purified. The appointed instrument for effecting this, is the Bible. This is "the salt which must be thrown into the fountain to heal the waters."* There are upwards of three thousand priests belonging to Goa, who are resident at the place, or stationed with their cures at a distance. Let us send the holy scriptures to illuminate the priests at Goa. It was distinctly expressed to the author, by several authorities, that they would gladly receive copies of the Latin and Portuguese Vulgate Bible from the hands of the English nation. THE PERSIANS. The Christian religion flourished very generally in Persia till about A. D. 651; when, the Persians being subdued by the Saracens, Mahomedanism gradually acquired the predominance. Constantine the great, addressed a letter to Sapor, king of Persia, which is preserved to this day, recommending the Christian churches in his dominions to his protection; and a bishop from Persia was present at the council of Nice in A. D. 325. It appears also that there was a translation of some portion of the scriptures into the Persion language at that period; for we are informed by Chrysostom that, "the Persians, having translated the doctrines of the gospel into their own tongue, had learned, though barbarians, the true philosophy;" and it is stated by another author in the following century, "That the Hebrew writings were not only translated into the Greek, but into the Latin, Ethiopian, Persian, Indian, Armenian, Scythian, and Sarmatin languages." Theodoret, vol. iv, p. 555. We have entirely lost sight of some of these versions in the obscurity of Mahomedan darkness. It is not even known what languages are intended by the Scythian, Indian, and Sarmatian. The Christian church must now retrace her steps, and endeavor to recover a knowledge which she has lost. - In the beautiful homily of Chrysostom on Mary's memorial, preached about A. D. 380, in which he enumerates those nations, who, in fulfilment of our Saviour's prophecy, had "spoken of the deed of Mary for a memorial of her," he mentions the Persians first, and the isles of Britain last. "The Persians, Indians, Scythians, Thracians, Sarmatians, the race of the Moors, and the inhabitants of the British Isles, celebrate a deed performed in a private family in Judea by a woman that had been a harlot,* pouring an alabaster box of spikenard on the head of Christ," thereby acknowledging him, while yet upon earth, as God's anointed king, and embalming his body, (as our Lord himself explained it) in anticipation of his burial; concerning which act of faith and love he uttered the following prophetic declaration: "Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her;" Mark xiv. 9. The isles of Britain are now the first to restore this memorial, and the gospel which recites it, to the Persians as well as to other Mahomedan nations, who were to lose it generally, during the great prophetic period of one thousand two hundred and sixty years. A version of the four gospels into the Persian language of a former age remains to this day. It is a faithful translation, and seems to have been made immediately from the Syriac;† but the dialect and orthography are so ancient as to be scarcely intelligible even at Isfahan. The Romish church has had several * Αλλα και Περσαι και Ινδοι και Σκύθαι Θρακες Σαυρομαται και των Μαύρων γενος και οι τας Βρετανικας Νήσους οικουντες, Το εν Ιεδαία γενόμενον λαθρα, εν οικια παρα γυναικος πεπορνευμένης, WECIDE.Chrys. Hom. lxxxi in Matth. The argument of Chrysostom is this, that nothing could have given so permanent a celebrity to so private an occurrence, but the divine work of Him who foretold it. he supposes the woman to have been Mary Megdalene, but probably she was Mary, the sister of Martha. This is the Version of Polyglot Missions in the kingdom of Persia for some centuries past. The Augustinian Mission from Goa commenced in the year one thousand six hundred and two, "and was permitted by Sultan Murad to build convents in all parts of the empire."* But they went into Persia, as into other countries, not with the design of instructing men in the holy scriptures, but of teaching them the tenets and ceremonies of Rome. To this day, they have not published, under all the advantages of toleration which they enjoyed, a translation of the Bible, or even of the New Testament, into the Persian language. It is a reproach to Christians, that the only endeavor to produce a translation of the scriptures into the language of that extensive kingdom should have been made by the Persians themselves. The representative of the Christian churches in Europe, of every denomination, may well blush, when they read the following authentic relation of an attempt made by a Persian king to procure a knowledge of our religion. "Towards the close of the year one thousand seven hundred and forty, Nadir Shah caused a translation of he four Evangelists to be made into Persian. The affair was put under the direction of Mirza Mehdee, a man of some learning, who, being vested with proper authority for the purpose, summoned several Armenian bishops, and priests, together with divers Missionaries of the Romish church, and Persian Mullahst to meet him at Isfahan. As to the latter, the Mahomedan priests, they could not be gainers, since the change of religion, if any, was to be in prejudice of Mahomedanism. Besides, Nadir's conduct towards them had been severe, to an extreme and unprecedented degree; many of them therefore gave Mirza Mehdee large bribes to excuse their absence. Among the Christians summoned on this occasion, * Fabricii Lux Ereng, p. 639. Mahomedan Priests only one Romish priest, a native of Persia, was a sufficient master of the language to enter upon a work of so critical a nature. As to the Armenian Christians, although they are born subjects to Persia and intermixed with the inhabitants, yet are there very few of them who understand the language fundamentally. It was natural to expect that Mirza Mehdee, and the Persian Mullahs, would be more solicitous to please Nadir, and to support the credit of Mahomedanism, than to divest themselves of prejudices, and become masters of so important a subject. This translation was dressed up with all the glosses which the fables of the Koran could warrant. Their chief guide was an ancient Arabic and Persian translation. Father'de Vignes, a Romish priest, was also employed in this work, in which he made use of the Vulgate edition. They were but six months in completing this translation, and transcribing several fair copies of it. "In May following, Mirza Mehdee with the Persian Mullahs and some of the Christian priests set out from Isfahan for the Persian court, which was then held in encampment near Tcheran. Nadir received them with some marks of civility, and had a cursory view of the performance. Some part of it was read to him; on which occasion he made several ludicrous remarks on the mysterious parts of the Christian religion: at the same time he laughed at the Jews, and turned Mahomed and Ali equally into ridicule." And after some expressions of levity, intimating that he could himself make a better religion than any that had yet been produced, "he dismissed these churchmen and translators with some small presents, not equal in value to the expense of the journey."* This version of the gospels, prepared by command of Nadir Shah, is probably the same with that * Hanway's Travels. which is sometimes found in the hands of the Armenian priests in India. A copy was lately shewn to an oriental scholar in Bengal,* who observed, "that if this was the same, he did not wonder at Nadir's contempt of it." The number of natives already professing Christianity in Persia, and who are prepared to receive a translation of the scriptures, is very considerable. They consist of four or five classes, viz. the Georgian, the Armenian, the Nestorian, the Jacobite; and the Romish Christians. The Georgians have the Bible in the Georgian language, which was printed at Moscow in one thousand seven and forty-three; but the language is not so generally cultivated among the higher ranks as the Persian: It probably bears the same relation to the Persian, which the Welsh does to the English. The Armenians have a version of the Bible in their own proper tongue, but the copies are few in number. The Nestorian and Jacobite Christians use the Syriac Bible: but it is yet more rare than the Armenian. There are, besides, multitudes of Jews in Persia, who, as well as these different classes of Christians, commonly speak the vernacular language of the country. The Persian language is known far beyond the limits of Persia proper. It is spoken at all the Mussulman courts in India, and is the usual language of judicial proceedings under the British government in Hindostan. It is next in importance to the Arabic and Chinese; in regard to the extent of territory through which it is spoken, being generally understood from Calcutta to Damascus.. Here then is a language, spoken over nearly one rter of the globe, the proper tongue of a great dom, in which an attempt has already been made yal authority to obtain a translation of the Chrisscriptures; and where there are, at a low com Rev. H. Martyn. |