either Suez or Port Saïd. I remained until committees were formed at Port Saïd for church and hospital, the free grant of land, worth fully £3,000, was obtained; a year ago a chaplain was sent out. His chief work is ministering to the sailors on board ship and in hospital. £1,000 have been collected for a British hospital, and £300 subscribed towards the church. The fittings of a hospital, founded with much care at Cairo, but from economical considerations ordered to be closed, when tens of thousands of pounds were being expended in less useful ways, have most generously been transferred by the founder for the use of the British hospital at Port Saïd when it is built. A British hospital at Port Saïd might become, if there were a dispensary attached to it, the central point whence blessings might flow through the Eastern Delta, and the hospital itself would be the greatest boon that could be granted to our sailors, who are so apt to be maimed in the pressure of speed, the grand desideratum of the day. One hundred and ninety-nine English sailors had to be sent into the miserable Egyptian hospital last year. I could tell sad stories of the sorrows there, and I plead with all my soul that the people of England will accept it as a religious duty to provide, not only a hospital, but a church upon the land that has been obtained at that part of the world which separates, or rather, I might say, which now unites, England with her Imperial possessions in the East. It is a most important place, and were England to accept the Congress motto, "Be just, and fear not," the principle that "righteousness exalteth a nation" would guide her path in the way of peace, and, instead of being harassed by many little wars, she would gain influence, not only in Egypt, but even through the wild regions of Arabia, and among the hills and valleys of the Holy Land.

Medical Missions in various districts would prove our charity and good-will. The gift of healing is not really lost to the Church when she brings it as a blessing to the afflicted and the poor. By efforts which England could encourage, misery could be alleviated, lives could be saved in that same Egypt where so many wounds have been made, so many lives have been taken, among the very people who scarcely know what to think of the friendship the English profess.

The religious interests that are inseparable from Egypt are so important we should not let them pass away when we hear of some little successes. England should not assume the passive expression of the Sphynx when there are active duties to be done. It may be the fashion of the day for the Church to watch and wait, but surely the time has come to move forward, and where there is work to be done for the good of others let her lead the way.

I shall never forget visiting a number of Jews at Suez, who had been driven out of the southern part of Arabia, and had come by Egypt on their way to the Holy Land; there were their priests, their wives, and their children, and as they sat calmly in the Khan listening to the reading of the Law, as one after another went up to read a portion, coming events seemed to cast their shadows before. These people passed through the canal that has become the highway of the world; they were making for that same goal which the Israelites made for under the guidance of Moses, but they were going another way. Shall the Church remain passive when there is much to be done where England's influence might be so strong. The opening out of Egypt

may lead to new discoveries that will quicken the energies of explorers after the history of the past, but religious duties lead us rather to look for opportunities in the present to clear the way of every obstacle that might hinder the spread of Christ's kingdom in the world.

Let us beware lest we take more interest in, and spend more money upon, excavating old temples in Egypt than in building and founding new churches there. There is much to be discovered that is open to our view, and if we accept the Scriptures as our guide in preference to imaginations, we shall find more truths to quicken our interest in the land which still contains people who are in a bondage that is tighter than that of Pharaoh, for it has possession of the mind.

The subjects I have touched upon are of more than National importance. I have pointed to what England might eventually do, but I have also shown that works have already been begun in which every Englishman may help who wishes to fulfil his religious duty towards Egypt now.

DISCUSSION.

The Rev. CHARLES R. HALE, D.D., Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

66

AN extempore speaker, in addressing the Church Congress, after the reading of four so interesting and thoughtful papers as those to which we have just listened, labours under the disadvantage of finding that much that he had in mind to say has already been said, most fittingly, by others. And yet, there are two or three points to which I would venture to ask your attention for a few moments. I was very glad that one of the gentlemen who preceded me, having occasion to speak of the well-meaning, but, in some important respects, as we believe, mistaken labours of certain Christian teachers in Egypt, spoke of those teachers as American Presbyterian Missionaries." On several occasions I have noticed that they were spoken of simply as "American Missionaries," and this, not only by Eastern Christians, but by prominent members of the Church of England. Now, I beg you to believe that Americans, as such, strenuous for their own independence, are also careful to respect that of others. When you hear that American missionaries have attempted to win converts from the Church of the East, you may set it down that they certainly were not missionaries of the American Church. The spirit in which this Church labours may be seen by what it has done in Greece. Two months ago there died in Athens, the widow of the Rev. Dr. Hill, who with his wife was sent to Greece more than fifty years ago, by the American Church, to assist the Greeks, impoverished by their long war of independence, in the education of the young, and especially in the training of their daughters. Winning the respect and confidence of all orders of the clergy and of the laity, from the king to the peasant, thousands of Greek women rise up to call those blessed who, without shaking in any way their ancestral faith, while training their minds in useful knowledge, brought them up "in all virtuous and godly living." And many facts show that the good influence has not been confined to the female sex. The present Archbishop of Syria and Tenos, the admirable successor of the well-known Alexander Lycurgus, was for years a teacher in Dr. Hill's school, and is not backward to acknowledge how he was benefited by the association with Dr. and Mrs. Hill, and by what he saw of the results upon the pupils of the training in their school. He has recently issued two pastoral letters to the people of his diocese, urging upon them, with great force, the duty of reading God's Word, and of hallowing God's day. One of the speakers mentioned the Orthodox Church in Egypt, under the charge of the venerable Patriarch of Alexandria, Sophronius. Having had occasion, by direction of the Bishop of the American Church, to address several communications to hierarchs of the Orthodox Eastern Churches, I have received, in reply, most courteous responses, but from none more hearty than from the aged Patriarch of Alexandria, who expresses his deep interest in, and assures us of his earnest prayers for, the cause of

church unity. To come now to the Copts. It is not yet quite clear how far they are committed to the erroneous views as to the Incarnation of our Blessed Lord, which have been ascribed to them. It would appear that the non-acceptance of the Council of Chalcedon by the greater part of the Christians of Egypt, was from a belief that their Patriarch-whatever may have been his faults-was unjustly condemned by that Council, rather than from any dissent from the doctrines which that Council enunciated. The native Christians of Egypt, for the most part standing by their Patriarch-as you would stand by your Bishop, if you thought him falsely accused-and the Greeks in Egypt accepting the Council, two Churches have in that land grown up side by side, differing in race and language. Though friendly relations now exist between the two Churches, the very fact that the Orthodox Church in Egypt is still a Greek Church, prevents its having much influence on the Copts. May we not hope that the Anglican Church, coming in as a friend to both, may do something toward restoring the lost harmony between the two bodies. As has been said by a previous speaker, there are certain things in the Anglican Church which seem suspicious to Eastern Christians. We think that we can give such explanation as to those points, as to show that the doubts as to our orthodoxy are not well founded. Let us, as we wish our explanations to be accepted, at least give careful consideration to such explanations as they may offer, as to points on which we seem to differ. Many centuries ago, a conference was held between representatives of the Greek and of the Armenian Churches. One of the rules agreed upon for this conference was something like this :-" When a statement is made which seems to those of the other side erroneous, let it not be at once concluded that it is so, but let care first be taken to ascertain what was meant by the person making the statement." Acting on such a rule, may we not, in time, when the Copts assure us that they do not hold the doctrines ascribed to them, be able to persuade them to give up statements of doctrine which, though they may, perhaps, admit of an orthodox meaning, seem at least as capable of being otherwise understood, and likely to lead into error, and so bring the Coptic Church of Egypt into full communion with the Church Catholic.

The Right Rev. the LORD BISHOP OF GIBRALTAR.

THERE can be no doubt in the mind of any Englishman, worthy of the name, that the first religious duty which at the present moment we owe to Egypt is the relief of one of England's noblest sons, who, deserted in the hour of sorest need, has been upholding with two brave English comrades our country's honour at Khartoum. If it be said that this is not a religious, but a moral duty, I answer that the religion of our Divine Master covers the whole area of moral duty. But I am not going to speak about this duty; for it would be impossible to speak about it without trespassing on the forbidden ground of politics. Another most important religious duty which we owe to Egypt is the suppression of the slave trade. Egypt, in this sense at any rate, should be made British soil, that none should set foot on it from henceforth, and remain a slave. We are told that the track of the Arab trader across the sands of Africa is marked by long lines of bleaching skeletons. The horrors of the middle passage across the Atlantic are equalled, if they be not surpassed, by the horrors of the middle passage across the Continent of Africa. Now it may be quite beyond our power to abolish completely this inhuman and abominable traffic; we are certainly not bound in duty to carry a crusade against the traffic into the heart of Africa, and set at liberty every slave-gang there; but we are bound in duty to continue the work which Sir Samuel Baker and General Gordon began, and to stop the demand for slaves, so far as Egypt is concerned. Whether this duty be, or be not, among the religious duties contemplated by those who appointed this subject for discussion, none can deny that it is a religious duty, and one of such magnitude, that in comparison with it all other duties which we owe to Egypt, social, political, moral, religious, sink into absolute insignificance. But we have other duties. There are Christian Churches in Egypt, some sick unto death; and to these Churches we owe a duty. How is that duty to be performed? Are we to follow the example of the American missionaries? Their method is to make converts from those Churches, and so disintegrate them bit by bit. Now I am reluctant to say a word against the American missionaries; they have laboured hard in the East for the good of the oppressed, the down-trodden, the ignorant, while our own Church has done little or nothing. And in the performance of every

educational, philanthropical, or missionary work which they have taken in hand, they have exhibited a patience, a perseverance, a power of enduring hardness, a spirit of self-sacrifice which have rarely, if ever, been surpassed. But I cannot help feeling that the course which they have adopted in dealing with these ancient and historical Churches is radically wrong in principle, and that we ought not to follow in their steps. Corrupt and degraded as some of these Churches are, they are dear to the people as having been the means of preserving their separate national individuality; and whatever of Gospel truth has survived in the East during the long dark night of Moslem misrule. Instead of killing the life which still smoulders in these Churches, our efforts should be to fan it into a more vigorous flame. But how? Many ways may be named. We can educate; we can supply books, Commentaries on the Bible, and the like. Eventually we may bring a few promising youths to England, and educate them there at a Theological College, or at one of our Universities. We may follow the noble example set us by Miss Whately, and establish schools in Cairo, and at Alexandria. This plan we tried forty years ago. The Church Missionary Society, with the approval of Archbishop Howley, and the Patriarch of the Coptic Church, established a school at Cairo, and maintained it for about a year. But the Archbishop died; enthusiasm cooled; funds failed, and so the enterprise was abandoned. We may now try the plan again. Circumstances are more favourable. We are now masters of Egypt, or might be if we could only rise to the full stature of our responsibilities. But if we really desire to keep our Christian brethren in Egypt, our first care should be to give them a model in our own Church. Send a Bishop to the East. If you will not call him Anglican Bishop at Jerusalem, call him by some other name; call him Bishop of the English in the East, or call him Bishop of the English in the Levant, call him by what name you please-the name is of little importance. What is of importance is, that he should be a true representative of the Church of England to the Christians of the East. Let his first labour be to provide for the wants of our own people in Egypt. Dean Butcher has told us that there is much work to be done at Cairo. Canon Scarth has told us that there is much work to be done among the British sailors at Port Said. The chaplain at Alexandria would tell us that there is much work to be done among our sailors there. After our own Church has been set in order, then its Chief Pastor may approach the authorities of the Coptic Church. But he should proceed with tact and caution, removing misconception, allaying suspicion, winning confidence. If he see that reform is needed in any of the Churches with which he may be brought in contact, he should promote the work of reform, not however by proselytising, but by exhibiting a purified Christianity such as these Churches may embrace, in the services which he and his clergy hold, and the doctrines which he and his clergy preach in their own English churches, and in the lives which he and his clergy live, the examples which he and his clergy set, in their own English homes.

The Very Rev. J. S. Howson, D.D., Dean of Chester.

THE very few minutes at my disposal will amply suffice to enable me to touch three parts of our great subject, and three places in the land of Egypt. The first of these places is Port Said. You have heard what has been said by Canon Scarth, whose own admirable exertions in that place deserve the utmost gratitude from Englishmen. For reasons which he has mentioned, and for other reasons, the thoughts of our countrymen ought to be directed with the utmost care to this point. Surely it has a claim on our attention as the Mediterranean Gate to the Indian Ocean, and for the sake of its connection with our trade and our naval and military power. But, besides that, it is one of the most wicked places on the whole earth. Its population is largely made up of the dregs of the worst parts of many nationalities. Hence it is a great field for missionary exertion. For these reasons Port Said presents a golden opportunity for the exercise of our best English philanthropy under a sense of duty. The next place to which I turn my attention is not Alexandria. If I were to speak of our duties to Alexandria I might be talking about politics. In passing, I will only make one short remark concerning that place. Dean Butcher spoke of the energy of the Germans in building a Church, and doing other work of the same kind on ground placed at their disposal, while we did nothing of this nature, although we had the same advantages.

Now, there is a building in Alexandria with which I am well acquainted. It is an institution of German women-German deaconesses; and when we bombarded Alexandria and reduced it to ruins, these women said "This is our opportunity. This will bring us sick and wounded men, and here we women will remain." I tell you this in passing, because an allusion was made to Germany. The city of which I wish to speak is Cairo. Oh, how beautiful is Cairo. Oh, what a sadness comes over the heart of any man who was there two and a half years ago. I will not say anything about our duty in regard to the English Church in Cairo. The last time I had the honour of meeting Sir F. Goldsmid in Cairo, was when he was on a most practical committee, in the proceedings of which he took a very active part, established to improve our Church in that place. I wish we had many others who would follow his example, both in that matter and in the public utterance of such words as he, with full knowledge, has spoken to us here. I wish to say a word about the Copts, following the line indicated by the Bishop of Gibraltar. I will not go far into theological questions, for they might divert us from the consideration of our present duty to Egypt. I may just add to what the previous speaker said, in reference to differences of religion between ourselves and the Copts, that if a difficulty arises from an addition made to the Nicene Creed, in contravention of the decree of a council, there is a greater difficulty with regard to another creed of a later date. Our formula, too, of ordination is extremely different from that of the Copts and Greeks; and, in fact, different from anything ever used until the reign of King Edward VI. We were speaking yesterday in this room of the Anglican Bishopric at Jerusalem, and of the necessity for some change; but that See is vacant, and our congregations in such places as Beyrout, Alexandria, and Cairo, are destitute of any Episcopal superintendence. It is quite evident from what has been said about the complication of the Eastern Ecclesiastical Question, that what we want is not only schools and societies, but likewise a responsible Bishop, who would be in communication with us at home, and who, in mind and heart, could put himself in contact with those interesting and, as I can testify, most friendly Oriental Christians. I said yesterday, that if all our foreign chaplaincies were placed under the care of two Bishops, I would rather, instead of following a line from east to west, strike a line (speaking generally) from north to south, say from Stockholm to Cadiz, so as to give jurisdiction over all the congregations in the Levant to a Bishop, whose duty it would be to give his attention to subjects kindred to those places, which are very different from the subjects we come in contact with, either among the Lutherans in Scandinavia, or the Roman Catholics in Italy, France, and Spain. The third subject to which I turn is the question of slavery, and the third place is Khartoum. I have been encouraged to do so by the extreme bravery with which speakers here have faced the question of politics, or rather have risen above it. I think that if we do not criticise the conduct of any Government, or prescribe methods for any Cabinet, present or future, but if we look at the great responsibility which circumstances have laid upon us as a Christian nation, we may speak quite freely. Various things have been said about the administration of justice, and the promotion of farming and agriculture in Egypt, and the building up of the people into a higher and nobler condition than that which they have attained. All this is admirable; but first, this requires confidence, and secondly, it requires time. If these poor, degraded, trampled people are told we are going to leave them in one or two years, how is it possible that confidence can be given to them? It cannot be done. Philanthropy in a country like Egypt is impossible without the confidence that plenty of time will be at command. These poor people, who from the time of the Pharaohs, all through the Roman Empire, and the Middle Ages, and down to our own days, have been crushed into political dust-how long will it take them to build themselves up into a strong, self-sustaining nation? We are made of better stuff than they are; and it has taken us several centuries of conflict, war, and struggle, to obtain that self-confidence which makes us what we are, and which invests us with the responsibility of exercising a commanding influence upon others. The Bishop of Gibraltar managed to condense a great deal into a proverb. I will condense all I have to say now into a very short sentence, which seems to me to express our duty to Egypt. It is this, "Rescue and remain."

The CHAIRMAN

THEN called upon the Rev. T. P. Hughes.