I shall now conclude this portion of our little history, with
assuring those we love, that the Lord has been better than all our
fears and all our hopes. The more we have proved him, the more we have
found him to be faithful and gracious, and that not one of the good
things he has promised to faith has been wanting; but his love has
abounded far beyond our faith, yea, and they will yet abound more and
more. Let us then encourage one another to prove him more, that we may
have deeper experience of his faithfulness. We find the prospect of
the approaching coming of our Lord a corrective of the allurements of
the world, and an encouragement to a simple surrender of all we have
as his stewards, to him and his service, as their only legitimate and
worthy object, who has redeemed us from death with his own precious
blood, making us a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a peculiar people, that we might shew forth his praises. Oh!
may the Holy Spirit dwell in us more powerfully, that we may be ever
fulfilling his great and glorious purpose.
Accounts have just come to us by letters from Tabreez, that the plague
has been ravaging that devoted city till 23,000 of its inhabitants
have fallen victims to it and the cholera, and that when this letter
came off (Oct. 28), they were still dying eighteen of a day, and this
is not confined to the city;--the villages of the surrounding country
have equally suffered; half the inhabitants have been swept away, the
corn has never been reaped, and the cattle were wandering about
without owners. The missionaries from America had not arrived then;
most probably they are deterred by the intelligence of the state of
Tabreez. Our dear friends the N----'s had never enjoyed better
health--thus preserved of the Lord in the midst of the general
devastation: they are also for the present, at the request of the
Prince, detained till an answer from the Indian government is again
received respecting them. A famine seems the inevitable consequence of
the plague and pestilence at Tabreez. Surely these are among the signs
of the times; but the Lord's command to us is, Let not your hearts be
troubled.
We have received no intelligence from Shushee, but we heard from
Tartars that the plague had been in the Karabagh, which makes us
additionally anxious to hear from thence: but doubtless since the
plague at Tabreez, all intercourse with Russia from that side has been
interdicted. Mr. Zaremba mentioned, that he had to pass through seven
quarantines between Erzeroum and Shushee.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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