions may issue in greater peace and strength and energy to the whole Church of Christ. Anxiously awaiting your answer, 1 remain your faithful brother and servant in Christ, A. C. CANTUAR.

The General Synod of the Irish Church met in Dublin, April 20th. The Rev. Lord Plunket offered a motion directing that an alternative form of the service for the ministration of baptism to infants, shorter than that now in use, be added to the present baptismal formularies. The motion was supported by nearly all the laity, but failed to receive the requisite majority among the clergy. The following declaration on the subject of baptism was inserted in the new preface to the Prayer Book:

In the formularies relating to baptism, we have made no substantial change, though some have desired to alter or omit certain expressions touching which diversities of opinion have prevailed among faithful members of our Church. At the same time, ing these formularies hitherto allowed by the genwe desire fully to recognize the liberty of expounderal practice of the Church, affirmed on occasion, by judicial interpretation of law. And as concerning those points whereupon such liberty has been allowed, we hereby further declare that no minister of this Church is required to hold or teach any doctrine which has not been clearly determined by the Articles of Religion.

The rubric which required the reading of the Athanasian Creed on certain occasions was removed, but, in connection with this act, a declaration was passed, that in removing the rubric the Church did not withdraw its witness to the truth of the articles of the Christian Faith contained in the creed.

The annual meeting of the Church Missionary Society was held in London, May 2d. The Earl of Chichester presided. The ordinary income of the society for the year, from associations, benefactions, legacies, and other sources, had amounted to £189,457 178. 1d.; the society had also received funds for special objects, sufficient to make the total income £195,116 88. 1d. The expenditures had been £191,237. The report of missionary operations showed that the society had at present 170 stations, 211 European clergymen, 181 and lay agents, 11 European women-teachers native clergymen, 38 European schoolmasters (exclusive of missionaries' wives), 2,411 native Christian catechists and teachers, and 24,550 communicants. The society had withdrawn from 78 stations, which had been added to parochial establishments in the West Indies, or transferred to the native Church in Sierra Leone, containing 10 native clergy, 4,356 communicants, and 12,866 scholars. New missions had been opened in Persia, and in the Nyanza district, Africa; and the missions in China, Japan, to certain classes of the population in India, on the west coast of Africa, in the transJordanic districts of Palestine, and in the diocese of Saskatchewan, Northwest America, had been extended. At home a conference had been held on missions to Mohammedan people;

liberal gifts had been made for the establishment of new missions. The sum of £12,000 had been subscribed toward the establishment of a mission near the Nyanza Lake. The society had determined not to interfere with the American missions to Mohammedan countries, but to confine its operations in those regions to Palestine. A largely-increased number of candidates for the society's college at Islington was reported, and the institution was now quite full. Forty-six candidates had been accepted during the year, of whom eleven were prepared to go forth at once.

The one hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was held in London, April 27th. The Archbishop of Canterbury presided. The report stated that the collections and subscriptions during the year had amounted to £125,294, and that 528 missionaries were engaged in various fields of missionary work. Among the speakers was Sir Bartle Frere, who spoke of the impressions which had been made upon him during a recent visit to India. He could give a great amount of encouragement to those who were interested in the spread of Christianity in India, for he had just traveled over parts of that country where, when he first went to India, it would have been dangerous to send a missionary or any white man at all; now, in these districts he had found teachers of all denominations of Christianity, busily employed in spreading the truths of the gospel. No doubt could be entertained of the glorious results which would follow this increase of missionary institutions, for wherever he had traveled in India he had found communities of Christian people living under the ægis of the British Government without exciting any feelings of jealousy or ill-will on the part of the native population. The great safeguard of missionary enterprise was, that there was no compulsion, or any use made of the temporal sword to enforce the observance of the principles of the religion disseminated. He found, everywhere, that the missions were in the most flourishing condition, although the cry was still for more hands to assist in the work. The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of the appointment of two new bishops in the diocese of Madras, which had been made during the year, and said that steps were being taken with a view to the foundation of other bishoprics.

The annual meeting of the South American Missionary Society was held in London, April 24th, the Earl of Shaftesbury presiding. The society is constituted for the purpose of making known the gospel to the inhabitants of South America, and it is conducted in conformity with the doctrine and discipline of the Established Church of England. A mission was founded in Patagonia, in 1844, under Commander Allen Gardiner, R. N., but it did not succeed after the death of its founder. The society was reformed in 1852. The Rev. Al

len W. Gardiner, son of Commander Gardiner, commenced in 1861 a mission at Lota, Chili, to the European population. The report gave accounts of the progress of the work in the Falkland Islands, Tierra del Fuego, Uruguay, Brazil, the Amazon River district, and Chili. An important branch of the work was that which addressed itself to Roman Catholics.

ANTONELLI, GIACOMO, cardinal deacon of the title of St. Agatha della Suburra, and subsequently of Santa Maria, in Via Lata (born at Sonnino, States of the Church, April 2, 1806; died at Rome, November 7, 1876). His family was an ancient one in the Romagna, and had produced many priests and historians. He was educated at the Roman Seminary and University, and at twenty-one took the degree of Doctor in the Canon and Civil Law. At twenty-four he passed the examinations and showed the patrimony requisite to enter the Prelature of Justice. After filling minor judicial offices, he was in turn delegate at Orvieto, Viterbo, and Macerata. After the accession of Gregory XVI. he baffled the insurrection in which the subsequent Napoleon III. and his brother took part. Antonelli was then made Secretary-General of the Department of the Interior, and subsequently Minister of the Treasury. He was made cardinal deacon by Pius IX., June 12, 1847, and immediately afterward President of the Consulta of State, and to his death was the masterspirit of the administration of the Pope. He ceased to be minister during the year 1848, being replaced by Mamiani and Rossi. After the fall of the latter, Cardinal Antonelli advised and carried out the flight of the Pope to Gaeta. As minister of Pius IX. he appealed to France, Spain, Austria, and Naples, and represented the Pope at the conference at Gaeta. When the Pope was restored to Rome, after the French conquest of the city, Cardinal Antonelli, as prime-minister, set to work to reform the civil administration, and encourage agriculture and industry. The revolutionary party was, however, active, and an attempt to assassinate the cardinal, in June, 1855, showed how obnoxious he was to them. When, in 1859, revolts began, and Piedmont evidently aimed at seizing the Papal States, the task of Cardinal Antonelli became one of great difficulty. All admit the consummate ability with which as a statesman and a diplomatist he endeavored to avert the blow. When, with the capture of Rome, the last of the temporal possessions of the papacy was wrested from Pius IX., Cardinal Antonelli remained as Secretary of State to the Pope, but, of course, chiefly engaged in the management of the difficult relations forced upon the Holy See by the new order of things. In these he manifested great ability and skill. His appeals to the various powers for a restoration of the Pope's authority failed to effect the result. He died after a brief illness. Though holding so high a position in the papal court, and a cardinal, he never was ordained a priest, or was named to

any bishopric. He was possessed of great wealth, derived entirely from his parents, as he solemnly declares in his will, and at his death left his property mainly to his family. He was a man of taste, had a fine gallery and a remarkable collection of gems, which he bequeathed to the Vatican Museum. He was interred in the cemetery of San Lorenzo, without the walls of Rome.

ARCHEOLOGY. The excavations of Dr. Schliemann in Mycenae and General di Cesnola upon Cyprus have brought to light monuments of ancient art and culture, affording a revelation of the early Greek world, as important and interesting as any archæological discoveries made in modern times. These discoveries were not in any manner accidental. The two explorers are zealous students of archæology, who pursued their investigations with an intelligent preconception of the results, amid many difficulties, and only achieved their great discoveries after long and arduous and expensive preliminary labors. Both explorers, with disinterested generosity, relinquished the pecuniary profits which they might have reaped from their long and difficult investigations, whose expense they had borne unaided, and in which they had embarked their private fortunes. Dr. Schliemann has presented his treasure outright to the Greek Government, and General di Cesnola has abated a considerable profit, in order that, in the interest of science, his collection might be preserved entire, and has delivered it by preference to the study of his fellow-citizens of America. Archæological research has been prosecuted with activity of late also at Pompeii, Rome, and elsewhere. The wealth of art which lies concealed under the soil of Cyprus is probably far from exhausted; and the treasures buried in the ruins of Mycenae are still being unearthed by the energetic German Hellenist. These extraordinary discoveries will probably stimulate antiquarian investigation to new efforts, and further revelations of the life, art, and history of the great nations of antiquity may be yet sifted out of the secular dust of buried cities.

Dr. Heinrich Schliemann, whose archæological discoveries in Asia Minor, and muchdoubted identification of the site of ancient Troy, brought to the enthusiastic explorer rather unmerited ridicule than the honor which belongs to an attempt so disinterested to clear up the history of those races whose splendid deeds were the burden of Homer's song, has made further archæological discoveries this last year in Argolis, which cannot fail to win the applause which his enthusiastic purpose has amply deserved. In excavating upon the site of Mycenæ, Dr. Schliemann has discovered the remains of a well-built city of prehistoric date, and in richly-furnished dwellings and tombs of the same has found relics of a fine art-culture. These discoveries, in confirming Homer's accounts of the culture and advancement of the Argives, go further to establish

the historic truth of the "Iliad" than would the recovery of an authentic record, or the location of all the places mentioned in the epic.

Heinrich Schliemann, whose parents were not wealthy, acquired the knowledge of the Greek language first when he was well advanced in years. Though always showing a love of study, he received no academic education, but entered the employ of a mercantile house at an early age, and in the progress of an industrious commercial career acquired & considerable fortune in St. Petersburg. In the mean time he had learned several modern languages, Greek among them, and gained a good store of general information, and, when at last he had leisure, he devoted himself to the study of ancient Greek, for which he had a longcherished inclination. Impressed with the vivid narrative of the Homeric epos, he became fired with the purpose of restoring to the province of history the stories of the " Iliad," which over-critical modern scholarship had relegated to the land of fable. To this purpose he devoted his leisure and his means and energetic abilities, acquired in the school of practical affairs.

Seeking the ancient Ilion, he excavated in the hill of Hissarlik, which the mass of ancient testimony pointed out as the site of Troy. Here he indeed discovered the remains of a great city of high antiquity, which may very probably have been the Troy of Homer, though that can hardly be proved. His excavations were laboriously pursued on a large scale between 1870 and 1873, his method being to sink vertical shafts and then cut transverse galleries underground. There were found traces of two different cities. The upper one was Greek; and near the surface coins were found of the time of Constantine. From forty to fifty feet below the surface were found the remains of an older town, which the doctor too positively asserts to have been Troy, and which, in his much-criticised book, "Trojanische Alterthümer" (1874), he endeavors to prove. Among the objects disinterred were a rich store of pottery of Oriental form and ornamentation, articles of jewelry, etc. A treasure was found in the ruins of a palace which seemed to have been abandoned in haste; an abundance of red ashes bears witness to a conflagration; a large number of helmeted skeletons, found in what Schliemann identifies as the temple of Athene, the patron saint of Ilion, show that the city was captured and destroyed in war; but there is too little evidence, and the evidence is too inconsistent, to establish its identification with the Homeric Ilion. The inhabitants of this ancient city were of Aryan stock, as is proved by an abundance of Aryan symbols among the relics.

Dr. Schliemann next transferred his operations to Mycenae, the capital of Argolis and seat of Agamemnon. Here again he has been rewarded during the past year, after extensive

and difficult excavations, with rich discoveries of much greater value and interest than his others.

Dr. Schliemann made his first visit to Mycena in 1867, but did not then undertake any extended investigations. He found the well-defined ruins of the ancient Acropolis, which the villagers call to-day the fort of Agamemnon, while they show the treasury of Atreus as Agamemnon's tomb. The citadel is of irregular triangular shape, about 1,000 feet long, and stands upon a small steep hill, between two mountains. The outside walls still exist, standing from sixteen to thirty-nine feet high, according to the nature of the ground, and having a thickness of from sixteen to twenty-three feet. They are built in some places of immense irregular blocks of stone, with the interstices filled up with smaller stones, but oftener of polygonal blocks, so hewn as to fit snugly together; and in the neighborhood of the great gate and in some other places they are of quadrangular dimensions, five to fifteen feet long, three to five high, and three to six in thickness. Within the walls there are terraces rising toward the centre, supported by the outside walls. A passage between the wall of the citadel and an external wall, built to guard the passage, leads up to the great gate, which is situated on the northwest side. The gate is constructed of two large slabs surmounted by another. The gateway is ten feet high and nine wide. Upon the cross-piece rests a triangular stone twelve feet long and nine high, upon which are carved in low-relief the images of two lions standing upon their hind-legs, with their fore-paws resting upon an altar, upon which stands a column, with a capital formed of four circles inclosed in parallel chaplets. This column is said to be the symbol of Apollo Aggieus, the protector of portals. These figures are executed with great finish and fine artistic feeling, in a manner more primitive, or rather more Oriental, than the sculptures of classic Greece. The pavement shows the ruts worn by chariot-wheels, and the stones of the gateway bear the marks of the bolts and hinges. Another gate on the northeast side, formed also of three stones, without sculptures, is seven feet high by four wide. The surface was covered with potsherds and tiles, and the soil below was full of these remains, as Dr. Schliemann had an opportunity to observe in the sides of a ditch dug by the peasants. The treasury of Atreus, shown by the inhabitants as the tomb of Agamemnon, is cut into the side of a hill about three-quarters of a mile from the Acropolis; it faces a deep ravine. A passage 147 feet long by thirty wide, between two walls of hewn stone about thirty feet high, leads to the grand entrance, which is thirteen feet high, with a width of six feet, and is covered with a neatly-dressed solid block of stone, above which is another opening of triangular shape twelve feet in height and the same in breadth, with traces at the base of the pedestals of little col

umns or statues. There stood until modern times a column on either side of the entrance, covered with richly-sculptured ornaments, in a style similar to the sculptures at Persepolis. The marks of bolts and hinges are seen in this portal likewise. The interior consists of two compartments, the first cone-shaped of fifty feet diameter and fifty feet in height, the second quadrangular in form, twenty-one feet square. The walls consist of hewn stones joined without cement, which are pierced with many little holes, in some of which the bronze nails, which they were made to receive, are still remaining. These held the plates of polished metal, with which the chamber once was lined.

Dr. Schliemann carried on his excavations at the citadel rapidly, employing 125 laborers. Around the outer wall of the Acropolis he discovered a circular wall about twelve feet in height, topped with two rows of large slabs, which he supposed to be tombstones. Inside this circular wall the space had been filled up with rubbish. Within this circle and near the two rows of slabs were uncovered two parallel lines of upright slabs, of which seven only are still standing, being about three feet apart, three in one row and four in the other, the latter containing sculptures. One of these has below two circles with spiral ornamentations, and above a design representing a man drawn in a chariot by a horse in rapid motion; in front of the chariot is another design of a man with a long lance, near whose point is an object resembling an idol; and behind it is carved the head of a spear. Another slab contains representations of serpents whose coiled folds form regular designs of great beauty.

Pausanias speaks of the sepulchre of Atreus, and the tombs of the companions of Agamemnon who were slain treacherously by Ægisthos, and that of Agamemnon and his charioteer, Eurymedon, in which were also buried the twins, Teledamos and Pelops, children of Cassandra, which were destroyed by Ægisthos, and that of Cassandra, which was doubted by the Lacedæmonians. Ægisthos and Clytemnestra, he says, were buried without the wall, being deemed unworthy of resting within the sacred inclosure. Pausanias could not have seen these tombs, which had long before his day been buried from sight. There is every probability that these tombstones were erected on the spots indicated by tradition as the tombs of Agamemnon and his companions; the sculptures are apparently of the same style as the lions of the gate, and different from any other Greek remains.

Below the row of three tombstones he came upon a square tomb, 264 feet by 11 feet, at a depth of fifteen feet or more below the surface of the rock, and fifty-three feet at least below the Acropolis. The wall which supports the circular parallel rows of slabs traverses this tomb, and hence belongs to a later age. The

contents of the tomb were probably removed when the wall was built. Thirteen gold buttons only were found remaining, on which pretty spiral ornaments were engraved, and on some of them the sign sometimes called the Svastika or Arani, from its similarity to the Indian symbols of those names. Numbers of gold blades were also found scattered about in confusion, containing indented circular and spiral ornaments. Under the other row of tombstones was, beneath two of them, an oblong excavation, 11 feet broad by 21 in length, and 14 feet deep. Around its four sides is a cyclopean wall, five feet high and two feet thick. This contained bodies, surrounded by black ashes and covered by a layer of large stones, which shows that they had been burnt. One of the corpses was covered with five great leaves of gold, forty-seven to sixty-three centimetres long and some six and a half centimetres in breadth, upon which were crosses of gold-foil eighteen centimetres long and four broad. There were also four gold blades of a round shape, and numerous other ornaments.

About this spot he found twelve different sepulchres, and a cyclopean house which also had once served as a tomb. In this house he found ashes of wood and animal matter, some baked grain, a jasper weight, whorls of blue stone, and some archaic vases, one of which contained an interesting painting of two swans. He conjectures that each of the slabs in the double circular row marks the place of a tomb. The circumference of the circle is 555 feet. Of archaic sculptures he found two fragments of porphyry columns, one of them with a frieze of gray-stone, the former bearing a bassrelief representing a hall with seats and at each end a rose, and the latter covered with spiral ornamentation.

Near the gate of the lions he discovered a great treasury containing many precious articles. It is dome-shaped like the treasury of Atreus, with an entrance thirteen feet long, and a roof of four slabs eighteeen and one-half feet in length. It was evidently covered up at an early period, and was probably a secret subterranean royal treasure-chamber. In the treasury there were many ancient Juno idols, a female shape, rudely made, with a head either round or oblong, and large eyes, some having a diadem, and some with, others without breasts. Other idols represent a female form with hands stretched out, with horns starting below the breast and meeting in the form of a semicircle. Male idols of Oriental type have bare heads with incised diadems and a star in front, a long aquiline nose, and an Assyrian beard. There were also very ancient Juno idols in the form of a cow, with painted red or black ornaments. The idols were mostly found about the treasury, except the Juno idols, of which several hundreds were collected in different parts of the Acropolis, and a bird-headed idol with a bowlshaped protuberance, on which, sometimes, a cross was painted. There were other idols

with round bodies; and female forms with cow's-heads were found on vase-handles. A porphyry form-stone had upon it the patterns of fifteen different descriptions of ear-rings and other articles of jewelry. In bronze, five knives, two small wheels, two lances, two double-edged hatchets, two vases and four others mutilated, tripod, and hairpins, were found together. A number of perforated agates showed figures of animals in intaglio, done in an archaic style, some of them quite artistically, which evidently belonged to necklaces. Vases were found in great numbers, and painted with the greatest variety of design. Most of them had both outside and inside paintings. Small balls of white glass and perforated pieces of a black kind of glass, which probably served as wall-ornaments, were found in numbers, as well as small cones with spiral lines upon them. Large, tall goblets with one and two handles recall the goblets mentioned by Homer. A disk and two idols were found containing inscriptions which have not yet been deciphered. Among the pottery were pieces with the forms of men, holding their horses' necks with both hands, modeled upon them, and horses rudely painted upon their bases. A portion of a necklace with three beads of different materials strung upon a copper wire was found in the treasury. The fragment of a white-marble frieze has spiral ornaments. Above the entrance to the treasury were the remains of a dwelling, apparently of the Macedonian epoch.

At the gate of the lions, beneath the ruins of a Greek dwelling, there was a series of ancient walls and corridors, one of which leads to the cyclopean house excavated near the tombs. Here Juno idols were found in abundance, and some interesting arrows, one copper-headed, and one with a head of iron. Next the circular rows of slabs, at another point, were found a wooden fish, a sceptrehead of green-stone carved in the form of a human countenance of Egyptian type, and numbers of Juno idols, some of them in the form of a cow, standing or sitting, hornless and with a female head-dress, and other idols of new forms. Two knives and two arrows of obsidian, many perforated glass beads, and a small glass disk with a finely-executed impressed image of a fly, were also found here.

To the south of the circle of tombstones a vast cyclopean house was excavated, of five or more chambers and four intersecting corridors, and a deep cistern and conduit. Traces of the clay coating still adhere to the walls in parts. This building, the doctor pronounces, was the royal palace. In this house many most interesting implements and articles of jewelry were discovered. A finger-ring of onyx has an intaglio of two figures of cows without horns, in an archaic but elaborate manner. Disks of serpentine and agate, which were evidently necklace-beads, contain incised spiral ornaments and the figures of horses and deer. An inter

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »