SHIRAZ TO TABREEZ--THE PERSIAN NEW TESTAMENT
The next three months were spent, still in Shiraz, in the preparation of
copies of the precious Persian MS. of the New Testament, and in very
close spiritual intercourse with the company of inquirers whom neither
fanaticism, conceit, nor, in some cases, a previously immoral life, had
prevented from reverencing the teaching of the man of God. Jaffir Ali
Khan's garden became to such a holy place, as the Persian spring passed
into the heat of summer. There the privileged translator, Mirza Sayyid
Ali; Aga Baba, the Mede; Aga Boozong, vizier of Prince Abbas Mirza, and
'most magisterial of the Soofis;' Mirza Ibrahim, the controversialist
leader; Sheikh Abulhassan, and many a moolla to whom he testified that
Christ was the Creator and Saviour, gathered round him as he read, 'at
their request,' the Old Testament histories. 'Their attention to the
Word, and their love and attention 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.'
Telling Mirza Sayyid Ali one day that I wished to return to the
city in the evening, to be alone and at leisure for prayer, he
said with seriousness, 'Though a man had no other religious
society I suppose he might, with the aid of the Bible, live
alone with God?' This solitude will, in one respect, be his own
state soon;--may he find it the medium of God's gracious
communications 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.
_May 11._--Aga Baba came to bid me farewell, which he did 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 Sayyid Ali, giving
him instructions what to do with the New Testament in case of my
decease, and exhorting him, as far as his confession allowed me,
to stand fast. He had made many a good resolution respecting his
besetting sins. I hope, as well as pray, that some lasting
effects may be seen at Shiraz from the Word of God left among
them.
For the Shah and for the heir-apparent, Prince Abbas Mirza, two copies
of the Persian New Testament were specially written out in the perfect
caligraphy which the Persians love, and carefully corrected with the
translator's own hand. That he might himself present them, especially
the former, he left Shiraz on May 11, 1812, after a year's residence
in the country. The whole length of the great Persian plateau had to
be traversed, by Ispahan to Teheran, thence to the royal camp at
Sultania, and finally to Tabreez, where was Sir Gore Ouseley, the
British ambassador, through whom alone the English man of God could
be introduced to the royal presence. He was accompanied by Mr.
Canning, an English clergyman.
The journey occupied eight weeks, and proved to be one of extreme
hardship, which rapidly developed Henry Martyn's disease. At one time
his life was in danger, in spite of the letters which he carried from
General Malcolm's friend, and now his own, Jaffir Ali Khan, to the
Persian prime minister at Teheran. Mrs. Bishop's experience of travel
by the same road[79] at a more favourable season, over the 'great mud
land' to which centuries of misrule have changed the populous paradise
of Darius, enables us to imagine what the brief record of the
_Journal_ only half reveals seventy years ago. The old village which
the founder of the Kajar dynasty enlarged into Teheran, straggles
within eleven miles of walls in the most depressed part of an
uninteresting waste. Save for the exterior of the Shah's palace, and
those of some of his ministers, the suburb with the European
legations, and now the large and handsome buildings of the American
Presbyterian Mission, it is unworthy of being a capital city. Eager to
present the sacred volume while life was left to him, Henry Martyn
hurried away to find Mirza Shufi, the premier, and the Shah, who were
in camp a night's journey off at Karach.
_May 13._--Remained all day at the caravanserai, correcting the
Prince's copy.
_May 14._--Continued our journey through two ridges of mountains
to Imanzadu: no cultivation to be seen anywhere, nor scarcely
any natural vegetable production, except the broom and
hawthorn. The weather was rather tempestuous, with cold gusts of
wind and rain. We were visited by people who came to be cured of
their distempers.
_May 16._--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 our horses, the scarcity of rain this
year having left the ground destitute of verdure, and the poor
people of the village near us having nothing to sell.
_May 21._--Finished the revision of the Prince's copy. At eleven
at night we started for Ispahan, where we arrived soon after
sunrise on the 22nd, and were accommodated in one of the king's
palaces. Found my old Shiraz scribe here, and corrected with him
the Prince's copy.
_May 23._--Called on the Armenian bishops at Julfa, and met
Matteus. He is certainly vastly superior to any Armenian I have
yet seen. We next went to the Italian missionary, Joseph
Carabiciate, a native of Aleppo, but educated at Rome. He spoke
Latin 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 the necessary provision, he talked of returning to
Aleppo.
_May 24._ (Sunday.)--Went early this morning to the Armenian
church attached to the episcopal residence. Within the rails
were two out of the four bishops, and other ecclesiastics, 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 satisfied with processions, ringing of bells,
waving of colours, and other ceremonies, which were so numerous
as entirely to remove all semblance of spiritual worship, we
were condemned to witness a repetition of the same mockery at
the Italian's church, at his request. I could not stand it out,
but those who did observed that the priest ate and drank all the
consecrated elements himself, and gave none to the few poor
women who composed his congregation, and who, the Armenian said,
had been hired for the occasion.
Before returning to Ispahan we sat a short time in the garden
with the bishops. They, poor things, had nothing to say, and
could scarcely speak Persian; so that all the conversation was
between me and Matteus. At my request he brought what he had of
the Holy Scriptures in Persian and Arabic. They were Wheloi's
Persian Gospels, and an Arabic version of the Gospels printed at
Rome. I tried in vain to bring him to any profitable discussion;
with more sense than his brethren, he is not more advanced in
spiritual knowledge. Returned much disappointed. Julfa had
formerly twenty bishops and about one hundred clergy, with
twenty-four churches.
_June 2._--Soon after midnight we mounted our horses. It was a
mild moonlight night and a nightingale filled the whole valley
with his notes. Our way was along lanes, over which the wood on
each side formed a canopy, and a murmuring rivulet accompanied
us till it was lost in a lake. At daylight we emerged into the
plain of Kashan, which seems to be a part of the great Salt
Desert. On our arrival at the king's garden, where we intended
to put up, we were at first refused admittance, but an
application to the Governor was soon attended to. We saw here
huge snowy mountains on the north-east beyond Teheran.
_June 5._--Reached Kum;[80] the country uniformly desolate. The
chief Moojtahid in all Persia, being a resident of this city, I
sent to know if a visit would be agreeable to him. His reply
was, that if I had any business with him I might come; but if
otherwise, his age and infirmities must be his excuse. Intending
to travel a double stage, started soon after sunset.
_June 8._--Arrived, two hours before daybreak, at the walls of
Teheran. I spread my bed upon the high road, and slept till the
gates were open; then entered the city, and took up my abode at
the ambassador's house.
I lost no time in forwarding Jaffir Ali Khan's letter to the
premier, who sent to desire that I would come to him. I found
him lying ill in the verandah of the king's tent of audience.
Near him were sitting two persons, who, I was afterwards
informed, were Mirza Khantar and Mirza Abdoolwahab; the latter
being a secretary of state and a great admirer of the Soofi
sage. They took very little notice, not rising when I sat down,
as is their custom to all who sit with them; nor offering me
kalean. The two secretaries, on learning my object in coming,
began a conversation with me on religion and metaphysics, which
lasted two hours. As they were both well-educated, gentlemanly
men, the discussion was temperate, and, I hope, useful.
_June 12._--I attended the Vizier's levée, where 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. Amongst
them were two moollas, the most ignorant of any I have yet met
with in either Persia or India. It would be impossible to
enumerate all the absurd things they said. Their vulgarity in
interrupting me in the middle of a speech; their utter ignorance
of the nature of an 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
it would have been well, if Mirza Abdoolwahab had been there; I
should then 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 Muhammad is the prophet of God.'
I said, 'God is God,' but added, instead of 'Muhammad is the
prophet of God,' 'and Jesus is the Son of God.' They had no
sooner heard this, which I had avoided bringing forward 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?'
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 would trample on 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 in my tent, to pass the rest of the day in heat and dirt.
What 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.
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, therefore,
wait till the king reached Sultania, where the ambassador would
be.
_June 13._--Disappointed of my object in coming to the camp, I
lost no time in leaving it, and proceeded in company with Mr.
Canning, who had just joined me from Teheran, towards Kasbin,
intending there to wait 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 Quishlang.
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 the shady side of a walled village by which we passed, and
surveyed the plains over which our road lay, I sighed at the
thought of my dear friends in India and England, of the vast
regions I must traverse before I can get to either, and of the
various and unexpected hindrances which 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.
_June 22._--We met with the usual insulting treatment at the
caravanserai, where the king's servants had got possession of a
good room, built for the reception of the better order of
guests; they seemed to delight in the opportunity of humbling an
European. Sultania is still but a village, yet the Zengan prince
has 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, or famine is nothing to
the misery of being subject to the violence and extortion of
this rabble soldiery.
_June 25._ (Zengan.)--After a restless night, rose so ill with
the fever that I could not go on. My companion, Mr. Canning, was
nearly in the same state. We touched nothing all day.
_June 26._--After such another night I had determined to go on,
but Mr. Canning 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 Tabreez. We made repeated applications to
the moneyed 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 is risen up, 'who
know not Joseph.' Providentially a poor muleteer, arriving from
Tabreez, became security for us, and thus we obtained five
tomans. 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 head-ache 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 childish;
and cheerfully would I have exchanged them all for the unfading
inheritance.
_June 27._--My Armenian servant was attacked in the same way.
The rest did not get me the things that I wanted, so that I
passed the third day in the same exhausted state; my head, too,
was tortured with shocking pains, such as, together with the
horror I felt at being exposed to the sun, showed me plainly to
what to ascribe my sickness. Towards evening, two more of our
servants were attacked in the same way, and lay groaning from
pains in the head.
_June 28._--All were much recovered, but in the afternoon I
again relapsed. During a high fever Mr. Canning read to me in
bed the Epistle to the Ephesians, and I never felt the
consolations of that Divine revelation of mysteries more
sensibly and solemnly. Rain in the night prevented our setting
off.
_June 29._--My ague and fever returned, with such a head-ache
that I was almost frantic. Again and again I said to myself,
'Let patience have her perfect work,' and kept pleading the
promises, 'When thou passest through the waters I will be with
thee,' etc.; and the Lord did not withhold His presence. I
endeavoured to repel all the disordered thoughts that the fever
occasioned, and to keep in mind that all was friendly; a
friendly Lord presiding; and nothing exercising me but what
would show itself at last friendly. A violent perspiration at
last relieved the acute pain in my head, and my heart rejoiced;
but as soon as that was over, the exhaustion it occasioned,
added to the fatigue from the pain, left me in as low a state of
depression as ever I was in. I seemed about to sink into a long
fainting fit, and I almost wished it; but at this moment, a
little after midnight, I was summoned to mount my horse, and set
out, rather dead than alive. We moved on six parasangs. We had a
thunder-storm with hail.
_July 1._--A long and tiresome march to Sarehund; in seven
parasangs there was no village. They had nothing to sell but
buttermilk and bread; but a servant of Abbas Mirza, happening to
be at the same caravanserai, sent us some flesh of a mountain
cow which he had shot the day before. All day I had scarcely the
right recollection of myself from the violence of the ague. We
have now reached the end of the level ground which we have had
all the way from Teheran, and are approaching the boundaries of
Parthia and Media; a most natural boundary it is, as the two
ridges of mountains we have had on the left and right come round
and form a barrier.
_July 2._--At two in the morning we set out. I hardly know when
I have been so disordered. I had little or no recollection of
things, and what I did remember at times of happy scenes in
India or England, served only to embitter my present situation.
Soon after removing into the air I was seized with a violent
ague, and in this state I went on till sunrise. At three
parasangs and a half we found a fine caravanserai, apparently
very little used, as the grass was growing in the court. There
was nothing all round but the barren rocks, which generally
roughen the country before the mountain rears its height. Such
an edifice in such a situation was cheering. Soon after we came
to a river, over which was a high bridge; I sat down in the
shade under it, with two camel drivers. The kafila, as it
happened, forded the river, and passed on without my perceiving
it. Mr. Canning seeing no signs of me, returned, and after
looking about for some time, espied my horse grazing; he
concluded immediately that the horse had flung me from the
bridge into the river, and was almost ready to give me up for
lost. My speedy appearance from under the bridge relieved his
terror and anxiety. Half the people still continue ill; for
myself, I am, through God's infinite mercy, recovering.
_July 4._--I so far prevailed as to get the kafila into motion
at midnight. Lost our way in the night, but arriving at a
village we were set right again. At eight came to Kilk
caravanserai, but not stopping there, went on to a village,
where we arrived at half-past nine. The baggage not coming up
till long after, we got no breakfast till one o'clock. In
consequence of all these things, want of sleep, want of
refreshment, and exposure to the sun, I was presently in a high
fever, which raged so furiously all the day that I was nearly
delirious, and it was some time before I could get the right
recollection of myself. I almost despaired, and do now, of
getting alive through this unfortunate journey. Last night I
felt remarkably well, calm and composed, and sat reflecting on
my heavenly rest, with more sweetness of soul, abstraction from
the world, and solemn views of God, than I have had for a long
time. Oh, for such sacred hours! This short and painful life
would scarcely be felt could I live thus at heaven's gate. It
being impossible to continue my journey in my present state,
and one of the servants also being so ill that he could not move
with safety, we determined to halt one day at the village, and
sent on a messenger to Sir Gore, at Tabreez, informing him of
our approach.
_July 5._--As soon as it was day we found our way to the village
where the Doctor was waiting for us. Not being able to stay for
us, he went on to Tabreez, and we as far as Wasmuch, where he
promised to procure for us a fine upper room furnished; but when
we arrived, they denied that there was any such a place. At
last, after an hour's threatening, we got admittance to it. An
hour before break of day I left it, in hopes of reaching Tabreez
before sunrise. Some of the people seemed to feel compassion for
me, and asked me if I was not very ill. At last I reached the
gate, and feebly asked for a man to show me the way to the
ambassador's.
_July 9._--Made an extraordinary effort, and as a Tartar was
going off instantly to Constantinople, wrote letters to Mr.
Grant for permission to come to England, and to Mr. Simeon and
Lydia, informing them of it; but I have scarcely the remotest
expectation of seeing it, except by looking at the almighty
power of God.
Dined at night at the ambassador's, who said he was determined
to give every possible _éclat_ to my book, by presenting it
himself to the king. My fever never ceased to rage till the
21st, during all which time every effort was made to subdue it,
till I had lost all my strength and almost all my reason. They
now administer bark, and it may please God to bless the tonics;
but I seem too far gone, and can only say, 'having a desire to
depart and be with Christ, which is far better.'
TO LYDIA GRENFELL
Tabreez: July 12, 1812.
My dearest Lydia,--I have only time to say that I have received
your letter of February 14. Shall I pain your heart by adding,
that I am in such a state of sickness and pain, that I can
hardly write to you? Let me rather observe, to obviate the
gloomy apprehension my letters to Mr. Grant and Mr. Simeon may
excite, that I am likely soon to be delivered from my fever.
Whether I shall gain strength enough to go on, rests on our
Heavenly Father, in whose hands are all my times. Oh, His
precious grace! His eternal unchanging love in Christ to my soul
never appeared more clear, more sweet, more strong. I ought to
inform you that in consequence of the state to which I am
reduced by travelling so far overland, without having half
accomplished my journey, and the consequent impossibility of
returning to India the same way, I have applied for leave to
come on furlough to England. Perhaps you will be gratified by
this intelligence; but oh, my dear Lydia, I must faithfully tell
you that the probability of my reaching England alive is but
small; and this I say, that your expectations of seeing me again
may be moderate, as mine are of seeing you. Why have you not
written more about yourself? However, I am thankful for knowing
that you are alive and well. I scarcely know how to desire you
to direct. Perhaps Alexandria in Egypt will be the best place;
another may be sent to Constantinople, for though I shall not go
there, I hope Mr. Morier will be kept informed of my movements.
Kindest love to all the saints you usually mention. Yours ever
most faithfully and affectionately,
H. MARTYN.
TO REV. C. SIMEON
Tabreez: July 12, 1812.
My dearest Friend and Brother,--The Tartar courier for
Constantinople, who has been delayed some days on our account,
being to be despatched instantly, my little strength also being
nearly exhausted by writing to Mr. Grant a letter to be laid
before the court: I have only to notice some of the particulars
of your letter of February of this year. It is not now before
me, neither have I strength to search for it among my papers;
but from the frequent attentive perusals I gave it during my
intervals of ease, I do not imagine that any of it has escaped
my memory. At present I am in a high fever, and cannot properly
recollect myself. I shall ever love and be grateful to Mr.
Thornton for his kind attention to my family.
The increase of godly young men is precious news. If I sink into
the grave in India, my place will be supplied an hundredfold.
You will learn from Mr. Grant that I have applied for leave to
come to England on furlough; a measure you will disapprove; but
you would not, were you to see the pitiable condition to which I
am reduced, and knew what it is to traverse the continent of
Asia in the destitute state in which I am. If you wish not to
see me, I can say that I think it most probable that you will
not; the way before me being not better than that passed over,
which has nearly killed me.
I would not pain your heart, my dear brother, but we who are in
Jesus have the privilege of viewing life and death as nearly the
same, since both are one; and I thank a gracious Lord that
sickness never came at a time when I was more free from apparent
reasons for living. Nothing seemingly remains for me to do but
to follow the rest of my family to the tomb. Let not the book
written against Muhammadanism be published till approved in
India. A European who has not lived amongst them cannot imagine
how differently they see, imagine, reason, object, from what we
do. This I had full opportunity of observing during my eleven
months' residence at Shiraz. During that time I was engaged in a
written controversy with one of the most learned and temperate
doctors there. He began. I replied what was unanswerable, then I
subjoined a second more direct attack on the glaring absurdities
of Muhammadanism, with a statement of the nature and evidences
of Christianity. The Soofis then as well as himself desired a
demonstration, from the very beginning, of the truth of any
revelation. As this third treatise contained an examination of
the doctrine of the Soofis, and pointed out that their object
was attainable by the Gospel, and by that only, it was read with
interest and convinced many. There is not a single Europeanism
in the whole that I know of, as my friend and interpreter would
not write anything that he could not perfectly comprehend. But I
am exhausted; pray for me, beloved brother, and believe that I
am, as long as life and recollection lasts, yours
affectionately,
H. MARTYN.
Tabreez: August 8.
My dearest Brother and Friend,--Ever since I wrote, about a
month, I believe, I have been lying upon the bed of sickness;
for twenty days or more the fever raged with great violence, and
for a long time every species of medicine was tried in vain.
After I had given up every hope of recovery, it pleased God to
abate the fever, but incessant head-aches succeeded, which
allowed me no rest day or night. I was reduced still lower, and
am now a mere skeleton; but as they are now less frequent, I
suppose it to be the will of God that I should be raised up to
life again. I am now sitting in my chair, and wrote the will
with a strong hand; but as you see I cannot write so now.
Kindest love to Mr. John Thornton, for whose temporal and
spiritual prosperity I daily pray.--Your ever affectionate
friend and brother,
H. MARTYN.
Lydia Grenfell's letter, to which Martyn's of July 12, written in such
circumstances, is a reply, was really dated February 1, 1812, and was
the last received from her by him. Her _Diary_ notes that she 'wrote
to India, August 30, September 30, 1812'; and on December 12 of that
year, thus remarks on his letter of July 12:
Heard from Tabreez from Mr. Martyn with an account of his
dangerous state of health and intention of returning to England
if his life was spared. This intelligence affected me variously.
The probability of his death, the certainty of his extreme
sufferings, and distance from every friend, pressed heavily on
my spirits; I was enabled to pray, and felt relieved. Of his
return no very sanguine expectations can be entertained.
Darkness and distress of mind have followed this information. I
cannot collect my thoughts to write, or apply as I ought to
anything. Oh, let me consider this as a call to prayer and
watchfulness and self-examination. Lord, assist me!
_December 16._--A season of great temptation, darkness, and
distress. At no period of my life have I stood more in need of
Divine help, and oh! may I earnestly seek it. Lord, I would
pray, give me a right understanding, and enable me seriously to
consider and weigh in the balance of the sanctuary all I
do--yea, let my thoughts be watched. Sleep has fled from mine
eyes, and a fearful looking for of trial and affliction, however
this affair ends, possesses my mind. Oh! let me cast my burden
on the Lord--it is too heavy for me. Lord, let me begin afresh
to call upon Thy name, and, taking hold of Thee, I shall be
borne up above my trials, carried through the difficulties I
see before me, and be delivered.
_December 17._--I desire, O Thou blessed God, to seek Thy face,
to call on Thy name. Thou hast been my refuge; I have been happy
in the sense of Thy love. With all my sins, my weaknesses and
miseries, I come to Thee, and most seriously would I seek Thy
guidance in the perplexing and difficult circumstances I am in.
O Lord, suffer me not to run counter to Thy will nor to
dishonour Thee.
_December 25._--Bless the Lord, O my soul; bless His holy name
for ever and ever. I sought the Lord in my distress, and He gave
ear unto me. Gracious and merciful art Thou, O Lord, for Thou
didst bend Thine ear to the most worthless of all creatures.
This is for the glory of Thy name alone, to show how great Thy
mercy is, how sure Thy truth. After a night of clouds and
darkness, behold the clear sky.
_December 26._--This joyful, holy season calls upon me for fresh
praises, and a renewed dedication of myself to God. I rejoice in
believing Christ was born; I rejoice in the end proposed of His
appearance in the flesh, the recovery of mankind to holiness and
to God. I welcome this salvation as that I most desire. My
happiness, I know, consists in holiness and in the favour of
God. Thought much to-day of my dear friend. I cannot think of
him as having gained the heavenly crown, but as struggling with
dangers and difficulties. Secure in them all of Thy favour, and
defended by Thy power, he is safe, and pass but a few years or
days, and he will enter into the rest of God. Let me, too,
follow after him as he follows Christ.
_1813, January 4._--After a night and day spent in great
conflict and agony of mind, I, this evening, enjoy a respite
from distressing apprehensions. I was reduced to the lowest, as
to animal spirits and spiritual life, when it occurred to me I
would go to the meeting, where I found a sweet--oh, may it be a
lasting! relief from my cares. Having better things proposed
for my consideration, my burden has chiefly been from a sense of
inward weakness and a conviction of having lost the presence of
God. The state of my beloved friend less occupies my mind than I
sometimes think is reconcilable with a true affection for him;
but the truth is, the concerns of my soul are the more pressing.
Oh! may this trial truly answer this purpose of driving me to
God, my refuge and rest.
_January 6._--Still harassed and without strength to resist. I
seem divested of the Spirit, yet, oh, let me not give way to
this! I will try, as a helpless sinner, to seek Divine aid. Thou
canst command peace within and increase my faith. I am amazed at
the state of my mind--instead of having my thoughts exercised
about my dear friend, I am filled with distressing fears for my
soul, and left so to myself that all I can do is to pray for the
Lord to return and lift upon me the light of His countenance. O
Thou blessed Redeemer! hear my sighs and put my tears into Thy
bottle. My wanderings are noted down in Thy book. Oh, have pity
on my wretched state and revive Thy work, increase my faith.
Thou art the resurrection and the life--let me rest on this
Scripture.
_February 1._--My beloved friend remembered every hour, but
to-day with less distressing fears and perplexity of mind. I do
from my inmost soul, O Lord, desire Thy will to be done, and
that Thou mayest be glorified in this concern. Oh, direct us!
_February 7._--I have been convinced to-day how by admitting
into my heart, and suffering my first, my last, and every
thought to be engrossed by an earthly object, I have grieved the
Holy Spirit, and hindered God from dwelling in me. Oh! let me
have done with idols and worship God.
More than six weeks after his letter of July 12, the fever-stricken
missionary recovered strength to write to Lydia once again:
TO LYDIA GRENFELL
Tabreez: August 28, 1812.
I wrote to you last, my dear Lydia, in great disorder. My fever
had approached nearly to delirium, and my debility was so great
that it seemed impossible I could withstand the power of disease
many days. Yet it has pleased God to restore me to life and
health again; not that I have recovered my former strength yet,
but consider myself sufficiently restored to prosecute my
journey. My daily prayer is, that my late chastisement may have
its intended effect, and make me all the rest of my days more
humble, and less self-confident. Self-confidence has often let
me down fearful lengths, and would, without God's gracious
interference, prove my endless perdition. I seem to be made to
feel this evil of my heart more than any other at this time. In
prayer, or when I write or converse on the subject, Christ
appears to me my life and strength, but at other times I am as
thoughtless and bold as if I had all life and strength in
myself, Such neglect on our part works a diminution of our joys;
but the covenant, the covenant! stands fast with Him, for His
people evermore.
I mentioned my conversing sometimes on Divine subjects, for
though it is long enough since I have seen a child of God, I am
sometimes led on by the Persians to tell them all I know of the
very recesses of the sanctuary, and these are the things that
interest them. But to give an account of all my discussions with
these mystic philosophers must be reserved to the time of our
meeting. Do I dream, that I venture to think and write of such
an event as that? Is it possible that we shall ever meet again
below? Though it is possible, I dare not indulge such a pleasing
hope yet. I am still at a tremendous distance; and the countries
I have to pass through are many of them dangerous to the
traveller, from the hordes of banditti, whom a feeble
government cannot chastise. In consequence of the bad state of
the road between this and Aleppo, Sir Gore advises me to go
first to Constantinople, and from thence to pass into Syria. In
favour of this route, he urges that, by writing to two or three
Turkish Governors on the frontiers, he can secure me a safe
passage, at least half-way, and the latter half is probably not
much infested. In three days, therefore, I intend setting my
horse's head towards Constantinople, distant above thirteen
hundred miles. Nothing, I think, will occasion any further
detention here, if I can procure servants who know both Persian
and Turkish; but should I be taken ill on the road, my case
would be pitiable indeed. The ambassador and his suite are still
here: his and Lady Ouseley's attentions to me, during my
illness, have been unremitted. The Prince Abbas Mirza, the
wisest of the king's sons, and heir to the throne, was here some
time after my arrival; I much wished to present a copy of the
Persian New Testament to him, but I could not rise from my bed.
The book will, however, be given to him by the ambassador.
Public curiosity about the Gospel, now for the first time, in
the memory of the modern Persians, introduced into the country,
is a good deal excited here, at Shiraz, and other places; so
that, upon the whole, I am thankful for having been led hither
and detained, though my residence in this country has been
attended with many unpleasant circumstances. The way of the
kings of the East is preparing. This much may be said with
safety, but little more. The Persians also will probably take
the lead in the march to Zion, as they are ripe for a revolution
in religion as well as politics.
Sabat, about whom you inquire so regularly, I have heard nothing
of this long time. My friends in India have long since given me
up as lost or gone out of reach, and if they wrote they would
probably not mention him, as he is far from being a favourite
with any of them. ----, who is himself of an impatient temper,
cannot tolerate him; indeed, I am pronounced to be the only man
in Bengal who could have lived with him so long. He is, to be
sure, the most tormenting creature I ever yet chanced to deal
with--peevish, proud, suspicious, greedy; he used to give daily
more and more distressing proofs of his never having received
the saving grace of God. But of this you will say nothing; while
his interesting story is yet fresh in the memory of people, his
failings had better not be mentioned. The poor Arab wrote me a
querulous epistle from Calcutta, complaining that no one took
notice of him now that I was gone; and then he proceeds to abuse
his best friends. I have not yet written to reprove him for his
unchristian sentiments, and when I do I know it will be to no
purpose after all the private lectures I have given him. My
course from Constantinople is so uncertain that I hardly know
where to desire you to direct to me; I believe Malta is the only
place, for there I must stop in my way home. Soon we shall have
occasion for pen and ink no more; but I trust I shall shortly
see thee face to face. Love to all the saints.
Believe me to be yours ever, most faithfully and affectionately,
H. MARTYN.
These were Henry Martyn's last words to Lydia Grenfell. Hasting home
to be with her, in a few weeks his yearning spirit was with the Lord--
Love divine, all love excelling.
Tabreez was at this time the centre of diplomatic activity. While the
Shah and his camp were not far off, the Turkish Ambassador was in the
city, and Sir Gore Ouseley was busily mediating between the Turkish
and Persian Governments after their hostilities on the Baghdad
frontier. Turkey, moreover, had just before concluded a treaty with
Russia, with consequences most offensive to the Shah. Only the
personal influence and active interference of the British Ambassador
prevented the renewal of hostilities. Mr. Morier, the Secretary of
Embassy, gives us this contemporary picture of Martyn's arrival:[81]
'We had not long been at Tabreez before our party was joined by the
Rev. William Canning and the Rev. Henry Martyn. The former was
attached to our Embassy as chaplain; the latter, whom we had left at
Shiraz employed in the translation of the New Testament into the
Persian language, having completed that object, was on his way to
Constantinople. Both these gentlemen had suffered greatly in health
during their journey from Shiraz. Mr. Martyn had scarcely time to
recover his strength before he departed again.'
Had Henry Martyn been induced by his hospitable friends to rest here
for a time, had the physician constrained him to wait for a better
season and more strength, he might have himself presented his sacred
work to the Shah--might have repeated in the north what he had been
permitted to do in one brief year in the south of Persia, and might
have again seen the beloved Lydia and his Cambridge friends. For
Tabreez, 'the fever-dispeller,' is said to have been so named by
Zobeidah, the wife of the Kaliph Haroon'r Rashheed, who, at the close
of the eighth century, beautified the ancient Tauris, capital of
Tiridates III., King of Armenia in 297, because of its healthy
climate. In spite of repeated earthquakes the city has been always
rebuilt, low and mean, covering an area like that of Vienna, but the
principal emporium from which Persia used to receive its European
goods till the coasting steamers of India opened up the Persian Gulf
and, of late, the Euphrates, Tigris, and Karoon rivers. Only the ark,
or citadel of Ali Shah, a noble building of burnt brick, and the fine
ruin of the Kabood Masjeed, or mosque of beautifully arabesqued blue
tiles, redeemed the city in Martyn's time from meanness. The
Ambassador, his host, was then lodged in the house of its wealthiest
citizen, Hajji Khan Muhammed, whom the Prince had turned out to make
room for Sir Gore Ouseley. Now the British Consulate of Tabreez is a
spacious residence, with a fine garden, and the city has become
flourishing again. Henry Martyn left Tabreez on his fatal journey at
the very time when the climate began to be at its best. All around,
too, and especially in the hills of Sahand to the south, with the air
of Scotland and of Wales, or on the natural pastures of Chaman, where
the finest brood mares are kept, sloping down to the waters of Lake
Ooroomia, he would have found in the hot season the loveliest land in
Asia.[82]
Before we hasten on with the modern apostle of the Persians to the
bitter but bright end, we must trace the history of the influence of
his translation of the New Testament. The 20th August, 1812, he
joyfully entered in his _Journal_ as a day much to be remembered for
the remarkable recovery of strength. He learned from Mirza Aga Meer
that his 'work,' that is, his reply to Mirza Ibrahim, had been read to
the Shah by Mirza Abdoolwahab, and that the king had observed to Mirza
Boozong, his son's vizier, that the Feringhis' (Franks') Government
and army, and now one of their moollas, was come into the East. The
Shah then directed Mirza Boozong to prepare an answer. In consequence
of this information Sir Gore Ouseley, who doubtless desired to spare
the little strength of his guest, directed that a certain moolla, who
greatly wished to be introduced to the man of God, should not be
brought to him. Nevertheless, 'one day a moolla came and disputed a
while for Muhammedan, but finished with professing Soofi sentiments.'
The great Shah, Fateh Ali Khan himself, and his son, were thus prepared
for the Divine gift of Henry Martyn in due form through the British
Ambassador. How it reached His Persian Majesty from Sir Gore Ouseley,
and how the Shah-in-Shah received it, these letters tell, so honourable
to the writers, even after all allowance is made for the diplomatic
courtliness of the correspondence.[83] The Soofi controversialists and
friends of the translator, who by that time had entered on his rest,
must have, moreover, predisposed the eclectic mind of the always liberal
Shah to treat with reverence the _Injil_, or Gospel.
_From His Excellency Sir Gore Ouseley, Bart., Ambassador
Extraordinary from His Britannic Majesty to the Court of Persia.
Addressed to the Right Hon. Lord Teignmouth, President of the
British and Foreign Bible Society._
St. Petersburg: September 20, 1814.
My dear Lord,--Finding that I am likely to be detained here some
six or seven weeks, and apprehensive that my letters from Persia
may not have reached your Lordship, I conceive it my duty to
acquaint you, for the information of the society of Christians
formed for the purpose of propagating the Sacred Writings, that,
agreeably to the wishes of our poor friend, the late Rev. Henry
Martyn, I presented in the name of the Society (as he
particularly desired) a copy of his translation of the New
Testament into the Persian language to His Persian Majesty,
Fateh Ali Shah Kajar, having first made conditions that His
Majesty was to peruse the whole, and favour me with his opinion
of the style, etc.
Previous to delivering the book to the Shah, I employed
transcribers to make some copies of it, which I distributed to
Hajji Mahomed Hussein Khan, Prince of Maru, Mirza Abdulwahab,
and other men of learning and rank immediately about the person
of the king, who, being chiefly converts to the Soofi
philosophy, would, I felt certain, give it a fair judgment, and,
if called upon by the Shah for their opinion, report of it
according to its intrinsic merits.
The enclosed translation of a letter from His Persian Majesty to
me will show your Lordship that he thinks the complete work a
great acquisition, and that he approves of the simple style
adopted by my lamented friend Martyn and his able coadjutor,
Mirza Sayyed Ali, so appropriate to the just and ready
conception of the sublime morality of the Sacred Writings.
Should the Society express a wish to possess the original letter
from the Shah, or a copy of it in Persian, I shall be most happy
to present either through your Lordship.
I beg leave to add that, if a correct copy of Mr. Martyn's
translation has not yet been presented to the Society, I shall
have great pleasure in offering one that has been copied from
and collated with the original left with me by Mr. Martyn, on
which he had bestowed the greatest pains to render it perfect.
I also promise to devote my leisure to the correction of the
press, in the event of your thinking proper to have it printed
in England, should my Sovereign not have immediate occasion for
my services out of England.--I am, etc.
GORE OUSELEY.
_Translation of His Persian Majesty's Letter,
referred to in the preceding._
In the Name of the Almighty God, whose glory is most
excellent.
It is our august command that the dignified and excellent our
trusty, faithful, and loyal well-wisher, Sir Gore Ouseley,
Baronet, His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary (after
being honoured and exalted with the expressions of our highest
regard and consideration), should know that the copy of the
Gospel, which was translated into Persian by the learned
exertions of the late Rev. Henry Martyn, and which has been
presented to us by your Excellency on the part of the high,
dignified, learned, and enlightened Society of Christians,
united for the purpose of spreading abroad the Holy Books of the
religion of Jesus (upon whom, and upon all prophets, be peace
and blessings!), has reached us, and has proved highly
acceptable to our august mind.
In truth, through the learned and unremitted exertions of the
Rev. Henry Martyn, it has been translated in a style most
befitting sacred books, that is, in an easy and simple diction.
Formerly, the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
were known in Persia; but now the whole of the New Testament is
completed in a most excellent manner: and this circumstance has
been an additional source of pleasure to our enlightened and
august mind. Even the four Evangelists which were known in this
country had never been before explained in so clear and luminous
a manner. We, therefore, have been particularly delighted with
this copious and complete translation. If it please the most
merciful God, we shall command the Select Servants, who are
admitted to our presence, to read[84] to us the above-mentioned
book from the beginning to the end, that we may, in the most
minute manner, hear and comprehend its contents.
Your Excellency will be pleased to rejoice the hearts of the
above-mentioned dignified, learned, and enlightened Society with
assurances of our highest regard and approbation; and to inform
those excellent individuals who are so virtuously engaged in
disseminating and making known the true meaning and intent of
the Holy Gospel, and other points in sacred books, that they are
deservedly honoured with our royal favour. Your Excellency must
consider yourself as bound to fulfil this royal request.
Given in Rebialavil, 1229.
(Sealed) FATEH ALI SHAH KAJAR.
Even here we see Martyn and Carey once more linked together. The same
volume from which we have taken these letters contains, a few pages
before them, these words written by Dr. Carey from Serampore:
'Religion is the only thing in the world worth living for. And no work
is so important as serving God in the Gospel of His Son; if, like the
Apostle, we do this with one spirit, great will be our enjoyment and
abundant our reward.'
Sir Gore Ouseley carried the original MS. to St. Petersburg, where,
happening to mention the fact to the President of the Russian Bible
Society, Prince Galitzin at once begged that his Society, always an
honourable exception to the intolerance of the Tsar's Greek Church,
might be allowed to publish it. A set of Persian types was specially
procured. Sir Gore Ouseley, assisted by the Persian Jaffir Khan,
corrected the proofs, and the Rev. R. Pinkerton, one of the Scottish
Mission to Karass, carefully superintended the printing. Several
Persians, resident in that city, bespoke copies for their friends. The
British and Foreign Bible Society granted 300_l._ towards the expenses
of an edition of 5,000 copies. The first edition appeared there in
September, 1815, on which Prince Galitzin wrote to Mr. Pinkerton, as
representing the Bible Society in London:
Praise be given to the incomprehensible counsels of God, who,
for the salvation of man, gave His Word, and causeth it to
increase among all nations: who useth as His instruments the
inhabitants of countries of different languages and tribes, not
unfrequently the most distant from each other and altogether
unacquainted with those for whom they labour! This is a true
sign of the holy will of God respecting this work, who worketh
all and in all. This is the case with the finished edition of
the Persian New Testament, which was translated into that
language in a far distant part of Asia, and prepared to be
printed in another, but brought into Russia (where nothing of
the kind was ever thought of) and printed off much sooner than
was at first intended. Here men were found endowed with
good-will and the requisite qualifications for the completion of
this work, which at first seemed to be so difficult.
Meanwhile, Martyn himself having directed that a copy of the
manuscript translation should be sent to Calcutta from Shiraz, when he
left that city, four copies were made, lest any accident should befall
it on the way to Bengal. It reached the Calcutta Corresponding
Committee in 1814, and they invited Mirza Sayyid Ali to join them and
pass it through the press. This second edition accordingly appeared
at Calcutta in 1816. Professor Lee, of Cambridge, published a third
edition of it in London in 1827, and a fourth in 1837. The most
beautiful and valuable of all is the fifth, now before the writer,
which Thomas Constable printed in Edinburgh in 1846 (corresponding to
1262 of the _Hijrah_) in three royal octavo volumes. This was also the
most important because it accompanied a Persian translation of the Old
Testament. Mirza Sayyid Ali had early informed the Calcutta Committee
that he had his master's original translation of the Psalter, and this
also appeared at Calcutta in 1816. This formed the nucleus of the
Persian Old Testament prepared by Dr. W. Glen, of the Scottish
Missionary Society's Mission, at Karass, Astrakhan, and printed along
with Henry Martyn's New Testament in the memorable and beautiful
Edinburgh edition. That edition of the whole Bible was presented by
Dr. Glen to the present Shah of Persia, Nassr-ed-Deen, on his
accession to the throne in 1848. With Martyn's New Testament His
Majesty seemed to be well acquainted. Of the volume containing the Old
Testament we read that 'on handing the book to the servant in waiting
he just kissed and then put it to his forehead, with the same
indication of reverence which he would have shown had it been their
own sacred book, the Koran.' Archdeacon Robinson, of Poona, published
another Persian translation of the Old Testament. The Church
Missionary Society's distinguished missionary at Julfa, Dr. Robert
Bruce, has been for years engaged on a revision, or rather new
translation of the Old Testament into Persian, the two versions of
which are far inferior, in the opinion of one who is at the head of
all living experts, to Henry Martyn's translation of the New. Dr.
Bruce's work has now been completed.
I know no parallel to these achievements of Henry Martyn's,
writes Canon W.J. Edmonds, closing a survey of his powers and
services as a translator of the Scriptures. There are in him the
things that mark the born translator. He masters grammar,
observes idioms, accumulates vocabulary, reads and listens,
corrects and even reconstructs. Above all, he prays. He lives
'in the Spirit,' and rises from his knees full of the mind of
the Spirit. Pedantry is not in him, nor vulgarity. He longs and
struggles to catch the dialect in which men may speak worthily
of the things of God. And so his work lives. In his own
Hindustani New Testament, and in the recovered parts of the Old
Testament in which he watched over the labours of Fitrut, his
work is still a living influence; men find 'reasons for
reverting' to it. His earlier Persian, and what is demonstrably
distinct from it, his Persic translation, or rather Sabat's,
done under his superintendence, these indeed have gone. They did
not survive his visit to Persia. Nor did the Arabic, which was
the chief acknowledged motive of his journey. But what a gifted
man is here, and what a splendid sum total of work, that can
afford these deductions from the results of a five or six years'
struggle with illness, and still leave behind translations of
the New Testament in Hindustani and in Persian; the Hindustani
version living a double life, its own and that which William
Bowley gave it in the humbler vocabulary of the Hindi villages!
We live in hurrying times; our days are swifter than a shuttle.
New names, new saints, new heroes ever rise and dazzle the eyes
of common men. So it should be, for God lives, and through Him
men live and manifest His unexhausted power. But Martyn is a
perennial. He springs up fresh to every generation. It is time,
though, to take care that he does not become simply the shadow
of an angel passing by. His pinnacle is that lofty one which is
only assigned to eminent goodness, but it rests upon, and is
only the finial of, a broad-based tower of sound and solid
intellectual endowment.
Henry Martyn's Persian Testament called forth, in 1816, two Bulls from
Pope Pius VIII., addressed to the Archbishops of Gnesne and Moghilev,
within the Russian dominions, and letters from the Propaganda College
at Rome to the Vicars Apostolic and Missionaries in Persia, Armenia,
and other parts of the East. Wherever the Persian language was known
the people were warned 'against a version recently made into the
Persian idiom.' The Archbishops were told 'that Bibles printed by
heretics are numbered among the prohibited books by the rules of the
Index (Nos. II. and III.), for it is evident, from experience, that
from the Holy Scriptures which are published in the vulgar tongue,
more injury than good has arisen through the temerity of men.' Bible
Societies in Russia and Great Britain are denounced as a 'most crafty
device, by which the very foundations of religion are undermined.' So
the Latin Church has ever put from it 'The Great Missionary' which the
Reformation was the first to restore to Christendom and the world, and
Henry Martyn gave to the Mohammedans in their own tongue.
FOOTNOTES:
[79] _Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, &c._, by Mrs. Bishop (Isabella
C. Bird), two vols., John Murray, 1891.
[80] The fanatical shrine of Fatima. See Mrs. Bishop's first volume
and Mr. Curzon's second.
[81] _A Second Journey through Persia, &c., between the years 1810 and
1816_, p. 223.
[82] 'Were I,' writes Mr. Baillie Fraser, 'to select a spot the best
calculated for the recovery of health, and for its preservation, I
know not that I could hit upon any more suited to the purpose than
Tabreez, at any season. A brighter sky and purer air can scarcely be
found. To me it seems as if there was truly health in the breeze that
blows around me.'
[83] See the _Eleventh Report of the British and Foreign Bible
Society_, 1815, Appendix, No. 51.
[84] I beg leave to remark that the word 'Tilawat,' which the translator
has rendered 'read,' is an honourable signification of that act, almost
exclusively applied to the perusing or reciting the Koran. The making
use, therefore, of this term or expression shows the degree of respect
and estimation in which the Shah holds the New Testament.--_Note by Sir
Gore Ouseley._