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ly delighted with this copious and complete translation. Please the most merciful God, we shall command the select servants, who are admitted to our presence to read to us the above-mentioned Book, from the beginning to the end, that we may, in the most minute manner, hear and comprehend its contents.

"Your Excellency will be pleased to rejoice the hearts of the above-mentioned, dignified, learned and enlightened Society, with assurances of our highest regard and approbation, and to inform those excellent individuals, who are so virtuously engaged, in disseminating and making known the true meaning and intent of the holy Gospel, and other points in sacred books, that they are deservedly honoured with our royal favour. Your Excellency must consider yourself as bound to fulfil this royal request.

(Sealed)

"Given in Rebialavil, 1229,

"FATCH ALI SHAH KAJAR."

It may be proper to observe, that the Petersburgh Bible Society has determined to print an edition of Mr. Martyn's Persian translation, for the western provinces of Persia; some of which are subject to Russia. This work is now in the press, and Sir Gore has undertaken to correct the proof sheets, while he continues at Petersburgh.

It is with the greatest pleasure that we observe a communication from the Missionaries in Tartary, to the Directors of the Edinburgh Missionary Society, dated the 1st of May, 1814, stating the following particulars:-" Since we began to write, a letter, addressed to all the Missionaries,

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• While some Christians condemn, it appears that even some Mohammedans are sufficiently enlightened to approve the exertions of the Bible Society.

has been received from two of the principal Effendis, in the Kabardian country. These two Effendis profess a very great friendship for us, and beg us to send to them an Arabic and a Turkish Testament. The following is an extract from the letter:- We are friends to the saved of Jesus, and to the lovers of his glory. We wish to see the statutes of the New Testament, and to compare it with the Koran. All who keep the statutes of the New Testament, we hold as friends.""

Though we have no accounts, either from Turkey, or Arabia, which indicate a desire to become acquainted with the Gospel, we have information sufficient to satisfy us, that in both, the seeds of a revolution have been sown, and though we must expect their growth to be gradual, it is likely to be sure. In the Turkish empire, there are many persons of rank and figure who take to themselves the name of Muzerim, i. e. "We have got the secret." The secret they have got, is, that Mohammedism is an imposture. They seem, indeed, to reject Revelation altogether. It was from infidels that popery received its mortal blow; and it is likely enough that from men of the same character, Mohammedism may suffer its fatal thrust. It is a work for which Christians are utterly incapacitated. When an old house is to be pulled down, every man that can handle a pick, or a hammer, is useful: but the raising of a new fabric, requires the hand of a skilful artist. It is remarkable, that in the vast Pagan empire of China, within these few years, bodies of literati have arisen, whose principles are hostile to all religion, and who have already shaken the government to its centre. Amidst such convulsions, we have a sure word of promise to which we can trust. "I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory,

saith the Lord of Hosts."* In Arabia, a sect of men called the Wahabees, started up, about fifty years ago, who, from small beginning, increased to nearly an hundred thousand. They, too, are infidels, and reject all Revelation. So rapidly have they grown in numbers and in power, that even in Arabia, Mohammedism already trembles at their frown. They have lately, with prodigious slaughter and devastation, taken possession of the holy city; and after setting it on fire, in various places, destroying the mosques, and spoiling them of their shrines and treasures, they have completely demolished the tomb of the prophet.†

OF JUDAISM AND THE JEWS.

It is with pleasure that we now escape from the regions of fable and imposture, that barren waste in which no verdure refreshes the eye, no salutary plant takes root, and no tree communicates to the weary traveller, either food or shelter; into a country, fertile in every thing that adorns and enriches the soil, where, instead of the thorn and the brier, the fir tree and the myrtle rise; into a country flowing with milk and honey.

The name Jews was originally confined to one tribe of the Israelites; that which sprang from Judah. After the revolt of the ten tribes from the house of David, it also comprehended the tribe of Benjamin, who resolutely stuck to the declining interests of that family, and lived

⚫ Hag. 11, 7.

+ Mr. Faber's View of the Prophecies, Vol. 1, p. 26.

in the enjoyment of the same privileges, and under the same government with the tribe of Judah. After the captivity in Babylon, those of the ten tribes who returned to the Holy land, also obtained the same name. From that æra all who have adhered to the religion of Moses, have been known by the name of Jews, as prior to it they were called Israelites, or the children of Israel.

In the call of Abraham, the history of this people takes its origin. When Abraham was an idolater, he was, by the grace of God, called to abandon his false religion, his family connexions, and all his hopes in the country in which he dwelt; and, upon the promise of God, to undertake a journey to a distant country, of which he did not so much as know the name. He had, however, the promise of Divine conduct to direct his way, and of the Divine blessing to more than compensate him for all his labours and fatigues. I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and there shall be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.* After Abraham was come into the country of Canaan, the Lord, whose word he had believed and obeyed, again appeared to him, and promised to give that land unto his seed. He informed him, at the same time, that a series of ages and events were to pass before his posterity should obtain the possession of the country which was marked out for them. He revealed to him also, the future oppression that they should suffer, and the Divine retribution which was to overtake their oppressors. Know, of a surety, that thy

• Gen. XII, 2, 3.

seed shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterwards shall they come out with great substance.* Satisfied with the appointment and promise of God, the venerable patriarch followed the path of duty all his days, and though he saw the Divine promises afar off, he was persuaded of them, and embraced them. These promises were again repeated and confirmed to his son Isaac, and to his grandson Jacob. Before the latter finished his pilgrimage, he saw his son Joseph conducted through a scene of events, almost unparalleled, (and which, though seemingly independent, were yet by the finest threads woven together,) to the second place of rank and power in the kingdom of Egypt. The strong hand of want and famine compelled himself and all his family, to seek for shelter and support under that fruitful bough, his son Joseph. Here this man of God closed his eyes in peace, and was gathered to his fathers. Joseph and his brethren lived long after this event, in harmonious intercourse, and in the exchange of mutual good offices. But years rolled on, and though the memory of the high services he had performed to the whole kingdom of Egypt, seems to have lived in the breast of the monarch, who as the head of the political body, had felt and rewarded them, time wore out the whole of that generation, and the next consigned the remembrance of them, with his body, to the house of forgetfulness. A new race of men arose, and a new king over Egypt rose up, who knew not Joseph.

• Gen. xv, 13, 14.

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