then loud sobs were heard all over the court.

Af

ter this, several feats of activity were exhibited before the talar, where the Vizier sat with the Moollahs. I was appointed to a seat, where indeed I saw as much as I wanted, but which, I afterwards perceived, was not the place of honor. As I trust I am far enough from wishing the chief seat in the synagogues, there was nothing in this that could offend me; but I do not think it right to let him have another opportunity of shewing a slight to my country in my person."

Those who know not what it is to pass a dreary season of long seclusion from Christian society, surrounded with those who are immersed in all wickedness, can form but an inadequate comprehension of the sacrifices to which Mr. Martyn submitted, in continuing so great a length of time at Shiraz: yet from the expression of sentiments such as these, we may, in some measure, see what he endured.

"Feb. 2.—From what I suffer in this city, I can understand the feelings of Lot. The face of the poor Russian appears to me like the face of an angel, because he does not tell lies. Heaven will be heaven, because there will not be one liar there. The word of God is more precious to me at this time than I ever remembered it to have been; and of all the promises in it, none is more sweet to me than this-He shall reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

"3.—A packet arrived from India, without a single letter for me. It was some disappointment to me; but let me be satisfied with my God, and if I cannot have the comfort of hearing of my friends, let me return with thankfulness to his word, which is a treasure of which none envy me the possession, and where I can find what will more than compensate for the loss of earthly enjoyments. Resignation to the will of God is a lesson which I must learn, and which I trust he is teaching me."

"What an influence, a departure from the precepts of the Gospel, has upon the determination of the judgment, with respect to its doctrines,-appears in the representation Mr. Martyn gives of the conduct of Mirza Seid Ali, at this period.

"4.-Mirza Seid Ali, who has been enjoying himself in dissipation and idleness these two days, returned full of evil and opposition to the Gospel.

"Alluding to some remarks he had made, 'I suppose,' said he, 'you think it is sinful to sport with the characters of holy men.' 'I have no objection,' I replied, 'to hear your sentiments, but I cannot bear to have any thing spoken disrespectfully of the Lord Jesus; and yet there is not one of you Soofies but has said something against him.' 'You never heard me speak lightly of Jesus,' he replied. 'No, there is something so awfully pure about him, that nothing can be said." "

Recovering somewhat of a more serious spirit, Seid Ali joined with Aga Boozong, whom Mr. Mar

tyn describes as one of the most magisterial of the Soofies; in a conversation, in which a real desire for religious information seems to have been indicated. The day on which it took place was almost entirely consumed in discussions with a variety of visitors, respecting the Scriptures; it concluded with a very pleasing confession on the part of Seid Ali.

"9.-Aga Boozong came. After much conversation, he said, 'Prove to me, from the beginning, that Christianity is the way: how will you proceed? what do you say must be done? If you would not believe a person who wrought a miracle before you,' said I, 'I have nothing to say: I cannot proceed a step.' 'I will grant you,' said Seid Ali, 'that Christ was the Son of God, and more than that.' That you despair of yourself, and are willing to trust in him alone for salvation? 'Yes.' 'Willing to confess Christ before men, and act conformably to his word?' 'Yes: what else must I do?' 'Be baptised in the name of Christ.' 'And what shall I gain?” "The gift of the Holy Ghost. The end of faith is salvation in the world to come, but even here you shall have the Spirit purifying the heart, and giving you the assurance of everlasting happiness." Thus Aga Boozong had an opportunity of hearing those strange things, from my own mouth, of which he had been told by his disciple, the Mede. 'You can say, too,' said he, that you have received the Spirit? I told them, 'I believed I had; for notwithstanding all my sins, the bent of my heart was to

God, in a way it never was before; that, according to my present feelings, I could not be happy if God was not glorified, and if I had not the enjoyment of his presence, for which I felt that. I was now educating.' Aga Boozong shed tears.

"A Russian officer coming in at the time, the subject of religion was dropped, except that while speaking of the convicts at Calcutta, whom I had seen at the gaol, Mirza Seid Ali asked me, how I addressed them? I told him, I cautioned them against despair, assured them that they might come at the eleventh hour, that it was never too late for mercy, if they came to God through Christ.

"After this came Aga Ali, the Mede, to hear, as he said, some of the sentences of Paul. Mirza Seid Ali had told them, 'that if they had read nothing but the Gospels, they knew nothing of the religion of Christ.' The sheet I happened to have by me, was the one containing the fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters of 2nd Corinthians, which Aga Ali read

out.

"At this time the company had increased considerably. I desired him to notice particularly the latter part of the fifth chapter, 'God was, in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.' He then read it a second time, but they saw not its glory; howeyer, they spoke in high terms of the pith and solidity of Paul's sentences.

"They were evidently on the watch for any thing that tallied with their own sentiments. Upon the

passage-Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,' the Mede observed, 'Do you not see that Jesus was in Paul, and that Paul was only another name for Jesus?" Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; and whether we be sober, it is for your sakes,' they interpreted thus: 'We are absorbed in the contemplation of God, and when we recover, it is to instruct you.'

"Walking afterwards with Mirza Seid Ali, he told me, how much one of my remarks had affected him, viz. that he had no humility. He had been talking about simplicity and humility as characteristic of the Soofies. 'Humility!' I said to him, ‘if you were humble, you would not dispute in this manner; you would be like a child.' He did not open his mouth afterwards, but to say, 'True; I have no humility.' In evident distress, he observed, 'The truth is, we are in a state of compound ignorance-ignorant, yet ignorant of our ignorance."

On the last birth-day Mr. Martyn lived to commemorate, we find him speaking in affecting terms with respect to his privations as a Missionary, yet expressing himself with ardent and humble gratitude as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

up,

"18. While walking in the garden, in some disorder, from vexation, two Mussulmen Jews came and asked me what would become of them in another world? The Mahometans were right in their way, they supposed, and we in ours? but what must they expect? After rectifying their mistake