Are there no thieves, fornicators, railers, extortioners, among you? Be you sure that God is angry. I say not that He will burn your town; but He will burn you. Haste, therefore, out of Sodom. Sodom is the world, which is full of sinners and sin. Come out, therefore, from amongst them: forsake not your worldly business, but your sinful companions. Do not be like the world, lest you perish with them. Do not, like Lot, linger; say not, to-morrow we will repent, lest you never see to-morrow-repent to-day. Then, as Lot, seated on the hill, beheld the flames in safety, you also, sitting on the hills of heaven, shall behold the ruins of the world without fear." "

In the midst of these exertions, an attack of pain in the chest, of a severer kind than he had experieneed before, forced upon Mr. Martyn's mind the unwelcome conviction of the necessity of some quiet and remission.

T

Upon the subject of his health, (a subject which was becoming but too interesting and alarming to his friends in general,) he thus wrote to Mr. Simeon, who long before had warmly urged him to the most watchful care and prudence. "I read your letter of 6th July, 1809, cautioning me against over exertion, with the confidence of one who had nothing to fear. This was only three weeks ago. Since the last Lord's day your kind advice was brought home to my mind, accompanied with painful regret that I had not paid more attention to it. My work last

Sunday was not more than usual, but far too much for me, I can perceive. First, service to his Majesty's 53rd foot, in the open air; then at head-quarters; in the afternoon, preached to eight hundred natives; at night, to my little flock of Europeans. Which of these can I forego? The ministration to the natives might be in the week, but I wish to attach the idea of holiness to the Sunday. My evening congregation, on Sunday, is attended by twice as many as in the week day: so how can I let this go?"

With what extreme reluctance Mr. Martyn "spared himself," we see from the above letter. The progress of his complaint, however, compelled him to overcome this reluctance; and to the Indian congregation, when they next assembled, he was obliged to declare, that his ill health prevented him from addressing them; upon which hundreds of voices were heard invoking for him long life and health; and when he dispensed his alms among them, their thankfulness seemed to know no bounds. Shortly after, however, he ventured to finish with these mendicants, the history of Joseph, upon which he had entered, and to resume also the whole of his duty on the Sabbath, with the exception of one service; and, notwithstanding his extreme caution on that point, he administered the rite of baptism to an old Hindoo woman, "who, though she knew but little, was (he said) lowliness itself."

Whilst Mr. Martyn was thus laboring in the very fire, sometimes yielding to the pressure of his com

plaint, and affording himself a little ease and relaxa tion; at others renewing it, either by private conversation or public services; providentially for the preservation of the remnant of his health, in the beginning of June, his friend and brother, Mr. Corrie, arrived at Cawnpore, on his journey to his new station at Agra. This proved a most seasonable refreshment and relief to Mr. Martyn, both in body and mind; for his friend, though himself in a weak state of health, by permission of the Commanderin-Chief, who shewed a kind consideration for Mr. Martyn in his drooping condition, undertook part of the duty, leaving to Mr. Martyn only the services of preaching to the Natives at noon, and to the soldiers in the evening, in the performance of which he persuaded himself that he ought to persevere. How greatly his friends became alarmed at this juncture, will appear from the following animated and anxious letter from Mr. Brown:-"You will know, from our inestimable brother Corrie, my solicitude about your health. If it could make you live longer, I would give up any child I have, and myself into the bargain.-May it please the adorable unsearchable Being with whom we have to do, to lengthen your span!-Amidst the dead and the dying, nothing can be more apparently prosperous for the Church of God, than the overwhelmings now taking place in the earth. Christ will find his way to the hearts of men, and there will be a great company to praise Him. I know not why we should

wish to be saved, but for this purpose; or why, but for this purpose, we should desire the conversion of Heathens, Turks, and Infidels. To find them at the feet of Jesus will be a lovely sight. Our feeble voices cannot praise him much. We shall be glad to see them clapping their hands and casting their crowns before him: for all in heaven and earth cannot sufficiently praise him. I see no cause to wish ' for any thing but the advancement of that kingdom, by which there is some accession of praise to his holy and blessed name. We grasp and would wish to gather all to Christ, but without him we can do nothing: he will gather to himself those that are

his."

From this time till the month of September, Mr. Martyn persisted in his ministration to the Natives, taking for the subject of several successive discourses, the Ten Commandments. On one of these 'occasions, he describes himself as speaking with great ease in his body and joy in his heart. "Blessed be God, (he says,) my strength is returning. O may I live to proclaim salvation through a Savior's blood." But this sunshine was soon overclouded; and shortly after he again relapsed.

Such was the sinking state of his health, notwithstanding the seasonable and important assistance derived from the presence of Mr. Corrie, that a removal from Cawnpore, either to make trial of the effect of a sea voyage, or to return for a short time to England, became now a matter of urgent

necessity. The adoption of the latter expedient he had once determined upon, conceiving that his complaint might arise from relaxation, and that a bracing air would, in that case, be beneficial. Nor was this resolution formed without a reluctant struggle in his mind; for strongly as his affections were drawn towards his native country, India had attractions for him of a more powerful, because of a more exalted kind.

The precise period of his departure from Cawnpore, as well as the place of his ultimate destination, were fixed by information received from Calcutta, concerning the Persian version of the New Testa

ment.

The version which had been first made in that language, two Gospels of which had been printed, was considered, on further inspection and more mature consideration, to require too many amendments to admit of its immediate publication. It was accordingly returned to the translator, who, under the superintendance of Mr. Martyn, bestowed so much pains and attention upon it, as to render it a new, and, it was hoped, a sound and accurate work. By those, however, who were considered competent judges at Calcutta, it was still deemed unfit for general circulation, inasmuch at it was thought to abound with Arabic idioms, and to be written in a style, pleasing indeed to the learned, but not sufficiently level to the capacities of the mass of common read

ers.