"One Moollah wanted to controvert some of my illustrations, by interrogating me about the Personality of Christ. To all his questions I replied, by requesting the same information respecting his own person. "To another, who was rather contemptuous and violent, I said, 'If you do not approve of our doctrine, will you be so good as to say what God is according to you, that I may worship a proper object?" One said, 'The Author of the universe.' I can form no idea from these words,' said I, 'but of a workman at work upon a vast number of materials. Is that a correct notion?" Another said, 'One who came of himself into being.' 'So then he came,' I replied; 'came out of one place into another; and before he came, he was not. Is this an abstract and refined notion?" After this no one asked me any more questions; and for fear the dispute should be renewed, Jaffier Ali Khan carried me away." After making this intrepid and memorable confession of the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when he might be described as "Faithful found Among the faithless; faithful, only he, His loyalty he kept-his zeal-his love." Mr. Martyn continued only a short time at Shiraz. From his own hand we have this brief account of that interesting period which immediately preceded his departure. "Mirza Seid Ali never now argues against the truth, nor makes any remarks but of a serious kind. He speaks of his dislike to some of the Soofies, on account of their falsehood and drunken habits. This approach to the love of morality is the best sign of a change for the better, I have yet seen in him. As often as he produces the New Testament, which he always does when any of his friends come, his brother and cousin ridicule him; but he tells them, that supposing no other benefit to have been derived, it is certainly something better to have gained all this information about the religion of Christians, than to have loitered away the year in the garden. "27th.-Four Moollahs, of Mirza Ibraheem's school, came to dispute against European philosophy, and against European religion. "Mirza Seid Ali requested, at Mirza Ibraheem's desire, to know where we got our notions concerning the Holy Spirit? He, for his part, did not remember any passages in the New Testament, which bore on the subject. I referred them to the second chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. "May 1st to 10th.-Passed some days at Jaffier Ali Khan's garden, with Mirza Seid Ali, Aga Baba, Shekh Abulhasan, reading, at their request, the Old Testament histories. Their attention to the word, and their love and respect to me, seemed to increase, as the time of my departure approached. "Aga Baba, who had been reading St. Matthew, related, very circumstantially, to the company, the particulars of the death of Christ. The bed of roses, on which we sat, and the notes of the nightingales warbling around us, were not so sweet to me as this discourse from the Persian. "One day telling Mirza Seid Ali, that I wished to return to the city in the evening, to be alone, and at leisure for prayer, he said with impression, though a man had no other religious society, with the aid of the Bible, he may, I suppose, live alone, with God?" It will be his own state soon-may he find it the medium of God's gracious communication to his soul! He asked in what way God ought to be addressed, I told him, as a Father, with respectful love, and added some other exhortations on the subject of prayer. "11th.-Aga Baba came to bid me farewell, and he did it in the best and most solemn way, by asking, as a final question, whether, independently of external evidences, I had any internal proofs of the doctrine of Christ ?-I answered, 'Yes, undoubtedly: the change from what I once was, is a sufficient evidence to me." At last he took his leave in great sorrow, and what is better, apparently in great solicitude about his soul. "The rest of the day I continued with Mirza Seid Ali, giving him in charge what to do with the New Testament, in case of my decease, and exhorting him, as far as his confessions allowed me, to stand fast. He had many a good resolution respecting his besetting sins. I hope, as well as pray, that some lasting effects will be seen at Shiraz from the word of God left among them." On the evening of the 24th of May, one year after entering Persia, Mr. Martyn left Shiraz, in company with an English clergyman, having it in intention to lay before the King his translation of the New Testament; but finding, that without a letter of introduction from the British Ambassador, he could not, consistently with established usage, be admitted into the Royal presence, he determined to proceed to Tebriz, where, at that time, Sir Gore Ouseley, his Britannic Majesty's Minister, resided. His Journey from Shiraz to Tebriz was not accomplished in less than eight weeks, including one week spent at Isfahan, and a few days at the King's camp,and the latter part of it was a time of great and unforeseen suffering to him. Had he known to what peril his life would be subjected, he doubtless would have deemed his object of too insufficient a magnitude to justify his exposing himself to so much danger. "A little before sunset," Mr. Martyn writes, “I left the city, and at ten o'clock at night the cafila started. Thus ended my stay at Shiraz. No year of my life was ever spent more usefully, though such a long separation from my friends was often a severe trial. Our journey to Persepolis was performed in ten hours. I had a fall from my horse by the saddle's coming off, but a gracious providence preserved me from harm. 12th.--Staid at Futihabad, a village about a parasang from the ruins. 13th. At three in the morning, we pursued our way, and at eight reached a village at the northeast extremity of the plain of Persepolis. Remained all day at the caravansera, correcting the Prince's copy. 14th. Continued our journey through two ridges of mountains to Imanzadu: no cultivation to be seen any where, nor scarcely any natural vegetable production, except the broom and hawthorn. The weather was rather tempestuous, with cold gusts of wind and rain. The caravan "The inhabitants of the village, this being the Imanzadu's tomb, do no work, and pay no tax, but are maintained by the surrounding villages, and the casual offerings of visiters to the tomb. sera being in ruins, we staid all this rainy day at a private house, where we were visited by people who came to be cured of all their distempers. "15th. From the top of a mountain, just behind Imanzadu, we descended into a vast plain, entirely uninhabited, except where the skirts of it were spotted with the black tents of the wandering tribes. Crossing this plain obliquely, we passed over a mountain into another plain, where was the same scene of desolation. After a journey of ten parasangs, arrived, at two in the afternoon, at the caravansera Khooshee Zar, which, being in ruins, let in the wind upon us, at night, in all directions. "On rising on the morning of the 16th, we found a hoar frost, and ice on the pools. The excessive cold at this place is accounted for by its being the highest land between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. The baggage not having come up, we were obliged to pass another day in this uncomfortable neighbourhood, where nothing was to be procured for ourselves or horses; the little rain this year having left the ground destitute of verdure, and the poor village near us having nothing to sell. 17th. Our way, to-day, along the same plain; on the left was a ridge of hills covered with snow. Entering another plain, into which the former led, we reached a caravansera, near a small walled village, called Dih Serdoo. 18th.-After a journey, of much the same length, over uneven ground, where the view was much obstructed, we arrived at a caravansera, in a great cleft, which divides Fars from Irak. "19th.-Moved six parasangs to a private house at Mujrood. The plain, as usual, uninhabited; but we passed one village. "20th.--Continued our march, in the same plain, to Comesha, four parasangs. "21st.-To Mygar, five parasangs.--Finished the revision of the Prince's copy. At eleven at night we set off for Isfahan, and arrived, soon after sunrise, on the 22d, and were accommodated in one of the King's palaces. Found my old Shiraz scribe here, and corrected, with him, the Prince's copy. "23d.-Called on the Armenian Bishops at Julfa, and met Matteus. He is certainly vastly superior to any Armenian I have yet seen. We went, next, to the Italian Missionary, Joseph Carabiciate, a native of Aleppo, but educated at Rome. He spoke Latin; was very sprightly, considering his age, which was sixty-six, but discovered no sort of inclination to talk about religion. Until lately, he had been supported by the Propaganda; but weary, at last, of exercising his functions without remuneration, and even without necessary provisions, he talks of returning to Aleppo. "24th.-(Sunday)-Weut early this morning to the Armenian Church attached to the Episcopal residence. Within the rails were two out of the four Bishops, and other Ecclesiatics; but in the body of the Church, only three people. Most of the Armenians at Julfa, which is now reduced to five hundred houses, attended at their respective parish Churches, of which there are twelve, served by twenty priests. After their pageantry was over, and we were satiated with processions, ringing of bells, waving of colours, and |