now dependent upon him, he constrained himself to minister to the sick in the most filthy and revolting disorders, in opposition to a strong natural shrinking, — he destroyed all his letters that could in any way keep alive an earthly ambition, he built a bamboo house on the edge of the jungle, which he called the "hermitage," living there upon rice, and devoting his whole time to prayer and the translation of the Scriptures, seeing only the few who came to him for religious instruction,- he inured himself to frequent fastings, then and through life, and beside all else, in order to overcome a nervous dread, not of death itself so much as of decay and corruption, he had a grave dug, and would sit by the verge of it, and look into it, imagining how each feature and limb would appear, days, months, and years after he had lain there." All this has the appearance of a disturbed brain, rather than of mere austerity. But we should never think of making it the occasion of troubled or severe judgment of the man, as his biographer intimates it has been with some of his friends. We imagine their trouble is chiefly owing to Dr. Judson's love of the writings of Madame Guion and the Quietists, which at this time he recommended in letters to friends. Dr. Wayland is at some pains to show that the whole, viewed rationally, is perfectly consistent with the character of the man, his self-renunciation, his extreme humility, and intense longing, at this time especially, for the highest possible degree of spirituality and perfectness. This may be; and certainly there is no sign of a desire for fame, either as a model or a martyr, and no enjoining of like austerities upon others. But a sufficient explanation, and to our minds a better one, is the "condition of his nervous system, shattered almost to insanity by sickness, captivity, torture, and the severest of all bereavements." which we should only incline to add, a violation of the laws of the human frame, in overtasking mind and body when they called for rest, and an over-striving for a spiritual state, which God forbids rather than requires, when it involves the risk of impairing all power and reason itself. One of the "rules of life" which he prescribed for himself, and often solemnly renewed, was this: "Deny self at every turn, so far as consistent with life, health, and usefulness." And another: "Believe in To the doctrine of perfect sanctification attainable in this life." These constitute an exceedingly high standard; but few are likely to be injured by aiming too high, while it is very easy to set a low mark, or say the highest is beyond our reach. Amid all his trials, Dr. Judson betrayed at times a temper of jocoseness, quite in contrast with his usual gravity, and indulged apparently for his own relief. Thus, when his wife left him for America, in great weakness and darkness, he wrote to Mr. Hough at Calcutta, thus : "My dear brother Hough: I send you herewith Mrs. Judson, and all that remains of the blue pills and senna, and beg you will see the articles all well packed and shipped for America by the earliest safe opportunity. Whatever expenses may be incurred, be so good as to defray from your own funds, and transmit your bill to me. "It is said that man is prone to jest in the depth of misery, and the bon-mots of the scaffold have been collected; you may add the above specimen to the list, if you like. I feel as if I was on the scaffold, and signing, as it were, my own death-warrant. However, two years will pass away at last. Time and tide wait for no man, heedless alike of our joys and sorrows. last wrote, I was in the latter part of Acts; since that time, I When I have done nothing at all. For ten days or a fortnight we were laid by with fever, unable to help one another, and no living soul to depend on but Emily; and since we became convalescent, I have been occupied in making up my mind to have my right arm amputated, and my right eye extracted, which the doctors say are necessary in order to prevent a decay and mortification of the whole body conjugal. We cannot pass over the remarkable disinterestedness of Dr. Judson's character. It appeared not alone in the nature of the employment which he chose for his lifework, but on every occasion. He early made known his views of the duty of missionaries in regard to property, at a time when his co-workers were contending sharply for their own rights. He gave it as his opinion, and proposed it to the home board as a rule, — one that was accepted, and remains to this day, that missionaries owe all their time to those who send them, and the cause for which they labor. In accordance with this, he made over to the board 5,200 rupees, the sum allowed him for his services at the treaty of Jandabo; and also 2,000 rupees, the avails of presents made to him at Ava; and for this he disclaimed all credit, speaking of it, not as a gift, but a debt. Again, at Maulmain, in 1828, when the funds were low, he, with his brother Wade, wrote home to the secretary of the board, proposing to relinquish annually one twentieth of the moderate salary allowed them; and engaging, if a hundred ministers at home would give a twentieth of their income to missions, that they, at Maulmain, would resign another twentieth, that is, one tenth of the whole! And yet again, the next year, he gave up a quarter of his usual allowance, expressly stating that it should not interfere with the previous offer, but be additional. These voluntary acts, with the many other proofs of his self-sacrificing spirit, exhibit a principle and example that speak to all of us. We cannot dwell longer on the character of this remarkable man. The subsequent events of his life are probably known his second marriage, in 1834, with the widow of the missionary Boardman, a devoted wife and able helper for eleven years, his sailing with her for America, when her health required it, and seeing her droop on the passage, and die at St. Helena, - his wish to return to his work, though obliged to pursue the passage alone to the United States, the cordial and flattering welcome given him here, after more than thirty years of toil and suffering abroad, and now the only survivor, save one, of those who first sailed for the India mission, his evident awkwardness here, not feeling at "home" in his native land while his heart remained in the adopted country, his reëmbarking for Burmah, after spending but nine months in America, taking with him another wife, who has lived to tell of the end, as a contributor to this Memoir, their arrival at Maulmain in November, 1846, and his renewed labors there and at Rangoon, in preaching, and prosecuting his Dictionary of the language, a fit companion for the Burman Bible, his working on for three years more, with unsparing assiduity but failing strength, until, in the spring of 1850, he rested from all his labors. His last days and last thoughts, we need not say, were those of the Christian, partaking both of the joy and sorrow, the light and shade, of his whole life. Driven from home upon a voyage urged upon him as the only hope in extreme de bility, separated from his wife who could not accompany him, sailing for the Isle of France, but only three days out of sight of the mountains of his beloved Burmah, — he calmly died, and was committed to the ocean-grave; a burial-place of which he had often spoken as desirable, bringing to his fancy a sense of freedom and expansion, compared with the narrow and mouldering tomb. He died at the age of sixty-two, having left home at twentyfour, and spent thirty-eight years in a heathen land. That land presents now a different aspect from the one he first saw. Forty years have passed, immense sums have been expended, and many lives laid down. Not in vain. Asia is now reported as having in all 112 Baptist stations, occupied by 95 missionaries and 145 native helpers, beside 72 schools, containing 1,785 pupils. These statistics do not determine the actual amount of pure Christianity there, nor would they here. Neither can any one infer from them the truth of all the doctrines preached, as that would prove too much for other doctrines, and Roman propagandists. Dr. Judson does not seem to us to have been a dogmatist. Clear and strong in the theology of his sect, we yet recall nothing in his letters or conversation from which we should greatly dissent, except the language that he once puts into the mouths of the heathen: " Come and save us, for we are sinking into hell." Such language no man can apply literally to the heathen, as such, without charging upon their Creator awful injustice; and if it refers only to the vices and iniquities of heathenism, it is equally applicable to the wicked in Christian lands, - perhaps more so. With our whole hearts, we honor the motives and personal sacrifices, we rejoice in the virtues and successes, of all true missionaries. But we do earnestly pray and sigh for a brighter day at home. Could we see Christendom itself converted to Christ,-did we behold all the members of our churches living and laboring to bring all the inhabitants of our land out of social and spiritual bondage into the liberty and life of the Son of God, we should feel that here was an Argument and a Power surpassing every other. "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." E. B. H. 1854.] The Piety and the Poetry of the Súfis. 117 ART. V. THE PIETY AND THE POETRY OF THE SÚFÍS.* A CRITICAL history of Sanscrit and Persian poetry, illustrated by specimens, is a great desideratum in English literature. A reproduction, or an adequate description, in our tongue, of the best Oriental poems, would introduce to us many striking novelties, alike in the modes of rhythmical construction they exhibit, in the characteristics of the thought they embody, and in the kinds and degrees of the emotion they portray. For instance, there is a metre called the Ghazel, in which a large portion of the lyrics of the East are written. Its law is that the first two lines rhyme, and for this rhyme a new one must be found in the second line of each succeeding couplet, the alternate line being free. These poems sometimes contain forty or fifty couplets. The following is a brief example of this style of versification : "What is the good man and the wise? And in its mine the jewel, lies." In like manner, as an illustration in proof of the other clauses of our assertion, namely, that Eastern poetry is füll of thoughts and emotions very different from those familiar to our Western mind and heart, we will give a few examples from many: "Mirrors God maketh all atoms in space, And fronteth each one with his perfect face." All matter is the scum of his cup; 1. Aklak-y-Lalaly; or Persian Hand-Book of Morals. Translated into English by LIEUT. W. F. THOMPSON. 8vo. pp. 580. 2. Persica Theosophia. Von. DR. THOLÜCK. 18mo. pp. 280. 3. The Dabistán; or School of Manners. Translated from the Persian, by DAVID SHEA and ANTHONY TROYER. 3 vols. 8vo. pp. 580, 462, 387. |