Abdallah and Sabat, a Tale

ABDALLAH AND SABAT, A TALE. Abdallah and Sabat were intimate friends, and being youngmen of family in Arabia, they agreed to travel together, and visit foreign countries. They were both zealous Mohammedans. Sabat was son of Ibraham 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, and traveled through Persia, and thence to Cabul. Abdallah was appointed to an office of state under Zeman Shah, king of Cabul; and Sabat left him there, and proceeded on a tour through Tartary. While Abdallah remained at Cabul, he was converted to the Christian faith, by the perusal of a Bible, (as is supposed) belonging to a Christian from Armenia, then residing at Cabul. In the Mohammedan states, it was then death for a man of rank to become a Christian. Abdallah endeavored 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. Sabat had heard of his conversion and flight, and was filled with indignation at his conduct. Abdallah knew his danger, and threw himself at the feet of Sabat. He confessed 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 himhimself, "I had no pity. I caused my servants to seize him, and I delivered him up to Marad Shah, king of Bochara. He was sen-

tenced to die, and a herald went through the city of Bochara, announcing the time of execution. An immense multitude attended, and the chief men of the city. I also went, and stood near 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 were impossible to be complied with), 1 cannot abjure Christ.' Then one of his hands was cut off at the wrist. He stood firm, his arm hanging by his side, but with little motion. A physician, by 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. 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?'" 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 traveled from place to place seeking rest and finding none. At last he thought 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 the Mohammedan law, his great learning and respectable station in his own country rendering him well qualified for that office. And now the period of his conversion drew near. While he was at Visagapatam, in the northern Circars, exercising his professional duties, Providence brought in his way the New Testament, in the Arabic language. He read it with deep thought, the Koran lying before him. He compared them together with patience and solicitude, and at length the truth of the gospel fell on his mind, as he expressed it, like a flood of light. Soon afterwards, he proceeded to Madras, a journey of three hundred miles, to seek Christian baptism, and having make a public confession of his faith, he was baptized in the English church at that place, by the name of Nathaniel, in the twenty-seventh year of his age. When his family in Arabia heard that he had followed the example of Abdallah, and become a Christian, they dispatched his brother

to India (a voyage of two months) to assassinate him. While Sabat was sitting in his house at Visagapatam his brother presented himself in the disguise of a faquir, 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 him, and sent him home in peace, with letters and presents, to his mother's house in Arabia. When Sabat forgave and interceded for his brother, he was no longer the fanatic pitiless Mohammedan, but the professor of a religion which teaches mercy and forgiveness to our most implacable enemies.