CHAPTER X.

He arrived the next morning at Shiraz, the capital of the Persian empire. His first object was to ascertain from those best skilled in the language, how well Sabat’s Persian translation would be understood by the people. Finding that their opinion was against it, he, in a little more than a week after his arrival, undertook the task anew, with the assistance of Mirza Seid Ali Khan, who belonged to the sect called Soofees. Whilst engaged in this work, he was visited constantly by learned Persians, who argued with him respecting the Christian religion and Mohammedism. But their prejudices in favour of their sensual creed were too strong to yield to mere arguments. Some of them were Jews who had become Mussulmans; a very frequent change, as every such convert is rewarded with a new dress, by the prince.—The condition of thesewandering descendants of Abraham, greatly excited his sympathy. On one occasion “while walking in the garden, in some disorder from vexation, two Mussulman Jews came up, and asked me what would become of them in another world? the Mohammedans were right in their way, they supposed, and we in ours; but what must they expect? After rectifying their mistake as to the Mohammedans, I mentioned two or three reasons for believing that we are right: such as their dispersion, and the cessation of sacrifices, immediately on the appearance of Jesus. ‘True, true,’ they said, with great feeling and seriousness; indeed, they seemed disposed to yield assent to any thing I said. They confessed they had become Mohammedans only on compulsion; and that Abdoolghunee wished to go to Bagdad, thinking he might throw off the mask there with safety;—but asked, what I thought? I said that the governor was a Mohammedan. ‘Did I think Syria safer?’ ‘The safest place in the east,’ I said, ‘was India.’ Feelings of pity for God’s ancient people, and having the awful importance of eternal things impressed on my mind, by the seriousness of their inquiries as to what would become of them, relieved me from the pressure of my comparatively insignificant distresses. I, a poor Gentile, blest, honoured, and loved, secured for ever by the everlasting covenant, whilst the children of the kingdomare still lying in outward darkness! Well does it become me to be thankful.”

Mr. Martyn did not discourage the love of disputation manifested by the natives, hoping it might open the way for impressing the truth, and finding that his assistant had already become interested in the gospel history. But in consequence of his removing from the city to the suburbs, that he might enjoy a pleasant garden and a purer air, he was not so much in the way of interruption, and his visiters became less numerous. In that retirement, by the side of a clear stream, and amidst vines and orange trees, he devoted himself constantly to the completion of his important task.

The curiosity and interest with which the missionary was regarded, was not confined to a few private individuals of Shiraz. The Professor of Mohammedan law agreed to hold a public dispute with him, and we abridge the account of the meeting as given by Mr. Martyn, that our readers may have an idea of the kind of arguments used in favour of the imposture of Mohammed, and against the truth of the gospel.

“He talked for a full hour about the soul: its being distinct from the body, superior to the brutes, &c.; about God, his unity, invisibility, and other obvious and acknowledged truths. After this followed another discourse. At length, after clearing hisway for miles around, he said, ‘that philosophers had proved, that a single being could produce but a single being; that the first thing God had created wasWisdom,—a being perfectly one with him; after that, the souls of men, and the seventh heaven; and so on, till he produced matter, which is merely passive.’ He illustrated the theory, by comparing all being to a circle: at one extremity of the diameter is God, at the opposite extremity of the diameter is matter, than which, nothing in the world is meaner. Rising from thence, the highest stage of matter is connected with the lowest stage of vegetation; the highest of the vegetable world, with the lowest of the animal, and so on, till we approach the point from which all proceeded. ‘But,’ said he, ‘you will observe, that next to God, something ought to be, which is equal to God; for since it is equally near, it possesses equal dignity. What this is, philosophers are not agreed upon. ‘You,’ said he, ‘say it is Christ: but we, that it is the Spirit of the Prophets. All this is what the philosophers have proved, independently of any particular religion.’ There were a hundred things in the Professor’s harangue, that might have been excepted against, as mere dreams, supported by no evidence; but I had no inclination to call in question dogmas, on the truth or falsehood of which, nothing in religion depended.

“The Professor, at the close of one of his long speeches, said to me, ‘You see how much there is to be said on these subjects; several visits will be necessary; we must come to the point by degrees.’ Perceiving how much he dreaded a close discussion, I did not mean to hurry him, but let him talk on, not expecting we should have any thing about Mohammedism the first night. But at the instigation of the Jew, I said, ‘Sir, you see that Abdoolghunee is anxious that you should say something about Islam.’[9]He was much displeased at being brought so prematurely to the weak point, but could not decline accepting so direct a challenge. ‘Well,’ said he to me, ‘I must ask you a few questions. Why do you believe in Christ?’—He then enumerated the persons who had spoken of the miracles of Mohammed, and told a long story about Salmon, the Persian, who had come to Mohammed. I asked, ‘whether this Salmon had written an account of the miracles he had seen?’ He confessed that he had not. ‘Nor,’ said I, ‘have you a single witness to the miracles of Mohammed.’ He then tried to show, that though they had not, there was still sufficient evidence. ‘For,’ said he, ‘suppose five hundred persons should say that they heard some particular thing of a hundred persons whowere with Mohammed,—would that be sufficient evidence, or not?’ ‘Whether it be or not,’ said I, ‘you have no such evidence as that, nor any thing like it; but if you have, as they are something like witnesses, we must proceed to examine them, and see whether their testimony deserves credit.’

“After this, the Koran was mentioned; but as the company began to thin, and the great man had not a sufficient audience before whom to display his eloquence, the dispute was not so brisk. He did not, indeed, seem to think it worth while to notice my objections. He mentioned a well known sentence in the Koran, as being inimitable. I produced another sentence, and begged to know why it was inferior to the Koranic one. He declined saying why, under pretext that it required such a knowledge of rhetoric, in order to understand his proofs, as I probably did not possess. A scholar afterwards came to Seid Ali, with twenty reasons for preferring Mohammed’s sentence to mine.”

“It was midnight when dinner, or rather supper, was brought in: it was a sullen meal. The great man was silent, and I was sleepy. Seid Ali, however, had not had enough. While burying his hand in the dish of the professor, he softly mentioned some more of my objections. He was so vexed, that he scarcely answered any thing; butafter supper, told a very long story, all reflecting upon me.”

His account of a subsequent appearance before a celebrated Soofie, will further exemplify the character of the learned men of India, who persist in rejecting the truth.

“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 an open court, in which a few greens and flowers were placed; the master was in a corner. He was a very fresh-looking old man, with a silver beard. I was surprised to observe the downcast and sorrowful looks of the assembly, and still more at the silence which reigned. After sitting some time in expectation, and being not at all disposed to waste my time in 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, ‘Which is the way to be happy?’

“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 that the subjugation of the passions was the shortest way to happiness.’

“After a considerable pause, I ventured to ask, ‘what were his feelings in the prospect of death; hope, or fear; or neither?’ ‘Neither,’ said he; and that ‘pleasure and pain were both alike.’ 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.”

A defence of the religion of the Koran was also published in Arabic, by the principal theological professor, or instructer of Mohammedan priests, upon which much labour had been spent, and which was pronounced to be the best work on the subject that had ever appeared. The work concluded with an appeal to Mr. Martyn, to consider the subject, and confess the truth of Mohammedism. He immediately wrote a reply to it in Persian, exposing the heresy and evil of the false faith, and showing the evidences of the Christian religion; appealing, in turn, to the Mussulman author to view the subject impartially, and to embrace thetruth without fear of the contempt, or even death it might cost him. The learned men of the sect were very fond of arguing with Mr. Martyn on the subject; but as their desire was not humbly to seek the way of God, but to indulge their love of debate, and to display their skill in it, there was little good effected by their conversations. The nephew of the prince said, in the true spirit of Mohammed, that the proper answer to the missionary was the sword; but the prince himself acknowledged that his faith in the false prophet was shaken, and greatly praised the reply of Mr. Martyn, who, when he was asked by the prince, what were the laws of Christianity, (meaning how often it required its believers to pray, wash, &c.,) said, that it 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.” In these debates he had to endure great contempt from his opponents, which is one of the severest trials a man of honourable feeling, and a minister of the gospel, can be called to suffer. It must have been a great aggravation of the sorrows of our Redeemer, after he had come from Heaven, out of pure mercy to men, to find himself disbelieved, and his affectionate entreaties, and the proofs of his doctrine, treated with ridicule and scorn, by the very persons he had come to seek and to save.

It was the recollection of what Christ had suffered in this respect, that supported Mr. Martyn amidst the scoffs of the proud Mohammedans; and he often repeated the verse,

“If on my face, for thy dear name,Shame and reproaches be;All hail reproach, and welcome shame,If thou remember me.”

“If on my face, for thy dear name,

Shame and reproaches be;

All hail reproach, and welcome shame,

If thou remember me.”

Although these men pass for sages amongst their own people, they were very ignorant, in comparison with well-educated Europeans. One of the sectaries, for instance, maintained against Mr. Martyn, that there was no difference between pleasure and pain; and he was once called upon in a large company, assembled at the house of the prime minister of the territory, to prove that the earth moves: but no one understood his explanations. Sometimes he would be questioned on great principles which naturally led him to speak of the gospel; but as soon as he mentioned any of its doctrines, they would divert the conversation to some of the ridiculous ideas, upon which they were accustomed to waste their thoughts. For instance, one of the men who accompanied him as a guard to visit the ruins of Persepolis, a celebrated ancient city, not far from Shiraz, “often broke a long silence,” he says, “by a sudden question of this sort: ‘Sir, what is the chief good of life?’ I replied, ‘The love of God:’ ‘Whatnext?’ ‘The love of man.’ ‘That is,’ said he, ‘to have men love us, or to love them?’ ‘To love them.’ He did not seem to agree with me. Another time he asked, ‘Who were the worst people in the world?’ I said ‘Those who know their duty, and do not practise it.’ At the house where I was entertained, they asked me the question which the Lord once asked, ‘What think ye of Christ?’ I generally tell them at first, what they expect to hear, ‘The Son of God;’ but this time I said, ‘The same as you say,—the word of God.’ ‘Was he a Prophet?’ ‘Yes, in some sense, he was a Prophet; but, what it chiefly concerns us to know, he was an Atonement for the sins of men.’ Not understanding this, they made no reply. They next asked, ‘What did I think of the soul?’ was it out of the body or in the body? I supposed the latter. ‘No,’ they said, ‘it was neither the one nor the other; but next to it, and the mover of the body.’”

We have some other specimens of these discussions.

“Aga Ali, of Media, came, and with him and Mirza Ali, I had a long and warm discussion about the essentials of Christianity. The Mede seeing us at work upon the epistles, said, ‘he should be glad to read them; as for the gospels, they were nothing but tales, which were of no use to him,for instance,’ said he, ‘if Christ raised four hundred dead to life, what is that to me?’ I said, ‘It certainly was of importance; for his works were a reason for our depending upon his words.’ ‘What did he say,’ asked he, ‘that was not known before: the love of God, humility,—who does not know these things?’ ‘Were these things,’ said I, ‘known before Christ, either among Greeks or Romans, with all their philosophy?’ They averred that the Hindoo book Juh contained precepts of this kind. I questioned its antiquity; ‘but however that may be,’ I added, ‘Christ came not toteach, so much as todie; the truths I spoke of, as confirmed by his miracles, were those relating to his person, such as, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ Here Mirza Seid Ali told him that I had professed to have no doubt of my salvation. He asked what I meant? I told him, ‘that though sin still remained, I was assured that it should not regain dominion; and that I should never come into condemnation, but was accepted in the Beloved.’ Not a little surprised, he asked Mirza Seid Ali whether he comprehended this? ‘No,’ said he, ‘nor Mirza Ibraheem, to whom I mentioned it.’ The Mede again turning to me, asked, ‘how do you know this? how do you know you have experienced the second birth?’ ‘Because,’ said I, ‘we have theSpirit of the Father; what he wishes, we wish; what he hates, we hate.’ Here he began to be a little more calm and less contentious, and mildly asked, how I had obtained this peace of mind; ‘Was it merely those books?’ said he, taking up some of our sheets. I told him ‘These books, with prayer.’ ‘What was the beginning of it,’ said he, ‘the society of some friends?’ I related to him my religious history, the substance of which was, that I took my bible before God, in prayer, and prayed for forgiveness through Christ, assurance of it through his Spirit, and grace to obey his commandments. They then both asked whether the same benefit would be conferred on them? I replied; ‘I bring you this message from God, that he who, despairing of himself, rests for righteousness on the Son of God, shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; and to this I can add my testimony, if that be worth any thing, that I have found the promise fulfilled in myself; but if you should not find it so in you, accuse not the gospel of falsehood; it is possible that your faith might not be sincere; indeed, so fully am I persuaded that you do not believe on the Son of God, that if you were to entreat ever so earnestly for baptism, I should not dare to administer it at this time, when you have shown so many signs of an unhumbled heart.’ ‘What! would you have me believe,’ said he, ‘asa child?’ ‘Yes,’ said I. ‘True,’ said he, ‘I think that is the only way.’ Aga Ali said no more but ‘Certainly he is a good man!’”

“Aga Neeser came, and talked most captiously and irrelevantly against all revealed religion. Three years ago, he had thrown off the shackles of Mohammed, and advised me to do the same with my yoke. I told him, that I preferred my yoke to his freedom. He was for sending me naked into a wilderness; but I would rather be a child under the restraints of a parent, who would provide me with food and clothing, and be my protector and guide. To every thing I said, he had but one answer. ‘God is the sole agent; sin and holiness, happiness and misery, cause and effect, are all perfectly one.’ Finding him determined to amuse himself in this way, I said, ‘These things will do very well for the present, while reclining in gardens and smoking pipes; but not for a dying hour. How many years of life remain? You are about thirty, perhaps thirty more remain. How swiftly have the last thirty passed: how soon will the next thirty be gone: and then we shall see. If you are right, I lose nothing; if I am right, you lose your soul. Leaving out the consideration of all religion, it is probable that the next world may be akin to this, and our relation to both not dissimilar. But here we see that childhood is a preparation formanhood, and that neglect of the proper employments of childhood entails miseries in riper years.’ The thought of death, and of separation from his pleasures, made him serious; or perhaps he thought it useless to press me with any more of his opinions.”

Such was the state of the minds of the people whom he hoped to bring to a reception of the gospel, to renounce Mohammed, and “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!” We may learn more of the nature of their religion, by his account of the manner in which their principal fast is observed. It is called the fast of Ramazan, and is directed by the Koran to be kept during the month called by that name.

“Sept. 20th.—First day of the fast of Ramazan. All the family had been up in the night, to take an unseasonable meal, in order to fortify themselves for the abstinence of the day. It was curious to observe the effects of the fast in the house. The master was scolding and beating his servants; they equally peevish and insolent; and the beggars more than ordinarily importunate and clamorous. At noon, all the city went to the grand mosque.[10]My host came back with an account of new vexations there. He was chatting with a friend, near the door, when a great preacher, Hagi Mirza, arrived,with hundreds of followers. ‘Why do you not say your prayers?’ said the new comers to the two friends. ‘We have finished,’ said they. ‘Well,’ said the other, ‘if you cannot pray a second time with us, you had better move out of the way.’ Rather than join such turbulent zealots, they retired. The reason of this unceremonious address was, that these loving disciples had a desire to pray all in a row with their master, which, it seems, is the custom. There is no public service in the mosque; every man there prays for himself.”

“Sept. 22d.—Sunday. My friends returned from the mosque, full of indignation at what they had witnessed there. The former governor of Bushire complained to the vizier, in the mosque, that some of his servants had treated him brutally. The vizier, instead of attending to his complaint, ordered them to do their work a second time; which they did, kicking and beating him with their slippers, in the most ignominious way, before all the mosque. This unhappy people groan under the tyranny of their governors; yet nothing subdues or tames them. Happy Europe! how has God favoured the sons of Japheth, by causing them to embrace the gospel! How dignified are all the nations of Europe compared with this nation! Yet the people are clever and intelligent, and more calculated to become great and powerfulthan any of the nations of the east, had they a good government, and the Christian religion.”

“Oct. 1st.—Thousands every day assemble at the mosque; it is quite a lounge with them. Each, as soon as he has said his prayers, sits down and talks to his friend. The multitude press to hear Hagi Mohammed Hasan. One day they thronged him so much that he made some error in his prostrations. This put him into such a passion, that he wished that Omar’s[11]curse might come upon him, if he preached to them again. However, a day or two after, he thought better of it. This preacher is famous for letting out his money for interest; and therefore, in spite of his eloquence, he is not very popular.”

“Oct. 7th.—I was surprised by a visit from the great Soofie doctor, who, while most of the people were asleep, came to me for some wine. I plied him with questions innumerable; but he returned nothing but incoherent answers, and sometimes no answer at all. Having laid aside his turban, he put on his night-cap, and soon fell asleep upon the carpet. Whilst he lay there, his disciples came, but would not believe, when I told them who was there, till they came and saw the sage asleep. When he awoke, they came in and seated themselvesat the greatest possible distance, and were all as still as if in a church.

“The real state of this man seems to be despair, and it is well if it do not end in madness. I preached to him the kingdom of God: mentioning particularly how I had found peace from the Son of God and the Spirit of God: through the first, forgiveness; through the second, sanctification. He said it was good, but said it with the same unconcern with which he admits all manner of things, however contradictory. Poor soul! he is sadly bewildered.

“At a garden called Shah Chiragh, in which is the tomb of the brother of one of the Imans, who was killed on the spot, a miracle is wrought every Ramazan. The proprietor of the garden, in whose family it has been for ages, finds its supposed sanctity abundantly profitable, as he is said to make $9,000 a year of it. To keep alive the zeal of the people, who make their offerings there every day, he procures a villager, who pretends to be sick, and crying to Ali[12]for help; and then, on the appointed day, recovers. Though this farce is played off every year, the simpletons are never undeceived. Presents of sheep, fowls, sweetmeats, money, flowed in upon the proprietor, who skilfully turned all to the best advantage. Those whowished to see the man’s face, were to pay so much, those who were anxious to touch him, were to pay so much more; and so on.

“On two days in the Ramazan, tragedies were acted at our house, in the women’s court. Two or three men, dressed in the Khan’s court-robes, spouted and sung for an hour, before an immense concourse of women, all veiled. The subject on the first day was the death of Mohammed; on the second, that of Iman Hosyn.”

“Oct. 18th.—“The Ramazan ended, or ought to have ended, but the moon disappointed them. The Moollahs not having seen the new moon, would not allow the fast to be over, and the people were, in consequence, all in confusion; for not having eaten in the night, they were not at all disposed to go through the day fasting. At last some witnesses appeared, who vowed that they had seen the silver bow. These were from the prince; but the Moollahs refused to admit them till seventy-two of the same kind bore the same testimony. This was no great number for a prince to produce; so the seventy-two appeared, and the feast was proclaimed.”

FOOTNOTES:[9]Another name for Mohammedism, signifyingthe state of salvation.[10]The place of Mohammedan worship.[11]Omar was the second of the Caliphs, or successors of Mohammed.[12]A cousin of Mohammed, and head of a religious sect.

[9]Another name for Mohammedism, signifyingthe state of salvation.

[10]The place of Mohammedan worship.

[11]Omar was the second of the Caliphs, or successors of Mohammed.

[12]A cousin of Mohammed, and head of a religious sect.

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