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he was sure those persons were enemies to God who did not believe in Christ. During prayer he was often heard repeating, "God give this salvation-pardon my sins," &c. In another village, a woman present at the meeting seemed to be much affected by what was said. She acknowledged how great a sinner she had been, and what may be consi dered as a proof of the sincerity of her confession, entered into a parti

cular detail of the sins of which she had been guilty, and which were of such a nature as to forbid them being put upon paper, and all this in the presence of her husband. She asked if it was possible for her to be saved? And upon being directed to Jesus the friend of sinners, she asked and repeated his name different times, and told her husband not to forget it; acknowledging that she was unworthy of such a Saviour, and pray. ing aloud that she might be enabled to embrace him as her Saviour.

"The other day Dirabi and some other Kirghisians called upon me after dinner. They brought Walter Buchanan with them, and their object was to know if what I said was the same with the other Missionaries. They sat down in their usual posture, and Dirabi began by saying that he was now between 30 and 40 years old; that in his young days he had committed many sins, and wished to know if these sins could be pardoned, or should be always remembered against him. Upon this I took occasion to state the doctrines of universal depravity, man's help. lessness, and the only remedy for sinners; at the same time remarking the falseness of the pretensions of Mahomet, and his inability to do away the sins of any. Dirabi observed, that they had once heard from a Mollah that Mahomet was originally a herd, but that by mar. rying a rich wife, he had become opulent, and that since hearing this, they had suspected him not to be a true prophet. By their conversations among themselves, whilst I was telling Walter Buchanan at intervals

what to say, they were quite convinced that all the Missionaries said one thing, and frequently testified their approbation of what was said, by chucking their mouth; a custom universally practised when they are pleased."

The letter concludes by lamenting the inability of the Missionaries to preach to the people in their own language, which prevents them doing more than occasionally speaking to them through an interpreter. "An immense wall," says he, "is thus raised between them and us, and we can only throw over now and then a few crumbs of the bread of heaven."

AMERICA.

From Mr Divie Bethune, of New York. New York, January 13, 1819.

THE American Bible Society is enlarging its sphere of usefulness, and continues to be supported. The Auxiliary Societies are about two hundred. The article of the constitution, which constitutes every Minister, who is a member, a Manager, has produced a great accession to the funds. It has become a fashion for every congregation throughout the country, to make their Pastors Life Members, by contributing and forwarding to the Treasurer of the American Bible Society thirty dol. lars. We have now eight printingpresses at work, and do the Linding, &c. at our own Depository, a large fire-proof building, four stories high, under the direction of an Agent. I was Chairman, lately, of a Committee to report a plan for the better regulating of the now extensive operations of the Society. In this Report we stated, that, during the first year of the Institution, beginning May 1. 1816, there were printed 6,410 Bibles; in the second year, 17,594 Bibles; in the third year, 36,000 Bibles, Testaments, &c.; and, that it would be no extravagant supposition, that the printing and distribution of Bibles and Testaments,

in the fourth year, will be equal, or nearly so, to the aggregate of the three preceding years. We have an immense tract of country to distribute or circulate Bibles through. The new States, west of the Alleghany mountain, are five times the extent of the Atlantic States, and are peopling very fast.

From the Tenth Report of the Bible So

ciety of Philadelphia, 1818.

A NUMBER of German Bibles were distributed among German emi, grants. These strangers came to our shores generally in distress for the comforts of this life; and unprovided with those lively oracles" which might have afforded them comfort in the midst of sorrow, and pointed them to a home where changes and sorrow shall be un. known. The Board, feeling deeply for their hapless condition, gladly embraced the opportunity of furnishing them with the Scriptures.

and

The demand for Bibles in the city and county still continues; through the State appears to be increasing. With the increase of the demand, the Board cherish the assured hope, that there will be found an increase of means to satisfy it. The work belongs to Him in whose hands are the hearts of all men, and to whom the silver and the gold belong and the revival of zeal, and the increase of means, are but the earnest, they fondly hope, of an abundant harvest.

In the land in which God has been pleased to cast our lot, Bible Societies have increased with a rapidity, and are increasing and acting with a vigour, that promise much for the glory of our God and the welfare of our country. Already the stern, untutored son of nature arrests his footsteps, as he hears the voice of salvation, listens with attention, and bows with reverence to the message of the Lord. The Bible in its still, but powerful language, makes its appeal to his heart and conscience, and ex

ercises over him its constraining power; so that by it, as a means, "the desert and the solitary place become glad, and the wilderness rejoices and blossoms as the rose." A. mong those Institutions which grace our land, the American Bible Society holds a conspicuous place, for the extensive field and the vigorous tone of its operations.

MISCELLANEOUS.

6

WHEN Mr Knill was conversing with the people at Tamaracoolum, on the importance of being prepared to die, one man said, My father was prepared.' By what means? "Through the merits of my Saviour.' Did he live a good life? Yes, after he knew the good way.' Who made him good? It was God.' Did your father say much when he was dying? 'One sentence I remember.' What? He said, O Jesus receive my spirit! I cannot describe what I felt when the poor creature told me this-and if we compare the dying expression of this man with the last verse of the Epistle of James, we shall see that the mission was not established in vain.

THE Archbishop of Jerusalem has written from Paris to Professor Lee, informing him that he has received further assistance from the French government, in money and types; and that he is to be provid. ed with Syriac types of three sizes. He is to embark at Marseilles with printing paper, and return home im mediately to commence his intended operations.

ON Wednesday evening, July 7. Mr Robert Yuille, who has studied at Glasgow and Gosport, was or dained a missionary to the heathen, at the Rev. Dr Nicol's, Swallow Street. Mr Y. is appointed to join Mr Rhamn, Mr Stally brass and Mr Swan, in the mission to the Mongolian Tartars in Siberia.

Ir gives the Editors sincere pleasure to be able to state, that the Rev. H. GREY has very candidly corrected the mistake in his Speech, (on which they offered same remarks in their Number for May,) in the periodical work in which it first appeared.

THE

CHRISTIAN HERALD.

SEPTEMBER 20. 1819.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. HENRY MARTYN.

[Concluded from p. 287.]

THE following passage exhibits an affecting picture of the sufferings of this servant of God in prosecuting his labours in the cause of his Redeemer.

"At first the heat was not greater than we had felt in India, but it soon became so great, as to be quite alarming. When the thermometer was above 112°, fever heat, I began to lose my strength fast; at last it became quite intolerable. I wrapped myself up in a blanket, and all the warm covering I could get, to defend myself from the external air, by which means the moisture was kept a little longer upon the body, and not so speedily evaporated as when the skin was exposed; one of my companions followed my example, and found the benefit of it. But the thermometer still rising, and the moisture of the body quite exhausted, I grew restless, and thought I should have lost my senses. The thermometer at last stood at 126°: in this state I composed myself, and concluded, that though I might hold out a day or two, death was inevitable. Capt. who sat it out, continued to tell the hour and height of the thermometer: with what pleasure did we hear of its sinking to 120°, 118°, &c. At last the fierce sun retired, and I crept out, more dead than alive. It was then a difficulty how I could proceed on my journey; for besides the immediate effects of the heat, I had no opportunity of making up for the last night's want of sleep, and had eaten nothing."

The following passage is a pleasing specimen of the devotional feelings which every object in nature seems to have excited in Mr Martyn's mind, and of his gratitude to God amidst all his sufferings.

VOL. VI.

S s

"June 7th.-Left the caravansara at one this morning; continued to ascend. The hours we were permitted to rest, the musquitoes had effectually prevented me from using, so I never felt more miserable and disordered: the cold was very severe; for fear of falling off, from sleep and numbness, I walked a good part of the way. We pitched our tent in the Vale of Dustarjan, near a crystal stream, on the banks of which we observed the clover and golden cup: the whole valley was one green field, on which large herds of cattle were browsing. The temperature was about that of the spring in England. There a few hours sleep recovered me, in some degree, from the stupidity in which 1 had been for some days. I awoke with a light heart, and said, He knoweth our frame, and remembereth we are dust. He redeemeth our life from destruction, and crowneth us with loving kindness and tender mercies. maketh us to lie down in the green pastures, and leadeth us beside the still waters. And when we have left this vale of tears, there is no more sorrow, nor sighing, nor any more pain. The sun shall not light upon thee, nor any heat; but the Lamb shall lead thee to living fountains of waters."

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On June 9th they reached the Plain of Shiraz.

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Arrived at this celebrated seat of Persian literature, Mr Martyn, having ascertained the general correctness of the opinion delivered at Culcutta respecting the translation of the New. Testament by Sabat, commenced immediately another version in the Persian language. An able and willing assistant, in this arduous and important work, presented himself in the person of Mirza Seid Ali Khan, the brother-in-law of his host Jaffier Ali Khan. His coadjutor, he soon discovered, was one of a numerous and increasing religious community, whose tenets (if that term be not inapplicable to any thing of so fluctuating and indefinite a nature as their sentiments) appear to consist of refined mysticism of the most latitudinarian complexion; a quality, be it remembered, entirely opposite to the exclusive character and inflexible spirit of Christianity, and which pervading, as it does so completely, the system of Soofeism, sufficiently accounts for its toleration under a Mahometan despotism of a purer and more absolute kind than exists even in the Turkish dominions.

In Jaffier Ali Khan, a Mahometan of rank and consequence, to whom Mr Martyn had letters of recommendation, he found a singular urbanity of manners, united to a temper of more solid and substantial excellence-a kindness of disposition, ever fertile in expedients conducive to the comfort and convenience of his guest. There was in him also, as well as in his brother-inlaw, what was still more gratifying, an entire absence of bigotry and prejudice; and on all occasions he was ready to invite,

rather than decline, the freest interchange of opinion on religious topics.

The following account of Mr Martyn's manner of dealing with his Mohammedan coadjutor may assist others who undertake to convince an objector of the value of the Gospel.

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"Seid Ali, while perusing the twelfth of John, observed, 'How he loved these twelve persons! Yes,' said 1; and all those who believe in him, through their word.' After our work was done, he began to say, From my childhood I have been in search of religion, and am still undecided. Till now, I never had an opportunity of conversing with those of another religion. The English I have met in Persia have generally been soldiers, or men occupied with the world.' To some remarks I made about the necessity of having the mind made up upon such a subject, considering the shortness of our stay here, he seemed cordially to assent, and shed tears. I recommended prayer, and the consideration of that text, 'If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine;' and spoke as having found it verified in my own experience, that when I could once before God, What wilt thou have me to do?' I found say peace. I then went through all the different states of my mind at the time I was called to the knowledge of the Gospel. He listened with great interest, and said, You must not regret the loss of so much time as you give me, because it does me good.'"

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The following brief sketch of a Sabbath in the heart of a Mohammedan country, will be regarded with pleasure by those who, doomed to wander in strange lands, fear that, shut out from the ordinances of religion, they shall not feel the presence ' of God.

"July 14th (Sunday).-The first Sabbath morning I have had to myself this long time, and I spent it with comfort and profit. Read Isaiah chiefly, and hymns, which, as usual, brought to my remembrance the children of God in all parts of the earth remembered, especially, dear, as he desired me, on this his birth-day."

Surrounded by society, by no means the most improving, our readers may be solicitous to know the state of Mr Martyn's mind. The following passage from his journal in the commencement of the year 1812, towards the conclusion of which he rested from his labours, will prove that, though surrounded by every thing anti-Christian and unholy, his own mind had not been injured by the contagion.

"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 interrup

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