[11] Omar was the second of the Caliphs, or successors of Mohammed. [12] A cousin of Mohammed, and head of a religious sect. CHAPTER XI. The Persian version of the New Testament being now nearly finished, Mr. Martyn, with his native assistant, commenced the translation of the Psalms of David into Persian, from the Hebrew. From his diary in the beginning of 1812, it appears that he was not satisfied with his Persian New Testament. “The last has been, in some respects, a memorable year. I have been led, by what I have reason to consider as the particular providence of God, to this place, and have undertaken an important work, which has gone on without material interruption, and is now nearly finished. I like to find myself employed usefully, in a way I did not expect or foresee, especially if my own will is in any degree crossed by the work unexpectedly assigned me; as there is then reason to believe that God is acting. The present year will probably be a perilous one; but my life is of little consequence, whether I live to finish the Persian New Testament, or do not. I look back with pity and shame upon my former self, and on the importance I then attached to my life and labours. The more I see of my own works, the more I am ashamed of them. Coarseness and clumsiness mar all the works of man. I am sick when I look at man, and his wisdom, and his doings; and am relieved only by reflecting, that we have a city whose builder and maker is God. The least of _His_ works it is refreshing to look at. A dried leaf, or a straw, makes me feel myself in good company: complacency and admiration take place of disgust. “I compared, with pain, our Persian translation with the original; to say nothing of the precision and elegance of the sacred text, its perspicuity is that which sets at defiance all attempts to equal it.” But the more he read and studied the sacred scriptures, the stronger attachment he felt towards them, and so far from becoming tired of them, from having them so constantly in his hands, he used to turn to them for comfort in all his sorrows. “_Feb. 2d._—From what I suffer in this city, I can understand the feelings of Lot. The face of the poor Russian appears to me like the face of an angel, because he does not tell lies. Heaven will be heaven, because there will not be one liar there. The word of God is more precious to me at this time than I ever remember it to have been; and of all the promises in it, none is more sweet to me than this—‘He shall reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.’”