PATMOS. PATMOS is an island of the Ægean Sea, belonging to the Sporades, and situated about thirty miles south of Samos. The name Sporades is derived from the Greek, and signifies to sow, from the scattered position of the islands forming this group. Patmos is of a very irregular shape, about ten miles long, five in breadth, and, according to the best authority, about eighteen in circumference, though this has been much disputed. Tournefort describes it as the most barren rockméchant éceuil-of the Archipelago; and, probably, on this account it was chosen, by the rulers of the Roman empire, as a place of banishment, and for the exile of the apostle John, who was confined here, "for the testimony of Jesus," Rev. i. 9. It is this circumstance which has attached to the island so much of its scriptural interest; apart from which it would be little regarded. When viewed from a distance, and in connexion with the associations which crowd upon the mind, the island presents a very interesting appearance. A writer says: "We saw the peaks of its two prominent hills, but our course did not lie very near it. Still it was intensely interesting to get even a glance of that memorable spot, where the beloved disNOVEMBER, 1847. ciple saw two visions of God; the spot, too, where the Saviour was seen, and his voice heard, for the last time till he come again. John's eye often rested on the mountains and the islands among which we were passing, and on the shores and waves of this great sea; and often, after the vision was passed, these natural features of his place of exile would refresh his spirit." As the coast is approached from the sea, it is found to be high, and comprising many promontories and bays, which give to the whole a very irregular appearance. The only port, however, that is used is a deep bay, sheltered by high mountains on every side but one, where it is protected by a projecting cape, called La Scala. Above the landing-place is a small village, comprising above fifty habitations, and on the edge of a vast crater, sloping off on either side, like the roof of a tiled house. Perry has compared it to "an ass's back," upon the highest ridge of which stands the monastery. The inhabitants, therefore, have no space to exercise, either on foot or on horseback; they can only descend and ascend by the rugged, ill-paved, and very narrow path, that leads to the harbour. The village comprises about four hundred substantial stone houses. Though deficient in wood, the island 2 I has an abundance of plants and shrubs. | author, having obtained permission to Walnuts and other fruits are produced; execute his plan from Alexius, towards and the wine of this isle is considered the end of the tenth century, when he the best of any of those around. Maize retired to Patmos, to avoid the persecuand barley are cultivated, but not in a tion of the Turks. On one of the towers quantity sufficient for the use of the a look-out is maintained for piratical inhabitants, and for the supply of their vessels, the view from hence being so own vessels and others, which put in for extensive that no vessel can approach the provisions. For this purpose, they are island without being perceived. "We furnished with corn from Samos, Smyrna, returned," says a visitor, "to enjoy the and the Black Sea. The island now prospect of this place. The sight was bears the name of Patino and Palmosa, extremely magnificent, as may be conand the inhabitants do not exceed four ceived by any reader who will judge from or five thousand, many of whom are the appearance exhibited by the island emigrants from the neighbouring conti- itself, and by this monastery, at the distance of six leagues at sea. We com nent. which is nearly forty miles from the nearest point of Patmos;" while many of the grandest objects in the Archipelago were spread over the various points to which the eye might be turned. The male inhabitants are chiefly sea-manded the whole island of Amorgos, men, and, from their intercourse with different European nations, they are more enlightened than the generality of the Greeks. The women are much disfigured by their strange costume; their principal employment is the knitting of cotton stockings, which are very durable, and obtain a very high price. The cotton is obtained from the neighbouring continent of Anatolia. Tournefort mentions, that, for every man on the island there are at least twenty women; but this disproportion is probably in consequence of the men being principally at sea. The famous grotto, or cavern, covered by a chapel, where the apostle John is said to have written the Apocalypse under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is situated on the face of the hill, about half way between the town and the port. Some have said that it is not sufficiently spacious to have afforded habitation even for a hermit; but the monks show some crevices in the rock, through which, as they allege, the Divine commands were communicated to the apostle. In point of fact, there is no evidence in the writings of John, that they were produced in any cave; and if they had been, any other cave in the island would have answered the purpose equally well. The fault, however, of regarding statements as correct, when the truth has never been proved, is unhappily not confined to the monks of Patmos. Dr. Clarke states, that, having requested to see the library of the monastery, he entered a small, oblong chamber, having a vaulted stone roof, and found it to be nearly filled with books of all sizes, in a most neglected condition-some lying on the floor, destroyed by damp and worms, and others standing on the shelves, but without any pretensions to orderly arrangement. The books upon the shelves consisted of printed volumes; for these, being more modern, were regarded as the more valuable, and had a better station assigned them than the rest, many of which were only regarded as rubbish. Some of them were tolerably well bound, and in good condition. The Superior said they were his favourites; but when some of them were taken down, in order to examine their contents, it was discovered that neither the Superior nor his colleague were able to read, and all their intelligence consisted in a very confused knowledge of some of their names. end of the room a considerable number of old parchment volumes, some with and some without covers, were heaped on the floor, in the utmost disorder; and there were evident proofs that these had been laid aside and condemned, to The monastery of St. John, as it is styled, answer any purpose for which the parchin memory of the apostle, has several ment might be required; and upon the towers and thick lofty walls, which, if Superior being asked what they were, he duly mounted with guns, might be easily replied, with an expression of indifference converted into a military post of some and contempt, that they were mere manustrength. It is said to have been founded scripts. It was a moment in which the by Alexius Comnenus, in consequence of wonder of the visitors was excited in a the persuasions of Christodulus; but high degree,-for the whole of this conDapper states that the latter was the real temned heap consisted of Greek manu At the scripts, some of them being of the highest | library, he saw on the shelves of the antiquity. Clarke and his companions determined to examine them further, and sought, but in vain, for the manuscript of Homer, said to have been copied by a student from Cos; and they ventured to ask the monks if they knew anything of it? One replied that he did, and should know it if he saw it, and presently produced from the heap a copy of the poems of another author, written on vellum, evidently as old as the ninth century. The cover, and some of the outer leaves, had been torn off, but the rest was perfect; and other appearances demonstrated that it was of great age. What was to be done? asked the visitors of each other-for to have betrayed any extraordinary desire to obtain possession of the treasures would inevitably prevent all possibility of obtaining any of them. "We, therefore," says Dr. Clarke, "referred the matter to Mr. Riley, as to a person habituated to dealing with knavish Greeks; and presently such a jabbering took place, accompanied with so many significant shrugs, winks, nods, and grimaces, that it was plain something like a negotiation was going on. The author, meanwhile, continued to inspect the heap, and had soon selected the fairest specimen of Grecian calligraphy which had descended to modern times. It was a copy of the twenty-four first Dialogues of Plato, written throughout upon vellum, in the most exquisite characters, and bound with wood, in one volume folio; but was falling to pieces from the destruction of worms." Having selected some other valuables, Mr. Riley informed them that the Superior had agreed to sell the few they had chosen; but that even these would be lost if they were exposed to the observation of any of the inhabitants of the town. Just as the bargain was concluded, the French commissary appeared, and finding them busy in the library, said, "Do you find anything worth your notice, among all this rubbish?" The visitors replied, that there were many things they would gladly purchase. "Purchase!" said he, "I should never think of purchasing from such a herd of swine: if I saw anything I might require, I should, without ceremony, put them in my pocket, and say, 'Bon jour It was estimated by Clarke that the number of volumes in the library was about a thousand, of which two hundred were in manuscript. After he left the refectory the most beautiful manuscript of the whole collection, in two folio volumes, richly adorned, called "The Theology of Gregory of Nazianzen," and purporting to be in the handwriting of the emperor Alexius. As a singular circumstance, was side by side with these, a manuscript of the writings of Gregory's greatest admirer, Erasmus. By a successful manœuvre the books that were purchased, and some others of great value, which the Superior added, were secured on board the vessel in which Dr. Clarke and his companions left the island. The time when the island appears in its best position is during the rising and setting of the sun. Whether viewed in dim perspective, through grey and silvery mists, or amidst hues of liveliest purple, the isles and continent of Greece present their varied features, which neither pen nor pencil can adequately portray. Let the reader picture to his conception an evening sun, behind the towering cliffs of Patmos, gilding the battlements of the monastery of the Apocalypse with its parting rays, the island, surrounded by inexpressible brightness, seeming to float upon an abyss of fire, while the moon, in milder splendour, is rising full over the opposite expanse, and he will have a faint idea of the beauty of this spot, as viewed from the sea at the period mentioned. To enjoy, however, the scene in its fulness, can only be done by him who combines, with a sense of the beauties of nature, an appreciation of the solemn grandeur which its connexion with revelation should inspire. F. CHINESE FLOWER-DEALER. I PURCHASED, says Mr. Fortune, a collection of tree peonies during my first visit in the winter of 1843, which were said to be very splendid things, and entirely different in colour from any plants of the kind which were known in England. The history of this purchase is rather amusing, and affords a curious example of the kind of duplicity which I had to contend with. I had drawings with me of various moutan pæonies which were said to exist in the country: and when these were shown to a Chinese nurseryman in Shanghae, he said he could get them, but they were only to be procured at a place called Soo-chou, distant nearly a hundred miles, and that it would be rather expensive to bring them down. I asked him how many kinds there were, what were the colours of their flowers, and, finally, expressed a wish to have a certain number of each. He told me very gravely that he would undertake to send to Soo-chou for them, providing I would pay him at the rate of a dollar for each plant. I was too anxious to get them to make any objection to the price, which, after all, was not much out of the way, if they were to be brought about a hundred miles. In the stipulated time the plants were delivered to me in excellent order, and the money was paid. They were then taken down to Hong Kong, and despatched to England, where they arrived in very fair condition. I had of course no opportunity of seeing their flower at that time; and was now (April, 1844,) anxious to get some more in flower, and intended to send my old friend back again to Soo-chou for another collection, stipulating, however, this time, that all the plants should be in flower, in order that I might have an opportunity of seeing their colours. One morning, however, as I was going out into the country, a short distance from Shanghae, I was surprised by meeting a countryman with a load of moutans in full bloom. The flowers were very large and fine, and the colours were dark purples, lilacs, and deep reds, kinds of which the very existence was always doubted in England, and which are never seen at Canton. Dr. Lockhart, an excellent Chinese scholar, being with me at the time, we soon found out the name of the moutan district; and from the state of the roots in the man's basket, I was quite certain that the plants had not been more than an hour or two out of the ground, and that, therefore, the distance from Shanghae could not exceed six or eight miles, a surmise which we afterwards found to be perfectly correct. This was, doubtless, the place where my nursery friend had procured his plants in the autumn before, and where he would have gone again, had I not been lucky enough to find that I could easily go there myself. Indeed, I afterwards discovered that there was no moutan country in the vicinity of Soochou; having met a man from that place in the Shanghae district, where he had come for the express purpose of buying tree pæonies to take home. I was now out in the moutan district daily during the time the different plants were coming into bloom, and secured some most striking and beautiful kinds for the Horticultural Society. ON ADORATION. THE late Rev. Charles Simeon thus writes to Miss Mary Elliott on his secret experience: "K. C., May 21, 1834. "My beloved Mary,-I could not but weep over your kind and affectionate letter, insomuch that my constant attendant said to me, 'Sir, I fear you have had some bad news to-day.' I thank you most tenderly for all the expressions of your love, of which, alas! I feel myself most unworthy. You evidently do not know my state. It is that of a poor sinner before God; it is that which I ever expected it to be; and, in fact, ever wished it to be. Any other would be utterly unsuited to my whole life. I am I feel I am a brand plucked out of the burning. But, oh, what dreadful marks of the fire upon me to this hour! None but Infinite power could ever fit it for a place in his temple. I do believe God's power sufficient; and I believe the whole plan which Infinite Wisdom has devised for the accomplishment of this great object, is sufficient for the attainment of it. But I cannot forget what I am,-I do not desire to forget what I am,-I am even, so to speak, satisfied with being what I am, that God may be the more glorified. Of course, you will not understand me as saying, that I do not wish to be more holy and heavenly; but simply that, seeing I am what I am, I am willing, yea, desirous that God should be glorified in the salvation of the very chief of sinners. I remember to have shown you a little paper expressing the different parts of religion: 1st. As revealed in the Bible; 2nd. As experienced in the soul; 3rd. As operating towards man; 4th. As operating towards God; each in one word; the word for the last was adoration; for then God is in his place, and the sinner in his. This is my posture; and I would have it as deep as possible. If Job, after seeing God as it were with his eyes, abhorred himself, and repented in dust and ashes, what frame can be so fit for me? Young persons, to whom reconciliation with God is quite a novelty, may have great ebullitions of joy; and others, who have a vivid ima the reasons of my experience, and the frame of mind which I expect on my admission into heaven, if ever I be admitted there; and if you can call anything of it to remembrance, you will see that my last end is in perfect accordance with it.” SUDDEN DEATH. IN his sermon on the death of Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Wardlaw, speaking from the text. Gen. v. 24, "He was not; for God took him,"-after having briefly adverted to the connexion in which it stands, and having just noticed the particulars included in the short but comprehensive description of Enoch's character, he "walked with God,"illustrated the nature of his translation, the interesting lessons taught by it, and the salutary impressions conveyed by it, both in heaven and upon earth; and then the following extract was introduced: gination, may go up to heaven and behold all the glory of it, and join with the heavenly choir in their songs of praise. I have no imagination. I never had. Plain, simple truth has been more in accordance with the natural construction of my mind, and more suited to my taste; and I am inclined to think that God deals with men in a way suited to their constitutional feelings or acquired habits. I do not therefore regret my want of devout and joyful anticipations; for I had peace without a moment's interruption, even the peace that passeth all understanding. But this I bitterly regret; namely, a want of Divine savour on my soul, a want of tenderness of spirit, a want of devout admiration and gratitude. These have solely a respect to God as a part of adoration; but the anticipations of glory have more respect to ourselves, and the blessedness that awaits us. Therefore, as having less to do with the imagination and with self, I prefer the shame and confusion of face, which I am conscious my whole life calls for, and which is less "Next to translation-to those who, open to delusion of any kind. Yet I do by faith in Christ, are prepared for it, not condemn or despise the things which whose sins are forgiven, and whose I lack. I can easily conceive them to be hearts are renewed-stands sudden, imhigh manifestations of a meetness for mediate death. Not, indeed, when merely heaven; but I am not grieved that they sudden; it must have another attribute; do not enter into, and much less charac- it must at the same time, be peaceful. terize, my experience. I have often In every sudden death, when it has been wished that there were more of holy the effect of any frightful accident, reverence in religious people when speak- maiming and shattering the frame-or ing of God, and of the things which he when it has been accompanied by such has wrought for their salvation. I see intense agony as has left upon the counnot an instance of any remarkable mani- tenance giving the conception of the festation of God to man, which did not spirit having been driven out by the very instantly generate in his heart, and pro- force of the sufferings-there is someduce in his act, a lowly reverence and thing from which our minds instinctively self-abasement; and I cannot but think and shudderingly revolt. And there are that the nearer we approach to the eternal some spirits, well am I aware, whose world, the more that feeling should be piety, though deeply sincere, is, from wrought within us. If I recollect aright, constitutional temperament, or from I showed you and your mamma a paper sensitive tenderness of conscience, timid which I drew up for the satisfaction of and self-distrustful-to which the very poor Mr. who thought that my idea of suddenness is in itself startling frequent sighs and groans were indica- and overawing. Yet, when the panting tions of something habitually and essen- breath has been peacefully drawn, and tially wrong in my conduct. Nothing the soul has taken its flight, leaving the but the satisfying of a brother would serene smile of hope and joy on the lips have induced me to put to paper the in--surely to a child of God, to one who, ward experience of my soul. To such like Enoch, has been walking with accusers we are indebted for almost all God,' as all his children should ever be, that we know of Paul's experience. Hav- this must be the nearest approach to the ing written it, I judged it on the whole description of our text, He was not, right not to destroy it, because after my for God took him.' death it may be of some little use to the church of God. But that is a fac simile of this letter; only that it opens distinctly "And such appears to have been the death of that truly great and good man, whose recent departure has stirred so deep |