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sin, and the deplorable condition of the human race, as being sinners by nature and practice, and pointed out to them our inability to work out our own deliverance either by repentance or otherwise. We then directed their attention to the freeness and fulness of the gospel salvation, shewing them that, in consequence of our being made partakers, by faith of the righteousness wrought out by our Redeemer, God is at once just and the

And as for their females, it may be in truth asserted, that, for the most part, their virtue is to be measured by the strictness of the watch set upon them by their husbands, who, having bought them with their money, reckon themselves intitled to treat them as their slaves, or by the dread of shame and other evils, which the want of it will bring in its train in this life, rather than by any apprehensions which they have of the consequences of the resentment of their injured husbands and affronted kindred, in that which is to come. In Astrachan, the wives or concubines of the Persians, were wont to look down upon the court-yard of the late mission-house, through the iron grates of their windows, just as the prisoners in the tolbooths of Edinburgh and Glasgow do on passengers walking at liberty,—a blessing, to the sweets of which, alas ! poor creatures, their hearts are strangers. Shut up in their prison, with orders to sit with their backs to their grated windows, I am told, they dare not steal even a passing glance at their fellow-creatures, in presence of their lordly masters, without provoking their jealousy, and risking the effect of their resentment. Ladies of Scotland, and other parts of the British isles, look at the picture and weep! The gospel of Christ alone can set them free. I leave it to yourselves to make the application.

justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. This last point we illustrated by the well-known similitude of a debtor who, on having his debts paid by a surety, is set free by the judge in perfect consistency with the principles of justice. On hearing our illustration, they exclaimed, this is just and right. After endeavouring to impress on their minds the solid confidence of the man who knows his debts are paid by a benefactor who has, moreover, become surety for him in time to come, compared with that of the man who has nothing to plead but his penitential tears; we next adverted to the evidence we have that God is fully satisfied with the surety-righteousness of Christ, in that he raised him from the dead, received him into heaven, and invested him with universal power for the protection of his people, and for the destruction of their enemies. Nor did we neglect to give them a view of the nature of repentance and of the place which it holds in the Christian system, by pointing out the necessity of it, in order to our being made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. It was so far satisfactory to observe them listening with apparent interest to these truths, and ready to acknowledge their excellence and suitableness; but distressing to think, as we had too much reason to do, that their hearts were little affected with their sense of their need of a Sa

viour, and that the approbation they gave to them was as much out of complaisance, as from conviction.

DURING our excursion to Naiman village, Hagi-Cabak, &c. the moral and religious degradation of the natives in the immediate vicinity of the colony, naturally became the subject of discourse, and from them the transition was easy to the situation of their brethren of the Mohammedan faith at a greater dis

tance.

From the notices we had received, it appeared that, with proper precautions, the recesses of the mountains might be penetrated, in peaceful times, not indeed without danger, but with much less hazard than has often been risked by travellers, whose highest ambition was bounded by motives far inferior to those by which the Christian missionaries profess to be influenced. But from all accounts the affairs of the mountains were so unsettled, and their minds so agitated by circumstances which it is unnecessary to describe, that there was greater risk of being taken for spies than at any former period for half a century past; and, as strong suspicion might, with them as

with other barbarians, pass for proof, it was easy to see, that if a European made the attempt, it must be at the risk of his life, till such time at least as the ferment subside. A large accessible field was still before us, however, on the north of the Russian lines, peopled by Tartars characterised by much the same habits, moral and religious, with their countrymen in Naiman village; and as winter was fast approaching, it became a question, to which of them it would be best to proceed, now that we had visited all the villages hard by the colony. East of us, at the distance of two or three days journey, lay detachments of Getsan and Jambuluk Tartars, which had been repeatedly visited by Mr Galloway; and still farther east in Kislear steppe-the Trukmen. On the north, at much the same distance, were situated other detachments of Getsans and Jambuluks who had also been visited by Mr Galloway, and whose place of abode might be approached, we were told, by a route considerably west of the one he had been accustomed to take, and which, though more circuitous, was recommended, by the consideration that it would lead us through a number of Tartar villages; some of which had never been visited by the missionaries since the days of Mr Brunton. On considering all circumstances, we preferred an excursion to the last of these, for this, among other reasons, that I

could visit the eastern steppe south of the Cuma, without much additional travelling on my way back to Astrachan, whereas the tour to the north, while fully as convenient at present, did not possess the recommendation referred to; if delayed till the spring.

Tuesday, Nov. 20. In making our preparations yesterday, and the morning for the projected tour to the Jambuluks, our hopes of being able to realize it, were considerably damped on feeling that, instead of the mild weather of last week, during part of which the heat, in the midst of the day, was such as to make our great coats rather an incumbrance, there was now a piercing cold, which announced the setting in of winter in the north, and awakened our fears that it might be the forerunner of a storm. Judging it improper, however, to relinquish the idea of attempting the tour on account of an imaginary obstacle, which might or might not be realized, we resolved on proceeding to Sultan village, from which we could either retrace our steps, if met by a snow storm, or continue our course, if the weather proved favourable. Left the mission-house about half past three, and after taking a kind

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