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French Colonies," published soon afterwards, along with an account of their proceedings, they gave an earnest invitation to them to unite with the Gallican Church.

THE EXCESSIVE ANTIQUITY OF THE CHINESE

DISPROVED.*

IT is well known that the Chinese pretend to an excessive antiquity. Their chronology exceeds all bounds of probability and, could their pretensions be verified, the Mosaic account of the creation must necessarily be discredited. But we have a singular fact to state, which will prove that their boasted antiquity really falls within the limits of the Mosaic Chronology. For the evidence we are about to produce, we are indebted to the discoveries of modern astronomy.

2. The Chinese have ever made a point of inserting in their calendars remarkable eclipses, or conjunctions of the planets, together with the name of that emperor in whose reign they were observed. To these events they have also fixed their own dates. There is a very singular conjunction of the sun, moon, and several planets, recorded in their annals, as having taken place almost at the very commencement of their remote bistory. The far-famed Cassini, to ascertain the fact, calculated back, and decisively proved, that such an extraordinary conjunction actually did take place at China, on Feb. 26, 1012 years before Christ. This falls four hundred years after the flood, and a little after the birth of Abraham.

3. Here are two important facts ascertained. The one is, that the Chinese are a very ancient nation; and the other, that their pretensions to antiquity beyond that of Moses are unfounded; because this event, which they themselves represent as happening near the beginning of their immense calculations, falls far within the history and chronology of the Scriptures.

* Some of them claim 96 or 97 millions of years!

ABDALLAH AND SABAT.

ABDALLAH and SABAT were intimate friends; and being young men of family in Arabia, they agreed to travel together, and to visit foreign countries. They were both zealous Mohammedans. Sabat is son of Ibrahim Sabat, a noble family of the line of Beni-Sabat, who trace their pedigree to Mohammed. The two friends left Arabia, after paying their adorations at the tomb of their Prophet at Mecca, and travelled through Persia, and thence to Cabul. Abdallah was appointed to an office of state under Zemaun Shah, king of Cabul; and Sabat left him there, and proceeded on a tour through Tartary.

2. While Abdallah remained at Cabul, he was converted to the Christian faith by the perusal of a Bible, belonging (as is supposed) to a Christian from Armenia, then residing at Cabul.* In the Mohammedan states, it is death for a man of rank to become a Christian. Abdallah endeavoured for a time to conceal his conversion; but finding it no longer possible, he determined to flee to some of the Christian churches near the Caspian Sea. He, accordingly, left Cabul in disguise; and had gained the great city of Bochara in Tartary, when he was met in the streets of that city by his friend Sabat, who immediately recognized him.

3. Sabat had heard of his conversion and flight, and was filled with indiguation at his conduct. Abdallah knew his danger, and threw himself at the feet of Sabat. He confessed that he was a Christian; and implored him, by the sacred tie of their former friendship, to let him escape with his life. But Sir," said Sabat, when relating the story himself, 1 had no pity. 1 caused my servants to seize him; and I delivered him up to Morad Shaw, king of Bochara.

4. He was sentenced to die; and a herald went through the city of Boehara, announcing the time of his execution. An immense multitude attended, and the

*The Armenian Christians in Persia, have among them a few copies of the Arabic Bible.

chief men of the city. I also went, and stood near to Abdallah. He was offered his life if he would abjure Christ, the executioner standing by him with his sword in his hand. No!' said he, as if the proposition was impossible to be complied with, I cannot abjure Christ!'

5. Then one of his hands was cut off at the wrist : he stood firm, his arm hanging by his side with but little motion. A physician, by the desire of the king, offered to heal the wound if he would recant. He made no

answer, but looked up steadfastly towards heaven (like Stephen, the first martyr) his eyes streaming with tears. He did not look with anger towards me: he looked at me, but it was benignly, and with the countenance of forgiveness.

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6. His other hand was then cut off. " 'But Sir,' said Sabat, in his imperfect English,* he never changed, he never changed. And when he bowed his head to receive the blow of death, all Bochara seemed to say, "What new thing is this "

7. Sabat had indulged the hope that Abdallah would have recanted when he was offered his life; but when he saw that his friend was dead, he resigned himself to grief and remorse. He travelled from place to place, seeking rest and finding none. At last he thought that he would visit India. He, accordingly came to Madras about five years ago. Soon after his arrival, he was appointed by the English government a Mufti or expounder of Mohammedan law; his great learning, and respectable station in his own country, rendered him eminently qualified for that office; and now the period of his own conversion drew near.

8. While he was at Vizigapatam,† in the northern Circars, exercising his professional duties, Providence

Sabat resided for some time in the house of Dr. Buchanan, to whom he related the chief part of the account here given.

† Messrs. Cran and Desgranges, Missionaries at Vizigapatam, have frequently mentioned Mr. Sabat. He often visited them; and, we have reason to believe, derived much advantage from their conversation. He was mentioned in the Evangelical Magazine in January, 1807; and more than once in the Missionary Transactions.

brought in his way a New Testament in Arabic.* He read it with deep thought, the Koran lying before him. He compared them together; and, at length, the truth of the word of God fell on his mind, as he expressed it, like a flood of light. Soon afterwards, he proceeded to Madras, a journey of 300 miles, to seek Christian haptism; and having made a public confession of his faith, he was baptized by the Rev. Dr. Kerr, in the English church in that place, by the name of Nathaniel, in the twenty-seventh year of his age.

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9. Sabat now found by experience the truth of that declaration, that they who will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution,' and (as it often happens in such cases) 6 a man's foes shall be they of his own household; for when his family in Arabia had heard that he had followed the example of Abdallah, and become a Christian, they despatched his brother to India of two months) to assassinate him.

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10. While Sabat was sitting in his house at Vizigapatam, his brother presented himself in the disguise of a faqueer or beggar, having a dagger concealed under his mantle. He rushed on Sabat and wounded him; but Sabat seized his arm, and his servants came to his assistance. He then recognized his brother. The assassin would have become the victim of public justice; but Sabat interceded for his brother, and sent him home in peace, with letters and presents to his mother's house in Arabia.

11. Being desirous to devote his future life to the glory of God, he resigned bis secular employ, and came, by invitation, to Bengal, where he is now engaged in translating the Scriptures into the Persian language. This work has not hitherto been executed, for want of a translator of sufficient ability. The Persian is an important language in the East, being the general language of Western Asia, particularly among the higher classes, and is understood from Calcutta to Damascus.

12. But the great work which occupies the attention of this noble Arabian, is the promulgation of the gospel among his own countrymen; and from the present fluc

* One of those copies sent from England by the 'Society for promoting Christian Knowledge.'

tuations of religious opinion in Arabia, he is sanguine in his hopes of success.

13. His first work is entitled 'Neama Besharatin lil Arabi, Happy News for Arabia ;' written in the Nabuttee, or common dialect of the country. It contains an eloquent and argumentative elucidation of the truth of the gospel, with copious authorities admitted by the Mohammedans themselves, and particularly by the Wahabians. Prefixed to it is an account of the conversion of the author, and an appeal to the members of his well-known family in Arabia, for the truth of the facts.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST SETTLERS IN THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

"I PURPOSE here," says Dr. Robbins, in his Sermon preached December 22, 1793, "agreeably to the words of the text, to give a brief narration of some of the wonderful works of God, towards our ancestors, which it is peculiarly proper we should call to mind on this anniversary. In doing this, I shall bring to your view some circumstances which, I presume, have never yet been made public. I shall take them from the first book of the very ancient records of this church, now in my hands.

2. "I would begin with observing to you, that the cause of our fathers leaving England, their native land, and transplanting themselves finally into these, then dark, corners of the earth, was the cruel persecution they met with in their own land; originating in a spirit of intolerance, which then prevailed, especially in the episcopal hierarchy. A spirit, now abhorred as much by the enlightened and pious members of that communion, as perhaps by any other whatever.

3.Our fathers made no disturbance in the State, but were peaceable members of society. Yet, because they could not. in conscience, submit to unscriptural impositions, nor bow their necks to the yoke of human inventions, they were loaded with heavy fines and forfeitures;

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