doing this, the writer is much assisted by information collected from the records of the British and Foreign Bible Society, for which he is obliged to the kindness of the Rev. Α. Brandram, one of the secretaries of that noble institution. In 1806, the Baptist missionaries at Serampore commenced, at the expense of the society, a translation of the Scriptures into the Persian language, of which, however, only the Book of Psalms was ever published. In 1808-9, the Rev. Henry Martyn, then of Dinapore, undertook, with the approval of the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society, and in conjunction with the too celebrated Sabat, a version of the New Testament in Persian, of which only two Gospels were printed at Calcutta. This work, as appears from the Rev. J. Sargent's very interesting memoir of Henry Martyn, was substantially the work of Sabat, working under Martyn's superintendence. The latter says, in one of his published letters, "Sabat is prodigiously proud of it. I wish some mistakes may not be found in it to put him to shame." Mistakes were found in it. After two of the Gospels had been printed, it was considered, on further inspection and more mature consideration, to require too many amendments to admit of its immediate publication. It was, therefore, returned to the translator, who, under the superintendence of Mr. Martyn, bestowed so much pains and attention upon it as to render it a new, and it was hoped, a sound and accurate work. By those, however, who were considered good judges at Calcutta, it was still deemed unfit for general circulation, inasmuch as it was thought to abound with Arabic idioms, (the translator being an Arabian,) and to be written in a style pleasing only to the learned, but not sufficiently level to the capacities of the mass of common readers. It was this decision which induced Henry Martyn to proceed to Persia, with the view of collecting the opinions of learned natives as to this translation. He reached Shiraz in June, 1811, and having at that celebrated seat of Persian literature speedily ascertained the general correctness of the opinions delivered at Calcutta, respecting the translation of the New Testament by Sabat, he forthwith resolved then and there to commence another and entirely new version of the New Testament in the Persian language. In this task he had the assistance of a learned Persian, Meerza Seid Ali Khan; and on the 24th of February, 1812, the work was completed. "I have many mercies," says the author of this great work, "in bringing it to a termination, for which to thank the Lord, and this is not the least. Now may the Spirit who gave the word, and called me, I trust, to be the interpreter of it, graciously and powerfully apply it to the hearts of sinners, even to the gathering of an elect people from the longestranged Persians!" Mr. Martyn had also felt encouraged to undertake a version of the Psalms in the same language. He found this, he says, "a sweet employment, which caused six weary moons that waxed and waned since its commencement to pass unnoticed." It was finished by the middle of March in the same year. These works, the result of ten months' unremitted application of one "whose praise is in all the churches," were published at Calcutta in 1816. In 1821, Meerza Jaffier, a native Persian, then residing at St. Petersburg, was engaged by the British and Foreign Bible Society to undertake a Persian translation of the Pentateuch, and on receipt of the manuscript of the Book of Genesis, 1,000 copies were printed in London under the editorship of Meerza Ibrahim, a learned Persian, attached to Haileybury College. Meerza Jaffier having completed the Persian translation of the Pentateuch, was authorized to proceed with the historical books, of which he subsequently furnished the translations of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and part of Samuel. In 1822, the venerable archdeacon Robinson, then Chaplain of the Honourable East India Company, at Poonah, undertook, in connexion with the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society, and at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, to prepare a version of the Old Testament into Persian. This translation was duly carried forward, and separate portions were from time to time printed, until at length, in 1837, the whole work was announced as being published at Calcutta. In 1825, The Rev. Dr. Glen, at that time one of the Scottish missionaries at Astrachan, and favourably known by his translation of the book of Psalms into Persian, (of which an edition was printed in this country by the Bible Society,) was engaged at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society to translate the poetical and prophetical books of the Old Testament into Persian, which, in the course of several years, with the aid of a Persian E moonshee, he completed. It was, in 1829, the privilege of the present writer to witness something of the progress of this great work. He was then one of a large party which found themselves for several days the inmates of Dr. Glen's primitive missionary establishment at Astrachan; and beheld with admiration the quiet way in which this good man, absorbed in his task, pursued his wonted course, undiverted for one hour by the engagements or excitement which the arrival of so large a body of Christian friends from home might have been expected to create. At his appointed hour he withdrew, and was to be seen no more until the labour of his day. had ended. Yet this was made consistent with the most cordial hospitality, and the utmost attention to, and consideration for, his visitors. We were reminded, by application, of the words of Nehemiah, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?" Neh. vi. 3. In 1832, Meerza Ibrahim, of Haileybury College, having made a translation of the Book of Isaiah into Persian, which was highly spoken of by competent judges, the British and Foreign Bible Society purchased the manu |