The Persian version of the New Testament being now nearly finished,
Mr. Martyn, with his native assistant, commenced the translation of
the Psalms of David into Persian, from the Hebrew. From his diary in
the beginning of 1812, it appears that he was not satisfied with his
Persian New Testament.
“The last has been, in some respects, a memorable year. I have been
led, by what I have reason to consider as the particular providence
of God, to this place, and have undertaken an important work,
which has gone on without material interruption, and is now nearly
finished. I like to find myself employed usefully, in a way I did
not expect or foresee, especially if my own will is in any degree
crossed by the work unexpectedly assigned me; as there is then reason
to believe that God is acting. The present year will probably be a
perilous one; but my life is of little consequence, whether I live to
finish the Persian New Testament, or do not. I look back with pity
and shame upon my former self, and on the importance I then attached
to my life and labours. The more I see of my own works, the more I
am ashamed of them. Coarseness and clumsiness mar all the works of
man. I am sick when I look at man, and his wisdom, and his doings;
and am relieved only by reflecting, that we have a city whose builder
and maker is God. The least of _His_ works it is refreshing to look
at. A dried leaf, or a straw, makes me feel myself in good company:
complacency and admiration take place of disgust.
“I compared, with pain, our Persian translation with the original;
to say nothing of the precision and elegance of the sacred text, its
perspicuity is that which sets at defiance all attempts to equal it.”
But the more he read and studied the sacred scriptures, the stronger
attachment he felt towards them, and so far from becoming tired of
them, from having them so constantly in his hands, he used to turn to
them for comfort in all his sorrows.
“_Feb. 2d._—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 remember 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.’”
“_Feb. 3d._—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 from 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.”
In the earlier part of his life he felt a great increase of spiritual
feeling and enjoyment, in consequence of having for a time scarcely
any other book to read than the Bible.
Mr. Martyn was sometimes encouraged to believe that the constant
perusal of the scriptures had made a serious impression on the
mind of Mirza Seid Ali, his assistant in translation. He was
evidently interested in his employment, and even went so far as to
acknowledge his belief in Christ, as the Son of God, and to express
his willingness to trust in him for salvation, and make a public
profession of his faith. But his conduct at other times manifested,
that he had only a belief in these truths as facts, and that he
did not really submit himself to God by faith and repentance. His
candour was evinced in a confession which he made, on a point in
which the natural disposition of his countrymen inclines them to be
very perverse. He had been boasting of the humility and simplicity
of his sect, the Soofies; upon which Mr. Martyn remarked, that if
he was really humble, he would not dispute so boldly as he did, but
would be like a child. Upon hearing this he did not speak, except
to acknowledge, “True, I have no humility;” and afterwards, in a
tone of distress, said, “The truth is, we are in a state of compound
ignorance; ignorant, yet ignorant of our ignorance.” When their
translation was finished, Mr. Martyn remarked, “Mirza Seid Ali never
now argues against the truth, nor makes any remarks but of a serious
kind. He speaks of his dislike to some of the Soofies, on account
of their falsehood and drunken habits. This approach to the love of
morality, is the best sign of a change for the better, which I have
yet seen in him. As often as he produces the New Testament, which
he always does when any of his friends come, his brother and cousin
ridicule him; but he tells them that, supposing no other benefit to
have been derived, it is certainly something better to have gained
all this information about the religion of Christians, than to have
loitered away the year in the garden.”
[Illustration: _Eng^d. by J. H. Nesmith_
HENRY MARTYN
_Published by the American Sunday School Union.
Depository N^o. 146 Chesnut Street Philad^a._
]
The Persian New Testament was completed in February, 1812, and the
Psalms in March; and on the 24th May, Mr. Martyn left Shiraz, in
company with an English clergyman, for the purpose of presenting a
written copy of the Testament to the king of Persia, who was encamped
between Shiraz and Tebriz. Before he left Shiraz, he maintained the
doctrine that Christ was God and the Creator, before a large company
of Moollahs, in the palace of one of the princes.
On arriving at the camp about the 9th of June, he waited on the prime
minister, to learn how he should be able to lay the book before the
king. The minister detained him two hours in a debate respecting the
Christian religion, mixed, as usual, with ridiculous opinions on all
subjects. At the house of the vizier, some days afterwards, he was
attacked on the same subject, before a large company. Towards the
close of the discussion the vizier told him, “You had better say,
God is God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God;” Mr. Martyn at once
replied, “God is God, and Jesus is the Son of God,” which excited
their anger, and they left him with great contempt. “Thus,” said he,
“I walked away alone to 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.”
The vizier having sent him word that no Englishman could be permitted
to see the king, unless presented by the English ambassador, or
having a letter of introduction from him, Mr. Martyn proceeded
towards Tebriz, his residence, in company with the English clergyman,
and some natives for servants and guides. Tebriz or Tauris, is in
the northern part of Persia, seven hundred miles from Shiraz, and
at least twenty-five hundred from Calcutta. “As I sat down in the
dust, on a 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 departure.” They met with much insulting
treatment on the road, especially from the various officers and
servants of the king, who had possession of the best accommodations,
and seemed to delight in an opportunity of ill-treating Europeans.
On the 25th of June, they were both seized with fever, and unable to
proceed. They were afraid they would be unable to procure food and
lodging, as their money failed, and no one would lend to them, until
a poor mule-driver became security for them. His journal is little
else than a detail of sufferings. He appears to have joined a caravan
of travellers going the same route.
“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 27th._—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 28th._—All were much recovered, but in the afternoon I again
relapsed. During a high fever, Mr. C—— 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 29th._—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,’ &c.; 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 had a thunder-storm with hail.”
“_July 1st._—A long and tiresome march to Sarehund: in twenty-eight
miles 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
caravansera, 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.”
“_July 2d._—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 sun-rise. At fourteen miles, we found a fine
caravansera, 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 caravan, as it happened,
forded the river, and passed on, without my perceiving it. Mr. C——,
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. The pass was a mere nothing
to those at Bushire; in fact it was no part of the mountain we
climbed, but only a few hills. In a natural opening in the mountains,
on the other side, was a river, with most of its bed dry; and over
it a bridge of many arches, which led us to an unwalled village,
surrounded by corn-fields, which we reached at ten o’clock. Half the
people still continue ill; for myself, I am, through God’s infinite
mercy, recovering.”
“_July 3d._—Started at three, full three hours after we ought, and,
as was to be expected, we all got ill again, from being exposed to
the sun six hours; for we did not get to our ground, Turcoman, till
eleven o’clock. It was a poor village among the hills, over which our
whole way lay, from Mianu. Ascending one, and descending another, was
the whole of the variety, so that I do not know when we have had a
more tiresome day.”
“_July 4th._—I so far prevailed as to get the caravan into motion
at midnight. Lost our way in the night, but arriving at a village
were set right again. At eight came to Kilk caravansera, 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 Ousely, the
ambassador, who was at Tebriz, informing him of our approach.”
“_July 5th._—Slept all day, and at sun-rise prepared to proceed all
the way to Tebriz, or at least to Seid Abad; but we did not set out
till one in the morning. I was again dreadfully disordered with
head-ache and fever. We got into a wretched hovel, where the raging
fever almost deprived me of reason. In the cool of the evening we set
out to go to Seid Abad, distant about twelve miles. When the caravan
arrived near Seid Abad, it was a dark night, about eleven o’clock,
and not one of the party knew where it was, nor could we discover it
by the barking of the dogs, the usual sign. Once we heard the bark,
and made sure of having attained our object; but found only some
shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. These boors
showed us which road to take, which we soon found ended in nothing;
so returning, we tried to induce one of them to serve as a guide,
with the promise of any sum of money he required: but all in vain.
The only thing that remained to be done was to lie down on the spot,
and wait patiently for the day: which I did, and caught such a cold,
as, with all our other exposures, consummated my disorders. As soon
as it was day, we found our way to the village, where Dr. —— was
waiting for us. Not being able to stay for us, he went on to Tebriz,
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 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 Tebriz before sun-rise. 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.”
At Tebriz he was confined two months by a fever, from which he did
not expect to recover. He wrote to a friend—“We who are in Jesus,
have the privilege of viewing life and death as nearly the same,
since both are ours; 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.”
The New Testament, which he was thus prevented from giving, in
person, to the Persian monarch, was, after Mr. Martyn’s death,
presented by the ambassador; and the king acknowledged the gift in
the following letter:
“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 Ousely, 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,[13] 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 unremitting 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.
Please the most merciful God, we shall command the select servants,
who are admitted to our presence, to read 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.”
The ambassador afterwards took the translation to St. Petersburg, in
Russia, where it was printed.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] The British and Foreign Bible Society.