llect
that it is folly to play with fire, unless there be plenty of water at
hand to extinguish it. His book said anything but what it ought, and
tended more to throw ridicule upon Islamism than to uphold its glory and
perfection. Ispahan was full of this subject when I arrived there; and,
being anxious to bring myself forwards, I proposed that an invitation
should be made to the Frank dervish to meet the mollahs of the city in
person, on an appointed day, in the Medresseh Jedeed, when they would
argue every point of their respective faiths, and when they would either
make the dervish turn Mohammedan, by producing conviction in his mind,
or they would become Christians, if his arguments prevailed. To this he
immediately assented; but we determined beforehand, amongst ourselves,
that such a thorn in the side of our _Ullemah_ should no longer exist in
Persia, and that the overwhelming truth of our belief should not be left
to the chances of vain words and uplifted voices, but show itself in the
zeal and numbers of its adherents. Accordingly every turbaned head,
and every beard that wagged, were secretly invited to appear on the
appointed day; and never was attendance more complete,--never did the
children of Islam make such a show of their irresistible force, as they
did on that memorable occasion.

'The Medresseh was already filled; for, besides the mollahs, a great
crowd, all anxious to witness the triumph of the true faith, had taken
possession of the courts. Head over head and turban over turban were
piled upon each other, in thick array, along the walls and in the utmost
corners of the hall, when the Frank dervish, alone, unsupported, and
unfriended, appeared before us. He looked around in dismay, and appeared
appalled by our numbers. Two or three of the principal mollahs, who were
to carry on the controversy, were seated in front of their body, and I
was close at hand. We had prepared questions which were to be proposed
to him, and according to the answers he gave so were we to act. He
appeared to be provided with no other weapon of defence save his tongue;
and he sat down opposite to us, evidently much alarmed at the hostility
which he remarked on the countenances of all present.

'Without giving him any time for reflection, we immediately began:--

'"Do you believe," said one, "that the God in heaven put himself into a
human form?" "Do you," said another, "acknowledge that God is composed
of three persons, and s