About twelve versts to the north of Astrakhan, we passed the ruins of an ancient city, in all probability Atel, part of the famous metropolis of Khazaria, from which the name was transferred to the Volga, and is the only one by which it is still known to the Turks. These ruins lie scattered in numerous heaps on a gentle eminence of considerable extent, and have likely been still more extensive, previous to the encroachments of the river, which appears to have washed away a considerable part of them. Our attention was first attracted to them by the discovery of bones, fragments of pottery, &c. projecting through the perpendicular bank of sand by which the river is bounded. It has been surrounded by an earthen wall, the remains of which are still distinctly visible, especially towards the south-west, where the place has received an accession of strength from a small lake which here stretches to a short distance in a westerly direction.

"According to the Arabic authors, IbnFoszlan and Ibn-Haukal, in Jakut's Geographical Lexicon, the city was divided by the river into two parts; that on the eastern bank being chiefly occupied by Mohammedans and the merchants who resorted thither for purposes of trade; whereas the western division formed the residence of the king and his courtiers, and was garrisoned by a strong body of military. The royal palace stood at some distance back from the river, .and the entrance to this part of the city, which was surrounded by a wall, was by two gates, one towards the river, and the other towards the steppe. The Khazars, of whose country Atel formed the metropolis, are celebrated in history on account of their wars, or alliances with the Greeks and Russians on the one hand, and the Persians and Arabs on the other. In the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, they appear to have been in possession of the whole extent of the ancient Sarmatian plains, from the Black to the Caspian Sea, and from the Don, as their general boundary towards the north, to the iron gates of Derbend, which pass was repaired by Anushirvan, or Chosroes, in order to serve as a bulwark against their incursions into Persia. Besides Atel, they had three other principal cities, Belenzer, Semiender, and Chamlinge, situated between the mouth of the Volga and the southern frontier of the kingdom. Of these the second still exists, and is known by the name of Endery, exhibiting at this day a specimen of the same diversity of population for which the Khazarian kingdom was distinguished.

"What creates a peculiar degree of interest in regard to this people, is the circumstance of their being subject to a series of Jewish kings, a perfect anomaly in the history of the Jews. It is well known to

the learned, that Buxtorf published a Hebrew work, accompanied with a Latin translation, entitled Sepher Cosri, purporting to contain a detailed account of certain disputations between the king of the Khazars and a Jew, on the subject of religion, which issued in the conversion of the king and a great part of the nation to Judaism The whole has been treated as a fiction; but a more intimate acquaintance with the history of this people, as given by the Arabic writers, has put it beyond a doubt, that whatever there may be of the fictitious in the book, it was origi nated by a knowledge of the various circumstances connected with the history and geography of these regions, which we cannot easily conceive it possible for the Jews of the west to have been possessed of, except on the supposition of some such intercourse as that described in the preface. It is true, their learned Rabbins. were conversant with Arabic literature, and may have read the accounts of the Khazarian kingdom; but the whole statement bears a stamp so completely different from the common style of their writings, at the same time that it agrees with fact, that we must regard it as drawn from an altogether independent source. King Joseph, the thirteenth in the succession of Jewish kings, describes his kingdom, and the place of his residence, in a manner strongly corroborative of the testimonies of the writers above referred to. specifies the number of cities to be three, but states, that the one he resided in was smaller in size, that it was situated near the

He

,,(על מבאות הנהר) entrances of the river

and that the river passed through between its walls, which implies the fact stated by Ibn-Foszlan, that it was built on both sides of the Volga.

Though the greater number of this people were Mohammedans and Christians, yet they suffered their king to profess the Jewish religion; and, as was naturally to be expected, his courtiers were addicted to the same faith. Multitudes of idolaters also abounded in Khazaria; but the pro fessors of the different religions seem to have exercised a greater degree of toleration towards each other, than might be expected in such a remote state of society. The royal title of the monarch was that of Chakan, who, by a singular law, was never permitted to reign more than forty years. If he lived a day longer, the courtiers and citizens conspired to put him to death. According to Ibn-Haukal, when a new king, or viceroy was elected, a process of strangling was commenced with him, during which he was asked, how many years he wished to preside over the affairs of the kingdom; and whatever period he specified in the agony of death, was immediately registered, and witnesses taken, so that when he reached it, he was not

only obliged to lay åside his office, but to surrender life itself, probably with the view of preventing him from making any use of his acquaintance with public affairs to the detriment of his successor.

"With respect to their language, it has been generally affirmed, that it was a dialect of the Turkish, but Ibn-Foszlan expressly declares that the language of the Khazars not only differed from that of the Turks, but that it had nothing in common with the language of any other people. From Professor Frähn, who is at present engaged in an elaborate investigation of the subject, something decisive may, ere long, be expected by the learned.". -Pp. 415-419.

It would afford us great pleasure to go on with our extracts and observations; but our limits forbid our indulging at greater length. We could have quoted his account of the Armenian and Georgian Scriptures, and his observations on the death and cenotaph of Howard, at Cherson, of which he has furnished us with an accurate engraving; but we must forbear. We have derived much in struction from the work, and entertain a very high opinion of its merits. Our extracts are by no means the most interesting portions of it; for there is an uncommonly well sustained interest kept up through the volume. There is not much of romantic adventure, of hair-breadth escape, or of poetical description; but there is what is far more valuable, accurate information, good writing, and learned argument. We trust the worthy author will live long to fill the important situation to which he has been appointed in the Missionary Academy, and for which both his Missionary travels and critical learning abundantly qualify him. We ought to add, with our warmest recommendation of the volume, that it contains several well executed maps and engravings.

*

་་་་་་་་་་

The Christian Exodus; or the Deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt practically considered, in

a Series of Discourses.
By the
Rev. R. P. Buddicom, M. A,
F.A.S. Minister of St. George's
Church, Everton, and late Fellow
of Queen's College, Cambridge.
-2 vols. 8vo. Price 21s. See-
ley and Son.

FROM the days of Origen to our own, there has existed a class of expositors who have adopted the absurd opinion first propagated by that eloquent, imaginative, but mistaken father, "that the Scriptures are of little use to those who understand them as they are written." With these the literal force and import of the sacred volume are therefore forgotten, and a laborious operation is commenced, to extract from the hallowed portion before them, as by the tortuous process of a spiritual alchemy, its mystic, its hidden sense, which is prosecuted with sufficient ardour to evaporate every particle of ra, tionality, and to leave behind a residuum of disgusting nonsense and absurdity. The human mind is naturally prone to admire that which is occult; and this tendency is most apparent in minds which are most uninformed. This explains, therefore, why a system at variance with all the rational and authorized principles of interpretation, has been so extensively countenanced by the unlettered classes, whose simple credulity, in receiving with implicit confidence all the crude dogmas and extravagant conceptions of their teachers, deserved, at least, to be rewarded with something better than this species of spiritual legerdemain. The disgust produced in the minds of many young and intelligent ministers, by this fanciful, vulgar, and dangerous method of teaching, had excited in them. a dread of appearing to symbolize with this spiritualizing system; and they have therefore too much neglected the illustration of a large portion of that which" was writ

In a work embracing such a variety of topics, selection becomes difficult. It will, however, be most acceptable to our readers, and most just to our author, to present specimens of the varied parts of several discourses, by which his style of discussion, expostulation, or appeal may be fairly estimated. The following extract from the 9th discourse"The Case of Pharaoh considered"-exhibits Mr. B.'s method of treating a confessedly difficult subject; and its important and satisfactory sentiments, and consecutive character will apologize for its length.

"Read the history of this self-willed and presumptuous man. How repeatedly does God vouchsafe him opportunities and occasions for repentance! Every remonstrance from the lips of the Most High, every judgment, and every plague from his band, was a loud and a solemn call to the soul of Pharaoh. Against all these solicitations, however, pride, cruelty, avarice, enmity toward Israel, and the God of Israel, united, and made this wretched man stifle all his good convic tions, and rush on towards destruction. He absolutely declared war against the Lord Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord,

neither will I let Israel go.' And be it recollected, that he made the impious challenge long before the sentence of obduracy was pronounced against him. God had indeed declared, that he would harden Pharaoh's heart, because he had foreseen the wilful rebellion of his guilty instru

ment.

6

'I am sure the king of Egypt will not let you go.' The sentence I have hardened Pharaoh's heart' went not forth, until he had resisted every effort for his instruction and conversion. The Sovereign of the earth declares his will to bis creature; the creature positively refuses to obey, asserts his independence, rebel and traitor as he is, and will act just the contrary. Nay, as if to make the unwilever, indisputable, we find him expostulingness of God to cast off Pharaoh for lating with the monarch, even after he is said to have hardened his heart; and crying, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me?' Surely then, we can hardly consider the dreadful sentence to have been finally and irreversibly passed, and the king absolutely abandoned to his impenitence without remedy and without hope.

"Moses came to Pharaoh, with warnings given in mercy, and was received with denial, menace, and persecution. Is it then wonderful, if he who hath said, also reap,' should have done according to 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he the tyrant's desire, and judicially abandoned him? The offenders of the old world had one hundred and twenty years allotted for repentance; but they sinned away the whole time of their probation; and then the deluge made repentance impossible. Elijah went to plead with Ahab, and was received with mockery and indignation- Art thou he that troubleth Israel?' Is it then strange that he was left to himself? The prophet came to remonstrate with Amaziah, for his idolatrous reliance upon the gods of Edom ; ' and it came to pass as he talked with him that the king said unto him, Art thou made of the king's counsel? forbear, why shouldest thou be smitten ?' Is it then to be thought harsh, that the prophet should forbear any further effort, and say,

I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened to my counsel ? My people, saith the Lord, would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me.' Was he then unjust in adding, I gave them up unto their own heart's lusts, and they walked in their own counsels? Is God unrighteous who thus taketh vengeance? God forbid.' If Pharaoh persisted in believing the word of the magicians, rather than the word of the Almighty--if the ancient people of the Most High cried, Stand aside,

get you out of the way, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from among us,' is there ground for surprise that the dreadful desire of their hearts should have been eventually granted, and that the spirit of life, wearied and insulted by their obdurate resistance, should have forsaken them in wrath and judgment?

It seems to have been thus with Pharaoh. God permitted him to reap the bitter fruits of his devices--to follow the bent of his own rebellious nature; and thus, although not by a direct act, gave rise to that obduracy, which he had laboured, with such a dreadful perversion of ingenuity, to produce in his own heart. He had already sinned most proudly and cruelly. He had oppressed the heritage of Jehovah; he had destroyed their children; he had driven the iron deeply into their souls; he had subjected them to the rigours of a relentless captivity. He was, in short, a presumptuous and daring offender against the law of nature. He delighted not in blessing, therefore was it far from him he loved cursing, and it came unto him.' That he hardened his own heart, was his sin; that the Lord, in offended justice, gave him up to his own will, was his merited and righteous punishment. God took away all the motions of his Spirit, all the pleadings of conscience, all the restraints of grace, from a man who checked, silenced, broke through all. The barriers which could alone keep him from the precipice of ruin, towards which he rushed with headlong speed, were removed, and he fell to rise again no more. The enemy of his soul, no longer restrained, was permitted to assault him. When men do not like to retain God in their knowledge, he gives them over to a reprobate mind. When they receive not the love of the truth, that they may be saved, his insulted Spirit 'sends them strong delusions that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned,' (I tremble while I give the record,) who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness.' O, presumptuous transgressor, who art hardening thine heart against God, marvel not if he withdraw every gracious influence from it, and say, Be it done unto thee according to thy dreadful wish, and thy perverted purpose.' Marvel not if he retire from thee, and cry, as the most terrific woe which the voice of the Almighty wrath will pronounce upon thee, on this side death, judgment, and eternity, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone!' He was ready to help and save thee; but thou didst put salvation from thee. He only withdraws that presence which thou dost not value; that Spirit which thou art resisting; that conviction of the sin and danger of rebellion which thou art endeavouring to wrestle down and destroy from its seat of mercy NEW SERIES, No. 20.

in thy soul. Then it is that he may be said to harden the heart, to make the ears of such a people heavy, and to shut their eyes; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted; and God should heal them. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world; and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Speak to men thus forsaken by the convincing, and restraining Spirit of God--speak to them of their everlasting state, and, they regard you not. Tell them of the aggravated evils of sin, and they smile with contempt or incredulity. Tell them of the woes by which it will be repaid, and you seem to them like Lot to the sinners, upon whom the deluge of fire was to fall--as one that mocks. Tell them of the infinite love of the Father; of the infinite propitiation of the Redeemer's cross; of the blood shed in their behalf, and of the free sovereign pardon which it has offered. Tell them of the abundant grace which they might possess; and it will encourage them in sin. Tell them of the great gospel provision; and they make light of it. Tell them of the exceeding salvation prepared for believers in heaven; and they despise it, because they will have their portion in this world. Tell them of the torments which despite of the Spirit of grace will assuredly and eternally produce; and either they feel not, or they fear not, the dreadful consummation and recompense of transgression. And if the Lord no sooner left Hezekiah for a little moment to himself, to try what was in his heart, than he fell and sinned; if even in him there dwelt no good thing, independently of the operations of the Holy Spirit, they, who like Pharaoh have sold themselves to commit evil, will as certainly do it with a high hand, and fall into obdurate iniquity, as if God had actually turned the heart of flesh into a heart of stone, and hardened it against the things that belong to its eternal peace.

"This most mournful judgment was inflicted upon Pharaoh, as the consequence, not merely of being resigned by God to the desires of his own wicked heart, but likewise of the removal of every hindrance to the commission of those sins which he was bent upon perpetrating. He might, indeed, have been effectually checked in his career. His way of death might have been hedged up with thorns, that he should not pass along it. God, instead of chastising him, might have taken away all the power of his mighty empire; and thus have effectually prevented him from injuring Israel. He might have restrained such impious rage, and compelled Pharaoh to let them go without a struggle; but this measure would have been an act of mercy which the king despised, and to 3 K