Palestine; and the climate of the country, and the manners and customs of the people, are nearly the same.* There are some circumstances which remarkably distinguish Arabia; a recollection of which, in connexion with others, ought now to draw our attention to it. Arabia was inhabited by the first generations of men. There it pleased the Creator first to reveal himself to his creatures; and in its vicinity the Son of God assumed the human nature. In Arabia, the faculties of the human mind attain to as high a degree of strength and vigor, even at this day,† as in any other country in the world; and the symmetry and beauty of the human person in Arabia are not surpassed by any other portion of the human race.‡ Arabia is also remarkable on another account. It was the theatre of the grand defection from Christianity, by the Mahomedan delusion, which was to extend to "a third part of men.” This predicted apostasy *Όμορους δε αυτας τοις Ιουδαίοις είκος και πρωτους το κηρυγμα δεξασθαι. Being neighbors to the Jews, it was likely that they should first receive the Gospel. Proc. ubi supra. †See Letter from the Rev. Henry Martyn, concerning Sabat, quoted in "The Star in the East," p. 218. "At intervals I read Persian Poetry with Mirza, and the Koran with Sabat. These Orientals, with whom I translate the Scriptures, require me to point out the connexion between every two sentences, which is often more than I can do. It is curious how accurately they observe all the rules of writing. Sabat, though a real Christian, has not lost a jot of his Arabian notions of superiority. He looks upon Europeans as mushrooms; and seems to regard my pretensions to any learning, as we should regard those of a savage or an ape." N. B. Mr. Martyn was Senior Wrangler, or first Mathematician of his year, at Cambridge, in 1801; and he had now been two years in society with Sabat. An intelligent Arabian, who had seen the English in India, observed to the Author, that he thought the minds of the English far superior to their persons It seemed to him, that there was nothing striking or noble in the English countenance, compared with the dignity and beauty of the Arabians; that the faces were in general flat and torpid, and the eyes without fire. The Author informed him, that the English were composed of different nations, and most of these from cold and northern climates: that hence there was a great diversity in their appearance, some being of very ordinary aspect, and others of a dignity and beauty which even an Arabian would admire. was to be effected, not by returning to Paganism, but by a corruption of Christianity; that is, by admitting some part of the former revelation of God, and pretending to a new revelation. The delusion itself is aptly compared in the prophecy concerning it, to "smoke issuing from the bottomless pit;" and its great extent is expressed by its "darkening the sun and the air."* And since this defection was to be produced by a corruption of revealed Truth, it was necessary that the Scriptures should be first corrupted; for where the genuine Scriptures are in the hands of men, there is little danger of general infidelity. Accordingly, this preparative for the great Imposture took place in the fifth and sixth centuries. During that period, corrupt and apocryphal gospels prevailed so generally in Arabia and in the neighboring regions, that it is even doubtful whether Mahomed himself ever saw a genuine copy of the New Testament. It has been argued by learned men, from the internal evidence of his composition, that he did not. But now even the apocryphal gospels have vanished from view, by the long prevalence of the Koran. But the duration of this delusion was to have a limit. "The smoke was to darken the sun and the air" only for a definite period. This period is expressed in pro. phetic Scripture in a three-fold form of words to evince its certainty. 1. "The Holy City shall they tread under foot forty and two months,"† Rev. xi, 2. This marks the period of the Mahomedan power. The same expression is applied afterwards to the duration of the Papal power. The depression of the true Faith was of course *Rev. ix, 2. A day for a year; 1260 years. to last the same time; as expressed in the two following sentences. 2. "The Witnesses (for the true Faith) shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth,"* Rev. xi, 3. 3. "The Woman (or Church of Christ) fled into the wilderness, and was nourished for a time, times, and half a time.”† Rev. xii, 14. This last expression, "a time, times, and half a time," is also used by the prophet Daniel, who foretels the same events, to mark the period when God shall "have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people," and shall terminate his indignation against Israel. Dan. xii, 7. It is very well known in the East at what time Mahomed appeared. Let the Mahomedan then be informed, that he is to count 1260 years from the Hejira, and then expect the fulfilment of a remarkable Prophecy, made by Christ, whom the Koran acknowledges to be "a true Prophet." Let him be informed explicitly, that the reign of Mahomedanism will then have an end. And, if he be unwilling to believe this, ask him if he does not already perceive the decline of Mahomedanism. If he be ignorant of this fact, inform him of the history of events. Instruct him, that the corruption of Christianity in the West by the Pope, was coeval with the corruption of Christianity in the East by Mahomed; that the decline of both these powers is, at this time, equally advanced; and that the fall of both is to be contemporane A day for a year; 1260 days † A time, times, and half a time a year, 1260 years. two years and half of a year forty-1260 years. ous. If he be ignorant of the decline of Papal Rome, the Roman Catholic in the East will declare it to him. Is there any man, calling himself a Christian, who thinks that these prophecies are dubious? If it be true that God hath, at any time, revealed himself to man, they are most certain. The Author would here observe, that the inattention of men in general to the ful filment of the Divine predictions, does not proceed so commonly from principles of infidelity as from ignorance of facts,-pure ignorance of historical facts. There are men of liberal education in England, who are more ignorant of the history of the world, ancient and modern, in connexion with the revelation of God, than some Hindoos and Arabians, whom we know in the East, who have not been Christians above a few years. Our Savior reprehended this neglect of "the word spoken from heaven" in these words; "Ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye cannot discern THIS TIME?" Luke xii, 56. The Author has noticed the foregoing circumstances in connexion with Arabia, to illustrate the importance of preparing a version of the Scriptures for that country, at the present era. But the Arabic Language hath gone forth far beyond the bounds of Arabia, and is known to almost "a third part of men" in the East. The Koran has consecrated it in the eyes of millions, in central Asia, on the continent of Africa, and in the isles of the Indian Ocean. A version of the whole Bible in Arabic has come down to us; but it is now antiquated, like the Persian, both in dialect and orthography. It does not appear that any composition in a living language, of a higher date than about five hundred years, can be of popular use, unless we learn it from our infancy. The language of our own Scriptures becomes now peculiar in 1 many respects, and distinct from the popular speech It is supposed, that the Arabic Translation is upwards of a thousand years old. Had there been no interruption in the profession of Christianity in Arabia, the ancient Translation might possibly have sufficed: in like manner as the Hebrew is still understood by the Jews, and the Syriac by the Syrian Christians. But when a new religion is to be proposed to a people, we must use the most dignified medium, and present it in the language which is in popular use. The present Arabic Translation in the Polyglot is perfectly intelligible to those who will study it with a lexicon; but we certainly cannot offer it at this time as conveying the meaning of the Christian Scriptures to the Land of Yemen, or Arabia the Happy. Soon after Sabat, the Arabian, had been converted to Christianity,* the object which chiefly occupied his thoughts, was a translation of the Scriptures for his native country. He himself could easily read and understand the existing translation; for he is a learned man, and acquainted radically with every dialect of the language; and it was by means of that translation that he himself became a Christian;† but he says he should be ashamed to offer the Bible to his countrymen in its present form; such a version would neither be acceptable to the learned, nor intelligible to the unlearned. This noble Arabian has been now three years, or more, employed in translating the Scriptures into the * See an account of his conversion in the "Star in the East." The copy of the New Testament, which fell into the hands of Sabat, was one of the edition published in 1727 by "the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge," revised by Salomon Negri. An investment of these Arabic Testaments, was sent about 1759, to the Society's Missionaries in Calcutta, who circulated them through different provinces. The following is a well-attested fact: They sent some copies to the Mahomedan Priests at Delhi, who "requested that the supply might be contin ued." See Proceedings of the Society of that period. |