THE FAITHLESS DISCIPLE. SUGGESTED BY A BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVING OF THE FAITHLESS DISCIPLE, AFTER ONE OF THE OLD MASTERS. "Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed." A SWEET yet mournful picture! Who can gaze It is a cheering tale that picture tells To wounded, doubting hearts. The troubled soul Long ages since from every countenance there, Share now his fellowship where Love and Joy Yet oft still Across the pilgrim's path a vision steals, Blessed are they Who have not seen, and yet in cheerful faith Darkness and doubt and fear Bow down the heart by many thoughts oppress'd : His feet have led the way O'er the rough path thou treadest to the grave; Ev'n in the shades of death, to cheer and save, His love shall be thy stay. Oh, to have seen Him here -The Man of sorrows-and have shared His lot! But yet more blessed thou If it is given thee, with unwavering trust This is the world of faith: That is the world of certainty and joy : And bless'd are they whose mute unquestioning eye Looks through the shades of death. In firm unshaken love ; Believing, when life's mysteries are past, W. S. M. Review of Books. NARRATIVE OF A MISSION TO BOKHARA, in the years 1843-1845, to ascertain the fate of Colonel Stoddart and Captain Conolly. By the Rev. Joseph Wolff, D. D., L.L.D. In two volumes. Second Edition, revised.-Parker. WE looked forward with intense anxiety to the appearance of these volumes; and after an eager perusal we close them with feelings of renewed wonder and thankfulness at the almost miraculous escape of the intrepid narrator, but without having a single doubt dispelled of the many that all along have filled our mind as to the actual fate of our two countrymen. That they have been put to death, or miserably perished in prison, is rendered too probable by the known character of the Ameer of Bokhara; but not a tittle of what, to our apprehension, can be called evidence, is afforded of the fact. Dr. Wolff, whose self-devotedness, and trustful perseverance, and heroic endurance throughout, are above all praise, was refused, as Captain Grover had been, the one sole indispensable passport and security, so far as human means might go, for his truly national enterprize express authority, in any form, from the British Government; and a most foul, a most indelible blot it is upon the character of the government that could refuse it; unjustly cleaving to the whole nation, who could not in any way overrule the matter. At every step of his progress, Dr. Wolff found fresh cause to hope that he should be in time to deliver the victims; for no one could give any account of their death, nor any reasonable grounds for supposing that it had taken place. Arrived at Bokhara, he was at once delivered over by the Ameer to the safe-keeping of a most crafty unprincipled Nayeb, who, gaining by a fair shew of candour and kindness the ready good-will of one of the most unsuspecting and guiltless men living, drew from him a distinct admission that he was not armed with authority from the British Goverment to demand the restoration of her imprisoned envoys; but that such authority had been refused; and that he went out at the expense of private individuals, whose envoy he was; This fact being established, to the great satisfaction of the Nayeb and his sovereign, the mask was thrown off; and thenceforth it is but a daily escape from daily peril; a system of the most shocking extortion and robbery; and such a final rescue, that even Dr. Wolff's former deliverances fade into nothing before it. Of all that was told him in Bokhara respecting Stoddart and Conolly, it is clear that he heard nothing apart from the Nayeb and his spies; and not one ray of light has fallen on the matter beyond the fact ascertained and SEPTEMBER, 1845. T |