The life of Rev. Henry Martyn : $b Written for the American Sunday School Union, with some account of Abdool Messeeh, a Hindoo convertHall, John
History
The life of Rev. Henry Martyn : $b Written for the American Sunday School Union, with some account of Abdool Messeeh, a Hindoo convert
Hall, John
Abdool Messeeh, 1771 or 1772-1827; Martyn, Henry, 1781-1812
“One evening, during the preceding week, Abdool went into the city. A
number of people collected round him, and entered into conversation;
at length, they begged that he would sit down, and read them a
chapter. He did so, and read the eleventh of John. One of them told
him, ‘if you would have us become Christians, you must come among us,
and teach us the gospel. Come and live among us, and we will attend
you daily.’
“_Sunday, June 6th._—The attendance in the fort was as usual; and
in the evening, without the fort, the crowd was beyond all former
example. Even the tops of some of the houses, were covered with
Mohammedans; but those of the crowd who could not hear, by their
pressing and eagerness to get forward, prevented much of what Abdool
said from being heard.
“_June 7th._—The whole day was passed by Abdool in the city; and his
house was like an exchange, from morning till night. More copies of
the scriptures were sought for; and one moonshee began to read St.
Matthew with Abdool. Three children were brought to school, and the
people speak with much admiration of the establishment of a free
school.
“_June 9th._—Numbers of people visited Abdool again to-day, and many
interesting conversations took place. An old Mohammedan, uncle to
one of the principal men in the city, was asked, on going away, what
he thought of Abdool. He answered, ‘What can I say? He says nothing
amiss; and nothing can be objected to the Gospel; what can I say?’
“_June 10th._—To-day the doctrine of Christ witnessed a triumph. For
three weeks past, a faqueer, of the Jogi tribe, has come frequently
to our morning worship, in the school. On Tuesday the chapter to be
read in order was John xvii. The subject of it, and our Lord’s manner
toward his disciples, arrested the attention of the Jogi, and the
tears flowed plentifully down his cheeks. To-day he brought his wife
and child; said he was a convert to Jesus, without reserve; and
began of himself to take off his Faqueer’s dress. He first took the
beads from off his neck; then broke the string to which the charm
given him by his gooroo was suspended; then broke off an iron ring
worn round his waist, and to which an iron rod, about two feet long,
was attached. He then put on some old clothes, which we had by us,
and said, now he wished to be instructed in the Gospel, and to get
employment. A rupee was given to procure food for the family, with
which the wife went and bought a spinning wheel, saying, she would
spin and earn their livelihood. These are wonders in the history of a
Hindoo. The whole family afterward ate their dinner with Abdool, of
their own accord.
“To-day, also, an old woman who has constantly heard Abdool on
Sundays, brought her little all from the house of a Mohammedan, where
she had long lived, and took up her abode among the Christians,
expressing a heart-affecting sense of her value for the Gospel of
Christ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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