the translation should be brought to him. On the part of the Romanists, the bishop and two missionaries, and on the part of the Armenians, four bishops, proceeded to court under the conduct of the mollah. The king received them well, assigned them lodgings, and reimbursed the expenses of the journey. But his interest in the matter seems to have considerably evaporated in the interval spent in giving effect to his wishes. When the translation was, with some ceremony, presented to him, he said that he had not time to examine it then; and, besides, as there was only one God, there could be only one prophet of God. This, if correctly reported, was said in gross ignorance of his own faith, which allows that God has had many prophets. But these words sufficed to damp the hopes which the translators had conceived that some advantage to the Christian cause might result from their labour. The account of this transaction, from one of the parties engaged in it, has appeared to us of sufficient interest to be thus produced; the rather as it seems to have hitherto escaped the notice even of those who have made the history of Biblical translations their peculiar study. The fact that Nadir Shah had commanded a translation of the Gospels, was known from the account given by the worthy Jonas Hanway, who, however, appears to have been ignorant that the Pentateuch and Psalms had also been translated. This account is to be found in pp. 217, 218, of the fourth volume of Hanway's "Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea, with the Revolutions of Persia ;" and, as the book is somewhat scarce, we shall extract the passage :— "Towards the close of this year, (1740,) he caused a translation of the four Evangelists to be made into Persian. It seemed, however, from the manner in which he conducted this business, to be more the effect of caprice, than of any steady and consistent plan. The affair was put under the direction of Meerza Mehtie, a man of some learning, who, being vested with a proper authority for the purpose, summoned several Armenian bishops and priests, together with divers missionaries of the Romish church, and Persian mollahs, to meet him at Isfahan. As to the latter, they could not be gainers, since the change, if any took place, was to be in prejudice of Mohammedanism. Besides, Nadir's conduct towards them had been severe to an extreme and unprecedented; many of them, therefore, gave Meerza Mehtie large bribes to excuse their appearance. "Among the Christians summoned on this occasion, only one Romish priest, born in Persia, was a sufficient master of the language to enter upon a work of so critical a nature. As to the Armenians, though they are born subjects to Persia, and intermixed with the inhabitants, yet there are few of them who understand the language fundamentally. It was natural to expect that Meerza Mehtie and the Persian mollahs would be more solicitous how to please Nadir, and to support the credit of Mohammedanism, 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 and perplexities of the Koran could warrant; their chief guide was an ancient Arabic and Persian translation. Father des Vignes, a French missionary, was also employed in the work, in which he made use of the Vulgate edition. They were but six months in completing this translation, and in transcribing several fair copies of it. "In the May following, Meerza Mehtie, with the Persian mollahs, and some of the Christian priests, set out from Isfahan, for the Persian court, which was then held in the encampment near Tahiran.* 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 Mohammed and Ali equally into ridicule. Under such circumstances, it was impossible that this performance should produce any good effect. He observed, that the evangelists did not agree in their accounts, any more than did the Mohammedan and Christian priests; therefore he must remain under the same difficulty that he was in before-that out of both, if it pleased God to give him health, he would engage to make a religion, much better than any which had been yet practised by mankind, with several other vague reflections of the like nature. He then dismissed these churchmen and translators with several small presents, not equal in value to the expense of their journey." To this account, Hanway appends the sensible and pious remark-"It seems as if Nadir had * Teheran, which afterwards became, and still remains, the seat of government. still his religion to seek; but this project, (of making a new religion,) under the present state of affairs, and considering the passion he had for military achievements, was very ridiculous, and by no means agreeable to that seriousness with which oriental princes are generally inclined to treat this important subject. What exalted notions ought not the contemplation of the Christian religion to inspire in us, when we observe the cruelty and extravagant principles of government which prevail at the courts of Mohammedan princes! In how shining a light do those appear, whose hearts are warmed with a generous desire of acting up to the dignity peculiar to the Christian religion! Nor ought it to be objected, that avarice and ambition have often involved the Christian world in distress, when we have such irresistible proof of such proceeding being diametrically opposed to the principles of Christianity." Having noticed this attempt to obtain a translation of a portion of the sacred Scriptures, we are induced to trace the steps which have since been taken towards the great object of enabling the Persian people to read in their own tongue the wonderful works of God. In |