ness and insufficiency. But we rejoice that He who has called us to labour, has the hearts of all men in his hands, and there is nothing impossible with him. I trust we feel something of the responsibility of our station. Every moment calls for incessant labour, and our duties continue to increase. In a class I instruct in English, Mussulmans and Nestorians study the gospels together; and we render it all into Turkish, which is the universal language here. I talk much more in this language than in English; but it will be a long time yet before I can speak it as well on all subjects. Not a week passes but I operate for cataract, and often several times in a week. I trust that much suffering will be relieved. O that I might be made instrumental in opening the eyes of the spiritually blind! The people are poor and oppressed in the extreme, and this is a great hindrance to our work. People say that they have "to work every moment for their bread, and to pay their taxes. At least, they cannot provide bread and attend to study too. Thus, while they desire instruction, they grow up in ignorance." Dr Grant had been thus laboriously engaged in his proper work for about nine months when he was seized with fever, from which he had scarcely recovered when he was brought to the gates of death by an attack of Asiatic cholera. This was followed by severe inflammation of the eyes. About the same time, his associates in the mission, Mr and Mrs Perkins, and their family, as well as Mrs Grant, were all prostrated by fever. This accumulation of sore troubles was, indeed, very trying to Dr Grant's faith, as well as to his bodily strength; for while hardly convalescent, the whole charge of the mission devolved upon him for many weeks, but he was graciously carried through all, and in the end was made to feel that it had been good for him to be afflicted. The following extract from a letter, written soon after this season of trial, proves how Dr Grant was enabled more and more to "set his affections on things above." "When will Christians, the purchase of a Saviour's blood, learn to lay up their treasures in heaven, and become rich towards God? What a different state of things would be seen! O that we could see as much anxiety to invest funds in Bible, tract, education, and missionary stock, as there is in railroad and bank stock! If Christians could feel the blesseduess of living wholly for God, what a different state of things should we see in the Church! I feel more and more satisfied that, before the world is converted, the Church must come up to a higher and holier standard of consecration to God. Christians must feel that the great business of life is to be co-workers with Jesus Christ in saving this lost world. Instead of taxing all the energies of their souls and bodies to heap together a little of the glittering dust of earth, their daily in quiry should be, What can I do to honour my Saviour, and save my dying fellow-men from the dreadful thraldom of sin? What can I do to pour the light of the Gospel upon the darkness of heathenism, and fill the earth with the glory of God? These are motives worthy of all the powers of Gabriel, and they should be first in our minds when we lie down and when we rise up. We should feel that our time, our property, our influence, our children, all belong to God. We are not our own." Although Dr Grant was able to resume all his duties, his health was never perfectly restored after the severe attack of cholera in 1836. He felt that the climate of Ooroomiah did not agree with him, but he was contented to labour on, although often in weakness and in pain. Between 1836 and 1838, he was blessed with a son (baptized by the name of Henry Martyn), and two daughters, twins. In the beginning of 1839, he was again called to mourn as a widower. His excellent wife was cut off by fever. Bitterly did he grieve over this sal bereavement, yet he could sing of mercy, by which he saw his sorrows tempered. "No language," he wrote at this time, "can express the agony of soul that comes over me at times, when I think of my own loss, and the loss which our three motherless babes have sustained in this trying event-doubly trying in this distant land. But I am wonderfully sustained, and have continued reason to bless the Lord for all his mercies, rich and abounding as they are, even in the hour of deepest trial." Before the end of this year (1839), Dr Grant made an extensive tour through Mesopotamia to Mosul, and thence through Central Kurdistan, where he visited the Nestorians of the mountains, who (although professing Christianity from the time of the apostles) had never before been reached by any missionary of modern times. Amongst these remarkable people he spent six or seven weeks, and collected much of that interesting information which is contained in the book he subsequently published. In the course of this tour Dr Grant encountered many perils; having been once marked for sacrifice by the bloodthirsty Kurds; at other times, forced to take up his quarters in the tents of the wandering Arabs; and then, again, obliged to walk for days through rough mountain passes, sometimes deeply covered with snow, where it was dangerous to ride even on mules. Dr Grant had long regarded the Nestorian mountaineers as having especial claims on the attention of the Christian world. The Mission Board at home sympathised in his views, and instructed him to endeavour to establish a station in the central gleus of their almost inaccessible highlands. This was the object of the journey in question. The account of it, contained in the work on "The Nestorians," is extremely interesting, and no less edifying, inasmuch as it is well calculated to BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH-DR ASAHEL GRANT. 437 One result of Dr Grant's researches amongst the Nestorians, was his being convinced that they are descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Much of his book, already referred to, is occupied by a statement of the facts and reasonings which led him to this conclusion. His views have drawn forth some able criticism, particu Dr Robinson, who has endeavoured to prove that Dr Grant's data were insufficient. Whether we agree with Dr Grant or not, it must be acknowledged by all that his facts are at once deeply interesting and most important, and must have cost him in collecting them much laborious research. remind the reader of the dangers and privations which the herald of the Cross is frequently obliged to undergo in the discharge of the duties of his high calling. One incident of this journey is well worthy of particular notice, as illustrative of the zeal and devotedness, no less than the courage and energy, which were the characteristics of Dr Grant's character. Hav-larly from his distinguished fellow-countryman, ing gone to Constantinople in the expectation of obtaining there a suitable companion for his proposed mission, he found that no one could be spared from that station at the time. He, thereupon, immediately resolved to proceed alone into Mesopotamia and accordingly he set out without delay. Taking ship to Trebizond, he rode thence to Erzerum, a distance of at It is truly painful to reflect that, since Dr least two hundred and twenty miles, over a very Grant's beneficent visit to these highland remountainous road, in less than three days. Of treats, their peaceful inhabitants have been this feat, Dr Grant himself modestly said, "I called to endure the most fearful sufferings at made what haste I could." Of the dangers the hands of their ancient enemies the Kurds. which he encountered on this and his other These fierce warriors, along with a party of journeys through these elevated regions, some Turkish soldiers, headed by the Pasha of ideas may be formed from the following state- Mosul, having penetrated into the Nestorian ment: On my route to Diarbekir, I found territory, massacred an immense number of great difficulty in crossing some of the lofty men, women, and children, depopulating whole mountains, owing to the great quantity of snow villages, burning churches and castles, and perwhich remained upon their summits (in the end petrating extreme cruelties of all kinds. They of May), while immense avalanches had formed seemed to have almost extirpated the race. bridges of snow and ice over some of the foam- Nevertheless, recent accounts from the Ameing torrents which dashed through the narrow rican Missionaries at Ooroomiah (see "Free ravines. The bridge over the Euphrates at Church Missionary Record" for October 1849), Paloo had been carried away, and I crossed assure us that a faithful remnant is left, and the river on a raft of inflated skins, like those that the good seed of the Word, sown by Dr mentioned by Xenophon in his 'Retreat of the Grant and others, is bearing abundant fruit. A Ten Thousand.'" remarkable revival of religion has lately appeared amongst the Nestorian Christians. It was mainly to the good report of Dr Grant's professional skill and benevolent intentions, spread among the mountain tribes by a young man who had been, a short time previously, successfully couched at Ooroomiah by Dr Grant, that he owed his kind reception by a people who had never before seen a foreigner enter their retired glens. The young Nestorian just mentioned had been the only individual of the tribe with whom Dr Grant had ever come into contact, and he was one of the first persons he met when he entered the first village he came to. He accosted Dr Grant with a smiling countenance, presented him with a jar of honey, and at once introduced him to the confidence and affections of his people. A few days after this, Dr Grant met with another old patient, who ministered to his necessities in the kindest manner, and led Dr Grant specially to adore the wonderful providence of God. In this instance, the native told Dr Grant that he had applied to him at Ooroomiah two years previously, when he was sick and destitute, and that he had received at his hands both medicine and pecuniary aid. Now he rejoiced to restore double to his benefactor, and proved his gratitude by doing every thing he could to make the doctor's stay in his village happy and comfortable. Dr Grant himself had the greatest satisfaction in this journey through Kurdistan. He had the best possible opportunities of putting to the test the advantages of his character and qualifications as a medical missionary; and he felt that these were not insignificant. He was every where received and treated with the greatest kindness, and he found favour with the Kurdish chiefs, who all welcomed him as a benefactor. He thus obtained and availed himself of opportunities of "speaking the truth in love," such as were not likely to have been met with by a missionary not skilled in the healing art. About the beginning of 1840, Dr Grant obtained leave from the Mission Board to return to America for a season; but before he left the scene of his labours, he was once more called to mourn his twin daughters died of measles, and were laid in their mother's grave. The bereaved father took his little son, Henry Martyn, in his arms, and set out to revisit his native country. The long journey over hills, and through many glens, to the port of Trebizond, was performed, as formerly, on horseback; the little boy being seated on the pommel of his father's saddle. After a perilous voyage, Boston was reached in safety. Dr Grant spent the few months of his residence at home, partly in making arrangements for the education of his three sons, partly in conferences with the Mission Board on the subject of his labours, and partly in travelling through the States to communicate informa tion regarding the state of the East, and to stir up the Churches to increased liberality on be half of missions. His public appeals were characterised by great fervour, and they produced no inconsiderable effect. He also, at this time, prepared for the press, and superintended the publication of, his valuable work on "The Nestorians." In the spring of 1841, he left America to return to Persia. On his way, he visited London. He had intended to have crossed the Atlantic in the "President" steam-ship, which was lost on the voyage, but was prevented by "a remarkable interposition of Providence." He reached Mosul on the 25th August, just in time to wait upon the sickbed of his new associate, the Rev. Mr Hinsdale, who subsequently acknowledged that “ he could not but feel that the Lord had sent Dr Grant at a most unexpected moment for the preservation of his life." Amidst labours abundant, and dangers many, not unmixed with severe trials of various kinds, Dr Grant passed the years 1842 and 1843. He made several journeys through various parts of Kurdistan and Mesopotamia, and did much, in every way, for the evangelization of the people, and the establishment of schools. In the course of his fourth visit to the mountains, he traversed their whole extent, going from village to village, from house to house, although hearing every where rumours of coming war. "But," said he, "I have pretty well learned the lesson taught by our blessed Saviour, Be ye not troubled.'" terprise, which have subjected me to the charge of temerity, and even of 'courting death at every step.' And should I now go forward to encounter new dangers, perhaps greater than those from which I have escaped, or should I fall by the hand of violence (and who can tell how long that hand may be restrained?) what will be the voice of Christians at home-that I fall, as a Christian soldier should fall, at the post of duty, or a victim to my own unwarrantable rashness? This is a practical and important inquiry. What shall I do? Hitherto hath the Lord helped me; and I would still trust him to throw over me the shield of his protecting arm, if I can rest assured that Christians at home will entreat the Lord for me." Here, indeed, is the true spirit of the mar tyr. How admirable the union of simple trust in God, and great boldness resulting from it, with earnest desire to know what was the path of duty, that he might not "run unsent." Dr Grant's faith seems to have been eminently simple. His obedience, therefore, was that of the good soldier, making him ready to go whithersoever, and to endure whatsoever his Divine captain commanded, without questioning either the fitness of the order, or his own ability to obey. "Here I am, what wouldest thou have me to do?" While he was in the attitude of waiting for indications of what course he ought to pursue for the future, Dr Grant opened his house in Mosul as a place of refuge for the expatriated Nestorians, of whom he had, at one time, upwards of sixty depending upon him for support. To these he ministered both in things spiritual and in things temporal. He comforted them with Gospel truth, opened schools for the children, and attended to the sick and the wounded with the utmost assiduity. He was now advised to return once more, for a season, to America. himself felt the need of repose, and he was anxious to make new arrangements for the education of his children. Upon the whole, he felt satisfied that it was his duty to revisit his native land, and he began to prepare accordingly. On the 23d March 1844, he wrote to his mother thus: "Should nothing unexpected intervene, the prospect now is, that I may stand once more on the shores of America in the course of the coming fall." It was in the autumn of 1843, that Dr Grant's labours among the Nestorians were suddenly interrupted by that dreadful onslaught, already referred to, which desolated many a previously happy valley, and drove multitudes of unoffending people into a miserable captivity. Dr Grant was obliged to take refuge in Mosul, whence he wrote thus: "The Nestorians needed humbling, and they may find it good to have been afflicted. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.' 'In their affliction, they will seek me early.' Methinks there are rays of light behind the darkness, visible to the eye of faith. Though fully aware of the obstacles in the way, of the many perils that beset my path, I have proposed to the committee to return again to the mountains in the spring, provided that the Churches, whose mes-eighteen days. senger I am, will support me in so doing. But, at the present crisis, I want to know the views and the wishes of those who have sent me forth. For more than four years past, I have exposed myself to dangers in this arduous en He This prospect was not realized. Long ere "the fall," indeed within a month of the time when he so wrote, Dr Grant was numbered with the dead. "His warfare was ended," and he entered into his rest. He died of typhus fever on the 24th April 1844, after an illness of Dr Grant's fatal sickness was, probably, the effect of his self-denying and most benevolent exertions on behalf of the sick and wounded Nestorians, of whom he had received so many into his own house, after the massacre in the RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE IN EVERY THING. mountains. This was his last work of mercy on behalf of the much-loved objects of his solicitude. He counted not his very life too dear to be sacrificed for their good. Yet he sought not them, but their souls. He desired to win them to Christ by the manifestation of his love, which was so largely shed upon his own heart. One can hardly imagine a nobler moral spectacle than that presented to the imagination, by the few words in Dr Grant's letter which allude to this piece of Christian hospi- | tality. "I have much to do," he said, "in the care of fifty, or more, Nestorians in our mission house." The care of upwards of fifty poor people, suddenly driven from their homes at the point of the sword, some of them wounded, many of them sick, all depressed by the feeling of mortification in having been overthrown by an old enemy, who, for the first time, had succeeded in penetrating into their strongholds, was truly a care of no ordinary magnitude. But the love of Him who said, " Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden," had constrained the good physician, in whose house they sought refuge, to consider it a privilege to minister to the poor and afflicted; and he received them all gladly. He tenderly bound up their wounds; he supplied them with the necessaries of life; and he whispered to one and all the words of comfort wherewith he himself had been comforted. Blessed occupation! and blessed gospel which produces such fruits! Never were Dr Grant's Christian graces brought into more vigorous exercise than on this occasion; never did he manifest more of the true excellency of his gifts, or of the importance of his vocation as a medical missionary. How evident is it that his previous reputation and experience as a healer of the sick, gave him, in such circumstances, an especial advantage in his endeavours to lead the minds of his patients to the Fountain of Life, and the source of all healing influence ! How mysterious are the ways of God! It was in the very midst of this labour of love that the servant was called away by his divine Master. It was in the vigour of his manhood, just as he had acquired sufficient acquaintance with the language and habits of the people, to enable him constantly and efficiently to pursue his calling, and just as his true character, as a public benefactor, was fairly established in his adopted country, that he was removed. We are amazed; reason reels," but faith assures us that all was right, and for the best. Dr Grant lived long enough to do his own work; and, brief as his career was, he has left to us a bright example of zeal and devotedness, and of intelligent consecration of highly cultivated powers of mind to the service of Christ, in a field full of danger and difficulty. In 1837, two years after he had settled in Kurdistan, Dr Grant wrote an "Appeal to 439 Pious Physicians," on the duty of devoting Then, to illustrate the extent of the field of labour open to the medical missionary, Dr Grant remarks,-" Within a year from my arrival in Ooroomiah, I prescribed for about 10,000 patients, and performed the operation for cataract more than fifty times. If there were no other object than to relieve the sufferings of the sick and dying, feelings of humanity. should prompt us to come forward to this interesting work. But when we look forward to the influence which the faithful pious physician may hope to exert, in saving them from the endless pains of the second death, the motive is one of the highest that infinite wisdom could present." The friends of Christian Missions in Britain are beginning to appreciate the importance of employing medical agents to co-operate with evangelical missionaries. But men of the requisite qualifications are hardly to be met with. Our hopes must be chiefly in the rising generation. And, doubtless, it may be a ground of great satisfaction to Christian parents, that for some young men, who cannot be brought up with a view to the holy ministry, but who are yet desirous to serve the Lord by spreading the gospel, there exists a sphere for the exercise of their talents so full of promise as that pre sented by missionary medicine. RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE IN EVERY THING. ALL proper acts may be religious. Our whole life may be imbued with the religious spirit, and even those passages in it which seem trivial and insignificant be elevated to the dignity and clothed with the beauty of worship and Divine service, if we but guide ourselves constantly by the maxims of Christianity, and hold steadily in view, as the end of our efforts, the accomplishment of our work on earth as the children of God. That work is, to gain our own spiritual and permanent wellbeing, to bless our families and all the creatures of God associated with us, to do what we can do to bring this fallen and wretched race into the light of the knowledge and holiness of the gospel, and thus to advance God's plans and declare his glory. Now to the accomplishment of this work, which is one work with different departments, it is manifestly not necessary nor proper even, that we labour in one direction only, or in one circle of activity. We must provide for our own subsistence and the subsistence of our families. It is not merely our privilege to do this, but our duty, as creatures of God related to others. We must reserve and accumulate property if we honestly can, in connection with other necessary labours, that we may disburse it again for God's glory and human welfare. This, in its place, is our religious duty; as much so as praising God in the sanctuary, or visiting the sick and the poor, and those who are in prison. To cultivate and adorn the intellect, and store it with knowledge, to cherish the sensibility, to gain relaxation and refreshment of spirits by innocent amusement, to train the physical system for effort and endurance, to strive diligently with thought and desire in the departments of business, to gain for ourselves influence by professional application-al! these are duties we owe to God; all these, if rightly discharged, as unto the Lord and not unto man, will be truly religious acts, the conditions and means of our growth in grace. In their place they are essential to the accomplishment of our whole life-work. If rightly pursued, therefore, our usual employments in life, so far from interfering with and opposing our distinctively religious duties, will fall directly into the same lines. They will themselves become religious, devotional. The saying of the old monks will be realized to us-"Work is worship." We shall find our meanest employment ennobled by its relation to the whole of which it is a part, and to the end to which it contributes. And as the temple is all built for God and consecrated to him-not its arches merely, its spire, its choir, or its pulpit, but its whole structure in all its parts-so will our life be ALL set apart for God's service and worship, and its most common acts will become acts of piety, and its familiar words will be voices of devotion. FAITH. It is one excellence of the Gospel, and a distinguishing one, that the spiritual act by which its blessings are brought to the reception of the soul, is in itself simple and obvious, and in its exercise familiar to men. It is an act of faith; and faith-confidence in the truth, or in other beings-is a mental act and state without which human society could not exist a day; which is exemplified constantly, and in all the relations in which men are placed. The wife trusts the husband, and the husband the wife; the child trusts the parent, and the parent confides in the love and the intelligence of the child he has nurtured. Between the members of the same circle in business or in society, of the same literary coterie, of the same party in reform-there must be mutual, reciprocated, undoubting confidence, or there cannot be happiness or peace, or efficient co-operation. We step into a railroad car, as the train pauses a moment in its headlong rush, and are borne away with more than the swiftness of the bird-flight through forests that, as we pass, seem sweeping backward with furious speed, and by rocks and houses that, to our bewildered vision, seem whirling from their places. One drawbridge out of place, and unobserved, would hurl us to instant and irresistible destruction. A single rail removed from the road by accident or design, or broken upon it and not replaced, unless the eye of the engineer should catch the defect from afar, would tumble the whole vast train into a mass of iron and wood and human bones crushed indistinguishably together. And yet we ride in security, and with justified fearlessness; we ride thus because we trust the skilfulness and fidelity of those who are our guides; or rather we trust the company who employs them, and know that, as responsible men holding responsible trusts, their direc tions have been given with minute accuracy, and their selection and supervision of their employées has been thorough and careful. We ride without alarm, and we have right to do so because we have faith. As night is coming on, we pass from the cars to the spacious saloons of the decorated steam-boat, and commence our passage over a sheet of water that may be swept by hurricanes ere morning; that has been the scene of many and terrible wrecks by storm and fire; and yet we sail on in cheerful security. We pass to the luxurious supper; we chat gaily with the friends who gather around us; we quietly lie down to the night's repose; and the beauty and brightness of the gay saloons but harmonise with the gladness and cheerfulness of our thoughts. It is because we trust the persons under whose charge we We trust the pilot though we have never seen him, and are confident in his watchfulness and his We trust the whole acquaintance with our course. company with whom we are associated. We trust implicitly the one controlling and master mind which is the eye and brain to this whole body; and we know we are safe-those contingencies excepted which override all human skill-because our captain is wise and kind and brave. are. The faith which the gospel requires of us, and which God has established as the condition of his blessings, is directed to other realities than these, and to other beings. It is properly required to be more full and more effective than that we feel toward men; to be separated from all that alloy of heedlessness and thoughtless indifference, which in human affairs is often blended with it; to be separated into the essential clearness and purity which befits its objects, and to be made to act steadily and with absolute power. But still it is generically the same faith, the same act and state of the soul, with which men are elsewhere familiar. We are to believe in God, and to believe God; to believe what he says, and because he says it; to trust him for his wisdom, goodness, and love; to trust him in regard to his providence, and in regard to his moral government. We are to confide in Christ, as his Son, our Teacher, Friend, Saviour, Intercessor. Having this confidence in him, we shall of course have peace in our own souls. His truth, received into the soul in fulness, and simplicity, and vital power, will bless and renew us. We shall have communion with him, and receive of his Spirit. God will accept us as the friends of his Son and the representatives of his spirit, will pardon us for our sin, and receive us into his favour. The renewal and purification of the heart, the full and glorious enlightenment of the mind, justification, before God and his law, the opening of the gates of heaven before the soul, and its final reception among the myriads of the redeemed-all are thus naturally and inevitably conditioned upon the exercise by the soul, toward God and Christ, of the faith it exercises |