Although these men pass for sages amongst their own people, they were very ignorant, in comparison with well-educated Europeans. One of the sectaries, for instance, maintained against Mr. Martyn, that there was no difference between pleasure and pain; and he was once called upon in a large company, assembled at the house of the prime minister of the territory, to prove that the earth moves: but no one understood his explanations. Sometimes he would be questioned on great principles which naturally led him to speak of the gospel; but as soon as he mentioned any of its doctrines, they would divert the conversation to some of the ridiculous ideas, upon which they were accustomed to waste their thoughts. For instance, one of the men who accompanied him as a guard to visit the ruins of Persepolis, a celebrated ancient city, not far from Shiraz, “often broke a long silence,” he says, “by a sudden question of this sort: ‘Sir, what is the chief good of life?’ I replied, ‘The love of God:’ ‘What next?’ ‘The love of man.’ ‘That is,’ said he, ‘to have men love us, or to love them?’ ‘To love them.’ He did not seem to agree with me. Another time he asked, ‘Who were the worst people in the world?’ I said ‘Those who know their duty, and do not practise it.’ At the house where I was entertained, they asked me the question which the Lord once asked, ‘What think ye of Christ?’ I generally tell them at first, what they expect to hear, ‘The Son of God;’ but this time I said, ‘The same as you say,—the word of God.’ ‘Was he a Prophet?’ ‘Yes, in some sense, he was a Prophet; but, what it chiefly concerns us to know, he was an Atonement for the sins of men.’ Not understanding this, they made no reply. They next asked, ‘What did I think of the soul?’ was it out of the body or in the body? I supposed the latter. ‘No,’ they said, ‘it was neither the one nor the other; but next to it, and the mover of the body.’”
We have some other specimens of these discussions.
“Aga Ali, of Media, came, and with him and Mirza Ali, I had a long and warm discussion about the essentials of Christianity. The Mede seeing us at work upon the epistles, said, ‘he should be glad to read them; as for the gospels, they were nothing but tales, which were of no use to him, for instance,’ said he, ‘if Christ raised four hundred dead to life, what is that to me?’ I said, ‘It certainly was of importance; for his works were a reason for our depending upon his words.’ ‘What did he say,’ asked he, ‘that was not known before: the love of God, humility,—who does not know these things?’ ‘Were these things,’ said I, ‘known before Christ, either among Greeks or Romans, with all their philosophy?’ They averred that the Hindoo book Juh contained precepts of this kind. I questioned its antiquity; ‘but however that may be,’ I added, ‘Christ came not to teach, so much as to die; the truths I spoke of, as confirmed by his miracles, were those relating to his person, such as, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ Here Mirza Seid Ali told him that I had professed to have no doubt of my salvation. He asked what I meant? I told him, ‘that though sin still remained, I was assured that it should not regain dominion; and that I should never come into condemnation, but was accepted in the Beloved.’ Not a little surprised, he asked Mirza Seid Ali whether he comprehended this? ‘No,’ said he, ‘nor Mirza Ibraheem, to whom I mentioned it.’ The Mede again turning to me, asked, ‘how do you know this? how do you know you have experienced the second birth?’ ‘Because,’ said I, ‘we have the Spirit of the Father; what he wishes, we wish; what he hates, we hate.’ Here he began to be a little more calm and less contentious, and mildly asked, how I had obtained this peace of mind; ‘Was it merely those books?’ said he, taking up some of our sheets. I told him ‘These books, with prayer.’ ‘What was the beginning of it,’ said he, ‘the society of some friends?’ I related to him my religious history, the substance of which was, that I took my bible before God, in prayer, and prayed for forgiveness through Christ, assurance of it through his Spirit, and grace to obey his commandments. They then both asked whether the same benefit would be conferred on them? I replied; ‘I bring you this message from God, that he who, despairing of himself, rests for righteousness on the Son of God, shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; and to this I can add my testimony, if that be worth any thing, that I have found the promise fulfilled in myself; but if you should not find it so in you, accuse not the gospel of falsehood; it is possible that your faith might not be sincere; indeed, so fully am I persuaded that you do not believe on the Son of God, that if you were to entreat ever so earnestly for baptism, I should not dare to administer it at this time, when you have shown so many signs of an unhumbled heart.’ ‘What! would you have me believe,’ said he, ‘as a child?’ ‘Yes,’ said I. ‘True,’ said he, ‘I think that is the only way.’ Aga Ali said no more but ‘Certainly he is a good man!’”
“Aga Neeser came, and talked most captiously and irrelevantly against all revealed religion. Three years ago, he had thrown off the shackles of Mohammed, and advised me to do the same with my yoke. I told him, that I preferred my yoke to his freedom. He was for sending me naked into a wilderness; but I would rather be a child under the restraints of a parent, who would provide me with food and clothing, and be my protector and guide. To every thing I said, he had but one answer. ‘God is the sole agent; sin and holiness, happiness and misery, cause and effect, are all perfectly one.’ Finding him determined to amuse himself in this way, I said, ‘These things will do very well for the present, while reclining in gardens and smoking pipes; but not for a dying hour. How many years of life remain? You are about thirty, perhaps thirty more remain. How swiftly have the last thirty passed: how soon will the next thirty be gone: and then we shall see. If you are right, I lose nothing; if I am right, you lose your soul. Leaving out the consideration of all religion, it is probable that the next world may be akin to this, and our relation to both not dissimilar. But here we see that childhood is a preparation for manhood, and that neglect of the proper employments of childhood entails miseries in riper years.’ The thought of death, and of separation from his pleasures, made him serious; or perhaps he thought it useless to press me with any more of his opinions.”
Such was the state of the minds of the people whom he hoped to bring to a reception of the gospel, to renounce Mohammed, and “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!” We may learn more of the nature of their religion, by his account of the manner in which their principal fast is observed. It is called the fast of Ramazan, and is directed by the Koran to be kept during the month called by that name.
“Sept. 20th.—First day of the fast of Ramazan. All the family had been up in the night, to take an unseasonable meal, in order to fortify themselves for the abstinence of the day. It was curious to observe the effects of the fast in the house. The master was scolding and beating his servants; they equally peevish and insolent; and the beggars more than ordinarily importunate and clamorous. At noon, all the city went to the grand mosque.[10] My host came back with an account of new vexations there. He was chatting with a friend, near the door, when a great preacher, Hagi Mirza, arrived, with hundreds of followers. ‘Why do you not say your prayers?’ said the new comers to the two friends. ‘We have finished,’ said they. ‘Well,’ said the other, ‘if you cannot pray a second time with us, you had better move out of the way.’ Rather than join such turbulent zealots, they retired. The reason of this unceremonious address was, that these loving disciples had a desire to pray all in a row with their master, which, it seems, is the custom. There is no public service in the mosque; every man there prays for himself.”
“Sept. 22d.—Sunday. My friends returned from the mosque, full of indignation at what they had witnessed there. The former governor of Bushire complained to the vizier, in the mosque, that some of his servants had treated him brutally. The vizier, instead of attending to his complaint, ordered them to do their work a second time; which they did, kicking and beating him with their slippers, in the most ignominious way, before all the mosque. This unhappy people groan under the tyranny of their governors; yet nothing subdues or tames them. Happy Europe! how has God favoured the sons of Japheth, by causing them to embrace the gospel! How dignified are all the nations of Europe compared with this nation! Yet the people are clever and intelligent, and more calculated to become great and powerful than any of the nations of the east, had they a good government, and the Christian religion.”
“Oct. 1st.—Thousands every day assemble at the mosque; it is quite a lounge with them. Each, as soon as he has said his prayers, sits down and talks to his friend. The multitude press to hear Hagi Mohammed Hasan. One day they thronged him so much that he made some error in his prostrations. This put him into such a passion, that he wished that Omar’s[11] curse might come upon him, if he preached to them again. However, a day or two after, he thought better of it. This preacher is famous for letting out his money for interest; and therefore, in spite of his eloquence, he is not very popular.”
“Oct. 7th.—I was surprised by a visit from the great Soofie doctor, who, while most of the people were asleep, came to me for some wine. I plied him with questions innumerable; but he returned nothing but incoherent answers, and sometimes no answer at all. Having laid aside his turban, he put on his night-cap, and soon fell asleep upon the carpet. Whilst he lay there, his disciples came, but would not believe, when I told them who was there, till they came and saw the sage asleep. When he awoke, they came in and seated themselves at the greatest possible distance, and were all as still as if in a church.
“The real state of this man seems to be despair, and it is well if it do not end in madness. I preached to him the kingdom of God: mentioning particularly how I had found peace from the Son of God and the Spirit of God: through the first, forgiveness; through the second, sanctification. He said it was good, but said it with the same unconcern with which he admits all manner of things, however contradictory. Poor soul! he is sadly bewildered.