his sins and God. Knowing what I allude to, he says; Well if the death of Christ intervene, no harm; Soofeism can admit this too.'

"14th.-Returned to the city in a fever, which continued all the next day, until the evening.

15th.-Jani Khan, in rank corresponding to one of our Scotch Dukes, as he is the head of all the military tribes of Persia, and Chief of his own tribe, which consists of twenty thousand families, called on Jaffier Ali Khan, with a message from the King. He asked me a great number of questions, and disputed a little. I suppose,' said he, you consider us all as Infidels?' 'Yes,' replied I, 'the whole of you.' He was mightily pleased with my frankness, and mentioned it when he was going away.

"15 to 22d.-The copyist having shown my answer to a Moodurris, called Moollah Acber, he wrote on the margin with great acrimony, but little sense. Seid Ali having shown his remarks in some companies, they begged him not to show them to me, for fear I should disgrace them all, through the folly of one

man.

"23d.-Ruza Cooli Mirza, the great grandson of Nadir Shah, and Aga Mahommed Hasan called. The Prince's nephew, hearing of my attack on Mahomet, observed, that the proper answer to it was-the sword; but the Prince confessed that he began to have his doubts. On his inquiring what were the laws of Christianity, meaning the number of times of prayer, the different washings, &c. I said we had two commandments, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy strength; and thy neighbour as thyself." He asked, what could be better?" and continued praising them.

"The Moollah Aga Mahommed Hasan, himself a Moodurris, and a very sensible candid man, asked a good deal about the European philosophy, particularly what we did in metaphysics, for instance, how or in what sense, the body of Christ ascended into heaven?" He talked of free-will and fate, and reasoned high,

and at last reconciled them, according to the doctrines of the Soofies, by saying, 'that as all being is an emanation of the Deity, the will of every being is only the will of the Deity; that therefore, in fact, free-will and fate were the same.' He has nothing to find fault with in Christianity, but the Divinity of Christ. It is this doctrine that exposes me to the contempt of the learned Mahometans, in whom it is difficult to say whether pride or ignorance predominates. Their

sneers are more difficult to bear than the brickbats which the boys sometimes throw at me: however, both are an honour of which I am not worthy. How many times in the day have I occasion to repeat the words,

'If on my face, for thy dear name,
Shame and reproaches be;

All hail reproach and welcome shamė,
If thou remember me."

"The more they wish me to give up one pointthe Divinity of Christ, the more I seem to feel the necessity of it, and rejoice and glory in it. Indeed, I trust I would sooner give up my life than surrender it."

The following account of an interview to which Mr. Martyn was admitted with the head of the sect of the Soofies, will interest those whose thoughts are turned towards the state of religion in the East: a large proportion of the city of Shiraz, it is computed, are either the secret or avowed disciples of Mirza Abulcasim. Whenever "a great and effectual door" is opened for Christianity, "there are many adversaries." It is otherwise with a delusion congenial to the "desires of the flesh and of the mind" in fallen man. Such a system the God of this world is concerned to uphold rather than oppose.

"In the evening we went to pay a long promised visit to Mirza Abulcasim, one of the most renowned Soofies in all Persia. We found several persons sitting in a open court, in which a few greens and flowers.

were placed; the master in a corner was a very freshlooking old man with a silver beard. I was surprised to observe the downcast sorrowful looks of the assembly, and still more at the silence that reigned. After sitting some time in expectation, and being not at all disposed to waste my time sitting there, I said softly to Seid Ali, What is this?" He said, 'It is the custom here, to think much and speak little.' May I ask the master a question?' said I. With some hesitation he consented to let me : so I begged Jaffier Ali to inquire, What is the way to be happy?"

6

This he did in his own manner: he began by observing, that there was a great deal of misery in the world, and that the learned shared as largely in it as the rest; that I wished therefore, to know what we must do to escape it.' The master replied,' that for his part, he did not know; but that it was usually said, the subjugation of the passions was the shortest way to happiness.'

"After a considerable pause, I ventured to ask, 'what were his feelings at the prospect of deathhope, fear, or neither? Neither,' said he, and that pleasure and pain were both alike.' I then perceived that the Stoics were Greek Soofies. I asked whether he had attained this apathy?" He said, 'No.' 'Why do you think it attainable ?' He could not tell. 'Why do you think that pleasure and pain are not the same?" said Seid Ali, taking his master's part. 'Because,' said I, 'I have the evidence of my senses for it. And you also act as if there was a difference. Why do you eat, but that you fear pain? These silent sages sat unmoved. One of the disciples is the son of the Moojtuhid, who, greatly to the vexation of his father, is entirely devoted to the Soofi Doctor. He attended his calean with the utmost humility. On observing the pensive countenance of the young man, and knowing something of his history from Šeid Ali, how he had left all to find happiness in the contemplation of God, I longed to make known the glad tidings of a Saviour, and thanked God, on coming away, that I was

not left ignorant of the Gospel. I could not help being a little pleasant on Seid Ali, afterward, for his admiration of this silent instructer. There you sit (said 1,) immersed in thought, full of anxiety and care, and will not take the trouble to ask whether God had said any thing or not No: that is too easy and direct a way of coming to the truth. I compare you to spiders, who weave their house of defence out of their own bowels, or to a set of people who are groping for a light in broad day."

Mr. Martyn's mathematical acquirements were to him invaluable, inasmuch as they gave him that habit of patient and persevering study, which was sanctified in the application of his powers to the highest ends and purposes. There were also occasions in which this and other sciences were of service to the cause he had at heart, by procuring, for him that attention, and respect, which learning ever secures in countries where the light of civilization shines, though but faintly and imperfectly. Of this we have an instance in the following account. "26th.-Waited this morning on Mahommed Nubee Khan, late Ambassador at Calcutta, and now Prime Minister at Fars. There were a vast number of clients in his court, with whom he transacteď business while chatting with us. Among the others who came and sat with us, was my tetric adversary, Aga Acher, who came for the very purpose of presenting the Minister with a little book he had written in answer to mine. After presenting it in due form, he sat down, and told me he meant to bring me a copy that day--a promise he did not perform, through Seid Ali's persuasion, who told him it was a performance that would do him no credit. Aga Acber gave me a hint respecting its contents, namely, that there were four answers to my objections to Mahometans using the sword.

"He then, without any ceremony, began to question me, before the company, (there were more than fifty in the hall, and crowds in front, all listening) about the European philosophy, and brought objections against

the world's motion, with as much spleen as if he had an estate he was afraid would run away from him. As it was a visit of mere ceremony, I was not a little surprised, and looked at the Minister, to know if it would not be a breach of good manners to dispute at such a time; but it seems there was nothing contrary to costume, as he rather expected my answer. I explained our system to Aga Acber, but there were many things not to be understood without diagrams; so a scribe in waiting was ordered to produce his implements, and I was obliged to show him, first, the sections of the cone, and how a body revolves in an eclipse round the sun in one focus, &c. He knew nothing of mathematics, as I suspected, so it was soon found useless to proceedhe comprehended nothing.

"On my return, Jaffier Ali Khan and Mirza Seid Ali requested me to explain to them my proofs. I did my best; but there were so many things they were obliged to take for granted, that all my endeavours were to little purpose. So much Mirza Seid Ali comprehended, that the bypothesis of a force varying inversely as the square of the distance, was sufficient to account for every phenomenon, and therefore, according to the rules of philosophy, a more complex hypothesis was not to be admitted. This he had sense enough to see."

There is something so estimable in the character of Mr. Martyn's opponent, Mirza Ibraheem, that it will not fail to secure the attention of the reader in perusing the subjoined relation of the effect produced on his mind by Mr. Martyn's defence of Christianity and attack upon Mahometanism.-"Mirza Ibraheem begins to inquire about the Gospel. The objections he made were such as these: How sins could be atoned for before they were committed? Whether, as Jesus died for all men, all would necessarily be saved? If Faith be the condition of Salvation, would wicked Christians be saved, provided they believe? I was pleased to see, from the nature of the objections, that he was considering the subject. To his last objection, I remarked, that to those who