I am sure there are many who, in reading this, will bless God for his goodness to us, so utterly unworthy as we are; but, oh! if they could be witnesses of the misery that others suffer, and from which his mercies have freed us, they would indeed praise him. For, even when provisions were to be had, had we been obliged to purchase at the price things then were and are now, we must inevitably have run in debt; but as it is we have enough of money for more than a month to come. Therefore, bereaved and incapable as I yet feel of all enjoyment, I desire to bless the Lord for all his great goodness and care over us, of the least of whose mercies I feel infinitely unworthy. And though my faith does not enable me fully now to feel, in unison with my _soul's judgment_, on my heavenly Father's dealings toward me, when time has removed the bitter cup farther distant, it may not possess all its present intensity of bitterness, to which also so many circumstances have tended to add additional pungency--not a friend near, not a communication from any of those far away. I have ever felt one abiding source of comfort, in that I knew I enjoyed the prayers of many whose prayers I truly value, and through these I believe I shall yet stand complete in all the will of God, to remove or to remain, to live or to die. The Lord will quickly come, and then his power and great glory will be manifested to the joy of his chosen and the confusion of his enemies. _Sept. 14._ _Wednesday._--While I feel more convinced every day that a missionary in these countries, who really would cast himself upon his Lord, and share in its revolutions and national judgments, has more to prepare his mind for them previously to his entering upon it than he can well conceive: yet on the other hand, I feel more confirmed in the opinion, that amidst this disjointed disorganized state of society, there are more doors of irregular missionary service open than he can possibly occupy. For though he can perhaps find few opportunities of publicly preaching Christ; yet in conversation, and the preparation and circulation of tracts, I think there are immense opportunities afforded. Yet for conversation much time will be required in acquiring a facility in the language by most, till the Lord is pleased to pour down from on high, his gifts of the Spirit--and as to tracts, at present we have none. The Turkish Armenian tracts, printed at Malta, are not clearly understood here; neither do I think the Arabic or Turkish spoken on the other side of the desert would be so either, if I may judge from the translations into Turkish and Arabic. In fact, it would appear desirable if the object of a missionary be to labour in the east, that he should study on this side the desert if possible; though the difficulties of a family are great here amidst the constant succeeding commotion of this disturbed country. There is no retiring place within at least some hundred miles, at all times by a dangerous