he Mohammedans have; still, with
the loss of zeal for their own, their heart seems full of a strong
delusion to believe a lie, and hate the way of life, and above all,
the Lord who is the true God and eternal life.

How blessed the 91st Psalm feels at such moments as these, in looking
round on one's little family, to know that every arrow that flies,
winged with death, is no random shot, but that the Lord who is your
life, and by whom your life is hid in God, directs them all. Call upon
me, says the Lord, in the day of trouble, and I will deliver _thee_,
and thou shalt _glorify me_. Blessed Lord, when thou hast (as thou
most assuredly wilt do) delivered us, may we never forget to glorify
and bless thee. Oh! what a blessed feeling it is to know that you are
not under the general but especial and particular government of
Jehovah--that he has redeemed you, and you are his--that he has
engraven you on the palms of his hands; and that day and night he is
watching to preserve you.

_April 3._--An immense crowd of poor Jews left the city this morning,
to escape the destruction of the plague. The Christians also are
leaving in every direction they can find open. I fear these poor
creatures in their flight can hardly fail to carry the plague with
them.

I have lately read several of Erskine's works, or little portions of
his writings, and never did I see the pernicious effects of system
displayed more legibly than in several of his most interesting, but as
a whole, most delusive publications. In his view of Gospel freeness,
and other places where similar views to those contained in that little
work are promulgated, there seems, to my mind, a radical defect, that
nothing in so good a man accounts for but the baneful effects of a
system, and a secret insurmountable repugnance to the sovereignty of
God's government, and the individuality of God's election in Christ
Jesus, from before the foundation of the world. I do not mean that
these doctrines are denounced; but they evidently are not entertained
as the comfort and consolation of the soul, nor as they are
represented by the Apostles, as the most overwhelming reasons for
unlimited devotion to his service, who has thus chosen us with our
bodies, souls, and spirits, which are his. He talks of spreading the
beauty of the Lord Jesus, and the excellency of God's love, not only
as the pasture of their souls, who are born again of the Spirit, of
which they undoubtedly are the legiti