Martyn was called to a severer trial of his faith and patience than any to which he had yet been exposed. -Several of the most intemperate Moollahs set themselves in array against him, and contended with him in behalf of Mahometanism, in the presence of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom. There it was demanded of him that he should deny that Saviour who had bought him with his blood; but there he "witnessed a good confession," and fearlessly acknowledged Jesus as his Lord.

12th. I attended the Vizier's levee, when there was a most intemperate and clamorous controversy kept up for an hour or two; eight or ten on one side, and I on the other. Among them were two Moollahs, the most ignorant of any I have yet met with in Persia or India. It would be impossible to enumerate all the absurd things they said.-Their vulgarity, in interrupt- ' ing me in the middle of a speech; their utter ignorance of the nature of argument; their impudent assertions about the law and the Gospel, neither of which they had ever seen in their lives-moved my indignation a little. I wished, and I said that it would have been well, if Mirza Abdoolwahab had been there; I should have had a man of sense to argue with. The Vizier, who set us going at first, joined in it latterly, and said, You had better say, 'God is God, and Mahomet is the Prophet of God." I said, 'God is God,' but added, instead of Mahomet is the Prophet of God,' 'and Jesus is the Son of God.' They had no sooner heard this, which I had avoided mentioning till then, than they all exclaimed, in contempt and anger, 'He is neither born, nor begets,' and rose up, as if they would have torn me in pieces. One of them said, what will you say when your tongue is burnt out for this blasphemy?"

6

"One of them felt for me a little, and tried to soften the severity of this speech. My book, which I had brought, expecting to present it to the King, lay before Mirza Shufi. As they all rose, up, after him, to go, some to the King, and some away, I was afraid they

the

would trample upon the book, so I went in among them to take it up, and wrapped it in a towel before them; while they looked at it and me with supreme contempt. "Thus I walked away alone to my tent, to pass rest of the day in heat and have I done, thought I, to merit all this scorn? Nothing, I trust, but bearing testimony to Jesus. I thought over these things in prayer, and my troubled heart found that peace which Christ hath promised to his disciples :

'If on my face, for thy dear name,' &c.

"To complete the trials of the day, a message came from the Vizier, in the evening, to say, that it was the custom of the King not to see any Englishman, unless presented by the Ambassador, or accredited by a letter from him; and that I must wait, therefore, till the King reached Sultania, where the Ambassador would be."

After this day "of rebuke and blasphemy," when that divine promise was eminently fulfilled towards Mr. Martyn," thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence, from the pride of man, thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues, when having heard the "slander of many," and being made a "reproach among all his enemies," he could nevertheless exclaim with the Psalmist, "O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men"-he turned his back upon the King's camp, having been joined by his companion from Tehran, and prosecuted his journey towards Tebriz.

"June 13th.-Disappointed of my object," he writes, "in coming to the camp, I lost no time in leaving it, but proceeded, in company with Mr. C. who had just joined me from Tehran, towards Casbin, intending to wait there the result of an application to the Ambassador. Started at eleven, and travelled till eleven next morning, having gone ten parasangs, or

forty miles, to Quishlag. The country all along was well watered and cultivated. The mules being too much tired to proceed, we passed the day at the village; indeed, we all wanted rest. As I sat down in the dust, on a shady side of a walled village we passed, and surveyed the plains over which our road lay, I sighed at the thought of my dear friends in India and England: what vast regions I must traverse before I can get to either, and what various and unexpected hinderances present themselves to my going forward! I comfort myself with the hope that my God has something for me to do, by thus delaying my exit.

"16th.-Continued at the village, in consequence of an illness with which Mr. C. was attacked; but at night we moved forward, and after travelling seven parasangs, in the same fine plain, reached Casbin.

"17th. In the caravansera there, they were collecting straw, &c. for the King, whom they expected in ten days. On this plea they refused to allow us to unload there.

"18th.-Endeavoured to get a muleteer to go to the Ambassador, but could agree with none, so I determined to stay at Casbin. I had at first intended to go on to Sultania, there to wait for the King.

"20th.-Left this place, not a little disgusted at the reception we had met with there. One parasang off, we stopped at a village to get something for breakfast. One of the people there asked a good many questions about our religion. It was such an unusual thing travelling coolly, in the middle of the day, in the East, that it produced a new train of ideas: indeed I thought of nothing but of my dear friends in England, and the days when, in weather like this, I walked with them, taking sweet counsel.' While passing over the plain, mostly on foot, I had them all in my mind, and bore them upon my heart in prayer. The North-wind, from the Caspian, I suppose, blowing through some clouds that rested on the mountains on our right, made the air excessively cold.

"Arrived, between twelve and one o'clock, at Scah Dulir, where a villager gave us his house; though the room we were in was so constructed as scarcely to admit the light, we had need of all our skins to keep us warm.

"21st.-On account of the coldness of the weather, we did not think it necessary to start till seven o'clock, after breakfast. Arrived at the village of Aber at four in the afternoon, having taken the shortest route. Till we reached the high and frequented road, all was barrenness; but from thence a good deal of cultivation, as also all the way from Casbin, near which city the vineyards were all open to the road; there was not so much as a fence.

"22d.-Left Sangla, at a quarter past five in the morning, and at a quarter past ten reached Sultania. The weather was perfectly cool and agreeable, and all around were the pastures of the wilderness. We met with the usual insulting treatment at the caravansera, where the King's servants had got possession of a good room, built for the reception of better sort of guests-they seemed to delight in the opportunity of humbling an European. Sultania is still but a village; yet the Zengan Prince quartered himself, and all his attendants with their horses, on this poor little village. All along the road where the King is expected, the people are patiently waiting, as for some dreadful disaster. Plague, pestilence, famine, are nothing to the misery of being subject to the violence and extortion of this rabble soldiery. One of our servants who had himself been formerly a soldier in the King's camp, said, that the troops were raised from the wandering tribes and the cities.-Those from the tribes were paid by the King, the others by the cities. Sons of the Chiefs of the tribes, and indeed, of all in important governments, are detained at Court as hostages.

24th.-Left Sultania, at half-past three. Saw some water tortoises on the edge of the little stream that watered the vale. Continued our course to Zen

gan, distant from Sultania six parasangs, a walled city. Here we found, in the caravansera, large bales of cotton brought by merchants from Tehran, intended for Turkey. There were also two Tartar merchants, natives of Astrachan, who had brought iron and tea for sale. They wished to know whether we wanted tea of Cathay. I was curious to know something about the countries they had visited; but they spoke nothing but Turkish, without which language a person may travel to very little purpose in these parts: Persian is quite a foreign language.

"25th. After a restless night, rose so ill with a fever that I could not go on. My companion Mr. C. was nearly in the same state. We touched nothing. all the day.

"26th. After such another night, I had determined to go on, but Mr. C. declared himself unable to stir; so here we dragged through another miserable day. What added to our distress was, that we were in danger, if detained here another day or two, of being absolutely in want of the necessaries of life, before reaching Tebriz. We made repeated applications to the monied people, but none would advance a piastre. Where are the people who flew forth to meet General Malcolm with their purses and their lives? Another generation has risen up, who know not Joseph. Providentially, a poor muleteer arriving from Tebriz, becoming security for us, obtained five tomans for us. This was a Heaven-send; and we lay down quietly, free from apprehensions of being obliged to go a fatiguing journey of eight or ten hours, without a house or village in the way, in our present weak and reduced state. We had now eaten nothing for two days. My mind was much disordered from headach and giddiness, from which I was seldom free; but my heart, I trust was with Christ, and his saints. To live much longer in this world of sickness and pain, seemed no way desirable; the most favourite prospects of my heart seemed very poor and child