HENRY MARTYN. — PERSIAN BIBLE. 
687 
It stood in an extensive plain, at the foot of the height we were 
descending, and seemed a place of great consequence and extent, 
from the mosques and other lofty buildings which towered above 
the flat roofs of the vast expanse of dwelling-houses. Gardens 
stretched on all sides of the fortified walls; and, faint with 
sickness and fatigue, I felt a momentary reviving pleasure in the 
sight of a hospitable city, and the cheerful beauty of the view. 
As I drew near, the image of my exemplary countryman, Henry 
Martyn, rose in my thoughts, seeming to sanctify the shelter to 
which 1 was hastening. He had approached Shiraz much about 
the same season of the year, A. D. 1811, and like myself, was 
gasping for life under the double pressure of an inward fire, and 
outward burning sun. He dwelt there nearly a year; and on 
leaving its walls, the apostle of Christianity found no cause for 
“ shaking off the dust of his feet” against the Mahomedan city. 
The inhabitants had received, cherished, and listened to him; and 
he departed thence amidst the blessings and tears of many a Per¬ 
sian friend. Through his means, the Gospel had then found its way 
into Persia ; and as it appears to have been sown in kindly hearts, 
the gradual effect hereafter, may be like the harvest to the 
seedling. But, whatever be the issue, the liberality with which 
his doctrines were permitted to be discussed, and the hospitality 
with which their promulgator was received by the learned, the 
nobles, and persons of all ranks, cannot but reflect lasting 
honour on the government, and command our respect for the 
people at large. Besides, to a person who thinks at all on these 
subjects, the circumstances of the first correct Persian translation 
of the Holy Scriptures being made at Shiraz, and thence put 
into the royal hands, and disseminated through the empire, 
cannot but give an almost prophetic emphasis to the transaction, 
